Wednesday, January 1, 2020

In The Beginning. Day 96, Abraham's Brother's Family/The Death Of Sarah

Chapter 22 concludes with information about Abraham's brother and his family, then we move on into Chapter 23 to study the death of Abraham's wife Sarah.

"Some time later Abraham was told, 'Milkah is also a mother; she has borne sons to your brother Nahor; Uz the firstborn, Buz his brother, Kemuel (the father of Aram), Kessed, Hazo, Pildash, Jidlaph and Bethuel.' Bethuel became the father of Rebekah. Milkah bore these eight sons to Abraham's brother Nahor. His concubine, whose name was Reumah, also had sons: Tebah, Gaham, Tahash and Maakah." (Genesis 22:20-24) When the Bible says "some time later" it's referring to some time after the prior events of Chapter 22 in which Abraham was prepared to offer Isaac to the Lord. The family line of Nahor is going to become important later when a wife is sought for Isaac. Abraham will not want his son to marry any of the pagan women of Canaan and will procure a wife for his son from among his brother's family.

The Bible now skips forward in time quite a bit. The last time we studied anything about Sarah, she was probably about ninety-three years old. Now, in Chapter 23, it's thirty-four years later. "Sarah lived to be a hundred and twenty-seven years old. She died at Kiriath Arba (that is, Hebron) in the land of Canaan, and Abraham went to mourn for Sarah and to weep for her." (Genesis 23:1-2) Abraham's grief is deep. The Bible doesn't tell us how old he was when he married Sarah, but it's possible they were married at least a hundred years. She has been by his side for almost his entire life. When she passes, he realizes he has not prepared himself for this day. He has not purchased any burial ground for the members of his family and now the need for a burial site becomes his first and very urgent priority.

"Then Abraham rose from beside his dead wife and spoke to the Hittites. He said, 'I am a foreigner and stranger among you. Sell me some property for a burial site here so I can bury my dead.'" (Genesis 23:3-4) Abraham never owned any property in the promised land. In the book of Acts we find Stephen (who was martyred for his faith in Christ) pointing this out, saying that God gave Abraham "no inheritance here, not even enough ground to set his foot on". (Acts 7:5a) The promised land never belonged to Abraham, but to his descendants, so when Sarah dies he has no place to bury her. He and Sarah have moved from place to place throughout their married life and have never bought so much as an acre of land. He goes to the Hittites to work out a deal to purchase enough land with which to begin a family cemetery.

"The Hittites replied to Abraham, 'Sir, listen to us. You are a mighty prince among us. Bury your dead in the choicest of our tombs. None of us will refuse you his tomb for burying your dead.'" (Genesis 22:5-6) Abraham is highly respected by the tribes who live around him, even though he worships a different God than they do. It's very important for us, as believers, to live in such a way that the people around us respect us. If they don't find anything admirable about our character, they aren't going to want to hear anything about the Lord we worship. Our testimony to unbelievers is meaningless if they don't see us living out our faith.

The Hittites were pagan idolaters who worshiped a pantheon of gods, but Abraham has been such a good neighbor to them that they feel no prejudice against him for being of another religion. They consider him such a good neighbor and such a valuable friend that they offer to allow him to bury Sarah in any of their family cemeteries. We don't want to miss what an honor they are bestowing upon him. We'd be pretty picky about who we wanted buried next to our beloved grandmother, wouldn't we? If that person isn't a blood relative, we'd at least want them to be someone we love and admire. In making their generous offer to Abraham, the Hittites display their love and admiration for Abraham and Sarah.

Abraham appreciates their generosity but will insist upon paying for the land in tomorrow's passage. He will request a specific piece of land and on that land he also, along with several of his descendants, will be buried.

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