Genesis 23

Genesis 23:1

It all begins with God An EasyEnglish Bible Version and Commentary (2800 word vocabulary) on the Book of Genesis www.easyenglish.info Marie Wetherill and Keith Simons This commentary has been through Advanced Checking.

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Chapter 23 Sarah dies and Abraham buries her v1 Sarah lived for 127 years. That was her age when she died. v2 Sarah died in Kiriath-Arba. (That is, Hebron.) It is in that country called Canaan. Abraham went to weep about her. And he expressed that he was very sad because of her death.

v3 Then Abraham stood up from next to his dead wife and he spoke to the family of Heth. v4 ‘I am only a foreigner who is living among you. Give to me a grave in your country. So then I will be able to bury my dead wife properly.’

v5 The family of Heth replied to Abraham and they said this. v6 ‘Listen to us, my *lord. You are a great prince among us. Please bury your dead people in the best grave that we have. Nobody here would refuse to give his grave to you so that you can bury your dead people.’

v7 Abraham stood up. And he *bowed to the family of Heth, who lived in that country. v8-9 He appealed to them, ‘I would like to bury my dead people properly. If you are pleased to let me, then listen to me. Please persuade Ephron, Zohar’s son, to sell the cave in Machpelah to me. He owns the cave. It is at the edge of his field. Let him sell it to me now as a grave. Let him sell it at the full price. You will be witnesses to that.’

v10 Now Ephron was sitting among the family of Heth, so Ephron, from Heth’s family answered Abraham. Many members of the family of Heth were going in at the gate of the city. They were all listening to Ephron. v11 He said, ‘No, my *lord, please listen to me. I give the field to you and I give the cave in it. My people’s sons here are witnesses that I give it to you. So bury your dead people.’

v12 Then Abraham *bowed down in front of the people in that country. v13 He spoke to Ephron and the people listened. ‘Please, listen to me. I will pay the right price for the field. Please take the money, so that I can bury my dead people there.’

v14 Ephron answered Abraham, v15 ‘My *lord, listen to me. The price of the field Isaiah 400 *shekels. The price is not important to you or me. Do bury your dead people.’

v16 Abraham agreed with Ephron. He weighed out 400 *shekels of silver for Ephron. He did it with the scales that the merchants used. The chief men in the family of Heth were witnesses to the sale.

v17-18 So Abraham became the owner of Ephron’s field. That field was in Machpelah, which was east from Mamre. There was a cave in it, and there were trees. Abraham bought all that. And the members of Heth’s family who were at the gate were witnesses. v19 After that, Abraham buried his wife Sarah in that cave. The cave was in the field in Machpelah. That place was east from Mamre (which is Hebron). It is in that country called Canaan. v20 Abraham bought the field and cave from the family of Heth and he became the owner. He used the field and cave to bury dead people.

When Sarah died, it was Abraham’s duty to bury her body. It was the custom to bury bodies soon after death. So, these events may have happened on the day when Sarah died, or the day after.

Abraham was living in the country that belonged to the family of Heth. He did not own any land there to use as Sarah’s grave. So he asked to buy some land. He wanted to bury Sarah near Mamre, where Abraham used to live (Genesis 18:1).

The members of Heth’s family respected Abraham and Sarah greatly. They offered to give the land to Abraham. But Abraham insisted that he would buy it. So, for the first time, Abraham bought land in the country called Canaan. Canaan was the country that God had promised to Abraham’s *descendants (Genesis 17:8). Abraham knew that his *descendants would live away from Canaan for 400 years (Genesis 15:13). But Abraham trusted God’s promises. So, Abraham bought the land. He was confident that his *descendants would return there. Notes on the verses Verses 1-2 The writer mentions Sarah’s age when she died. Usually, the writer only mentioned the ages of men when they died. But he wanted to remind us that Sarah was very important.

Verses 3-5 Abraham was very polite to the members of Heth’s family. They said that they would give a grave to him. It was important for Abraham to pay for it. So then it was really his own property. He might have had to serve them in some way if he had not given money. That land was in the country that God had promised to Abraham. It was the first land that Abraham owned in that country. Abraham was showing that his *descendants would belong there.

Verse 6 In *Hebrew, ‘great prince’ might also mean ‘God’s prince’.

Verses 7-9 Abraham chose the land that he wanted to buy. He was happy to pay the proper price for it. He wanted the best grave for Sarah, whom he loved.

Verse 10 At the gate, people decided about important things. The important people met there. Abraham made sure that he did things properly. And the members of Heth’s family realised this.

Verse 11 Ephron’s words may mean that he wanted to give the land to Abraham. But perhaps Ephron was just being polite.

Verses 12-15 Abraham would not accept a gift. He wanted to pay.

Verse 16 It seems that Abraham probably paid a lot of money to Ephron. But we do not know how big the field was. Abraham did not argue about the price. He urgently wanted to have a place where he could bury Sarah.

Verses 17-20 Abraham became the legal owner of the field and the cave. They would always belong to his *descendants.

Abraham was a ‘foreigner’ and he had no rights among those people (verse 4). However, they called him ‘a great prince’ or ‘God’s prince’ (verse 6). We too are strangers on the earth, but God has chosen us.

© 2006, Wycliffe Associates (UK)

This publication is written in EasyEnglish Level B (2800 words).

May 2006

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var w1 = new Array;w1[0]=’<b%3Elord</b%3E ~ a man that has complete authority over someone or something.