Genesis 23

Genesis 23:1-20

Genesis 23:1-20 Fifth Episode-The Death of Sarah (Genesis 23:1-20) This chapter contains the first detailed account of a funeral, just as Genesis 24:1-67 contains the first detailed account of a wedding. The faith of Abraham is again shown in purchasing a burial place in Canaan rather than in Ur of the Chaldees. This was the first real pledge that the patriarch had abandoned the old life and land, never to return to it. The piece of land Abraham bought was not a pasture that could be sold again, nor a building lot that could be disposed of, but a grave, something that he could not well abandon. The detailed description of the ground and the minute accuracy and publicity of the transaction (Genesis 23:3; Genesis 23:11; Genesis 23:17-20) emphasize the fact that this purchase was looked upon by Abraham as an earnest of the future possession of the whole land. The death of Sarah, his wife, surely offered a legitimate opportunity for him to go back to Ur of the Chaldees if he had wanted to. The purchase of a grave for his dead bound him to that land, just as the graves of our dead do to ours. That grave was an earnest, a first fruits; the rest would follow. Abraham came to the grave to weep and to mourn. Surely it is not wrong for us to weep over our dead or to mourn over their loss. Jesus wept at the grave of Lazarus. Tears of sorrow and bereavement wet a holier eye and stained a more sacred cheek than ours. We should not, of course, “ sorrow as those which have no hope,” for faith in Christ has inspired the Christian with a living hope that sustains the soul in the hour of bereavement (1 Thessalonians 4:13-18). Abraham speaks of the dead as “ my dead.” Those who die in faith are not lost to us. Once our own, they are our own forever. God gave Job twice as much property and cattle as he had before his affliction, but not twice as many children. Why? Because he had lost his land and cattle, but he had not lost his children who had died. They had simply gone on before. The expression “ buried with his fathers” is significant. How desirous the Old Testament saints were of being buried as families. Even today in oriental lands the family burying ground is sacredly maintained. It is their belief that they shall rise as families. Will family life be recognized in heaven? What does Paul mean by the expression, “ For this cause I bow my knees unto the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, of whom the whole family in heaven and earth is named” (Ephesians 3:14-15)? Is not the thought of family reunion a very sacred one?