Genesis Chapter Twenty-Three Series

GENESIS CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE OVERVIEW

Overall what is happening in this chapter is that Sarah dies and Abraham purchases a burial plot for her.

Treasury of Scriptural Knowledge (2010) – Genesis 23

Overview:

The age and death of Sarah; Genesis 23:1

The purchase of the field and cave of Machpelah: Genesis 23:3

Where Sarah is buried: Genesis 23:19

Thomas Coke (1801) – Genesis 23

Sarah dies. Abraham agrees with the children of Heth for the possession of a burying-place; and buries Sarah in a cave of the field of Machpelah.

Daniel Whedon (1889) – Genesis 23

At length a dark shadow falls over the aged patriarch’s path. The revelations and promises have ceased, his history drops down to the mere facts of domestic life, and hastens to its close. The beloved wife dies and is buried out of his sight, but faith in the word of God abides.

Matthew Henry (1708) – Genesis 23

Here is:

I. Abraham a mourner for the death of Sarah (Genesis 23:1-2).

II. Abraham a purchaser of a burying-place for Sarah.

1. The purchase humbly proposed by Abraham (Genesis 23:3-4).

2. Fairly treated of, and agreed to, with a great deal of mutual civility and respect (Genesis 23:5-16).

3. The purchase-money paid (Genesis 23:16).

4. The premises conveyed and secured to Abraham (Genesis 23:17-18).

5. Sarah's funeral (Genesis 23:19).

Thomas Constable (2012) – Genesis 23

Abraham's purchase of a burial site in the Promised Land demonstrated his intention to remain in Canaan rather than going back to his native homeland. Since he was a sojourner in Canaan his friends probably expected him to bury Sarah back in their home area, namely, Mesopotamia.

The two major events contained in this chapter continue Moses' emphasis on God's faithfulness. They do so by recording the death of Abraham's wife, the mother of his heir, and by showing the beginning of the fulfillment of the land promise that God had given Abraham.

Peter Pett (2013) – Genesis 23

This chapter was originally a tablet on its own. It is the record of the business transaction between Abraham and Ephron the Hittite and bears the marks of a typical Hittite contract. But as far as the compiler is concerned in it we learn of the first piece of the land which comes permanently into the possession of the family of Abraham. It is the first-fruits, the earnest (visible and tangible guarantee) of his inheritance. Thus Isaac’s beginnings are founded in a solemn occasion, first ownership of the land.

So while it is at first sight the record of the closing of an era (the death of Sarah) it is actually the depiction of the beginning of a new era, the commencement of the possession of the land. Genesis 22:20-24 has begun the preparation for the new era, and this continues it. The emphasis of the compiler is on the fact that ‘the field and the cave that is in it were made sure to Abraham for a possession of a burying-place by the children of Heth’ (Genesis 23:20). It is a proof of permanence in the land.

Abraham has, of course, already buried many of his ‘household’ in the land and Sarah could have been buried similarly. But this is the first time he has had to face up to the burial of his own close kin and she is a great lady. The previous burials were of strangers and sojourners in a land not their own. Abraham wants Sarah to be buried in her own land. Her burial therefore prepares the way for his own burial, and those of his descendants (Genesis 49:30-32; Genesis 50:13), in the chosen land. It looks to the future. The ‘possession of a burying-place’ is an indication of permanence. It is a new beginning.

KEY VERSE

Genesis 23:2 Sarah died in Kiriath-arba (that is, Hebron) in the land of Canaan; and Abraham went in to mourn for Sarah and to weep for her.

KEY EVENT

Sarah’s death.

KEY THOUGHT

Abraham bought land in Canaan to bury his wife and in the process showed that he believed God would eventually give him the land Canaan as a permeant possession.

KEY CROSS-REFERENCE

Genesis 49:29-32 Then he (Jacob) charged them and said to them, "I am about to be gathered to my people; bury me with my fathers in the cave that is in the field of Ephron the Hittite, in the cave that is in the field of Machpelah, which is before Mamre, in the land of Canaan, which Abraham bought along with the field from Ephron the Hittite for a burial site. There they buried Abraham and his wife Sarah, there they buried Isaac and his wife Rebekah, and there I buried Leah--the field and the cave that is in it, purchased from the sons of Heth."