Genesis 23

The Burial of Sarah

1 When Sarah was *127 years old,

*127 years old – so, Isaac would have been 37 when his mother died.

Literally, “The lifetime of Sarah consisted of one hundred years, twenty years and seven years. These were the years of Sarah's life.” Abraham wanted a burial plot big enough for himself and his family. He wanted to be buried next to his wife.

2 she *died at Kiriath-arba (now called **Hebron) in the land of Canaan. There Abraham mourned and wept for her.

*died - Sarah is the only woman in the Bible whose age at death is recorded. The Rabbis teach that Sarah died upon hearing of Isaac’s near death – which is actually not likely. She died not having seen the fulfillment of the promises of the land. Abraham now faces a new trial – to live in a foreign land without his life-time partner.

John 8:51-58 - I assure you, anyone who obeys my teaching will never die! The people said, "Now we know you are possessed by a demon. Even Abraham and the prophets died, but you say that those who obey your teaching will never die! … "Truly, truly, before Abraham was, I am."

Romans 5:12-14 - When Adam sinned, sin entered the entire human race. Adam's sin brought death, so death spread to everyone, for everyone sinned. Yes, people sinned even before the law was given. And though there was no law to break, since it had not yet been given, they all died anyway--even though they did not disobey an explicit commandment of God, as Adam did. What a contrast between Adam and Christ, who was yet to come!

Romans 8:38-39 - And I am convinced that nothing can ever separate us from his love. Death can't, and life can't. The angels can't, and the demons can't. Our fears for today, our worries about tomorrow, and even the powers of hell can't keep God's love away. Whether we are high above the sky or in the deepest ocean, nothing in all creation will ever be able to separate us from the love of God that is revealed in Christ Jesus our Lord.

1 Corinthians 15:13-26 - if there is no resurrection of the dead, then Christ has not been raised either. And if Christ was not raised, then all our preaching is useless, and your trust in God is useless. And we apostles would all be lying about God, for we have said that God raised Christ from the grave, but that can't be true if there is no resurrection of the dead. If there is no resurrection of the dead, then Christ has not been raised. And if Christ has not been raised, then your faith is useless, and you are still under condemnation for your sins. In that case, all who have died believing in Christ have perished! And if we have hope in Christ only for this life, we are the most miserable people in the world. But the fact is that Christ has been raised from the dead. He has become the first of a great harvest of those who will be raised to life again. So you see, just as death came into the world through a man, Adam, now the resurrection from the dead has begun through another man, Christ. Everyone dies because all of us are related to Adam, the first man. But all who are related to Christ, the other man, will be given new life. But there is an order to this resurrection: Christ was raised first; then when Christ comes back, all his people will be raised. After that the end will come, when he will turn the Kingdom over to God the Father, having put down all enemies of every kind. For Christ must reign until he humbles all his enemies beneath his feet. And the last enemy to be destroyed is death.

1 Corinthians 15:54-55- When this happens--when our perishable earthly bodies have been transformed into heavenly bodies that will never die--then at last the Scriptures will come true: "Death is swallowed up in victory.
O death, where is your victory?
O death, where is your sting?"

Revelation 21:4 - He will remove all of their sorrows, and there will be no more death or sorrow or crying or pain. For the old world and its evils are gone forever."

**Hebron – Hebron means confederacy or friendship. Evidently, they had moved from Beersheba back to Hebron where they’d lived before. Abraham had moved back to Canaan from the land of the Philistines.

Some Christians think that grieving the death of a loved one shows a lack of faith and hope in the Lord's promise of eternal life and the resurrection of the body. They forget that God created us to live on this earth forever. They forget that death is an awful intruder that came on the scene only because of sin. They forget that death is the final enemy we face in this life and in this flesh – and, like all enemies, it should be feared. Abraham and Isaac and anyone else who loses a loved one have the right to mourn and weep and be filled with sorrow.

What kept Abraham going? How was he able to handle his grief and pain and sorrow? And, how are we able to handle the grief and pain and sorrow of death? God gave Abraham the faith to believe and act on His promise - the promise of the land that God promised Abraham that would be his someday.

Abraham believes this promise and he acts upon it. Notice what he does: he buys a section of the Promised Land, the field of Machpelah with its trees and cave, as a family burial ground.

Usually, loved ones are buried in the place they call home. Sarah’s home was Haran. After all, that's where their family was living. That's where Abraham's father, Terah, is buried. That's where Abraham's servant goes to find a wife for Isaac (Genesis 24). That's where Jacob goes when he flees from his brother Esau; that's where he finds the woman he loves and marries (Genesis 29). So you would expect Abraham to have Sarah buried in Haran. But he doesn't. Instead, he wanted Sarah to be buried in Canaan.

The book of Hebrews tells us that Abraham was looking beyond the Promised Land to something else. We are told there that Abraham did this because he was confidently looking forward to a city with eternal foundations, a city designed and built by God. (Hebrews 11:10). We know this as the New Jerusalem, as the new heaven and new earth. So, when Abraham buried Sarah in Canaan, he was looking forward to the glory of God's presence and life everlasting and the resurrection of the body.

When we face the death of a loved one, this future hope or promise of God gives us the strength to keep going. Like Abraham, we can lay our loved one to rest, knowing that there will come a day when we will live forever together.

While Sarah lived 127 years, length of life is not as important as quality of life, and through the Sarah’s and Abraham’s lives, we learn that God wants us to walk before him and be blameless. We are going to die. That is for sure unless He returns first. Our goal is that when we stand before the great white throne, the Master will say Well done, my good and faithful servant. (Matthew 25:21).

Notice how Abraham’s life moves from the triumph of the “binding of Isaac” where his faith is tested and found to be good, but it is now even further tested.

Josephus notes that the 'Tree of Mamre' is approximately one half mile (6 furlongs) from Hebron proper.



As was customary in those days, the body of Sarah was placed in a tent all by itself and into that tent goes Abraham alone to weep and mourn. This is the only time we are ever told that Abraham wept. This old man has gone through many, many bitter disappointments and times of heartbreak. He was disappointed when Lot left him. He was heartbroken when Ishmael was sent out. His heart was torn with anguish when he had to offer Isaac upon the mountain.

Even Jesus experienced the pain of the loss of a loved one. He entered into all our human experiences and emotions, and as he stood by the grave of Lazarus he wept, conscious of what death had done in the experience of mankind, and conscious of the pain and trauma of parting.

It is a time of tears for Abraham. The love of his life has gone home. It is not a time of tears for Sarah. She has gone to a better place. It is a place to be happy. For the believer it is a time of joy. For the unbeliever it is not good. Sarah had been living in a tent. She is not living in a tent now! How does Abraham deal with death? How should we deal with death?

3 Then, leaving her body, he went to the *Hittite elders and said,

Esau married Hittite women - despite his mother, Rebecca's opposition. The Hittites are repeatedly mentioned as one of the seven nations dwelling in the land of Canaan, which the children of Israel are commanded to wipe out in the conquest of the land. It turns out that this command was not carried out, as even after the conquest we hear about Hittites living amongst the children of Israel, and also of marriages between the children of Israel and the Hittites. Among King David's soldiers we find Uriah the Hittite, husband of Bathsheba.

4 "Here I am, a *stranger in a foreign land, with no place to bury my wife. Please let me have a piece of land for a burial plot."

*stranger in a foreign land - Abraham did not feel this way just because he came from Ur of the Chaldeans. It was because he recognized his real home was heaven – just as our citizenship is in heaven (Philippians 3:20). He has no intention of taking her body back to Ur or to Haran – she belongs here in the land of promise to await resurrection. He wants this place not only for her, but for his body and that of his descendants. Abraham may have already decided upon that cave even before Sarah had died – perhaps they’d even discussed it.

5 The Hittites replied to Abraham,

6 "Certainly, for you are an *honored prince among us. It will be a privilege to have you choose the finest of our tombs so you can bury her there."

*honored prince - Literally, "prince of El (God)." Notice the reputation and witness that Abraham had among these people! Later, Jacob is given the name “Israel”, which means prince of El (God).

7 Then Abraham bowed low before them and said,

8 "Since this is how you feel, be so kind as to ask Ephron son of Zohar

9 to let me have the *cave of Machpelah, down at the end of his field. I want to pay the full price, of course, whatever is publicly agreed upon, so I may have a permanent burial place for my family."

The Cave of Machpelah is the world's most ancient Jewish site and the second holiest place for the Jewish people, after the Temple Mount in Jerusalem. Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Sarah, Rebecca, and Leah are all buried in the same Cave of Machpelah. Rachel was buried near Bethlehem where she died in childbirth.
The cave was uncovered several years ago beneath the massive building, revealing artifacts from the Early Israelite Period (some 30 centuries ago). The structure was built by Herod.
It is now a mosque.


*Machpelah means double cave,

Abraham wished to bury Sarah in the crypt, and, having learned that it
belonged to Ephron the Hittite, offers to buy it from him. In verse 9,
he asks explicitly for the cave at the edge of Ephron' s field, making
it clear that the cave was all he wanted. Ephron in response offers to
give Abraham both the field and the cave, meaning that he would not
sell one without the other. He then proceeds to remind Abraham of his
poor bargaining position, having to bury his dead, and sets a hefty
asking price (verse 15). Abraham graciously overpays and is now the
owner of both the cave he had wanted and the field which he had
expressed no interest in.

Why is there so little told about Sarah’s death but a lot told about the acquisition of the cave in which to bury her? The time had come for the first act of securing the Promised Land, and Abraham was the instrument in establishing a permanent claim to the land. Abraham paid four hundred silver shekels for the parcel of land. The Field of Machpelah was of incalculable importance in establishing the bond between the future generations and their homeland, as demonstrated by the repeated emphasis on the field, at Abraham's burial and again at Jacob's.

10 Ephron was sitting there among the others, and he answered Abraham as the others listened, speaking publicly before all the elders of the town.

11 "No, sir," he said to Abraham, "please listen to me. I will give you the cave and the field. Here in the presence of my people, I give it to you. Go and bury your dead."

12 Abraham bowed again to the people of the land,

13 and he replied to Ephron as everyone listened. "No, listen to me," he insisted. "I will buy it from you. Let me pay the full price for the field so I can bury my dead there."

14 "Well," Ephron answered,

15 "the land is worth *four hundred pieces of silver, but what is that between friends? Go ahead and bury your dead."

*four hundred pieces of silver - Hebrew 400 shekels, about 10 pounds in weight. A very high price compared to the ancient records.

This way of negotiating the price is typical of ancient and modern practices in that culture. As a gesture of kindness, the selling party may offer to give the property in question to the buyer, until the buyer insists on paying a price. Ephron, follows the cultural customs of bargaining. First, the seller offers to give the item. Then, when that is refused, the seller suggests a price, which he claims is modest but is really very high. This is understood to be the starting point, and from there the bargaining begins. But, here, Abraham does no haggling.

16 So Abraham paid Ephron the amount he had suggested, four hundred pieces of silver, as was publicly agreed.

17 He bought the plot of land belonging to Ephron at Machpelah, near Mamre. This included the field, the cave that was in it, and all the trees nearby.

18 They became Abraham's permanent possession by the agreement made in the presence of the Hittite elders at the city gate.

The text emphasizes this property was Abraham's land by deed, not only by the promise of God. If this was the only piece of land Abraham ever owned in the land promised to him, it shows he was a real man of faith.

19 So Abraham buried Sarah there in Canaan, in the cave of Machpelah, near Mamre, which is at Hebron.

This is where Isaac and Ishmael buried Abraham. Isaac and Rebekah were both buried here. Jacob buried Leah here, and Joseph buried Jacob here. And this was the place Joseph told his descendants to bury him, taking his bones with them when they came into the Promised Land.

20 The field and the cave were sold to Abraham by the Hittites as a permanent burial place.