2024年10月27日 / グレース・トロント日本語教会
創世記 23章
17 こうして、マムレに面するマクペラにあるエフロンの畑地、すなわち、その畑と、畑地にある洞穴と、畑地の周りの境界線内にあるすべての木は、
18 その町の門に入るすべてのヒッタイト人たちの目の前で、アブラハムの所有となった。
19 その後アブラハムは、マムレに面するマクペラの畑地の洞穴に、妻サラを葬った。マムレはヘブロンにあり、カナンの地にある。
20 こうして、この畑地とその中にある洞穴は、ヒッタイト人たちの手から離れて、私有の墓地としてアブラハムの所有となった。
Please note that the Japanese translation below is done by Google Translate.
Oct 27, 2024 / Grace Toronto Japanese Church
Genesis 23
17 So the field of Ephron in Machpelah, which was to the east of Mamre, the field with the cave that was in it and all the trees that were in the field, throughout its whole area, was made over 18 to Abraham as a possession in the presence of the Hittites, before all who went in at the gate of his city. 19 After this, Abraham buried Sarah his wife in the cave of the field of Machpelah east of Mamre (that is, Hebron) in the land of Canaan. 20 The field and the cave that is in it were made over to Abraham as property for a burying place by the Hittites.
OPENING
It is a serious matter when someone dies, isn’t it? We grieve and hold a funeral; we do so to honor the one who died.
Gen 23 is an interesting chapter in that sense because it only so briefly mentions the death of Sarah: “Sarah lived 127 years” (v. 1); “And Sarah died in Hebron” (v. 2); and Abraham wept for her (v. 2). That’s it: only 2 verses.
This seems odd when we think about Sarah. Who was she? She was an important figure. She was Abraham’s wife and Isaac’s mother. Abraham and Sarah were together for at least 100 years. So, it seems almost unfair that Gen 23 uses only 2 short verses to describe her death. What’s even more intriguing is that the rest of Gen 23 gives a lengthy description of Abraham buying land. Isn’t it strange?
CONTEXT
Sarah died in Hebron. And Hebron was not their homeland. Abraham was originally from Ur of the Chaldeans. They moved and settled in Haran. And when Abraham was in Haran, God called him (Gen 12) and sent him to the land of Canaan. God had promised to give him the land. We all remember that story.
That’s why, when Sarah died, Abraham decided to bury her in the land of Canaan, not in his hometown. So, instead of leaving Hebron and returning to his hometown to bury her there, Abraham approached the Hittites (Gen 23:3) who were living in Hebron. He went to a sort of a town council of the Hittites where there were a group of Hittite men and gave them a request: Please give me some land among you for a burying place for my wife (v. 4).
And the Hittite men’s response was generous. They graciously offered their land to him. They said Abraham was welcome to take the best part of their land to bury Sarah (v. 6). Abraham expressed his thanks and requested the cave of Machpelah. And the owner of the cave was a Hittite man named Ephron (vv. 8–9). But Abraham didn’t want to take it for free; he wanted to pay “the full price” (v. 9). The owner Ephron’s shockingly generous offer was this: (1) “I give you the field, and (2) I give you the cave that is in it” (v. 11). Abraham bowed down and said in front of all the people gathered there: “I give the price of the field. Accept it from me, that I may bury my dead there” (v. 13). Ephron tried to refuse the payment: Well, the price is 400 shekels of silver, but “what is that between you and me?” Ephron really didn’t want to take the money. He wanted to give Abraham the land for free. But Abraham weighed out 400 shekels of silver—the shekel was a unit of weight—and made the full payment (v. 16).
So, this is the context of today’s text (vv. 17–20).
TEXT
18 “in the presence of the Hittites, before all”: Abraham didn’t want to receive the land for free; as soon as he learned about the full price of the property, he made the payment fully. And it became official that now “the field of Ephron in Machpelah, which was to the east of Mamre, the field with the cave that was in it and all the trees that were in the field, throughout its whole area, was made over to Abraham as a possession.”
And “After this” (v. 19), Abraham finally buried his wife in the land that he had officially purchased from the Hittites. And the text clearly says that it was “in the land of Canaan” (v. 19). And v. 20 is the final, official, and public statement of ownership transfer: “The field and the cave that is in it were made over to Abraham as property for a burying place by the Hittites” (v. 20). This final verse also shows that the important topic of Gen 23 is not Sarah’s death but Abraham buying the land.
Then today’s lesson is buy land (and make a lot of money)? I don’t think so. Then, why is it that the author of Genesis puts much more emphasis on Abraham’s land purchasing story than on the description of Sarah’s death?
Answering this question, we can learn two things.
APPLICATIONS
(1) God’s Promise Keeping: Not So Glorious or Easy
The first lesson we learn is that, when God keeps his promise, it is not always glorious (dramatic) or easy.
Think about Isaac. How old was Abraham when he first received God’s promise of a son? He was 75. How old was he when God actually gave him a son? He was 100 years old. Was that 25-year waiting period easy? Not at all. Abraham and Sarah had to go through several trials and challenges. Sometimes they succeeded. Sometimes they failed.
Now think about God’s promise on land. God had promised to give them the land. They had been living in the land of Canaan for almost 60 years now, but they didn’t possess even a small portion of the land. And Sarah died. And Abraham knew his time was coming, too.
Abraham decided to buy some land to bury his wife. Why? It’s because Abraham was now beginning to see that God’s promise of land was being fulfilled. Just because God had promised to give him the land of Canaan, by faith in God, Abraham decided to buy land and bury Sarah in Canaan, neither in Haran nor in Ur of the Chaldeans.
You see, the fulfillment of God’s promise of land to Abraham (13:17; 15:7–8) . . . start here (Hamilton). It was the amazing beginning of God keeping his land promise for Abraham, but in such an undramatic way, in such an ordinary, boring (so to speak) way. What’s so exciting about this story of Abraham’s purchase of the land? Nothing. Gen 23 doesn’t sound exciting or dramatic. But Abraham’s act of land purchase was his great step of faith in God.
There was one more element of Abraham’s strong faith in God when you think about the whole process of Abraham buying the land from Ephron. The landowner Ephron first offered the land for free. It was an absolutely amazing offer, wasn’t it? If someone offers me a piece of land in Toronto, I’ll surely take it. However, Abraham refused to take it for free; he wanted to make the full payment. Why? Because he trusted God and his promise. Let me explain. Abraham trusted that God would keep his promise of land. So, when the opportunity came up, he took it and confirmed his trust in God by securing the ownership of the land by paying the full price of the land. In other words, he believed that (even though he was buying the land himself) the land was being given to him by God—so, he wanted to proclaim to the world that the land was God’s gift to Abraham and his descendants by securing his possession. Simply speaking, Abraham wanted to buy the land legally and completely because he trusted God and his promise.
Sarah was buried in this cave in Hebron in the land of Canaan. Abraham, Isaac [35:27-29], Rebekah, Jacob, and Leah were buried in the same cave (25:9; 49:30–31; 50:13).
(2) God’s Promise: Source of our Hope
No matter how undramatic it may be, God’s promise is the true source of our hope.
Let’s return to look at Abraham’s heart when he was buying the land from the Hittite man Ephron. While Abraham was a rich man, he still was a foreigner and outsider in the land of Canaan. He might have been perplexed between his reality (stranger in the land) and God’s promise (I will give you this land). Plus, he was grieving over the passing of his wife Sarah. All he had was his son Isaac. So, clearly, it was not an easy time for him.
But in the middle of his heart-breaking tragedy and indescribable confusion, he decided to move forward by faith—he bought the land and buried Sarah.
When I saw Abraham take this step of faith, I was reminded of 2 Cor 4, the Apostle Paul’s confession: “So, we do not lose heart. Though our outer self is wasting away, our inner self is being renewed day by day. For this light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison, as we look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen. For the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal” (2 Cor 4:16–18) Both Abraham and Paul could see the things that were unseen. They did not lose heart. Their outer bodies were wasting away. But their inner selves were being renewed day by day. How was it possible? I think it was possible because they kept their faith in God’s promise even thought they couldn’t see it with their eyes.