Every Woman's Bible Genesis sampler - Flipbook - Page 45
35
3 Then, leaving her body, he said to the Hittite elders, 4 “Here I am, a stranger and a foreigner among
you. Please sell me a piece of land so I can give my
wife a proper burial.”
5 The Hittites replied to Abraham, 6 “Listen, my
lord, you are an honored prince among us. Choose
the finest of our tombs and bury her there. No one
here will refuse to help you in this way.”
7 Then Abraham bowed low before the Hittites
8 and said, “Since you are willing to help me in this
way, be so kind as to ask Ephron son of Zohar 9 to let
me buy his cave at Machpelah, down at the end of
his field. I will pay the full price in the presence of
witnesses, so I will have a permanent burial place
for my family.”
10 Ephron was sitting there among the others, and
he answered Abraham as the others listened, speaking publicly before all the Hittite elders of the town.
11 “No, my lord,” he said to Abraham, “please listen to
me. I will give you the field and the cave. Here in the
presence of my people, I give it to you. Go and bury
your dead.”
12Abraham again bowed low before the citizens of
the land, 13and he replied to Ephron as everyone listened. “No, listen to me. I will buy it from you. Let me
pay the full price for the field so I can bury my dead
there.”
14 Ephron answered Abraham, 15 “My lord, please
listen to me. The land is worth 400 pieces* of silver,
but what is that between friends? Go ahead and bury
your dead.”
16 So Abraham agreed to Ephron’s price and paid
the amount he had suggested—400 pieces of silver,
weighed according to the market standard. The Hittite elders witnessed the transaction.
17 So Abraham bought the plot of land belonging to Ephron at Machpelah, near Mamre. This included the field itself, the cave that was in it, and all
the surrounding trees. 18 It was transferred to Abraham as his permanent possession in the presence
of the Hittite elders at the city gate. 19 Then Abraham
buried his wife, Sarah, there in Canaan, in the cave
of Machpelah, near Mamre (also called Hebron).
20 So the field and the cave were transferred from
the Hittites to Abraham for use as a permanent
burial place.
GENESIS 24
“It is not how
many years we live,
but rather what we
do with them.”
E VAN G E LIN E CORY B OOTH
(1865–1950) British theologian
and Salvation Army general
A Wife for Isaac
Abraham was now a very old man, and the
Lord had blessed him in every way. 2 One
day Abraham said to his oldest servant, the man in
charge of his household, “Take an oath by putting
your hand under my thigh. 3 Swear by the Lord, the
God of heaven and earth, that you will not allow my
son to marry one of these local Canaanite women.
4 Go instead to my homeland, to my relatives, and
find a wife there for my son Isaac.”
5 The servant asked, “But what if I can’t find a
young woman who is willing to travel so far from
home? Should I then take Isaac there to live among
your relatives in the land you came from?”
6 “No!” Abraham responded. “Be careful never to
take my son there. 7 For the Lord, the God of heaven,
who took me from my father’s house and my native
land, solemnly promised to give this land to my descendants.* He will send his angel ahead of you, and
he will see to it that you find a wife there for my son.
8 If she is unwilling to come back with you, then you
are free from this oath of mine. But under no circumstances are you to take my son there.”
9 So the servant took an oath by putting his hand
under the thigh of his master, Abraham. He swore to
follow Abraham’s instructions. 10Then he loaded ten
of Abraham’s camels with all kinds of expensive gifts
24
23:15 Hebrew 400 shekels, about 10 pounds or 4.6 kilograms in weight; also in 23:16. 24:7 Hebrew seed; also in 24:60.
23:1-4 God had promised Abraham land, numerous descendants through Sarah, and blessing for their family (12:1-3).
However, until Sarah’s death they owned no land. Abraham
acquired a field and a cave to use as a family tomb. This transaction was the first sign that a permanent transition had taken
place, as people normally buried dead relatives in their ancestral
homeland (see 49:29-32; 50:24-25).
23:4-20 The negotiations between Abraham and the Hittites provide a fascinating window into ancient Mesopotamian culture.
Although Ephron explicitly stated that he would “give” the land,
Abraham took Ephron’s casual mention of the value of the land as
the price he expected to receive. The witness of community elders
ensured that no one would later contest Abraham’s ownership.
24:3-8 Abraham’s unwillingness for Isaac to marry a Canaanite
woman or to return to his father’s homeland was rooted in God’s
covenant promises. Abraham sought to maintain faithfulness to
God by avoiding intermarriage with uncircumcised Canaanites
who would encourage them to worship other gods. He also
insisted that Isaac remain in the land of Canaan in anticipation
that it would be their land.
