The One Year Chronological Study Bible - Flipbook - Page 35
page 31
The Burial of Sarah • GENESIS 23:1-20
When Sarah was 127 years old, 2 she died at
Kiriath-arba (now called Hebron) in the land
of Canaan. There Abraham mourned and wept
for her.
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.”
12 Abraham again bowed low before the citizens of the land, 13 and 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,
1
END & NEW
BEGINNING
22:17 Hebrew seed; also in 22:17b, 18.
MISSIONS
SILENT
RETURN
CAPTIVITY
JANUARY 7
you. I will multiply your descendants* beyond
number, like the stars in the sky and the sand
on the seashore. Your descendants will conquer
the cities of their enemies. 18And through your
descendants all the nations of the earth will be
blessed—all because you have obeyed me.”
19 Then they returned to the servants and traveled back to Beersheba, where Abraham continued to live.
20 Soon after this, Abraham heard that Milcah,
his brother Nahor’s wife, had borne Nahor eight
sons. 21 The oldest was named Uz, the next oldest was Buz, followed by Kemuel (the ancestor
of the Arameans), 22 Kesed, Hazo, Pildash, Jidlaph, and Bethuel. 23 (Bethuel became the father
of Rebekah.) In addition to these eight sons
from Milcah, 24 Nahor had four other children
from his concubine Reumah. Their names were
Tebah, Gaham, Tahash, and Maacah.
CHURCH
Some time later, God tested Abraham’s faith.
“Abraham!” God called.
“Yes,” he replied. “Here I am.”
2 “Take your son, your only son—yes, Isaac,
whom you love so much—and go to the land of
Moriah. Go and sacrifice him as a burnt offering
on one of the mountains, which I will show you.”
3 The next morning Abraham got up early. He
saddled his donkey and took two of his servants
with him, along with his son, Isaac. Then he
chopped wood for a fire for a burnt offering and
set out for the place God had told him about. 4 On
the third day of their journey, Abraham looked
up and saw the place in the distance. 5 “Stay here
with the donkey,” Abraham told the servants.
“The boy and I will travel a little farther. We will
worship there, and then we will come right back.”
6 So Abraham placed the wood for the burnt
offering on Isaac’s shoulders, while he himself
carried the fire and the knife. As the two of them
walked on together, 7 Isaac turned to Abraham
and said, “Father?”
“Yes, my son?” Abraham replied.
“We have the fire and the wood,” the boy said,
“but where is the sheep for the burnt offering?”
8 “God will provide a sheep for the burnt offering, my son,” Abraham answered. And they both
walked on together.
9 When they arrived at the place where God
had told him to go, Abraham built an altar and
arranged the wood on it. Then he tied his son,
Isaac, and laid him on the altar on top of the
wood. 10And Abraham picked up the knife to kill
his son as a sacrifice. 11At that moment the angel
of the Lord called to him from heaven, “Abraham! Abraham!”
“Yes,” Abraham replied. “Here I am!”
12 “Don’t lay a hand on the boy!” the angel said.
“Do not hurt him in any way, for now I know that
you truly fear God. You have not withheld from
me even your son, your only son.”
13 Then Abraham looked up and saw a ram
caught by its horns in a thicket. So he took the
ram and sacrificed it as a burnt offering in place
of his son. 14Abraham named the place YahwehYireh (which means “the Lord will provide”). To
this day, people still use that name as a proverb:
“On the mountain of the Lord it will be provided.”
15 Then the angel of the Lord called again to
Abraham from heaven. 16 “This is what the Lord
says: Because you have obeyed me and have not
withheld even your son, your only son, I swear
by my own name that 17 I will certainly bless
1
GOSPEL
Abraham’s Obedience Tested • GENESIS 22:1-24
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