The first two verses refer to the emotional response of Abraham to his wife’s death. The remaining eighteen verses have to do with the purchase of the plot where Sarah is buried.
Preparation for Sarah’s Parting
While Sarah’s death is not recorded until Genesis 23, the previous chapter has prepared Abraham and us for the events of our passage. The “sacrifice” of Isaac on Mount Moriah brought Abraham to a firm faith in God’s power to raise the dead (cf. Hebrews 11:19). While this did not prove a necessity in the case of Isaac, for God stayed Abraham’s hand. It brought a deep understanding that God has the power to raise the dead, and as we know He brought forth Jesus Christ from the grave. Great is Thy victory! For us, it is a promise that though we may rest in the grave, a day will come when the righteous dead will be called forth from the grave. “O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory?” (1 Cor. 15:55-57). This is the first resurrection, the one to desire to be in (Rev. 20:6, 1 Thess. 4:13-18). This is the one that leads to eternal life. The next resurrection, after the saints enjoy a 1,000 year reign in heaven with Christ, is one that will result in judgment for their sins with the execution of their sentence…the second death – eternal destruction. You see, those in the second resurrection chose not to accept Christ righteousness as their covering; so they stand condemned to eternal condemnation. Their sins are not covered, therefore they come under the penalty – For the wages of sin is death (Romans 6:23). Eternal death is the opposite reward from eternal life!
Furthermore, the last verses of chapter 22 record an incident which would bear upon the future:
Now it came about after these things, that it was told Abraham, saying, “Behold, Milcah also has borne children to your brother Nahor: Uz his firstborn and Buz his brother and Kemuel the father of Aram and Chesed and Hazo and Pildash and Jidlaph and Bethuel.” And Bethuel become the father of Rebekah; these eight Milcah bore to Nahor, Abraham’s brother. And his concubine, whose name was Reumah, also bore Tebah and Gaham and Tahash and Maacah ( Genesis 22:20-24; emphasis added).
In the providence of God a wife for Isaac had already been provided long before the need had arisen. God takes care of the future in advance. As someone once saidt, “The ram is already in the bush” (cf. 22:13).
Abraham’s Faith Expressed in His Response to Sarah’s Death
While our faith is not to be based upon our feelings, neither should it be divorced from our emotions. The first two verses provide the background to our chapter and also describe the grief of the patriarch:
Now Sarah lived one hundred and twenty-seven years; these were the years of the life of Sarah. And 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 (Genesis 23:1-2).
As commentators over the centuries have noted, Sarah is the only woman in the Bible whose age is revealed. One hundred twenty-seven years is a ripe old age, but the death of Sarah would have seemed untimely because of her youthfulness. Even at the age of ninety she was a woman attractive enough to catch the eye of Abimelech (Genesis 20:1-2). Sarah must have appeared to have found the fountain of youth.
Abraham seems to have been elsewhere at the time of Sarah’s death. While some fanciful explanations exist for this fact, it would be most easily explained by Abraham being out with his flocks or something similar. When he learned of the death of his wife he came to her side to mourn for her.
While the emphasis of the passage does not fall here, we do know that Abraham expressed the grief common to those who face the death of a loved one. Faith is not evidenced by a stoic, stainless steel attitude toward death. We need only to remark that our Lord wept at the grave of Lazarus (John 11:32-35).
The Purchase of a Plot
Sarah’s death brought Abraham to a point of decision. The practical matter was: “Where shall I bury Sarah?” The principal issue, however, was this: “Where shall I be buried?” Most often when a burial plot is purchased for the first partner another is bought alongside for the surviving partner, and frequently a whole family plot is secured simultaneously. When Abraham decided upon the burial place for Sarah, he also determined the place of his burial and of his descendants.
Abraham thus approached the Hittites to purchase a burial plot for himself and his family. How strange it must have been for Abraham to petition the Hittites for a burial place in light of the often repeated promise of God:
On that day the LORD made a covenant with Abram, saying, ‘To your descendants I have given this land, from the river of Egypt as far as the great river, the river Euphrates: the Kenite and the Kenizzite and the Kadmonite and the Hittite and the Perizzite and the Rephaim and the Amorite and the Canaanite and the Girgashite and the Jebusite’ (Genesis 15:18-21).
Abraham was compelled to buy a portion of the land God had promised to give him and his descendants. Furthermore, he was to purchase the land from a people that God was going to give into his hand. How ironic that Abraham should humbly bow before these people and petition them for a piece of ground.
As we have noted, the majority of chapter 23 is devoted to the description of a legal transaction involving the purchase of a burial plot in Canaan. Only in the light of that culture and time can we grasp the transaction fully. It was a legal process that followed the practices of the Hittites precisely.
Legal transactions were typically conducted at the city gate, where the city leaders were present and where witnesses were at hand (cf. Ruth 4:1ff). The terms of the agreement were determined by a sequence of negotiations fully within the customs and culture of the day. It may seem “foreign” to us, and so it is, but not to Abraham or the Hittites. Abraham’s dealings are a model of dignity and fair play.