CHAPTER 23, ABRAHAM MOURNS SARAH'S DEATH.
23:1 AND SARAH WAS AN HUNDRED AND SEVEN AND TWENTY YEARS OLD: [THESE WERE] THE YEARS OF THE LIFE OF SARAH.
23:2 AND SARAH DIED IN KIRJATH-ARBA; THE SAME [IS] HEBRON IN THE LAND OF CANAAN: AND ABRAHAM CAME TO MOURN FOR SARAH, AND TO WEEP FOR HER.
A.After offering Isaac, Abraham had gone back to dwell at Beer-sheba - 22:19; now we find him coming to Hebron.
B.Interesting note: Sarah is the only woman in the Bible whose age is given at her death.
23:3 AND ABRAHAM STOOD UP FROM BEFORE HIS DEAD, AND SPAKE UNTO THE SONS OF HETH, SAYING,
23:4 I [AM] A STRANGER AND A SOJOURNER WITH YOU: GIVE ME A POSSESSION OF A BURYINGPLACE WITH YOU, THAT I MAY BURY MY DEAD OUT OF MY SIGHT.
**Many years before, the entire Land had been promised to Abraham, but he did not yet own any of it.
23:5 AND THE CHILDREN OF HETH ANSWERED ABRAHAM, SAYING UNTO HIM,
23:6 HEAR US, MY LORD: THOU [ART] A MIGHTY PRINCE AMONG US: IN THE CHOICE OF OUR SEPULCHRES BURY THY DEAD; NONE OF US SHALL WITHHOLD FROM THEE HIS SEPULCHRE, BUT THAT THOU MAYEST BURY THY DEAD.
**This and what follows (through Verse 16) is an example of the customary way of their trading; they used a mediator.
23:7 AND ABRAHAM STOOD UP, AND BOWED HIMSELF TO THE PEOPLE OF THE LAND, [EVEN] TO THE CHILDREN OF HETH.
23:8 AND HE COMMUNED WITH THEM, SAYING, IF IT BE YOUR MIND THAT I SHOULD BURY MY DEAD OUT OF MY SIGHT; HEAR ME, AND ENTREAT FOR ME TO EPHRON THE SON OF ZOHAR,
23:9 THAT HE MAY GIVE ME THE CAVE OF MACHPELAH, WHICH HE HATH, WHICH [IS] IN THE END OF HIS FIELD; FOR AS MUCH MONEY AS IT IS WORTH HE SHALL GIVE IT ME FOR A POSSESSION OF A BURYINGPLACE AMONGST YOU.
23:10 AND EPHRON DWELT AMONG THE CHILDREN OF HETH: AND EPHRON THE HITTITE ANSWERED ABRAHAM IN THE AUDIENCE OF THE CHILDREN OF HETH, [EVEN] OF ALL THAT WENT IN AT THE GATE OF HIS CITY, SAYING,
23:11 NAY, MY LORD, HEAR ME: THE FIELD GIVE I THEE, AND THE CAVE THAT [IS] THEREIN, I GIVE IT THEE; IN THE PRESENCE OF THE SONS OF MY PEOPLE GIVE I IT THEE: BURY THY DEAD.
23:12 AND ABRAHAM BOWED DOWN HIMSELF BEFORE THE PEOPLE OF THE LAND.
23:13 AND HE SPAKE UNTO EPHRON IN THE AUDIENCE OF THE PEOPLE OF THE LAND, SAYING, BUT IF THOU [WILT GIVE IT], I PRAY THEE, HEAR ME: I WILL GIVE THEE MONEY FOR THE FIELD; TAKE [IT] OF ME, AND I WILL BURY MY DEAD THERE.
23:14 AND EPHRON ANSWERED ABRAHAM, SAYING UNTO HIM,
23:15 MY LORD, HEARKEN UNTO ME: THE LAND [IS WORTH] FOUR HUNDRED SHEKELS OF SILVER; WHAT [IS] THAT BETWIXT ME AND THEE? BURY THEREFORE THY DEAD.
23:16 AND ABRAHAM HEARKENED UNTO EPHRON; AND ABRAHAM WEIGHED TO EPHRON THE SILVER, WHICH HE HAD NAMED IN THE AUDIENCE OF THE SONS OF HETH, FOUR HUNDRED SHEKELS OF SILVER, CURRENT [MONEY] WITH THE MERCHANT.
23:17 AND THE FIELD OF EPHRON, WHICH [WAS] IN MACHPELAH, WHICH [WAS] BEFORE MAMRE, THE FIELD, AND THE CAVE WHICH [WAS] THEREIN, AND ALL THE TREES THAT [WERE] IN THE FIELD, THAT [WERE] IN ALL THE BORDERS ROUND ABOUT, WERE MADE SURE (WERE DEEDED TO, NKJ)
23:18 UNTO ABRAHAM FOR A POSSESSION IN THE PRESENCE OF THE CHILDREN OF HETH, BEFORE ALL THAT WENT IN AT THE GATE OF HIS CITY.
23:19 AND AFTER THIS, ABRAHAM BURIED SARAH HIS WIFE IN THE CAVE OF THE FIELD OF MACHPELAH BEFORE MAMRE: THE SAME [IS] HEBRON IN THE LAND OF CANAAN.
23:20 AND THE FIELD, AND THE CAVE THAT [IS] THEREIN, WERE MADE SURE UNTO ABRAHAM FOR A POSSESSION OF A BURYINGPLACE BY THE SONS OF HETH.
A.This is the only part of the Land he ever actually possessed personally; it was all his only in promise to his children.
B.As the story progresses, we learn that Abraham, Isaac, Rebekah, Leah, and Jacob we all buried in this same cave.
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