The Purchase of a Grave

The Purchase of a Grave

“Sarah lived one hundred and twenty-seven years; these were the years of the life of Sarah. So Sarah died in Kirjath Arba (that is, Hebron) in the land of Canaan, and Abraham came to mourn for Sarah and to weep for her. Then Abraham stood up from before his dead, and spoke to the sons of Heth, saying, “I am a foreigner and a visitor among you. Give me property for a burial place among you, that I may bury my dead out of my sight.” And the sons of Heth answered Abraham, saying to him, “Hear us, my Lord: You are a mighty prince among us; bury your dead in the choicest of our burial places. None of us will withhold from you his burial place, that you may bury your dead.” Then Abraham stood up and bowed himself to the people of the land, the sons of Heth. And he spoke with them, saying, “If it is your wish that I bury my dead out of my sight, hear me, and meet with Ephron the son of Zohar for me, that he may give me the cave of Machpelah which he has, which is at the end of his field. Let him give it to me at the full price, as property for a burial place among you.” Now Ephron dwelt among the sons of Heth; and Ephron the Hittite answered Abraham in the presence of the sons of Heth, all who entered at the gate of his city, saying, “No, my Lord, hear me: I give you the field and the cave that is in it; I give it to you in the presence of the sons of my people. I give it to you. Bury your dead!” Then Abraham bowed himself down before the people of the land; and he spoke to Ephron in the hearing of the people of the land, saying, “If you will give it, please hear me. I will give you money for the field; take it from me and I will bury my dead there.” And Ephron answered Abraham, saying to him, “My Lord, listen to me; the land is worth four hundred shekels of silver. What is that between you and me? So bury your dead.” And Abraham listened to Ephron; and Abraham weighed out the silver for Ephron which he had named in the hearing of the sons of Heth, four hundred shekels of silver, currency of the merchants. So the field of Ephron which was in Machpelah, which was before Mamre, the field and the cave which was in it, and all the trees that were in the field, which were within all the surrounding borders, were deeded to Abraham as a possession in the presence of the sons of Heth, before all who went in at the gate of his city. And after this, Abraham buried Sarah his wife in the cave of the field of Machpelah, before Mamre (that is, Hebron) in the land of Canaan. So the field and the cave that is in it were deeded to Abraham by the sons of Heth as property for a burial place.” Genesis 23:1-20 NKJV

Sarah has died and Abraham mourns her death. So Abraham says, “Give me property among you for a burying place, that I may bury my dead out of my sight.” 

This was very interesting to me. There is a variation of this phrase that’s actually repeated seven times in this chapter. The phrase, “bury my dead.” 7 times scripture records this phrase in only 20 verses. There is a spiritual principle at work. 

In the Bible, the number seven symbolizes completeness, divine perfection, and finished work. 

Shevah: The Hebrew word for seven comes from a root meaning “to be full,” “satisfied,” or “having enough”

Shaba: This related Hebrew word means “to swear an oath”. In ancient thought, the number seven connected a complete promise with God’s faithfulness.

Sarah is dead, her life is complete. The promised son has been born. There is a completion of Sarah’s life, a finished work along with the faithfulness of God to bring the son of promise. 

But there is also a promise of a land not yet fulfilled.

Abraham stood at a grave, but he was still holding onto a promise. There will be moments when what you see looks like a grave, while what God has said looks like a promise. Faith chooses to believe God anyway.

1. Sarah died in faithfulness.

Sarah has died. She was 127 years old and this is significant she is the only woman that scripture records the age of her death. After walking with Abraham through years of uncertainty, waiting, testing, and God’s promises, Sarah’s earthly journey has come to an end.

There are no great miracles in this chapter. No fire falls from heaven. No angel appears. No dramatic victory takes place. Instead, we find Abraham mourning his wife and purchasing a grave.

The Bible shows a lot of respect for Sarah. Some of the things that Sarah did were questionable and sometimes awful, but she died in faith and faithful. 

Hebrews 11:11 ESV “By faith Sarah herself received power to conceive, even when she was past the age, since she considered him faithful who had promised.” 

Sarah had faith that the Lord would keep his promise because she recognized that God is faithful. And however much she doubted that that her own age would keep her from having children, she knew that God was faithful and she knew that God had made a promise. And so that faith in the Lord’s Word, even though sometimes she struggled with it, that faith enabled her to conceive and have a son. 

It is recorded of her-

1 Peter 3:1-6 ESV “Likewise, wives, be subject to your own husbands, so that even if some do not obey the word, they may be won without a word by the conduct of their wives, when they see your respectful and pure conduct. Do not let your adorning be external, the braiding of hair and the putting on of gold jewelry, or the clothing you wear, but let your adorning be the hidden person of the heart with the imperishable beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which in God’s sight is very precious. For this is how the holy women who hoped in God used to adorn themselves, by submitting to their own husbands, as Sarah obeyed Abraham, calling him lord. And you are her children, if you do good and do not fear anything that is frightening.” 

The Bible lifts up Sarah as an example of a holy woman of God. A godly woman doesn’t require attention through her outward appearance, but her inward character is beautifully shown by submitting to her own husband as Sarah obeyed Abraham. 

Over the last ten chapters or so, Sarah didn’t always obey Abraham. So what is Peter saying here? It is the way Sarah addressed him, calling him “lord”. Sarah had a respect for Abraham. Sarah respected his word. She had a respect for his decisions. She did not undermine her husband. She didn’t talk bad about him behind his back. And she trusted him to lead her to obey and follow the Lord.

Scripture holds up Sarah as an example of a godly wife that women should follow, even though Sarah wasn’t perfect in her own marriage. 

Isaiah chapter 51:1-2 ESV “Listen to me, you who pursue righteousness, you who seek the Lord: look to the rock from which you were hewn, and to the quarry from which you were dug. Look to Abraham your father and to Sarah who bore you; for he was but one when I called him, that I might bless him and multiply him.” 

The prophet Isaiah is saying, saying, “Remember where you came from. Remember Abraham your father, remember Sarah your mother, look to their examples, look to his faith when I called him, because I promised to bless him and multiply him.” 

So it’s not just Abraham that the Bible holds in high regard, it’s Sarah as well. 

Abraham is grieving a godly wife who ended her life faithful. She is recorded in Scripture as being faithful. 

God keeps good records. What will be recorded of you??

2. Grieve in hope

Abraham repeatedly calls Sarah “my dead”. Scripture is being deliberately blunt about death. Abraham does not minimize it or spiritualize it away. Sarah was not merely “gone.” She had died, and Abraham was grieving.

That is an important biblical picture of grief, faith does not require us to deny the reality of loss.

Abraham wept. The man who had seen God do the impossible still cried when he lost someone he loved. There is nothing unspiritual about grieving. There is nothing weak about tears. Sometimes the most faithful thing you can do is bring your broken heart before God.

Sarah’s death was real.  Abraham had walked with Sarah for many years. They had traveled together. They had faced famine together. They had waited for God’s promise together. They had experienced Isaac’s birth together. And now she was gone. 

People are a privilege not a promise. Not everyone who starts out with you, will finish with you. EX: the death of my grandmother was precious to me, I wanted her to meet Matt, I remember crying at just visiting her house years later

Abraham would have to go on without his beloved wife.

Abraham mourned. You can believe in heaven and still miss someone. You can know that God is good and still ask, “Lord, why?” You can have faith and still have tears in your eyes.

This is important because sometimes we think that strong faith means we should not grieve. Faith does not mean we never cry. Faith means that even when we cry, we still trust God.

Abraham was a man of faith, but he was also a man who experienced loss. Abraham did not pretend Sarah’s death didn’t hurt. He mourned.

HOWEVER, There is a difference between grieving and giving up.

Grief says, “This hurts because I loved.” Despair says, “There is no hope.” The Christian is allowed to grieve, but we do not have to grieve without hope.

“But I do not want you to be ignorant, brethren, concerning those who have fallen asleep, lest you sorrow as others who have no hope. For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so God will bring with Him those who sleep in Jesus.” I Thessalonians 4:13-14 NKJV

Paul tells believers not to sorrow “even as others which have no hope.” Notice that Paul doesn’t say, “Do not sorrow.” He says, do not sorrow as those who have no hope. That means our tears can coexist with our faith.

Let me let you in on something- thoughts and emotions without hope are not from God. EX: After my grandmother died, I had lost hope for a time because I took care of her and she took care of me, paid for my schooling, what was I going to do?? 

He is the God of all HOPE. I can tell you now, that if my grandmother had never died, i would never have had to get another job, and quit school and i would never have met my husband,

God still has a plan!

You may be hurting today. You may have lost a loved one. You may be grieving a relationship. You may be grieving a dream that never happened. You may be grieving a season of your life that is over. Bring your tears to the Lord.

But there is still hope in a good God that not only keeps all your tears, but He heals your broken heart. “It will always be this way” is the lie of the enemy. God moves in hope and faith.

If you are struggling with loss- I need you to hear God’s word tonight, He is the God of Hope. He wants you to believe Him for healing, for deliverance, for restoration; have hope that in time, He will restore all that was lost! Believe HE still has a plan and that your best days are ahead of you and not behind you.

3. Hope moves from grief to action

Notice the progression:

• “Abraham came to mourn for Sarah, and to weep for her” (v. 2).
• Then he gets up and begins dealing with the practical necessity of burial (v. 3).
• He negotiates for a burial place.
• He insists on paying the full price.
• Sarah is finally buried (v. 19).

The repeated language of burial moves the narrative forward. Grief is acknowledged, but Abraham doesn’t remain paralyzed by grief. He mourns, and then he takes the next faithful step.

Sometimes faith looks like getting up after we have wept and doing the next thing God has put before us.

“Then Abraham stood up from before his dead, and spoke to the sons of Heth, saying, “I am a foreigner and a visitor among you. Give me property for a burial place among you, that I may bury my dead out of my sight.” 

The Hittites answered Abraham, “Hear us, my lord; you are a prince of God among us.” 

The Hittites recognized God’s favor on Abraham. They called him a prince of God. They said, “Bury your dead in the choices of our tombs. None of us will withhold from you his tomb.” 

So Abraham asked to talk to Ephron, that he would give him the cave of Machpelah. And he said, “For the full price let him give it to me in your presence as property for a burying place.” 

Abraham wanted to get a deal done right away. He needed a burial place very quickly. He had his dead wife on his hands and he had finished his mourning and now he needed to get her buried. And so he wanted to get a deal done right away.

Ephron was sitting among the Hittites, and Ephron the Hittite answered Abraham in the hearing of all the Hittites, of all who went in at the gate of his city. This is the place where these negotiations were typically held- at the gate of the city. 

And Ephron says, “No, my Lord, hear me: I give you the field.” 

This is a typical method of negotiating a sale. The seller offers the item for free knowing that the buyer won’t accept. That’s a little bit different obviously than our modern culture. We would think if somebody today were to offer you something for free, we would think of it as that person is being extremely generous and we would accept. That’s our culture. 

But in those days, in that culture, that’s not how it was. The seller would offer it for free to make it appear as if he was being generous, but the buyer would never accept something for free because that wasn’t socially acceptable. It was socially acceptable to offer something for free. It was not socially acceptable to accept something for free. So then the buyer would offer to pay the full price and the seller would suggest a price that would be usually very high and then they would negotiate down from there to an agreed upon price. 

Abraham bowed down before the people of the land. He shows respect and integrity by bowing down and he rejects the offer of the free land, and offers to pay the full price. Ephron said the price is four hundred shekels of silver. This is an outrageous amount for a piece of land. In those days, one acre was about 40 shekels. It’s not exactly clear how large this piece of land is, but it’s probably very high for what Ephron was offering. 

And in fact, Abraham could have gone back to his family to bury Sarah for free. Remember, his family is still alive. And at the end of the last chapter, we found out that his brother Nahor had a bunch of kids. He could have gone back there and buried Sarah for free on his brother Nahor’s land.

But God told him to stay in the land of Canaan. And so he’s staying obedient to God, he’s willing to make the personal sacrifice that is required to stay obedient. 

Again, what can we learn from this? What cost is required in order to stay obedient to God? 

There’s going to be a cost. Are you willing to pay that cost? Are you willing to pay a high cost? 

400 shekels of silver,  is a very very high price for what Abraham was actually getting. But he was willing to pay it. 

Are you willing to pay a high cost in order to remain obedient to God? 

Abraham weighed out for Ephron the silver that he had named in the hearing of the Hittites as witnesses. Abraham paid the price. He did not negotiate down. 

The field and the cave that is in it were made over to Abraham as property for a burying place by the Hittites. This act solidifies Abraham’s commitment to keep his family in Canaan. Now he owns land in Canaan. Now he has personal stake in the land. He owns portion of the land. He’s now tied to it. 

This is faith in action. 

“But someone will say, “You have faith, and I have works.” Show me your faith without your works, and I will show you my faith by my works. You believe that there is one God. You do well. Even the demons believe—and tremble! But do you want to know, O foolish man, that faith without works is dead? Was not Abraham our father justified by works when he offered Isaac his son on the altar? Do you see that faith was working together with his works, and by works faith was made perfect? And the Scripture was fulfilled which says, “Abraham believed God, and it was accounted to him for righteousness.” And he was called the friend of God. You see then that a man is justified by works, and not by faith only.”

James 2:18-24 NKJV

Abraham showed his faith by his works. God had already spared his son on the altar of sacrifice and now, Abraham believed the promise of God that God was going to give him the land of Canaan, and so Abraham was spending a large amount of money on a personal stake in the land. 

Sarah, Abraham, Isaac, Rebecca, Leah, and Jacob would all be buried in this cave. This would be a very important cave to Abraham’s family. So Abraham’s concern to “bury my dead” becomes part of the establishment of a family heritage in the land God promised.

4. The grave is connected to God’s promise.

This is perhaps the most important theological significance. God had promised Abraham the land of Canaan. Yet at this point Abraham does not possess the land.

What does he own? A grave.

The first recorded piece of the promised land that Abraham legally possesses is a burial site.

So even while Abraham is standing beside a grave, God’s promise is quietly advancing.

Abraham is essentially saying: “I don’t possess this entire land yet, but I believe God’s promise enough to purchase a piece of it.”

The grave becomes a foothold of faith in the promised land. It points beyond Sarah’s death to future generations. What begins as an act of mourning becomes part of God’s unfolding covenant story.

There is a beautiful tension: death is present, but God’s promise is alive and marching on

Genesis 23 puts a grave in the middle of the promised land.

Abraham is grieving death while simultaneously believing God’s promise of life for generations to come. He cannot yet see the fulfillment of the promise.

There is another grave at the center of God’s fulfilled promise- 

“After this, Joseph of Arimathea, being a disciple of Jesus, but secretly, for fear of the Jews, asked Pilate that he might take away the body of Jesus; and Pilate gave him permission. So he came and took the body of Jesus. And Nicodemus, who at first came to Jesus by night, also came, bringing a mixture of myrrh and aloes, about a hundred pounds. Then they took the body of Jesus, and bound it in strips of linen with the spices, as the custom of the Jews is to bury. Now in the place where He was crucified there was a garden, and in the garden a new tomb in which no one had yet been laid. So there they laid Jesus, because of the Jews’ Preparation Day, for the tomb was nearby.” John 19:38-42 NKJV

The Bible does not specify a monetary amount that Joseph of Arimathea paid for the tomb of Jesus Christ. Instead, the Gospels explain that Joseph was a wealthy man who donated a brand-new, private tomb that he had already owned and had personal workmen cut directly out of solid rock. 

In ancient Judea, rock-hewn tombs with large rolling stones were luxury items reserved exclusively for royalty, high-ranking officials, and the ultra-wealthy. Christian historians and scholars often estimate that purchasing the land near Jerusalem, paying the laborers to carve the stone, and preparing the private garden would cost anywhere from $50,000 to $200,000 in today’s currency.

By donating his personal luxury tomb, Joseph directly fulfilled the Old Testament prophecy

“And they made His grave with the wicked— But with the rich at His death, Because He had done no violence, Nor was any deceit in His mouth.” Isaiah 53:9 NKJV

Just as Abraham paid way more than the land was worth, there is a cost associated with believing God.

Joseph believed that Jesus was Messiah. And he may not have understood the Promise of a risen Savior, but he believed Christ was the Savior of all mankind and so he honored Him by putting him in a new wealthy grave. This action was where he paid the highest cost- he exposes himself as a follower and believer of Christ, risking everything- his family, his reputation as a Pharisee, and his livelihood. He is standing by a grave believing for a promise.

Faith believes God’s promise even when circumstances seem to contradict it.

What cost are you willing to pay to believe Jesus?

A grave is a marker that someone has died. But that is not the end of the story 

What Satan meant to kill, God meant to fulfill His promise to heal mankind. The greatest promise in history is centered around the purchase of a son-to-be empty grave,

“Now on the first day of the week, very early in the morning, they, and certain other women with them, came to the tomb bringing the spices which they had prepared. But they found the stone rolled away from the tomb. Then they went in and did not find the body of the Lord Jesus. And it happened, as they were greatly perplexed about this, that behold, two men stood by them in shining garments. Then, as they were afraid and bowed their faces to the earth, they said to them, “Why do you seek the living among the dead? He is not here, but is risen! Remember how He spoke to you when He was still in Galilee, saying, ‘The Son of Man must be delivered into the hands of sinful men, and be crucified, and the third day rise again.’ ” Luke 24:1-7 NKJV

He had to die. He had to be buried. And He had to rise and walk out of the grave in victory. Every other Religion serves a dead man.  

We serve a risen Savior, who rose from the grave and is seated at the right hand of the Father making intercession for us. 

This means that we do not have to fear anything, including death. God is not the God of the dead, but of the living.

 “Inasmuch then as the children have partaken of flesh and blood, He Himself likewise shared in the same, that through death He might destroy him who had the power of death, that is, the devil, and release those who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage.” Hebrews 2:14-15 NKJV

Jesus shared in our humanity so that through his death he might break the power of the devil and set free those who were held in lifelong slavery by the fear of dying. We find freedom from this fear by trusting in Christ’s victory over the grave, offering assurance of forgiveness and eternal life. What can man do to me? At the very worst he can kill me and send me straight to glory!

If we live with Him, we will rise with Him. HE overcame the power of the grave! Ain’t no grave, gonna hold me down!

“Now this I say, brethren, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God; nor does corruption inherit incorruption. Behold, I tell you a mystery: We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed— in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed. For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality. So when this corruptible has put on incorruption, and this mortal has put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written: “Death is swallowed up in victory.” “O Death, where is your sting? O Hades, where is your victory?” The sting of death is sin, and the strength of sin is the law. But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. Therefore, my beloved brethren, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that your labor is not in vain in the Lord.”

I Corinthians 15:50-58 NKJV