Genesis 23
Genesis 25:1-11
We have reached the end of our journey with Abraham, and what a journey it has been! We’re going to spend a few minutes on these final chapters, rounding off the story, and then we’re going to have an interactive review of Abraham’s story – so put your thinking caps on! – and I will end off by reminding us of the BIG things we have learned from Genesis 11-25: Abraham the man of Faith – or perhaps more correctly: God: The God of Blessing!
Chapter 23 tells us of the death of Sara at the ripe old age of 127, her final 30 years being full of joy and blessing watching her son grow to be a man. Her own son Isaac, born to her in impossible circumstances. God had blessed her as he had promised, and turned her sadness into laughter.
But what is significant in this chapter is the story which takes up the most time: buying the land. Because this is a purchase of faith. Abraham is not content to receive it as a gift, or even for a discount – he pays full price (perhaps even more than full price) – so that he secures it for his descendants after him.
Why is this a purchase of faith? Because Abraham is buying this land trusting that one day God’s promise will be fulfilled and that his descendant will live in THIS land, this place. He’s saying this is where my wife will be buried, this is where I will be buried, for this is where my family will live for generations after me.
Note the careful structure and attention to detail in this chapter. In v 6 Abraham is called an “honoured prince” literally it reads “you are a prince of God”. They recognise God’s blessing in his life, and the author reminds us of this: Abraham was blessed by God. Abraham then stands and bows low (v7) – here comes an important request: “I don’t just want a place to bury my wife – I want a burial plot – I want some of the land.”
He does not want to borrow a tomb, or even be gifted a tomb, as the gift would eventually revert back to the family who gave it.
He does not even want to pay less than fair price, as this could also lead to problems in future. What if Ephron’s descendants became poor? They might look back upon this “foreigner” as having cheated them out of the land, and so claim it back.
No, Abraham wanted to OWN the land, a symbol of his trust in the promise of God. And he bought it with the wealth that God had provided. God, the great giver of gifts, the keeper of promises.
And after some very polite negotiation “no take it for free” “no I will buy it” “it’s worth 400, but I’ll give it to you for nothing” “here’s 400” “deal” – and Abraham has a significant symbol of the promise of God.
It’s a little bit like the prophet Jeremiah buying a plot of land just before Jerusalem’s destruction by the Babylonians. Their army was right outside, land was worthless – but Jeremiah buys it. Why? Because he believed the word of the Lord, that in 70 years they would return to the land and be restored. It was a symbol of his faith in the Lord’s word.
With us too, the way we spend our money reflects how we trust the Lord. Are we building up treasures in heaven, giving money to support gospel work, investing in people, their eternal destiny – or are we only concerned about the here and now, getting as much as we can. Remember – stuff here breaks, rots, falls apart, needs maintaining – but our heavenly treasure lasts forever.
So Abraham buys a burial plot because of his faith in the Lord. In Chapter 24 which we hopped over, the story starts to focus in on Isaac and Rebekah, his wife, provided by the hand of God, and we see that God is blessing Isaac, just as he had promised. As we read in 25:11 After Abraham’s death, God blessed his son Isaac, who settled near Beer-lahai-roi in the Negev.
Because the story has now moved on from Abraham to Isaac. Chapter 25 spends a few verses on the final years of Abraham – and that’s basically it. Abraham’s part in this tale is over, his job is done – but God’s plan – oh, that is just beginning! Wait and see what God will do! After Abraham’s death, God blessed his son Isaac.
So let us say good-bye to Abraham as we look at v1-10 of chapter 25. He married again after Sarah’s death and had lots of children – but 5 Abraham gave everything he owned to his son Isaac. Isaac was the son of the Promise, the son of Abraham and Sarah. The sons of his “concubines” were looked after, but it was Isaac who was the primary heir. The Bible background commentary tells me that “The concubines, or secondary wives, of Abraham were Hagar and Keturah. Concubines were usually women who did not possess a dowry, and thus their children did not have primary rights to inheritance.” Basically, women from poorer families. Sara was probably from a wealthy family, perhaps even royal, since her name “Sara” means “princess”. Hagar was a servant, and Keturah seems to have been from an ordinary family, certainly unable to pay a dowry to such a rich man as Abraham was at this stage! By calling Keturah a concubine in v6, the author reminds us that Isaac was the legal heir (the one who inherits everything), not her sons.
So Abraham had many happy years together with Keturah, his wife, and then the author tells us quite simply in v7-9, with no great song and dance that Abraham lived for 175 years, 8 and he died at a ripe old age, having lived a long and satisfying life. He breathed his last and joined his ancestors in death. 9 His sons Isaac and Ishmael buried him in the cave of Machpelah, near Mamre, in the field of Ephron son of Zohar the Hittite. (the plot he bought back in chapter 23).
And that’s it. A long and satisfying life, full of the blessing of God. That blessing is now passed on to his son, Isaac, and the rest of the Bible traces that great promise of land, people and blessing, given to Abraham back in chapter 12 when he called him out of the land of Ur and set him on a new course, a new life, a new adventure, that would bless the world – the Bible traces that promise all the way through Moses, David, the prophets, and finally to Jesus.
Review of what we’ve learned. We’ll do it a little differently – Q&A-
Anyone remember the big promise God gave to Abraham in chapter 12: Promised three things: LAND, PEOPLE, BLESSING.
Land starting to be fulfilled: Symbol of the promise to come. Isaac, the miracle child, child of the promise, symbol of promise to come. And links in to previous promise in 3:15 of a serpent crusher. For the world was cursed through Satan’s work, but the descendant of Abraham would bless the world.
Blessing – wow, big time fulfilled. But how, how can God bless a sinner? Big questions throughout Genesis 11-25. And indeed through the whole Old Testament. That tension of a holy God meeting with unholy people is somewhat explained by the sacrificial system and Temple – but even OT people understood it was not enough. The tension only relieved finally in Christ. Christ the meeting place between God and man, the true Temple, the true sacrifice.
There are many things we could draw from this story.
There is the lesson of Lot, who abandons the blessing of God centred on Abraham, and ends up piercing himself with many sorrows. And often we can live a sort of “Christian” life like that. You probably know people like that – maybe you are like that or have been. I was. A life lived in disobedience, or in lip service, going through the external motions, but keeping your distance from God, not letting him be God in all of your life. And we pierce ourselves with many sorrows. Lot’s end was tragic: he lost all his wealth, his city was destroyed, his wife was turned to salt for disobedience, he ended up a strange old hermit living in a cave, and his own daughters raped him. Yuck. Why didn’t he just go back to Abraham?
If you’re doing a Lot – turn back to Christ, give yourself fully to him. The alternative is full of sorrow.
There is the story of Hagar, the servant girl. Her voice ignored by everyone – except God. Used and abused by everyone – but God hears her cry, sees her, seeks her out and restores her. If that’s you – unseen, unheard, unimportant, used – God sees you. Cry out to him, and he will answer. His mercy is everlasting, and his shoulders are big enough to bear your pain.
There is the great promise of land, people, blessing, the world being blessed through Abraham’s descendant – and as we trace this promise through the Bible this descendant turns out to be Jesus, son of Abraham, son of David, who says in Acts 1:8 You will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you. And you will be my witnesses, telling people about me everywhere—in Jerusalem, throughout Judea, in Samaria, and to the ends of the earth. The Gospel; the great blessing of God. That he took our punishment for sins, and we take his place (it’s a swap) – his Holy Spirit comes to live IN US – that’s how close we are to God! Blessing. We, the church, are called his PEOPLE, and our country, our LAND, is Heaven itself, the New Creation, a city which is called “the Lord is There” (Ezekiel 48:35).
There is the sure judgement of God on sin. He is patient, but for those who refuse to repent his anger will burn against them. The cities of Sodom and Gomorrah were full of wickedness, and “a great outcry had reached the Lord, because their sin [was] so flagrant.” (18:20) – and the Lord moved in terrifying judgement and the cities were consumed with fire and sulphur and the land was laid bare. There is no hope for those who remain in rebellion against God. It’s no joke. His judgment is real. Hell is real. It is a severe warning, given time and time again. So if you don’t know God, if you are living in ignorance of him, or in outright rebellion – repent. If you have not accepted Jesus as both Lord and Saviour – do it now. The alternative is horrifying.
And that leads us to the one major point that hits us time and time again through this story, and indeed through the whole Bible. It is the heartbeat of God, the heartbeat of the Gospel, and it is our hope and our salvation.
It is this: God blesses sinners.
Abraham’s story tells us repeatedly that God blesses sinners.
If we turn to him, he will forgive us, he will bless us, for God blesses sinners.
For Abraham is not perfect, not by a long shot. Like almost all the other “heroes” of the Bible he has significant flaws! He lied, he was selfish, he was a sexual sinner, he made mistakes, he almost threw away the blessing of God (as if he could!) – in short he was a lot like you and me: an imperfect person, who is inconsistent in faith at best, who struggles to trust God, and who sometimes makes a massive mess of things. And yet God says “In you all the nations of the earth will be blessed”. And God says “I declare you righteous” (Abraham believed God, and he credited to him as righteousness 15:6).
Of course, Abraham never understood HOW God could bless sinners. He simply had to have faith and trust that when God said “I will bless you” that he meant it. But we know. We know that it was through the death of Christ. We know that Rom 3:25 God presented Jesus as the sacrifice for sin. People are made right with God when they believe that Jesus sacrificed his life, shedding his blood. This sacrifice shows that God was being fair when he held back and did not punish those who sinned in times past (like Abraham), 26 for he was looking ahead and including them in what he would do in this present time. God did this to demonstrate his righteousness, for he himself is fair and just, and he declares sinners to be right in his sight when they believe in Jesus.
Abraham’s hope was in Jesus. Even though he didn’t know Jesus by name, he trusted in God’s plan to forgive his sins and open the way to bless him eternally. That’s why Jesus said that “Abraham rejoiced to see my day” (John 8:56). Abraham trusted in the future hope of Jesus, that through him God would bless sinners like Abraham, and like you and me.
Ro 5:6–11 When we were utterly helpless, Christ came at just the right time and died for us sinners. … God showed his great love for us by sending Christ to die for us while we were still sinners… So now we can rejoice in our wonderful new relationship with God because our Lord Jesus Christ has made us friends of God.
Friends, in Christ we are blessed like Abraham was. We are his children. God blesses sinners!
Beloved child of God, do not be afraid, trust your Father. Love him, and rejoice! Your sins are covered, your life is blessed, your eternal destination is secure. We will be with him forever. Amen.
Come Lord Jesus, come. Amen.
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