Genesis 23

This chapter stands near the end of the Abraham narrative in Genesis. It follows the offering on Mount Moriah in chapter 22, where Abraham sets out to offer Isaac, and it is followed by Genesis 24, which tells of the search for a wife for Isaac.

Outline

• Verses 1–2 Sarah dies at the age of 127 in Kirjath-arba, that is, Hebron, in the land of Canaan, and Abraham mourns and weeps for her.
• Verses 3–9 Calling himself "a stranger and a sojourner," Abraham asks the sons of Heth (the Hittites) for a burial site. The Hittites call him "a mighty prince" (literally "a prince of God," that is, a leader established by God) and offer him the use of their own sepulchres. Abraham asks to buy, for its full price, the cave of Machpelah belonging to Ephron the son of Zohar.
• Verses 10–16 In the hearing of the Hittites gathered at the city gate, Ephron offers to give the field and the cave as a gift. When Abraham insists on paying, Ephron states that the land is worth four hundred shekels of silver, and Abraham weighs out four hundred shekels of silver, "current money with the merchant."
• Verses 17–20 The field in Machpelah before Mamre, together with the cave in it and the trees around it, is made sure to Abraham as his possession for a burying place, and Abraham buries Sarah in the cave.

Key Verses

• Genesis 23:4 "I am a stranger and a sojourner with you" — A sojourner is one who lives temporarily in another's land. The phrase reveals Abraham's situation: though he had been promised the land, he lived in it as a stranger.
• Genesis 23:16 "Four hundred shekels of silver, current money with the merchant" — The silver was of the standard used among merchants. The verse shows that the transaction was conducted publicly and at a proper price.
• Genesis 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" — This is the first land in Canaan that Abraham legally owned.

People and Places

• Abraham — The patriarch who purchases a burial site for his wife.
• Sarah — Abraham's wife. She is often noted as virtually the only woman in the Bible whose age at death is recorded.
• The Hittites — The people living in the region of Hebron at the time.
• Ephron — The son of Zohar and the owner of the field of Machpelah.
• Hebron — The place where Sarah died. Its older name was Kirjath-arba, and the text adds that Mamre is Hebron.
• The cave of Machpelah — The cave at the end of the field that Abraham purchased.

Points for Reflection

• Some interpret Ephron's initial offer to give the land freely as a polite form of bargaining customary in the ancient Near East; others see it as genuine goodwill. Many interpreters regard four hundred shekels of silver as a high price.
• Many interpreters read the purchase of this small plot as the first concrete realization of the promise of the land of Canaan, a "firstfruits" of the promise.
• A Jewish tradition relates that Sarah died upon hearing that Isaac had nearly been sacrificed, but the text itself does not connect Sarah's death with the events of chapter 22.
• Abraham, Isaac and Rebekah, Leah, and Jacob are later buried in this cave as well. A site known today as the Tomb of the Patriarchs is located in Hebron.
• Stephen states that Abraham bought a tomb from the sons of Hamor in Shechem (Acts 7:16), and various explanations have been offered for how to reconcile this with the account in this chapter.
• Hebrews 11:13–16 says that the patriarchs lived as "strangers and pilgrims on the earth" and desired a better country, echoing Abraham's confession in Genesis 23:4.