Giving and Receiving

DEVOTION

GENESIS

GIVING AND RECEIVING

Gen 23

23:1 Sarah lived to be a hundred and twenty-seven years old. 2 She died at Kiriath Arba (that is, Hebron) in the land of Canaan, and Abraham went to mourn for Sarah and to weep over her. 3 Then Abraham rose from beside his dead wife and spoke to the Hittites. He said, 4 "I am an alien and a stranger among you. Sell me some property for a burial site here so I can bury my dead." 5 The Hittites replied to Abraham, 6 "Sir, listen to us. You are a mighty prince among us. Bury your dead in the choicest of our tombs. None of us will refuse you his tomb for burying your dead." 7 Then Abraham rose and bowed down before the people of the land, the Hittites. 8 He said to them, "If you are willing to let me bury my dead, then listen to me and intercede with Ephron son of Zohar on my behalf 9 so he will sell me the cave of Machpelah, which belongs to him and is at the end of his field. Ask him to sell it to me for the full price as a burial site among you." 10 Ephron the Hittite was sitting among his people and he replied to Abraham in the hearing of all the Hittites who had come to the gate of his city. 11 "No, my lord," he said. "Listen to me; I give you the field, and I give you the cave that is in it. I give it to you in the presence of my people. Bury your dead." 12 Again Abraham bowed down before the people of the land 13 and he said to Ephron in their hearing, "Listen to me, if you will. I will pay the price of the field. Accept it from me so I can bury my dead there." 14 Ephron answered Abraham, 15 "Listen to me, my lord; the land is worth four hundred shekels of silver, but what is that between me and you? Bury your dead." 16 Abraham agreed to Ephron's terms and weighed out for him the price he had named in the hearing of the Hittites: four hundred shekels of silver, according to the weight current among the merchants. 17 So Ephron's field in Machpelah near Mamre — both the field and the cave in it, and all the trees within the borders of the field — was deeded 18 to Abraham as his property in the presence of all the Hittites who had come to the gate of the city. 19 Afterward Abraham buried his wife Sarah in the cave in the field of Machpelah near Mamre (which is at Hebron) in the land of Canaan. 20 So the field and the cave in it were deeded to Abraham by the Hittites as a burial site.

NIV

Once again it would be not only difficult, but rather meaningless to divide this whole narrative into smaller segments. The truth requires the whole of this narrative. What we first have to consider is the mourning and weeping of Abraham regarding the death of his beloved wife. Although he was an intense man of faith in God and had many personal encounters with God, was Abraham aware of promised eternal life? If we take in all of the New Testament with Christ coming to die on the cross for our redemption and give us eternal life, did the people of the Old Testament not have eternal life? Yet Abraham’s faith was counted to him as righteousness. Christ is our righteousness. So then, did Abraham not need Christ in order to gain eternal life? We have no record of God actually telling or promising eternal life, but what we have is the record in Hebrews 11 which would indicate Abraham had the sense of a true city of God beyond the human realm. Then with that in mind Abraham may have understood something about life after death. In that Chapter of Hebrews we are told that concerning Isaac being on the altar, he knew that God could raise him from the dead if he had actually sacrificed him. That would imply he considered a life after death, or that God could or would raise the dead. If that was physical or spiritual, it is not clear. Yet he mourned the loss of his wife as she was now dead. Could he not ask God to raise her up? Did he believe God already raised her up into his presence? So many questions we simply do not have the answers for. But what about us? Should we mourn the death of our dearly loved? We know to be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord. We have the story of Lazarus and the rich man to prove to us that at death we do not stay asleep as it were in the body but go to the bosom of Abraham with that great chasm between him and the rich man who is in torment in the heat. There we have it, Abraham was in heaven, experiencing eternal life. But the point regarding our dead is they, like Lazarus, leave the body and join Abraham in the great city of God of heaven. There is a great chasm between this place and the torment of those who die without Christ. Why then should we mourn our dead? It is not because they are dead, for they are rejoicing in the eternal presence of our Lord. But it is because we no longer, for as long as we live in the body, will not be able to enjoy their presence. Abraham mourned for himself and apparently that was approved by God, as we are not told God instructed him not to mourn. So when the time of mourning was over, he rose and arranged for her burial. From the narrative we find he and Ephron the Hittite struck a deal for the field and cave to bury Sarah. It appears from the narrative that Abraham wanted to pay and Ephron wanted to give. But Abraham would not take, he wanted to buy. Although we are not actually told, we can conclude it was out of his love and respect for his wife, he needed to pay for her body’s final resting place. Yet we also see the respect Ephron gave Abraham in that he wanted to give him the land and cave. This all goes again to show us the character of Abraham, a man of faith, a man who loves and trusts God. Although it is said that the money of the unrighteous is stored up for the righteous, Abraham would not take this land and cave from the hand of Ephron. However, in his refusal to receive did he steal a blessing from Ephron? We are also told it is more blessed to give then receive. Should Abraham have allowed Ephron to give so as to be blessed by God? Was Abraham selfish in his need to pay, thus keeping Ephron from a blessing. Abraham was told by God he would bless those who blessed him, which we saw in chapter 12. So then perhaps it would have been better for Abraham to receive this blessing from the hand of Ephron so that God would bless him. This is how we need to approach our lives. There is a fine line between being a taker, and being sensitive to receiving in order for those who give unto us will be blessed by God. Each situation needs to be approached with understanding from God. So, giving and receiving or paying our own way may be the right thing to do. We need the counsel of God to make the right choice.