1. The Death of Sarah

KJV · Verses 1–2

1 And Sarah was an hundred and seven and twenty years old: these were the years of the life of Sarah. 2 And Sarah died in Kirjatharba; the same is Hebron in the land of Canaan: and Abraham came to mourn for Sarah, and to weep for her.

Abraham returned with Isaac alive beside him, as though Isaac had risen from the dead. Abraham believed in Him who is able to raise the dead, and in his son he received confirmation, by an oath, of the divine promise that his descendants would be as the stars of heaven. Yet death had to pass through this blessed family and take Sarah's body, while Abraham's heart and the hearts of his descendants remained attached to the Lord who is able to raise soul and body together.

It is striking that Holy Scripture takes care to specify Sarah's age and to describe the purchase of a tomb in the land of Canaan for her burial. It says: “And Sarah was an hundred and seven and twenty years old: these were the years of the life of Sarah. And Sarah died in Kirjatharba; the same is Hebron in the land of Canaan: and Abraham came to mourn for Sarah, and to weep for her” (Genesis 23:1-2).

Sarah lived 127 years, all of them fruitful in the Lord. During her first ninety years she appeared barren as far as childbearing was concerned, yet through faith she was revealed as a mother of believers (Isaiah 51:2). She shared with her husband Abraham, the father of believers, all the days of his struggle, bearing hardships with him and receiving the divine promises with him. She also walked in a spirit of obedience, so that the Apostle Peter asked believing women to follow her example: “Even as Sara obeyed Abraham, calling him lord: whose daughters ye are, as long as ye do well, and are not afraid with any amazement” (1 Peter 3:6).

It seems that Abraham was away from his tent at the moment of her death. When he came and heard the news, he stood before her, remembering the decades she had lived with him. She had remained the only one of his kindred who had left Ur of the Chaldees with him, to live as a stranger wherever he settled. He stood before her body, not merely recalling distant memories, but encountering his life's companion, an inseparable part of his own being. He mourned and wept for her. This is the first time we hear of the venerable elder Abraham mourning and weeping. We do not hear that he wept or grieved when he left his family in Ur of the Chaldees, when Lot was taken captive, or when he set out on the three-day journey to sacrifice his son. Now, however, he stands before Sarah, mourning and weeping for her.

Abraham's faith had raised him above events: by faith he fought the kings to rescue his nephew Lot, and by faith he took his son Isaac to the land of Moriah to sacrifice him. Yet this faith did not conflict with the tender human feelings that caused fountains of tears to flow before Sarah's body. Faith does not strip us of feeling; it sanctifies and nurtures our feelings in the Lord. We see this in our father Abraham, the man of faith, and in the disciples and apostles. We see it even in the Lord Christ Himself, who could not bear the tears of Mary and Martha over their brother Lazarus, and wept (John 11:35), so that the Jews said: “Behold how he loved him!” (John 11:36). The epistles of our teacher Paul the Apostle are also filled with sanctified human feelings. We find him continually remembering the sight of his disciple Timothy weeping at the apostle's departure or imprisonment (2 Timothy 1:3-4).

2. Purchasing the Cave of Machpelah

KJV · Verses 3–20

3 And Abraham stood up from before his dead, and spake unto the sons of Heth, saying, 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. 5 And the children of Heth answered Abraham, saying unto him, 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. 7 And Abraham stood up, and bowed himself to the people of the land, even to the children of Heth. 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 intreat for me to Ephron the son of Zohar, 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. 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, 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. 12 And Abraham bowed down himself before the people of the land. 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. 14 And Ephron answered Abraham, saying unto him, 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. 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. 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 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. 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. 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.

In these bitter moments, when Abraham's tears flowed to express his feelings toward Sarah his wife, Abraham acted with wisdom and faith. We observe the following in his conduct.

First: Faithfulness to the End

Abraham did not think of burying his wife beside his ancestors. Having left Ur of the Chaldees with Sarah by faith, he continued to walk by faith to his last breath. He therefore did not bury his wife there, but acquired a cave in Canaan in which to bury Sarah, and in which he himself, Isaac, Rebekah, Jacob, and Leah would be buried.

Second: Humility and the Spirit of Pilgrimage

Scripture says: “And Abraham stood up from before his dead, and spake unto the sons of Heth, saying, 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. And the children of Heth answered Abraham, saying unto him, Hear us, my lord: thou art a mighty prince among us: in the choice of our sepulchres bury thy dead … And Abraham stood up, and bowed himself to the people of the land, even to the children of Heth” (Genesis 23:3-7).

Holy Scripture reveals Abraham's humility, springing from his sense of being a stranger. While the children of Heth looked upon him as a lord and a prince from God among them, he called himself a stranger and a sojourner among them. Overwhelmed by their love and generosity, he bowed before them as a sign of gratitude. Truly, God's children are manifest through a spirit of love, meekness, and humility, rather than a love of authority and self-importance. Thus the saying is fulfilled: “A city that is set on an hill cannot be hid” (Matthew 5:14). This is not the mountain of pride, but the mountain of God, standing and founded upon the Lord Christ Himself, the Giver of humility.

Abraham lived for many years among the tribe of the children of Heth, descendants of Heth the son of Canaan (Genesis 10:15), who established the Hittite state. They considered him a prince over them from the Lord, not by installing him as king or granting him a distinguished position of leadership, but by recognizing their submission to him because of the fellowship with God that he enjoyed. He, however, felt himself a stranger in the depths of his heart, as became clear at Sarah's death. Abraham's true children lived in this same spirit. In his final days, after preparing everything for his son Solomon to build the temple, David the Prophet said: “But who am I, and what is my people, that we should be able to offer so willingly after this sort? for all things come of thee, and of thine own have we given thee. For we are strangers before thee, and sojourners, as were all our fathers: our days on the earth are as a shadow, and there is none abiding” (1 Chronicles 29:14-15). Paul the Apostle sums up the lives of the men of faith, Abraham's children, saying: “These all died in faith, not having received the promises, but having seen them afar off, and were persuaded of them, and embraced them, and confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims on the earth” (Hebrews 11:13).

Third: Purity of Heart in Receiving Love

The children of Heth were deeply moved by the elder who had lost his wife. They expressed their love and honor for him, and their desire to place the best of their burial places at his disposal. He did not take advantage of this love. With purity of heart he asked them to have the owner of the cave accept its price. As Saint John Chrysostom says: [330]

“Although the inhabitants of that place called him a prince, he nevertheless resolved within himself to pay the price of the tomb.”

May every servant of the Lord and every shepherd in the Church, when he sees the people longing to offer love, refrain from exploiting that love, and instead walk in purity of heart, with a chaste spirit that covets nothing!

Fourth: Patiently Awaiting God's Promise

Saint Irenaeus brings out the faith by which our father Abraham lived, and which he proclaimed so firmly by refusing to receive the burial place as a free gift from any human hand. He waited patiently for his descendants to receive the whole land, the Promised Land, from God's hands. He says: [331]

“Thus, then, God's promise to Abraham remained firm, for He said to him: “Lift up now thine eyes, and look from the place where thou art northward, and southward, and eastward, and westward: For all the land which thou seest, to thee will I give it, and to thy seed for ever” (Genesis 13:14-15). Again He said: “Arise, walk through the land in the length of it and in the breadth of it; for I will give it unto thee” (Genesis 13:17). Yet “he gave him none inheritance in it, no, not so much as to set his foot on” (Acts 7:5), and he remained continually a stranger and a sojourner there. When Sarah his wife died and the Hittites wished to give him a place in which to bury her, he refused to accept it as a gift, but bought a burial place for four hundred shekels of silver from Ephron the son of Zohar the Hittite. Thus he patiently awaited the fulfillment of God's promise, and would not appear to receive from men what God had promised to give him, when He also said to him: “Unto thy seed have I given this land, from the river of Egypt unto the great river, the river Euphrates” (Genesis 15:18). If, then, God promised that he would inherit the land, yet he did not receive it throughout his pilgrimage, he must receive it at the resurrection of the righteous, together with his descendants, that is, those who fear God and believe in Him. His descendants are the Church, which has received adoption as sons to God in the Lord, as John the Baptist says: “God is able of these stones to raise up children unto Abraham” (Matthew 3:9). Likewise the apostle says in the Epistle to the Galatians: “Now we, brethren, as Isaac was, are the children of promise” (Galatians 4:28). In the same epistle he clearly declares that those who have believed in Christ receive Christ as the promise given to Abraham, saying: “Now to Abraham and his seed were the promises made. He saith not, And to seeds, as of many; but as of one, And to thy seed, which is Christ” (Galatians 3:16). Thus those who are of faith are blessed with faithful Abraham, and they are Abraham's children.”

Fifth: Awaiting the Resurrection

Saint Basil the Great sees Abraham as a man of faith who acquired nothing, but throughout his life acquired only a tomb in which he would be buried with his wife and children. It is as though he were declaring that he sought nothing from the earth except a place in which to bury the body, awaiting the resurrection from the dead!

Sixth: A Possession Acquired through God's Word

Abraham bought with silver the cave in which he would be buried with his wife and children. If silver signifies God's word (Psalm 12:6), then he was determined to have no possession in the world except the place acquired through God's word.

Finally, the cave of Machpelah, meaning the double cave, comprises two caves together, one inner and the other outer, in the city of Hebron. It belonged to Ephron, meaning “like a deer,” the son of Zohar, meaning “whiteness” or “shining.” It seems that Abraham did not know him when he wished to buy the cave, as appears from the course of the conversation between Abraham and the children of Heth (Genesis 23:13). Ephron, however, knew Abraham very well and wished to offer it to him as a free gift (Genesis 23:11), and even to give him the field adjoining the cave as well.

Notes and References

[330] In 1 Cor. hom. 35:10.

[331] Adv. Haer. 5:32.