The inevitable happens! Sarah, Abraham’s beloved wife of many years, life companion, and mother of his promised son, Isaac, joins her ancestors in death. Father and son are heart-broken. Whereas, when the members of his household died, they were buried on the way (we can assume), Abraham negotiates to buy a tiny piece of real estate in a land where he is still a guest.

‭Genesis‬ ‭23:4‬ ‭NLT‬
[4] “Here I am, a stranger and a foreigner among you. Please sell me a piece of land so I can give my wife a proper burial.”…
[12] Abraham again bowed low before the citizens of the land, [13] and he replied to Ephron as everyone listened. “No, listen to me. I will buy it from you. Let me pay the full price for the field so I can bury my dead there.”…
[17] So Abraham bought the plot of land belonging to Ephron at Machpelah, near Mamre. This included the field itself, the cave that was in it, and all the surrounding trees. [18] It was transferred to Abraham as his permanent possession in the presence of the Hittite elders at the city gate. [19] Then Abraham buried his wife, Sarah, there in Canaan, in the cave of Machpelah, near Mamre (also called Hebron). [20] So the field and the cave were transferred from the Hittites to Abraham for use as a permanent burial place.”

Was Abraham’s purchase of this piece of real estate in the land of Canaan his way of confirming his commitment to God’s promise, something like the firstfruits that guaranteed the full harvest? By buying this piece of land was he laying claim to the whole land?

This cave and its adjacent land became the official burial place for Abraham’s final resting place, his immediate family, and his descendants, including Jacob whose body was brought back from Egypt.

‭Genesis‬ ‭49:29‭-‬32‬ ‭NLT‬
[29] “Then Jacob instructed them, “Soon I will die and join my ancestors. Bury me with my father and grandfather in the cave in the field of Ephron the Hittite. [30] This is the cave in the field of Machpelah, near Mamre in Canaan, that Abraham bought from Ephron the Hittite as a permanent burial site. [31] There Abraham and his wife Sarah are buried. There Isaac and his wife, Rebekah, are buried. And there I buried Leah. [32] It is the plot of land and the cave that my grandfather Abraham bought from the Hittites.”

‭Genesis‬ ‭50:12‭-‬13‬ ‭NLT‬
[12] “So Jacob’s sons did as he had commanded them. [13] They carried his body to the land of Canaan and buried him in the cave in the field of Machpelah, near Mamre. This is the cave that Abraham had bought as a permanent burial site from Ephron the Hittite…”

A sad but inevitable part of Abraham’s story ends a partnership of many decades, but opens a new chapter for Abraham and his son. It seems that Isaac was so devoted to his old mother that he delayed marriage until he was forty years old.

‭Genesis‬ ‭25:20‬ ‭NLT‬
[20] “When Isaac was forty years old, he married Rebekah, the daughter of Bethuel the Aramean from Paddan-aram and the sister of Laban the Aramean.”

Mourning for his mother seems to have closed isaac’s mind to the future. Abraham had to intervene to secure the way for God’s promise to be fulfilled.

To be continued…