Page:An Exposition of the Old and New Testament (1828) vol 1.djvu/162

130 And Bethuel begat Rebekah: these eight Milcah did bear to Nahor Abraham's brother. 24. And his concubine, whose name was Reumah, she bare also Tebah, and Gaham, and Thahash, and Maachah.

This is recorded here, 1. To show that though Abraham saw his own family highly dignified with peculiar privileges, admitted into covenant, and blessed with the entail of the promise; yet he did not look with contempt and disdain upon his relations, but was glad to hear of the increase and prosperity of their families. 2. To make way for the following story of the marriage of Isaac to Rebekah, a daughter of this family.

CHAP. XXIII. Here is, I. Abraham a mourner for the death of Sarah, v. 1, 2. II. Abraham a purchaser of a burying-place for Sarah. 1. The purchase humbly proposed by Abraham, v. 3, 4. 2. Fairly treated of, and agreed to, with a great deal of mutual civility and respect, v. 6..15. The3. The [checked with an earlier and a later edition] [sic] purchase-money paid, v. 16. 3.4. [checked with an earlier and a later edition] [sic] The premises conveyed and secured to Abraham, v. 17, 18, 20. 5. Sarah's funeral, v. 19.

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

We have here, 1. Sarah's age, v. 1. Almost 40 years before, she had called herself old, ch. 18. 12. Old people will die never the sooner, but may die the better, for reckoning themselves old. 2. Her death, v. 2. The longest liver must die at last. Abraham and Sarah had lived comfortably together many years; but death parts those whom nothing else could part. The special friends and favourites of heaven are not exempted from the stroke of death. She died in the land of Canaan, where she had been above 60 years a sojourner. 3. Abraham's mourning for her; and he was a true mourner. He did not only perform the ceremonies of mourning, according to the custom of those times, as the mourners that go about the streets; but he did sincerely lament the great loss he had of a good wife, and gave proof of the constancy of his affection to her to the last. Two words are used; he came both to mourn and to weep. His sorrow was not counterfeit, but real. He came to her tent, and sat down by the corpse, there to pay the tribute of his tears, that his eye might affect his heart, and that he might pay the greater respect to the memory of her that was gone. Note, it is not only lawful, but it is a duty, to lament the death of our near relations, both in compliance with the providence of God who thus calls to weeping and mourning, and in honour of those to whom honour is due. Tears are a tribute due to our deceased friends; when the body is sown, it must be watered; but we must not sorrow as those that have no hope; for we have a good hope through grace both concerning them, and concerning ourselves.

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 burying-place 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 buy my dead out of my sight; hear me, and entreat 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 burying-place among 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.

Here is,

I. The humble request which Abraham made to his neighbours the Hittites, for a burying-place among them, v. 3, 4. It was strange he had this to do now; but we are to impute it rather to God's providence than to his improvidence, as appears Acts 7. 5, where it is said God gave him no inheritance in Canaan. It were well, if all those who take care to provide burying-places for their bodies after death, were as careful to provide a resting-place for their souls. Observe here,

1. The convenient diversion which this affair gave, for the present, to Abraham's grief; he stood up from before his dead. Those that find themselves in danger of over-grieving for their dead relations, and are entering into that temptation, must take heed of poring upon their loss, and of sitting alone and melancholy. There must be a time of standing up from before their dead, and ceasing to mourn. For, thanks be to God, our happiness is not bound up in the life of any creature. Care of the funeral may be improved to divert grief for the death, as here, at first, when it is most in danger of tyrannising. Weeping must not hinder sowing.

2. The argument he used with the children of Heth; which was this, "I am a stranger and a sojourner with you, therefore I am unprovided, and must become a humble suitor to you for a burying-place." This was one occasion which Abraham took to confess that he was a stranger and a pilgrim