There's two Bible readings for this morning, both not in Genesis, one in Hebrews chapter 11
! verses 8 to 16, and the other will be 1 Peter chapter 2 verses 11 and 12.
We will start with the reading from Hebrews 11, 8 to 16.
By faith Abraham obeyed when he was called to go out to a place that he was to receive
as an inheritance, and he went out not knowing where he was going.
By faith he went to live in the land of promise, as in a foreign land, living in tents with
Isaac and Jacob, heirs with him of the same promise.
For he was looking forward to the city that has foundations, whose designer and builder
is God.
By faith Sarah herself received power to conceive, even when she was past the age, since she considered
him faithful who had promised.
Therefore from one man, and him as good as dead, were born descendants as many as the stars of
heaven, and as many as the innumerable grains of sand by the seashore.
These all died in faith, not having received the things promised, but having seen them and
greeted them from afar, and having acknowledged that they were strangers and exiles on the earth.
For people who speak thus make it clear that they are seeking a homeland.
If they had been thinking of that land from which they had gone out, they would have had opportunity
to return.
But as it is, they desire a better country, that is, a heavenly one.
Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God, for he has prepared for them a city.
Now the second reading from 1 Peter, verses 11 and 12.
Beloved, I urge you as sojourners and exiles to abstain from the passions of the flesh, which
wage war against your soul.
Keep your conduct among the Gentiles honorable, so that when they speak against you as evildoers,
they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day of visitation.
Morning everyone.
My name is Martin.
I'm one of the pastors here.
We're going to be looking this morning at Genesis chapter 23.
It would be a great help to you if you had your Bibles open at that passage.
And we'll look at some of the surrounding context as well.
But let's pray as we come to God's word.
Heavenly Father, we thank you that we can gather here this morning.
We thank you that you speak to us in the pages of the scriptures.
Please help us to turn our minds and hearts to your word this morning.
Enable me to speak clearly and truly.
And we pray that you would write your word on each of our hearts.
In Jesus' name.
Amen.
Well, sometimes Christians look different.
Sometimes we look a bit odd.
I wonder for anyone who has no background with anything Christian at all,
if they just came through the doors of church on a Sunday morning and sat amongst us,
as I hope they do, I wonder how they'd find the experience.
I remember once when, I think it might have been when I was at Bible College.
I can't exactly remember who gave this advice.
But let's say it was a lecturer at Bible College.
who suggested that, I think I remember who it was now, but it doesn't matter,
that for Christians, to get an understanding of what it's like for someone who's had no contact with church before
to walk into church, Christians, why don't you go and walk into a TAB?
I mean, some of us may have a background with TABs and gambling,
but I don't personally.
I think many of us wouldn't.
And if I walked into one, I would have no idea what to do.
I mean, there'd be screens, there'd be people around,
there must be a counter, I wouldn't know even where to start.
And some people walking through the doors of church will feel like that.
They can feel very different.
There's other things Christians are involved in that may not feel that different.
I was wondering, would a Christian soccer team look different from a non-Christian soccer team?
Could you tell the difference by looking at two soccer teams?
I think it might be hard.
I mean, maybe if you observe the two teams over a period of time, you might notice some differences.
Maybe you might start to notice that the Christian soccer team,
the soccer team where everyone's a Christian,
they don't ever blaspheme or say the name of Jesus in a sort of angry way.
Maybe they don't swear as much.
Maybe they're a bit kinder to team members when they make mistakes or fumble the ball or something.
Maybe over time you'd notice some differences.
Maybe not.
I don't know.
Some of you play soccer.
You can tell me.
But I think one of the times when the distinction between believers and non-believers is at its clearest,
is in the face of death.
In the face of death.
I have been to the funerals of those who aren't Christian,
and I've been to the funerals of those who are Christian, those who believe in Jesus,
and there is a very, very stark difference.
At the death of believers, there is hope amidst the grief,
a hope that is based on what is true.
Well, the passage before us today, Genesis chapter 23, is about death.
Death, the word for dying or the dead, or dead, occurs nine times in chapter 23,
which is more than any other chapter in Genesis.
Even Genesis chapter 5 doesn't have the word death as many times.
So it's about death.
But it's also, in fact, I'd say even more than it is about death,
it's about the distinctiveness of God's people.
Just like a Christian funeral today, the death of one of God's people in this chapter,
Genesis chapter 23, is an occasion for the display of their distinctiveness.
But I want to start with some context to help us place Genesis chapter 23.
We will get to the text of chapter 23 soon.
But I want to play some context,
and also to help sort of start to bring this series
that we've been looking at on the life of Abraham to a close.
We have one more talk next week on Genesis chapter 24,
but it's a long chapter.
It'll be school holidays then.
There's no grace kids.
The kids will be in.
So in a sense, I want to start to sort of simplify next week's talk
by starting to wrap up the series now
and showing what's happening as these chapters of Genesis,
this section of Genesis, draws to a close.
Because we are coming to a major transition point in the book of Genesis.
You may be aware that the book of Genesis is divided into parts,
into sections, which have the same kind of heading.
You know you're entering a new section
because you get this heading in the book of Genesis.
And some commentators call it the Toledot formula,
from the Hebrew word, Hebrew word Toledot,
which means generations.
The heading looks like this.
It's usually in this form.
These are the generations of, and then a name.
So the last time we've seen that heading in the book of Genesis,
and I think this passage will come up on the screen,
is way back in Genesis chapter 11, verse 27.
Now these are the generations of Terah.
Terah fathered Abram, Nahor, and Haran,
and Haran fathered Lot.
And what followed that heading have been 14 chapters
focused on the life of Abram, Abraham,
one of Terah's sons.
Well, we're approaching, just keep that passage up there,
we'll talk about that a bit more in a moment,
but we're approaching the next headings in the book of Genesis.
So if you look ahead to Genesis chapter 25, verse 12,
these are the generations of Ishmael,
followed by seven verses.
And then chapter 25, verse 19,
these are the generations of Isaac,
followed by ten and a half chapters under that heading.
Now this is also typical of Genesis,
where when we get to these different sections,
Genesis will deal briefly with the less important branch
of the family tree, family line, in this case Ishmael's,
and then at greater length on the more important branch, Isaac's.
You see the same pattern in Genesis chapters 36 and 37.
First Esau, one chapter, then Jacob, 14 chapters,
the rest of the book of Genesis from that point.
Now if you've been paying attention,
you might notice a couple of things.
So chapter 11, verse 27,
these are the generations of Terah.
The section of Genesis that follows isn't really about Terah,
it's about Terah's sons,
and in particular one of them, Abraham.
When we get to chapter 25,
we have these are the generations of Ishmael,
and these are the generations of Isaac.
Something's missing.
There's no heading in Genesis,
these are the generations of Abraham.
It's like, in a sense,
Isaac doesn't star in the book of Genesis
in the way that Abraham and Jacob and Joseph do.
But we're approaching this major transition.
What's going on in these two and a half chapters
before we reach it?
Well, in chapters 21 and chapter 22 of Genesis,
the story of Abraham has reached its climax.
Chapter 21, the birth of Isaac.
Chapter 22, the binding of Isaac.
The testing of Abraham's faith.
He's offering his beloved only son as a sacrifice,
and then God providing a substitute.
Those chapters, the birth of Isaac,
the offering of Isaac as a sacrifice,
and then God providing the sacrifice.
Through those, God sealed his covenant with Abraham
to bless all nations through Abraham's singular seed.
Those two events are really what the whole story of Abraham
had been building toward.
And what we have in chapter 22, verse 20,
to chapter 25, verse 11,
is a kind of coda to the story of Abraham.
In narrative terms, you could call it the denouement.
The main events have taken place.
This is just kind of tying up a few loose ends
and bringing some threads together.
Back in chapter 11, verse 27, we said,
now these are the generations of Terah.
Terah fathered Abram, Nahor, and Haran,
and Haran fathered Lot.
Now in chapter 11, verse 28, Haran died.
And Lot, Haran's son,
has featured at various points in Abraham's story.
So it's, you know, it's while Abraham is featured,
Lot's been there too.
Haran's heir has been there too.
But what about that third brother, Nahor?
In chapter 11, verse 29,
we're told he had a wife named Milca,
and then nothing more.
We hear nothing more about him,
Abraham's other brother.
But at the end of chapter 22,
he finally makes a reappearance.
Chapter 22, verse 20,
now after these things,
it was told to Abraham,
behold, Milca has also born children
to your brother Nahor.
Who was his firstborn?
Who was his brother?
And so on.
Eight sons by Milca,
and then four more by a concubine named Rumah.
So Abraham's brother, Nahor,
has been remarkably fruitful,
had all these sons.
In contrast to Abraham's single son by Sarah,
Isaac.
Well, let me try and show you
in a bit of an overview
how this coda to the story of Abraham works.
I've got a diagram that will come up on the screen.
Because I want you to see
how these chapters of Genesis are woven together.
The main events,
and can we just have that diagram up on the screen?
Yeah, thanks James.
The main events are chapters 23 and chapter 24.
In chapter 23,
Abraham seeks to acquire a tomb for Sarah.
In chapter 24,
Abraham seeks to acquire a wife for his son Isaac.
Isaac is not mentioned in chapter 23.
Sarah is not mentioned in chapter 24
until we get to the final verse of chapter 24,
which you can look at,
chapter 24, verse 67,
where we read,
then Isaac brought her,
her being Rebecca,
his new wife,
then Isaac brought her
into the tent of Sarah,
his mother,
and took Rebecca,
and she became his wife,
and he loved her.
So Isaac was comforted
after his mother's death.
Can you see how that verse
kind of binds together,
sort of links together,
chapters 23 and chapter 24?
They seem completely separate,
but then this final verse
just brings them together.
In chapter,
the end of chapter 22,
as you just saw,
we have that list of Nahor's children
by his wife Milcah
and his concubine Ruma.
Now on the one hand,
that's providing background
for chapter 24
because Nahor's family
are going to feature in chapter 24.
That's where Abraham sends a servant
to go and find a wife for Isaac.
But they also,
they also kind of are balanced
by the beginning of chapter 25,
we read that Abraham took another wife
whose name was Gerturah,
and she bore him,
Zimran,
and a list of six sons.
Chapter 25, verse 6,
5 and 6,
Abraham gave all he had to Isaac
but to the sons of his concubines,
Gerturah and Hagar,
Abraham gave gifts
and while he was still living,
he sent them away
from his son Isaac.
So we've seen all these sons
born to Nahor
and now all these sons,
other sons,
born to Abraham.
Now when did this happen?
Now it's possible that Abraham
took this second wife,
who's also Gerturah,
she's also called a concubine,
after the death of Sarah.
If that's the case,
then Abraham took her
when he was 137 years old.
Which is possible,
but I think it's also possible
that actually she's been there
in the background
at a much earlier stage,
it's just that Genesis
deliberately hasn't mentioned her.
It's sort of left it until now
to even mention this other woman
and these other sons.
Whatever the case,
we're seeing this remarkable fruitfulness
but it's set against
this remarkable fruitfulness.
All these sons
is in contrast to the one son
who will be the heir
of Abraham's legacy
and the blessing
that's been given to him.
And so,
in chapter 25,
from verse 7
to 11,
when we read
at last of Abraham's death
at 175 years,
this section of,
this whole section,
this whole section of Genesis
finishes in verse 11,
after the death of Abraham,
God blessed Isaac,
his son
and Isaac settled
at Beelahairoi.
It's this masterfully woven narrative
that draws together
all these bits and pieces,
these threads,
showing the passing
of God's blessing
to the next generation,
from Abraham
to Isaac.
But we're going to focus
our attention today
on verse 23
and next week
on verse 24
and today we're going
to focus on
another idea
that links together
these two chapters
which is that
which I mentioned
at the beginning
of the talk
and that is
the distinctiveness
of God's people.
Let's go back
to chapter 23,
verse 1.
We'll step through it now
from chapter 23,
verse 1.
Ah,
we can get rid
of that diagram.
We won't need that again.
We can get 23,
verse 1
and we will step
through it from there.
Sarah lived 127 years.
These were the years
of the life of Sarah.
Now Sarah's the only woman
named,
the only woman in the Bible
whose age we are told
at the time of her death.
Verse 1 doesn't use
the word death,
rather it uses
the word life twice
but it's structured
in such a way
that verse
to show that
Sarah's life
was finite.
The words
the life of Sarah
start and end
the verse
and kind of wrap around
the 127 years
that was its span
as beginning and end.
127 years,
verse 2,
and Sarah died
at Kiriath Arba,
that is Hebron,
in the land of Canaan
and Abraham went in
to mourn for Sarah
and to weep for her.
Sarah isn't by any stretch
the first person
to die in the Bible
but she is the first person
in the Bible
whose death is mourned.
And so we see here
the story of Abraham
and Sarah
intersect in this
personal and visceral way
with the story
of Adam and Eve.
Abraham and Sarah
are in Canaan,
not Eden.
But humans were not
created for death
and so the fitting response
to death
is to mourn
and to weep
as Abraham does here.
We mourn
when people die
because any death
is a loss.
Any death,
the death of any person,
any human being
made in God's image
is the unravelling
of something good.
The unravelling
both of the individual person
but also
of all the relationships
that they're part of.
When someone dies
there is a void,
an empty,
frayed space
in human community.
We mourn
when someone dies
and our mourning says
this is not the way
it is supposed to be.
But most of chapter 23
is not about
mourning Sarah,
it is about
burying Sarah
or rather about
Abraham's attempts
to acquire
a burial site.
And the negotiations
Abraham enters into
go through a series
of three exchanges.
You can see that
on your outlines,
three exchanges
in each of which
Abraham makes a request
and receives
an offer.
So first exchange,
the request comes
in verses 3 and 4.
And Abraham
rose up
from before his dead
and said to the Hittites,
I am a sojourner
and foreigner
among you.
Give me property
among you
for a burying place
that I may bury
my dead
out of my sight.
Now let's think
carefully about
Abraham's request here
because as we've seen
in previous chapters,
the art of biblical
narrative is to convey
much
in a few words.
Abraham says,
I am a sojourner
and a foreigner
among you.
When Jen and I
moved to Newcastle
20 years ago,
we were told
when we moved here
it would be
20 years
before we became
Novocastrians,
like before we were
accepted as
Novocastrians.
It was 20 years now.
It's our 20th year
and I've got to say
Newcastle feels
like home.
We've bought a house,
we've at different times
sent kids to school,
we've played in
sporting teams,
joined gyms,
been part of the community.
Most of the time,
if Jen or I
go somewhere
around Newcastle,
we will bump
into someone
we know.
I don't think
there is actually
nowhere
on the planet
that I could live
that would feel
more like home
to me now
than Newcastle.
By the time
of Sarah's death,
Abraham had been
living in the land
of Canaan
for 62 years.
62 years!
And here is
how he saw himself.
I am a sojourner
and foreigner
among you.
A sojourner,
I'm passing through.
This is not my home.
A foreigner,
I'm an alien,
I don't belong.
He saw himself
as an outsider
at the mercy
of the Hittites,
and the other people
living in the land.
And so he said,
give me property
among you
for a burying place.
The key words there
are give and property.
You think the Australian
housing market
is bad?
Well,
Abraham's
137 years old,
he's lived in Canaan
62 years
and he's still
on the rental treadmill.
But now he wants
a piece of land
he can call his own.
Property.
Nothing big,
nothing flashy,
in fact,
not even a house
to live in.
He just wants a grave.
He just wants a tomb.
Somewhere he can bury
his dead out of sight,
but a burial place
that would be his,
that would belong
to him.
Abraham lived in Canaan
as a sojourner,
but he wanted
to bury Sarah
on his own land.
How would the sons
of Heth respond,
the Hittites?
Verse 5.
The Hittites answered
Abraham,
Hear us,
my Lord.
You are a prince
of God
among us.
Bury your dead
in the choicest
of our tombs.
None of us
will withhold
from you
his tomb
to hinder you
from burying
your dead.
First notice
the contrast
in what they call
Abraham
and what he called
himself.
They call him
Lord.
They say,
you're a prince
of God
among us.
The word prince
there is a title
for a chieftain
or a ruler.
Abraham may not
have owned land,
but he was wealthy.
Perhaps the Hittites
even recognised
that God
was with him.
They call him
a prince of God.
Abraham
described himself
as someone lowly.
The Hittites
described him
as someone mighty,
someone honoured.
But what did
they actually offer?
Bury your dead
in the choicest
of our tombs.
None of us
will withhold
from you
his tomb
to hinder you
from burying
your dead.
Now on the face
of it,
this is a generous
offer.
The choicest
of tombs,
none will withhold
from you.
It's an open
invitation.
Bury Sarah
wherever you like,
whichever tomb
you want.
The best of tombs.
You have complete
freedom of choice,
Abraham.
But as often
in business
negotiations,
what is not
said can be
even more important
than what is
said.
For example,
here the Hittites
do not use
the word
give,
nor do they
use the word
property.
And notice
the possessive
pronouns,
the choicest
of our tombs.
None of us
will withhold
from you
his tomb.
What they're
offering,
Abraham,
is not a piece
of property
which would
become his,
but a place
in their
tombs.
That Sarah
would be
interred
in one of
their burial
places.
Now,
I mean,
it's possible
that the
Hittites
are being
insincere,
that they're
sort of making
a show of
being courteous
and generous
and so on,
but actually
they're withholding.
They want
to maintain
their monopoly
on the land
and deny
Abraham any
opportunity to
get even his
tiny share,
portion of it.
You could
read chapter 23
and that would
make sense,
but on balance
I don't think
that's the case.
I think,
at least at this
point,
their words
are sincere.
What they're
proposing is
in essence
that they
would treat
Abraham as
one of their
own.
They know
Abraham's a man
of substance,
they want
closer ties
with him.
Abraham
sees himself
as a foreigner
and a sojourner,
they see him
as a prince
of God
in our midst.
They want
Abraham to
be one of
them and
whichever
Hittite got
to share
his tomb
with the
great Abraham
would be
honoured by
the association.
Well,
let's look
at the next
request and
see if that
fits,
the second
exchange
in verse
7.
Abraham
rose
and bowed
to the
Hittites,
the people
of the
land.
Now,
notice in
verse 3,
Abraham
rose and
spoke to
the Hittites,
now he
rose and
bowed.
A physical
gesture of
respect,
deference,
abasance,
a word that
can even be
used of
worship.
He bowed
to the
Hittites,
now further
described as
the people
of the
land.
We
remember
that this
land,
which
currently
belonged to
the
Hittites
and others,
is the
land that
God had
promised
Abraham
and his
descendants.
God would
give it to
them in
time.
And
verse 8,
and he
said to
them,
if you
are willing
that I
should bury
my dead
out of
my sight,
hear me
and entreat
for me
Ephron the
son of
Zohar,
that he
may give
me the
cave of
Machpelah,
which he
owns,
it is at
the end
of his
field,
for the
full price,
let him
give it to
me in
your presence
as property
for a
burying
place.
Abraham
names the
burial place
he wants,
the cave
of
Machpelah,
currently
belongs to
Ephron,
the son
of Zohar,
but Abraham
doesn't merely
ask that he
can bury
Sarah there,
which had
already
effectively been
offered in
verse 6,
to bury
her wherever
he liked,
Abraham
emphatically
wants to
purchase it
for the
full price,
not a
gift,
but fairly
purchased,
let him
give it to
me,
not share
it with
me,
but transfer
it to
me,
in your
presence,
a legally
binding
contract,
taking place
at the
gate of
the city
where
business
transactions
occurred,
as property,
Abraham
would own
it.
How would
Ephron
respond?
Verse 10,
now Ephron
was sitting
among the
Hittites,
and Ephron
the Hittite
answered Abraham
in the hearing
of the
Hittites,
of all
who went
in at
the gate
of the
city.
See how
many times
we're hearing
the word
Hittites
in that
verse?
No,
my Lord,
hear me,
I give
you the
field,
and I
give you
the cave
that's in
it.
In the
sight of
the sons
of my
people,
I give
it to
you,
bury
your dead.
Three
times
Ephron
now says
I give,
and in
fact,
not just
the cave,
but the
field as
well.
In the
sight of
my
people,
there are
witnesses,
implied
there's
no need
for
payment,
this is
my
gift
for
you,
you
don't
need
to
pay
Abraham.
Now
why did
Ephron
make
this
offer?
Well,
I think
there are
four
possibilities.
Let me
talk through
the four
of them.
Was
it about
tax
levies
on the
land?
Now
some
commentators
suggest
that
according to
later
Hittite
law,
if you
gave away
a small
part of
your land,
the person
who received
the small
part wouldn't
have to pay
the taxes
on the
land,
but if
you gave
away a
large
part or
the whole
thing,
the person
who received
the land
would have
to pay
the taxes.
Just
acquiring
a small
part didn't
bring any
tax obligation
with it.
So maybe
Ephron doesn't
want to just
give a small
part, he
wants to
give the
field as
well,
so that
Ephron is
relieved of
the tax
obligations of
the land.
I mean,
that's
possible,
right?
I don't
think that
is likely
the explanation
because that
law is
later,
it's not
exactly clear
how it
would have
applied at
this time,
and the
earning potential
of the land
would primarily
be with the
field, not
the cave,
so Ephron is
offering to
give away
something valuable,
people, and
I don't
think Israelites
reading Genesis
would have
that sort
of later
Hittite law
in their
minds as
they read
this text
anyway, so
I don't
think that's
the explanation
here.
Okay, second
possible
explanation,
possibly if
there's no
purchase price,
could Ephron
or his sons
contest the
legality of
the exchange
later?
I mean,
maybe they
want to
leave open
to the idea
that they
could come
back at a
later stage
and say,
well,
Abraham didn't
pay for it,
now we want
it back.
I guess
that's
possible,
I think
that is
possible,
and from
Abraham's
perspective,
maybe it's
a less
secure
exchange
if he
doesn't
pay the
full price,
but this
may be
part of
the
explanation.
Third
possible
explanation,
maybe what's
taking place
here is a
social
pantomime.
I mean,
Ephron could
make the
offer,
which would
win
Ephron's
social
credit for
being so
generous,
to give
away the
land and
the cave,
but it
would be an
outrageous
breach of
social
etiquette for
Abraham to
accept the
offer,
so Ephron
can make
the offer
risk-free,
knowing that
Abraham's never
going to
accept it.
Again,
I think that's
possible,
but I don't
think it's the
best explanation.
I think the
most likely
explanation for
why Ephron is
offering to give
the cave and
the land is
that Ephron
wanted to
place Abraham
in his
debt.
Legally,
formally,
he would
be giving
the cave,
giving the
field for
nothing,
a generous
gift,
but in an
honour culture,
a gift given
like that
wouldn't
necessarily be
a no-strings-attached
gift.
Financially,
Abraham would be
debt-free.
Socially,
Abraham would be
obligated to
Ephron.
The gift would
form a bond
between the
two, a
sense of
duty,
less tangible
than money,
but actually
stronger and
deeper and
more enduring.
In other
words,
Ephron is
again offering
what the
Hittites had
offered in
verse 6,
a way of
honouring,
answering Abraham's
request that
would result in
Abraham and his
family moving
a few steps
closer to
being one
with the
Hittites.
One clue
that persuades
me this is
how we
take this
chapter comes
actually in
the beginning
of the next
chapter.
Look at
chapter 24.
Remember I
showed you
how these
two chapters
are linked?
Look at
chapter 24
verses 1
to 4.
This is
where Abraham
begins to
look for a
wife for
his son.
Chapter
24.
Now Abraham
was old,
well advanced
in years,
and the
Lord had
blessed
Abraham in
all things,
and Abraham
said to
his servant,
the oldest
of his
household,
who had
charge of
all that
he had,
put your
hand under
my thigh
that I
may make
you swear
by the
Lord,
the God
of heaven
and the
God
of earth,
that you
will not
take a
wife for
my son
from the
daughters of
the Canaanites
among whom
I dwell,
but will
go to my
country and
to my
kindred and
take a
wife for
my son
Isaac.
See,
chapter 23
is about
land,
chapter 24
is about
descendants,
a wife for
Isaac,
but in
both cases
Abraham
recognised
that his
family must
remain distinct
from the
people of
the land.
If he
accepted the
Hittites
offer to
share a
tomb or
to receive
land free,
a free
gift of
land,
if he
took a
wife for
Isaac from
among the
Canaanites,
either of those
things are
the kind
of moves
that step
by step
would see
Abraham's
family and
Abraham's
descendants merge
in with the
Canaanites and
cease to be a
distinct line.
So look at how
Abraham answered
Ephron with his
third request,
the third
exchange in
verse 12.
Then Abraham
bowed down
before the
people of
the land.
Notice he's
now,
he's gone from
rising to
rising and
bowing,
now just to
bowing.
Abraham bowed
down before the
people of the
land and he
said to
Ephron in the
hearing of the
people of the
land,
he said to
Ephron in the
hearing of the
people of the
land,
But if you will hear me, if you will hear me, I give the price of the field.
Accept it from me that I may bury my dead there.
The Hittites tried to forge union, but Abraham insists on distinction.
He insists on paying the price for the field.
Now, before we move on to Ephron's offer in verses 14 to 15, let's spend a few minutes thinking about this.
What we see in Genesis is that Abraham and Isaac and their descendants were called to be distinct from the nations for the sake of the nations.
God's not against the nations, far from it.
God called Abraham, God made covenants with him for the sake of the nations.
So that through Abraham's seed, all the families of the earth might be blessed.
But Abraham's family couldn't bring blessing to the nations by blending with the nations.
They needed to remain distinct.
The heirs of God's promises, the chosen channel for his blessing would need to be a holy people.
Called to be separate.
Called to be different.
Called to be distinctive.
All around, as Ephron and the Hittites beckoned to Abraham, the nations would beckon to Israel, join with us.
Intermarry with us.
Become one with us.
Worship with us.
And when at last the promised seed of Abraham came, in due course, when the prince of God, in whom the nations would find blessing, came, the offers did not stop.
The offer of the easy path to glory.
Look, all the kingdoms of the world and their glory.
All these I will give you.
If you'll fall down and worship me.
The offer of fame and recognition.
Lord, everyone is looking for you.
The offer to prove himself in the world's eyes.
Teacher, we wish to see a sign from you.
The offer to be a conquering Christ, not a suffering Christ.
Far be it from you, Lord.
This should never happen to you.
The offer to have others defend him.
Lord, shall we strike with the sword?
The offer to defend himself.
Will you not speak to me?
Do you not know that I have authority to release you and authority to crucify you?
The offer to escape.
If you are the son of God, come down from the cross.
He saved others.
Let him save himself if he's the Christ, the chosen one.
The seed of Abraham came and the offers did not stop.
But the seed of Abraham could not save others if he saved himself.
He couldn't be the kind of Christ God called him to be if he was the kind of Christ they asked him to be.
He couldn't help the nations if he was like the nations.
Of course, in many ways, Jesus had to be one of us.
Made human.
Sharing flesh and blood with us.
Tempted in every way as we are.
But he also had to be different from us.
Without sin.
Separate.
Spotless.
Undefiled.
The Holy One of God in our midst.
The righteous one.
Who suffered for the unrighteous.
Jesus could only bless the nations by being distinct from the nations.
And there's a sense in which that's true even of us, the people Jesus has saved.
The New Testament calls us saints.
Holy ones.
People who are called to be a part.
Set apart by God.
Of course, we've become holy ones in a different way to Jesus.
He's holy one by virtue of his own, by his own virtue and merit.
We're holy ones only because we've been sanctified in him and by God's spirit.
We've been washed.
We've been purified.
We've been made holy.
Set apart by God.
But redeemed people are transformed people.
And to bless the nations, we must be distinct from the nations.
You are the salt of the earth, Jesus said.
But if salt has lost its taste, how shall its saltiness be restored?
It's no longer good for anything except to be thrown out and trampled under people's feet.
You are the light of the world.
A city on a hill cannot be hidden.
Nor do people light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a stand and it gives light to all in the house.
In the same way, let your light shine before others so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven.
Or as we heard earlier from 1 Peter,
Beloved, I urge you as sojourners and exiles to abstain from the passions of the flesh which wage war against your soul.
Keep your conduct among the Gentiles honourable so that when they speak against you as evildoers,
they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day of visitation.
Like Abraham, we live in this world as sojourners and foreigners.
This is not our home.
And who you vote for is not going to change that.
Whether Australia is multicultural or monocultural is not going to change that.
That we are sojourners and foreigners is not a political accident.
It's a theological given.
This is not our home.
And every week, perhaps even every day, we will face offers from the world.
Offers from the people of the land.
Join with us.
Be like us.
Make your home with us.
The world will offer you what Christian ethicist Andrew Cameron calls false inclusion.
I mean, that's what's being offered to us.
False inclusion.
Belonging.
The examples I'm about to give are partly mine and partly borrowed from his.
Your office common room is dominated by grumbling about managers or the sarcastic mockery of customers.
They expect you to join in.
In your trade, everyone does business cash in hand.
That's just the way things work.
It keeps paperwork down.
It keeps the customers happy.
You've just been given a promotion.
The boss sends you out to start giving quotes.
What do you do?
In the playground, a circle of girls giggles about another girl's odd habits and unflattering fashion.
They look your way, inviting you to join in.
It's Pride Month and your coach hands out rainbow armbands for everyone to wear during the game.
He holds one out to you.
A board meeting drifts towards a decision that camouflages an injustice or makes more money at the expense of some wider community good.
Your vote is in doubt.
You need to speak.
They're eyeballing you.
The pressure we face in moments like that is extreme.
There is a powerful drive to fit in.
To become one with the people of the land.
But salt that loses its saltiness is good for nothing but being trampled underfoot.
A lamp put under a basket cannot be seen.
To bless the nations, we must be distinct from the nations.
But when we are, there will be a cost.
Let's look at Ephron's final offer to Abraham in verse 14, the third offer.
Verse 14, Ephron answered Abraham,
Abraham, my lord, listen to me.
A piece of land worth 400 shekels of silver?
What is that between you and me?
Bury your dead.
Abraham listened to Ephron and Abraham weighed out for Ephron the silver that he had named in the hearing of the Hittites.
400 shekels of silver, according to the weights current among the merchants.
Abraham had declined Ephron's gift.
But now Ephron names his price 400 shekels of silver.
His speech is smooth.
I mean, what is that between you?
This little piece of land, what is that between you and me?
But actually, the price he nominates is steep.
It's hard to know exactly because we don't know how large this plot of land is that Ephron's selling to Abraham.
But we could compare it to other prices in the Bible.
The value of a slave in the book of Exodus is given at 30 shekels of silver.
The annual contribution to the tabernacle, half a shekel of silver.
A field that would be sowed with 220 litres of barley seed, 50 shekels of silver in Leviticus 27.
The redemption price for a firstborn son, five shekels of silver.
A gift offered to a prophet for an oracle in 1 Samuel 9, a quarter of a shekel.
A reward given to a soldier for killing an enemy king, ten shekels of silver and a belt.
Or a kind of hyperbolic reward, like a ridiculous amount of money, a thousand shekels.
The price David paid for the temple site and for some oxen to sacrifice there, 50 shekels of silver in 2 Samuel 24.
The price Jeremiah paid for a field during the siege of Jerusalem.
Now, admittedly, during the siege is probably not the best time for property prices if you're selling.
But 17 shekels.
17 shekels.
Given Ephron's immediate willingness to part with the field for nothing, it's probably not incredibly large.
His livelihood didn't depend on it.
But that alongside these other, you know, kind of prices we see in the Old Testament suggests to me that 400 shekels for this field is a high price.
Probably very high.
I mean, it was probably just Ephron's starting price.
Haggling would have been standard.
He expected Abraham to bargain him down.
Or maybe Ephron's like the, you know, the tradie who quotes you five times the price to fix some leaking pipes because he doesn't actually want to do it.
I mean, he names this ridiculously high price.
But Abraham doesn't bargain.
He just pays the price.
He doesn't want to give Ephron, the Hittite, any opportunity to claim that he has shown, that he has shown Abraham a favour.
Or to claim in the future that the payment was insufficient.
He pays the high price to be distinct from the nations, that he might be for the nations.
Likewise, whenever we offer, whenever we refuse an offer of false inclusion, it will cost us something.
There'll be a price we must pay.
You might lose some business or customers.
You might lose some opportunities.
It might cost you some friends, some friendships.
People will resent you at times.
People will, as 1 Peter 2 says, speak against you as evildoers.
But how can you help the nations?
How can we help the nations unless we are salt and light?
So, verse 16, Abraham weighed out for Ephron the full price.
And verse 17, the field of Ephron in Machpelah, which was to the east of Mamre, the field with the cave that was in it,
and all the trees that were in the field throughout its whole area,
was made over to Abraham as a possession in the presence of the Hittites before all who went in at the gate of his city.
After this, Abraham buried Sarah, his wife, in the cave of the field of Machpelah, east of Mamre, that is Hebron, in the land of Canaan.
The field and the cave that is in it were made over to Abraham as property for a burying place by the Hittites.
Can you hear all the repetition in that section?
I mean, in a sense, the burial of Sarah is secondary here almost to the transfer of the land,
the acquisition of the land by Abraham.
This chapter is not only about burying Sarah, it's also about Abraham acquiring property in the land,
a small part of the land, just a tiny part, but a deposit that guaranteed what was to come.
As we have a deposit, a guarantee of our future inheritance in the Spirit of God who sanctifies us.
The offers were declined.
The high price was paid for the sake of what God had promised.
And when the world beckons you with its offers of false inclusion,
and when you bear the cost for saying no,
remember the one who said no to the challenge to come down from the cross,
the one who died alone, forsaken by all,
the one who bore the cost for you,
so that through him, the blessing of Abraham might come to all nations.
Let's pray.
Heavenly Father, we thank you for our perfect, holy, spotless Lord,
who willingly gave his life for us,
who bore the cost of being apart from the nations,
so that he might be for the nations.
We thank you for Jesus.
We thank you that through him,
we come to receive the blessing that you've promised to Abraham,
that we have an inheritance,
an eternal inheritance prepared for us,
that we have our sins forgiven,
and we may call you our God and our Father.
We thank you for the blessing you've given to us through Jesus.
And we pray, Lord, that you would help us to be distinctive,
to live as salt and light in this world,
to say no to all the world's offers
that would be displeasing to you,
that would muddy our distinctiveness,
give us a desire to please you,
to live as your holy people,
to bear whatever cost may come,
and not just for you, Lord,
but as we seek to live distinctive lives in this world,
we pray that it would impact those around us,
that people would come to praise you,
they would glorify the name of Christ,
they would be drawn to what is different
because they can see that it is good.
We pray all this in Jesus' name.
Amen.