Abraham's life is full of so many lessons for us as believers. I am fascinated by this specific event surrounding the death of Sarah and how he went about the entire thing. In our bible study group, we noticed his humility, courage, composure and shrewdness in this particular chapter, Genesis 23.
Abraham approaches the Hittites and asks for a piece of land to bury his dear wife, Sarah, who has just passed probably hours before. He was grieving, sad, distraught and devastated by his loss but despite his emotional turmoil he maintained poise, and integrity and displayed incredible humility towards the Hittites as he asked them for land. Verse 1 - 14.None of us would blame him if he went to that meeting to cry, plead, scream and show anger while DEMANDING for the land, even though he had lived there for a while AND his wife JUST died. But, he didn't.
Abraham was a man who submitted to God and he knew that he carried God with him everywhere that he went. In the previous chapter, Genesis 21 vs 22 About this time, Abimelech came with Phicol, his army commander, to visit Abraham. “God is obviously with you, helping you in everything you do,” Abimelech said.
I thought this was powerful because he said OBVIOUSLY, 'helping you in EVERYTHING YOU DO.' - This means that everyone living around Abraham knew that He was a man dedicated to God and God was faithful to him too.
This is also enough for Abraham to go up to them and threaten them to give him the land unless God would punish them on his behalf! Rather Abraham chose to submit, surrender and use wisdom while putting all faith and confidence in the God that he serves.
I would like to highlight another element that stood out to me during this entire event, which was verses 4 - 6.
V4 a) Abraham acknowledges who he is among the Hittites, he is not scared, or intimidated by them, instead he shows respect and proper regard accordingly.
b) He is asking for a piece of land in order to fulfil the customs, whatever piece of land he chooses needs to be one that is fitting for his wife, himself and his family because it was normal for an entire family/generation to be buried together on one land/area.
V6 a) The Hittites regarded Abraham highly, “Listen, my lord, you are an honoured prince among us..." - They honoured him because he was an honourable man. He was an honorable man because God honored him and God was with him in EVERYTHING that he did.
b) "Choose the finest of our tombs and bury her there. No one here will refuse to help you in this way.” - 1. They would accommodate his request and grant it to him because of this honour and reputation that he had because of how God displayed Himself through and around Abraham. 2. They would accommodate his request and grant it to him because of this honour and reputation that they (The Hittites) had put on him because of his (Abraham's) relationships with all people around.
Our reputation is worth something! The value of who we are as human beings comes out of our relationship with God, our relationship with people and how we carry ourselves and display the Glory of God in everything that we do. Our reputation is more than physical, it can be metaphysical, and psychological and it can travel further than our physical bodies can.
Our reputation and character can be immortal. Abraham lived millenniums ago but here we are still talking about him in one way or another. Our reputation, character, sense of integrity, wisdom and deeds need to be rooted in The Character of God.
There's so much to unpack in this short chapter and I am in awe of God every day as we go further into The Word of God.
Hallelujah.
Part 1.
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