Genesis · chapter 23 of 50
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Genesis 23 tells how Sarah dies at Kiriath-arba, that is, Hebron, at 127 years old, and Abraham mourns her. As a foreigner in the land, he negotiates with the Hittites and buys from Ephron the field and cave of Machpelah for four hundred shekels of silver. There he buries Sarah, and that land becomes Abraham's first possession in the promised land.
Genesis 23 is the only chapter in the Bible devoted almost entirely to the death and burial of a woman, and the account shows how much Sarah mattered. It is also a scene of detailed negotiation, in which Abraham, a foreigner, legally acquires his first piece of land in Canaan. That small field is a sign of God's promise and of Abraham's belief that the land would belong to his descendants.
Sarah lives 127 years and dies at Kiriath-arba, that is, Hebron, in the land of Canaan. Abraham comes to mourn for her and weep for her. Then he rises from before his dead and speaks to the Hittites: he says he is a sojourner and foreigner among them and asks for property in which to bury his dead. The Hittites respond respectfully that he is a prince of God among them and may bury in the choicest of their tombs.
Abraham bows to the people and asks them to speak on his behalf to Ephron son of Zohar, so that he will sell him the cave of Machpelah, at the end of his field, for the full price. Ephron, who was sitting among the Hittites, answers in the hearing of all who went in at the gate of his city, offering to give him the field and the cave. Abraham bows again and insists on paying the price of the field. Ephron tells him the land is worth four hundred shekels of silver, and adds that this is little between the two of them.
Abraham weighs out for Ephron the silver he had named in the hearing of the Hittites, four hundred shekels of silver, current among the merchants. So the field of Ephron at Machpelah, east of Mamre, with the cave and all the trees in the field, is made over to Abraham as a possession in the presence of the Hittites. After this Abraham buries Sarah his wife in the cave of the field of Machpelah, which is Hebron, and the field and the cave are made over from the Hittites to Abraham as a possession for a burying place.
References follow ESV book names and verse numbers. Read each verse in your Bible before the explanation.
Sarah dies at Hebron and Abraham comes to mourn for her and weep for her. The text, unhurried, lets us see the real grief of a man of faith: faith does not remove tears, and mourning is a legitimate form of love.
Abraham presents himself to the Hittites as a sojourner and foreigner and asks for property to bury his dead. After decades in the promised land he still considers himself a stranger, which teaches that his hope was set beyond what he possessed.
Abraham weighs out four hundred shekels of silver for Ephron in the hearing of the Hittites, at the going rate among merchants. He paid the full price and in public, so that no one could doubt that the land was his.
Abraham buries Sarah in the cave of the field of Machpelah, east of Mamre. Her burial in the promised land is an act of faith that God will give that land to his descendants, and other patriarchs will later be buried there.
6 questions with answers and references, ready for Sunday school, small group or a Bible quiz night.
Answer: One hundred twenty-seven years; she died at Kiriath-arba, that is, Hebron, in the land of Canaan. — Genesis 23:1-2
Answer: As a sojourner and foreigner among them. — Genesis 23:4
Answer: The cave of Machpelah, at the end of Ephron's field. — Genesis 23:9
Answer: To give the field and the cave to Abraham. — Genesis 23:11
Answer: Four hundred shekels of silver. — Genesis 23:16
Answer: In the cave of the field of Machpelah, east of Mamre, at Hebron. — Genesis 23:19
Genesis 23 invites us to grieve honestly. Abraham wept for Sarah and did not rush to move on. In a group you can talk about how to accompany those who have lost someone, without quick phrases, with presence and time, and about how Christian hope lives alongside tears.
It also teaches integrity: Abraham refused the gift and paid the full price, in front of everyone. Ask where you can act with transparency and generosity in agreements and business, and how to live as pilgrims, with your feet in the present but your hope set on what God has promised.
Genesis 23 ends with Sarah buried at Machpelah and Abraham the owner of a piece of the promised land. In Genesis 24 Abraham, now very old, sends his servant to find a wife for Isaac.
In the culture of the time, offering a gift was part of the courtesy of negotiation, and the buyer was expected to insist on paying. Abraham wanted a legal property without debts of gratitude, so that no one could later dispute his right to the family tomb.
They are the sons of Heth, a people of Canaan descended from Canaan, according to Genesis 10:15. They should not simply be confused with the great Hittite empire of Anatolia, although the names are related in translations. Here they are the inhabitants of Hebron.
Abraham, Sarah, Isaac, Rebekah, Leah and Jacob will be buried there. It is a pledge of the promise that the land would belong to Abraham's descendants, and tradition still regards Hebron as a very significant place.