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Genesis chapter 23 · Scripture Unscripted

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  Genesis chapter 23, Let us pray. Our Father, our king, our Lord,
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  the God of Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, the God of Israel.
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  We thank you, Father, for salvation.
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  We thank you for saving us to the utmost.
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  Your arm is not too short to save God.
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  Save many more. Bring them into the fold.
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  Lord, I pray that you'll use us mightily in this land.
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  Help us, Father, to know our worth.
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  Give us our dignity. Father, I pray that will not
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  squander our inheritance. Lord, I pray that we'll be
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  locked in with you, lockstep with you.
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  God, as you give us the fuel, give us our marching orders.
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  Help us to go out, Lord, and to do the work of an evangelist.
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  Help us to learn your scriptures.
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  Help us to hide your word in our hearts.
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  Father, I pray for all those that are suffering, for all
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  those that are struggling. God, for the single moms.
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  Father, I pray that you'll be the Jehovah Jireh for them.
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  Lord, I pray that you'll continue to take care of your
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  people. Lord, help us to feed your
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  sheep. Help us to feed your lambs.
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  Father, I pray that we'll wash the feet of our brothers and
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  sisters. Lord, I pray that we will
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  practice humility. Lord, I pray that you'll
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  continue to fill us. Holy Spirit, help us to know
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  that we are in the fold. Help us to hear your voice.
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  Help us to love well. Help us to wait well.
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  We love you, King Jesus. Thank you for salvation.
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  Gotta heal us, heal our bodies and our minds.
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  And it's in your holy and precious and powerful name that
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  I pray, King Jesus, Amen. Well, let's start in verse one,
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  and Sarah was 127 years old. These were the years of the life
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  of Sarah. This is the only woman in the
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  entire Bible that we get to see the age that she was at when she
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  died. And this shows us the importance
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  of Sarah and how God viewed her, that He would record the age
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  that she was when she died. What an amazing thought.
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  And we see multiple times through scripture that Sarah is
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  honored and that women are to look up to Sarah as an example.
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  2 And Sarah died and courage off Farba.
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  The same is Hebron in the land of Canaan.
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  And Abraham came to mourn for Sarah and to weep for her.
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  So we're going to get to see the death and the burial of Sarah
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  and how Abraham felt about it. And we are not to mourn like the
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  rest of the world who have no hope.
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  We know that whenever believe, whenever a believer dies, to be
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  absent from the body is to be present with the Lord Jesus
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  Christ told the thief on the cross that today you will be
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  with me in paradise. We comfort each other with these
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  words, but there is an appropriate amount of mourning
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  and sadness. And it is OK friends.
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  But who we feel the most pity for when a believer dies are the
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  ones that are left behind. Those of us who are still in the
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  land of the dying here. This is where there's the most
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  amount of pity. As we put up with these earthly
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  tents that are fading away. And for those that have passed
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  over on to the next, we celebrate their life.
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  The only real tragedy in this entire world is if somebody is
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  to take their last breath and refuse to accept the gift of
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  salvation that Jesus Christ offers to them.
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  When people die hostile to God and they do not care anything
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  about God and they die in that, whether it's sudden or gradual,
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  that is the greatest tragedy known to mankind to be eternally
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  separated from God forever and ever and ever and ever and ever.
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  And it'll be a billion deaths over and you'll never be able to
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  die. And that is why it is so tragic
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  and it is nowhere that anybody would ever want anyone on planet
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  earth, period to go to. If you truly understood what is
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  to happen 1 nanosecond after you are to take your last breath.
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  Three. And Abraham stood up from before
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  his dad and spoke to the sons of Heth, saying, For I'm a stranger
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  and a sojourner with you, Give me possession of a burying place
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  with you, that I might bury my dead out of my sight.
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  So here he was led into the land of Canaan, and we know that the
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  sin of that land had not culminated to the point that God
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  was ready to completely drive them out and do away with them
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  and allow the Israelites to come into that land.
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  But here we can see that Abraham puts his flag in the ground and
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  it is a marker, and it is signaling what is to come later
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  on down the road whenever the Israelites come in and take over
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  the land of Canaan. 5 And the children of hath answered
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  Abraham, saying to him, Six, Hear us, my Lord, you are a
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  mighty Prince among us in the choice of our sepulchres.
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  Bury your dead. None of us shall withhold from
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  you his sepulchre, but that you may bury your dead.
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  So they're saying, Pick you out a cave and go put her in it.
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  None of us will argue with that. But Abraham has something else
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  in mind. 7 And Abraham stood up and bowed himself to the people
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  of the land, even to the children of heath.
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  So here he shows reverence for them and we're going to see this
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  deal transpire, this back and forth with them.
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  And what would have been the customs of that day of how to
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  sell a piece of land. And the owner would have said
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  just go and take it. But it would have not been the
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  most cool thing to do to go in and just take it and say thanks.
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  It would have been bargaining back and forth.
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  But let's see how Abraham approaches it.
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  He bows himself down A and he communed with them, saying, If
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  it be your mind that I should bury my dead out of my sight,
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  hear me. Entreat for me to Ephron the son
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  of Zohar, 9 that he may give me The Cave of Makballah which he
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  has, which is in the end of his field, for as much money as it
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  is worth. He shall give it me for a
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  possession of a bearing place among you.
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  So he's wanting to bury Sarah, and he already has a place in
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  mind. This is where he's built an
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  altar unto the Lord. This is where we're going to see
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  the patriarchs getting buried in.
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  And so this is a very significant place. 10 And Ephron
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  dwelt among the children of Hath, And Ephron the Hittite,
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  answered Abraham in the audience of the children of Hath, even of
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  all that went in at the gate of his city, saying, Eleven.
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  No, my Lord, hear me. The field I give you and The
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  Cave that is in it, I give it to you in the presence of the sons
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  of my people, I give it to you, Barry, you're dead.
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  So here this would have been the customary way to strike up a
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  bargaining deal of going back and forth.
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  He would first say, it's yours, just take it.
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  But it was not intended for Abraham to actually take it. 12
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  And Abraham bowed down himself before the people of the land.
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  13 And he spoke to Ephron in the audience of the people of the
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  land, saying, But if you will give it, I pray hear me, I will
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  give you money for the field, Take it of me, and I will bury
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  my dead there. So he's saying, What do you
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  want? How much is it?
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  I'm not just going to take it. What is your price?
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  14 And Efron answered Abraham, saying to him, 15 My Lord,
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  listen to me, the land is worth 400 shekels of silver.
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  What is that between me and you? Bury therefore your dead.
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  So he gives him an inflated price, with the thought that
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  Abraham's going to go back and forth with him and haggle him
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  about the price. 16 Abraham listened to Ephron, and Abraham
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  weighed to Ephron the silver which he had named in the
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  audience of the sons of Heth. 400 shekels of silver, current
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  money with the merchant. So here you can see that Abraham
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  was a very wealthy man, and this inflated price was nothing for
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  the exchange. And what he had wanted is to put
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  down his roots in the land that God had promised him.
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  And he had promised him that he was going to give him all of the
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  land, not just this one little field with The Cave in it.
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  But Abraham was willing to pay Ephron for the rights to this
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  cave in the field. 17 In the field of Ephron, which was in
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  Macala, which was before Mamre, the field in The Cave which was
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  in it, and all the trees that were in the field that were in
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  all the borders round about were made sure.
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  So here Abraham has a surety for this property. 18 And Abraham
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  unto Abraham for a possession in the presence of the children of
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  Heath, before all that went in at the gate of the city.
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  This would have been a binding agreement, that nobody could go
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  back on. 19 And after this, Abraham buried Sarah his wife in
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  The Cave of the field of Makala before Mamre, the same as Hebron
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  in the land of Canaan. We're going to see this place
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  pop back up many times throughout Scripture. 20 And the
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  field and The Cave that is in it were made sure unto Abraham for
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  a possession of a burying place by the sons of Heth Will in
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  there. This is God's provision.
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  He has blessed Abraham with plenty of finances and wealth to
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  not have to haggle over the price of this very significant
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  place where Abraham's going to bury Sarah and she is honored in
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  her burial, and Abraham is going to be laid in the same place.
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  I hope that you've been blessed by this amazing chapter in God's
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  Word. I know I sure have.
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  These are real people in real places.
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  This is a real time and we can bank on it.
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  We can build our lives upon it. And God is so good at what he
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  does and he is geographical. And we are to take the word of
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  God literal in the literary sense that it is written in.
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  I'm praying for you. I love you, God loves you.
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  Keep pressing towards him. We'll see you back here
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  tomorrow. God bless you.