Genesis 22:20 – 24:9 Bible Teaching

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Okay we are gonna cover some beeeeeg ground today beginning at Genesis 22 verse 20 where Abraham and Isaac came down from Mount Moriah . . . alive.

Fortunately, we get some leads on some great baby names to consider right off the bat – so let’s read:
Genesis 22:20 – Genesis 24.9
January 29th 2023
20 And it came to pass after these things, that it was told Abraham, saying, Behold, Milcah, she hath also born children unto thy brother Nahor;
21 Huz his firstborn, and Buz his brother, and Kemuel the father of Aram,
22 And Chesed, and Hazo, and Pildash, and Jidlaph, and Bethuel.
23 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.

Alright, back to verse 20

20 And it came to pass after these things, that it was told Abraham, saying, Behold, Milcah, she hath also born children unto thy brother Nahor;

It appears that this little history was included here for the sole purpose of preparing us (the reader) for things that will transpire in chapter 24 and to show that the providence of God was preparing, in one of the branches of the family of Abraham, a suitable spouse for his son Isaac – the woman Rebecca.

So, we get some genealogy first (so verse 21)

21 Huz his firstborn, and Buz his brother, and Kemuel the father of Aram,

Huz is supposed to have peopled the land of Uz or Ausitis, in Arabia Desert, the country of Job.

And then of course we have Buz his brother and it is believed that this person is related to Elihu “the Buzite,” one of the friends of Job. But I am not so sure on the chronology of this as I’ve read that Job came first but whatever.

The buzzites continue to this very day and are found scattered throughout the world in parks, clubs and motorcycle gangs.

Then we have Kemuel the father of Aram who is apparently the father of the Syrians, according to the Septuagint.
It is thought that these are better known as the “Kamiletes,” which were a Syrian tribe to the westward of the Euphrates.

22 And Chesed, and Hazo, and Pildash, and Jidlaph, and Bethuel.
23 And Bethuel begat Rebekah: these eight Milcah did bear to Nahor, Abraham’s brother.

I think the important line here is “and Bethuel begat Rebekah,” who we will later read is the one who becomes the wife of Isaac.

24 And his concubine, whose name was Reumah, she bare also Tebah, and Gaham, and Thahash, and Maachah.

The word, “concubine” is a Latin compound word composed of “con” meaning, “together” and cubo, which means “to lie” – so someone that men lay together with,” without them having the rights that come with marriage.

Interestingly, the Hebrew word for concubine is also a compound term, composed of “to divide or share,” and “to approach,” because the husband, “approaches the concubine and shares the bed of the real wife with her.”

These were not unlawful “secondary wives” but any offspring produced did not come with inheritance rights which is why the focus on these offspring is not prominent in scripture.

Frankly speaking, in these patriarchal times, many of the leading characters had concubines, including Abraham, Jacob, Caleb, Manasses, Gideon, Saul, David, Solomon, and Rehoboam.

Know as a “pilegesh,” they differed greatly from a prostitute and were functionally embraced.

Jesus, the restorer of the Garden State to those of faith, brought everything back to the way God intended, and so to practice these things as a believer is to discount Him and His work.

Alright – on to chapter 23 – let’s read the whole thing!

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

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 buryingplace 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 bury my dead out of my sight; hear me, and intreat 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 buryingplace amongst 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.

16 And Abraham hearkened unto Ephron; and Abraham weighed to Ephron the silver, which he had named in the audience of the sons of Heth, four hundred shekels of silver, current money with the merchant.
17 And the field of Ephron, which was in Machpelah, which was before Mamre, the field, and the cave which was therein, and all the trees that were in the field, that were in all the borders round about, were made sure
18 Unto Abraham for a possession in the presence of the children of Heth, before all that went in at the gate of his city.
19 And after this, Abraham buried Sarah his wife in the cave of the field of Machpelah before Mamre: the same is Hebron in the land of Canaan.
20 And the field, and the cave that is therein, were made sure unto Abraham for a possession of a buryingplace by the sons of Heth.

Alright, and back to verse 1 of chapter 23

1 And Sarah was an hundred and seven and twenty years old: these were the years of the life of Sarah.

It is telling that Sarah is the only woman in the sacred writings whose age, death, and burial are distinctly described. She is given more details then the mother of Jesus!

Additionally, she has been deemed worthy of even higher honor as Paul writes of here in Galatians 4:22-23

“For it is written, that Abraham had two sons, the one by a bondmaid, the other by a freewoman. But he who was of the bondwoman was born after the flesh; but he of the freewoman was by promise.”

The writer of Hebrews mentions Sarah in his hall of fame of faith chapter too, showing honor and respect to her as a person of faith.

Sarah was about ninety-one years old when Isaac was born, and she lived thirty-six years after, and saw him grow into a man.

And so we see that with SARAH the promise of the incarnation of Christ commenced that was obscurely prophesied to Eve back in Genesis 3:15 and then, through another woman, MARY, that Messianic line was terminated, having had its fulfillment, as she had no other children from God and Jesus had no children either.

Fascinating to me.

We then have Mary Magdalene at the tomb, the first witness of the Resurrected Lord and she the first apostle of the Resurrection to take the news of His victory to the other male disciples.

Then we have the Day of Pentecost arrive where the Holy Spirit fell from above, feminine in nature as it gives new life, new birth, from above, to all of who choose faith.

The physical impossibility of Sarah conceiving was a type, the physical impossibility of Mary conceiving was a type, and the impossibility to recreate in Man a clean heart by faith was a type.

All of these births mentioned were supernaturally based and all of them abounded in the giving of life.

I would fail in my duty as a teacher of the word to pass this message over without offering some respectful words about women and the important role they pay in scripture, in giving life to the physical world and in the end to the Kingdom.

I must reiterate that Adam was one – male and female created He them and the two made the One – without each other they were incomplete.

I must reiterate an admitted bias – like it or not – and that is the health and moral temperament of every society lies in the hands of its women.

I personally fear the direction the world is taking but not because the men are turning so awful – men have always been awful – but because as a whole men have finally gotten what we carnally want out of women and the results are only going to serve to destroy us.

For this reason I applaud women of value and strength, of values, standards and independence – especially those who maintain such because they serve the living God from the heart.

We get glimpses – though they are too few and far between in ancient scripture – of the importance of females from the spiritual side to the material. I wish we would look now back to the way God intended for males and females to relate in Eden instead of our modern representations.

The notions of husbands and brides are central themes to biblical narrative and cannot be overlooked.

God created Man and created His bride from Him and told them to multiply – create children.

The Nation of Israel was considered to be married to God but Jeremiah 3:8 has God say,

“And I saw, when for all the causes whereby backsliding Israel committed adultery I had put her away, and given her a bill of divorce; yet her treacherous sister Judah feared not, but went and played the harlot also.”

Moving out to the Apostolic record we are introduced once in Jesus parable to the notion of His Bride, which is left and reiterated over and over in Revelation.

In and through Christ coming and taking His bride to the New Jerusalem which was prepared for her, we have the consummation of all things as the two of them made a heavenly home and spiritually begat and receive their children of faith into it.

And so, we say farewell to Sarah (verse 2)

2 And Sarah died in Kirjatharba; the same is Hebron in the land of Canaan: and Abraham came to mourn for Sarah, and to weep for her.

Kir-jath-arba literally means “in the city of the four,” and some believe that this speaks to where four Patriarchs were buried – Adam, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob – but others maintain, talk about the import of women (and the Rabbi’s favor this view) and say it means the burial place of Eve, along with Sarah, Rebekah and Leah.

Contextually speaking, it seems evident however that this name is Canaanitish and came after the chief with four brothers dwelt there with three of their names (according to Judges 1:10) being Sheshai, Ahiman, and Talmai.

These three were destroyed by the tribe of Judah; probably the other had been previously dead.

In any case, Abraham came to mourn for Sarah there. From verse 19 of the preceding chapter (which we covered last week – Genesis 22:19) it appears that Abraham had settled at Beer-sheba; and here we find that Sarah died at Hebron, which was about twenty-four miles from that Beersheba location.

For the convenience of feeding his numerous flocks, Abraham had probably several places of temporary residence, and particularly one at Beer-sheba, and another at Hebron; and it is likely that while he sojourned at Beersheba, Sarah died at Hebron; and his coming to mourn and weep for her signifies his coming from his former location to the latter on the news of her death. (verse 3)

3 And Abraham stood up from before his dead, and spake unto the sons of Heth, saying,

It was customary and as a sign or token of sorrow in that day for people to sit on the ground – often for days (as seen in that Abraham stood up from before his dead].

He had probably sat on the ground some days as a token of sorrow, as the custom then was, (and is fortified by Isaiah 47:1; and Genesis 37:35; the apocraphal book called Tobit 2:12-13 and of course Job).

So, when the time of mourning for Sarah had ended, it appears that Abraham rose up and went out from the presence of her body.

His next mission was to find a place to bury her. We will see in the following verses that this is important for Abraham to find a permanent burying place for his people and that it is not by mistake that it would be “in the land of Canaan.”

See, the area around the place where Sarah dies in Hebron was owned by a group known as the Hittites.

That title, “Hittites,” means “sons of Heth” and Heth was one of the Sons of Canaan, who was the cursed son of Noah.

Anyway, this is what Abraham says to these Hitties, or the sons of Heth

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.

Now, it can get confusing when it comes to Abraham not having a home or land because he did have land and a home and even here He will procure a burial place for not only Sarah but also for himself, their son Isaac and one grandson, Jacob.

Why is this important? Because by Abraham approaching these locals about purchasing a specific cave for his family burial place (as we will read from one Ephron the Hittite) the first permanent occupation in the land of Canaan by God’s people begins.

Huh? Huh? How about that?

“Don’t want a lot.” He says. “just a cave,” he says, “I’ll buy it,” he says.

But both Hebrews 11:13-16 and 1st Peter 2:11 suggest that these words of having no place speak more to the state of Abrahams mind than literally of his body. Meaning he felt that he had no certain dwelling place and was seeking by faith a city that had foundations.

So he says, “give me a possession of a burying place.’

Now for most people even today, it seems weird to be buried in a place that is not somehow a home to the deceased.

We still ship bodies back to native countries, counties and towns for burial, right?

So, in this setting, it seems that Abraham may have been graciously offered a sepulcher or burial in one of the Hittites graves. But he insisted on having a land of His own, even if it was just for the burial of his wife, self, son and grandson. Verse 5

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.

We know that you are favored by the divine so we offer you whatever you want. Verse -8

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 bury my dead out of my sight; hear me, and intreat for me to Ephron the son of Zohar,

The standard backstory to this is Abraham had already spotted the cave, sought out its owner, then appealed to the Hittites at the gates of the city where men would gather and transact business.

This seems to be the setting of what we are about to read (and delight in, I might add) at least I do.

So, Abraham appears to not know who Ephron is, and speaks generally to the crowd of Hittites gathered at the gates with the following request: (verse 9)

9 That he (Ephron) 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 amongst you.

Apparently, Old Ephron was in the crowd and we read

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.”

What generosity! Right! Ephron here is surrounded by his own people and is approached by the probably infamous Abraham with an offer and he publicly (which is how the deals were done in those days) says, “I’ve give it to you. Take it. The land too! Bury thy dead.”

Now its Abraham’s turn to be polite and considerate and so we read at verse 12

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.

It is said that instead of it saying, “If thou wilt give it,” it should read, “But if thou wilt sell it, I will give thee money for the field.”

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.

Now, the words, “the land is worth” are not in the text but have been added to help us understand what is actually being said here.

Ephron offered the cave and the land to Abraham for free to bury his dead.

Abraham offered to buy the land.

Ephron said, “it has a value of 400 shekels of silver – what’s that between friends? Bury your dead. I’ll take cash, check or plastic.”

We read 400 shekels but at verse 16 we will read about Abraham weighing the silver so it must mean just an amount. In other words, the reading of shekels was probably an equivalent amount determined by the total weight of the silver itself. (verse 16)

16 And Abraham hearkened unto Ephron; and Abraham weighed to Ephron the silver, which he had named in the audience of the sons of Heth, four hundred shekels of silver, current money with the merchant.

In other words, there appears to have been a money changer there to help transact the deal openly for all to see.

17 And the field of Ephron, which was in Machpelah, which was before Mamre, the field, and the cave which was therein, and all the trees that were in the field, that were in all the borders round about, were made sure.
18 Unto Abraham for a possession in the presence of the children of Heth, before all that went in at the gate of his city.

19 And after this, Abraham buried Sarah his wife in the cave of the field of Machpelah before Mamre: the same is Hebron in the land of Canaan.
20 And the field, and the cave that is therein, were made sure unto Abraham for a possession of a burying place by the sons of Heth.

As mentioned earlier, the cave of Machpelah, in the West Bank city of Hebron, is now said to be the burial place of the Matriarchs and Patriarchs: Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Sarah, Rebecca, and Leah.

Additionally, and according to Jewish mystical tradition, it’s also the entrance to the Garden of Eden where Adam and Eve are buried.

And we now come to chapter 24 where a lot happens in the formation of God’s covenant people so let’s read from verse 1-9 then wrap it up for today.

Genesis 24:1 And Abraham was old, and well stricken in age: and the LORD had blessed Abraham in all things.
2 And Abraham said unto his eldest servant of his house, that ruled over all that he had, Put, I pray thee, thy hand under my thigh:
3 And I will make thee swear by the LORD, the God of heaven, and the God of the earth, that thou shalt not take a wife unto my son of the daughters of the Canaanites, among whom I dwell:
4 But thou shalt go unto my country, and to my kindred, and take a wife unto my son Isaac.
5 And the servant said unto him, Peradventure the woman will not be willing to follow me unto this land: must I needs bring thy son again unto the land from whence thou camest?
6 And Abraham said unto him, Beware thou that thou bring not my son thither again.
7 The LORD God of heaven, which took me from my father’s house, and from the land of my kindred, and which spake unto me, and that sware unto me, saying, Unto thy seed will I give this land; he shall send his angel before thee, and thou shalt take a wife unto my son from thence.
8 And if the woman will not be willing to follow thee, then thou shalt be clear from this my oath: only bring not my son thither again.
9 And the servant put his hand under the thigh of Abraham his master, and sware to him concerning that matter.

Okay back to verse 1

Genesis 24:1 And Abraham was old, and well stricken in age: and the LORD had blessed Abraham in all things.
2 And Abraham said unto his eldest servant of his house, that ruled over all that he had, Put, I pray thee, thy hand under my thigh.

It is believed that this servant’s name was Eliezer but we cannot be sure. Sooooo… what’s with this thigh business?

Bible commentators are pretty stumped by this intimate little engagement or act. We will read a reference to it one more time at the end of Genesis relative to Joseph.

Some suggest the act dates back to the idea of giving testimony which if we think about it is a word that has roots in the testes and is said to have been given by males only by cupping the testes when swearing an oath.

Could be. Happy THAT no longer is a trend.

However in the Targum of Jonathan ben Uzziel (which is also called the Jerusalem Targum) it lends to the notion that the circumcised part of the male is what was taken in hand (which is worse yet) and an oath made.

Let’s read verse three which gives us the oath sworn (where whatever is being touched) as Abraham says to the servant:

3 And I will make thee swear by the LORD, the God of heaven, and the God of the earth, that thou shalt not take a wife unto my son of the daughters of the Canaanites, among whom I dwell:
4 But thou shalt go unto my country, and to my kindred, and take a wife unto my son Isaac.

Just like people like to be buried in the place they see as home we also tend to support our children marrying others from the same town or village – in the case of Abraham, it would be the area of Mesopotamia.

So, he makes the servant swear by YWHW, the God of Heaven, and the God of the earth – which is one heck of an oath, right? And if he has his hand near or on the vicinity of the oath of circumcision, which was the token of God’s covenant with Abraham, the summary of the oath would say something like:

“As God is unchangeable in his nature and purposes, so shall I be in this engagement, under the penalty of forfeiting all expectation of temporal prosperity, the benefits of the mystical covenant, and future glory of which this part of my body indicates.”

Almost sounds like something a LDS person would repeat at a cloth veil, right?

Obviously, Abraham did not want Isaac, his son of promise, marrying from the Canaanites.

They were devoted to different ways of culture already by this time (apparently relative to slavery and perhaps lifestyle choices) and to Abraham it would have been utterly inconsistent with God’s promise to have the nation and Messiah spring from him through a group cursed by God at the time of Noah (remember Canaan and the tent in chapter 9?)

Apparently, in Mesopotamia, called Abraham’s country here because it was the place where the family of Haran, his brother, had settled and where he himself had remained with his father Terah, there were people who had a connection to the living God who were acceptable.

This is why back in chapter 22 Moses inserted the following genealogy saying,

20 And it came to pass after these things, that it was told Abraham, saying, Behold, Milcah, she hath also born children unto thy brother Nahor;
21 Huz his firstborn, and Buz his brother, and Kemuel the father of Aram,
22 And Chesed, and Hazo, and Pildash, and Jidlaph, and Bethuel.
23 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.

Abraham therefore believed a wife could be found for his son. So, he tells his servant to “take a wife unto my son,” which presents us with another custom where choosing a wife for a man was (and still can be) a common practice in the east.

5 And the servant said unto him, Peradventure the woman will not be willing to follow me unto this land: must I needs bring thy son again unto the land from whence thou camest?

Commentators suggest that the servant was getting the specific details here of the oath so that in no way could he be guilty of breaking any part of it.

6 And Abraham said unto him, Beware thou that thou bring not my son thither again.
7 The LORD God of heaven, which took me from my father’s house, and from the land of my kindred, and which spake unto me, and that sware unto me, saying, Unto thy seed will I give this land; he shall send his angel before thee, and thou shalt take a wife unto my son from thence.

Abraham expresses the strongest confidence in God and reiterates the great designs for which God had brought him from his own kindred to propagate the Nation and bring forth the Messiah to save the world.

Abraham adds,

8 And if the woman will not be willing to follow thee, then thou shalt be clear from this my oath: only bring not my son thither again.
9 And the servant put his hand under the thigh of Abraham his master, and sware to him concerning that matter.

This matter will now unfold to us in the rest of the chapter in one of the most romantic stories of the Old Testament.

We will cover it next week.

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