The Pulpit Commentary — Genesis — Section 359

II. Tm: DURIAL ou SARAH, 1. Tlie daya of 111,()'/J,T11,i11,IJ, "Abraham ca1ne to mourn and to weep for Sarah." - The sorrow of the patriarch was-(1) Appropriate nnd becoming. Lamentation for the dead 11greeable to the instincts of nature and the dictates of religion. Witness Joseph (eh. 1. 1), David (2 Sam. xii. 16), Job (eh. i. 20), the devout men of Jerusalem (Acts viii. 2), Christ (John xi. 35). (2) Intense and sincere. Though partaking of the nature of a public ceremonial, the patriarch's grief was none the Jess real and profound. Simulated sorrow is no less offensive than sinful. (3) Limited and restrained. If tbere is a time to mourn and a time to weep, there is also a time to cast aside the symbols of sorrow, and a time to refrain from tears. Nature and religion both require a moderate indulgence in the grief occasioned by bereavement. 2. The purchase of a grave. Here may be noted-(1) The polite request. Its object-a grave for a possession; its purpose-to bury his dead; its pica- his wandering and unsettled condition in the land. (2) The generous proposal ; pre- faced with respect, proffered with magnanimity; teaching us the respect owing neighbours, the honour due superiors, and the kindness which should be shown strangers. (3) The courteous refusal. Unwilling to acquiesce in the proposed arrangement, Abraham declines with much respectfulness (ver. 12), expresses hi:i desire with greater clearness (ver. 13), and urgently requests the friendly intercession of the people of the land (ver. 8). Abraham's politeness a pattern for all. (4) The liberal donation. Ephron indicates his wish to besto,v the cave upon the patriarch as a gift. Liberality a Christian virtue which may sometimes be learnt from the men of the world. (5) The completed purchase. Abraham weiglis out the stipulated sum, neither depreciating Ephron's property nor asking an abatement in the price; an example for mercbo.nts and traders, (6) The acquired possession. The field and cave were made sure to Abraham for ever. The only thing on earth a man can really call his own is his grave. 3. The last 1-ites of serndture. "After this Abraham buried Sarah his wife in the cave of the field of Machpelah ; " with unknown funeral rites, but certainly with reverence,, with sadness, with hope. Learn-1. The duty of preparing for dentl1. 2. The propriety of moderate indulgence in grief. 3. The obligation resting on surviving relatives to carefully dispose of the lifeless bodies of the dead. 4. The wisdom of good men acquiring as soon as possible for themselves and their families a burial-place for a pos- session. HOMILIES BY VARIOUS AUTHORS. Vers. 19, 20.-T/ie deatli and burial of Sarah. I. TRUE RELIGION SANCTIFIES NATURAL BELATIONSllIPS. Those who know themselves blessed of God do not only feel thnt their human affections are precious and true, but do, in obedience to his will, preserve the greatest respect for their bodily frame, and for their dead who died in the Lord, and whose dust is committed tenderly to his keeping, II. THE PEOPLE OF Goo WERE UPHELD DY FAITll IN THEm CARE FOB TlIE DEAD. They looked beyond the grave. Some say there is no evidence of the doctrine of immortality in the Old Testament until nfter tho captivity. Surely .Abralrnm's feel- ings were not those of one who sorrowed without ltope. T110 purchase of tlie field, the securing possession for all time of the burying-place, pointed to faith, not the lnck of it. Where there is no sense 0£ immortality there is no reverence for tho dead. III. The PURCHASE OF THE FIEl,D was not only its security, but a testimony to tho heathen thnt the people of God held in reverence both the memory of the dead nnd the rights of the living. All social prosperity hns its root in religious life.-R. Ver. 20.-Lessons from the se-pulchre. "And the field, and the cave that is therein, were made sure unto Abraham for a possession of a burying-place." Abra- ham's first 11nd only possession in Cannan, a sepulchre. The importance of the pur- chase appears in the careful narrative of the transaction. For himself he was content to live as a stranger and pilgrim (cf. 1 Pet. v. 7) ; hut Sarnh's death lod him to acquire a burying-place. Deolining the offer to use any of the sepulchres of the people of the land ( cf. the separation at death between God's people nnd aliens), he bought the field and tl-e cave, nnd,inrefully prepared the evidence of the purchase. 29G THE MOK OF GENtStS. [en. XXII". 1-9.