Our most favorite stories are about good triumphing over evil. Everyone loves a story that portrays the good guys as winners and the bad guys as losing in a big way. We rejoice in the idea of good winning over evil because we secretly hope that evil never has to come our way but when it does we hope we overcome it victoriously.
Gen 22:16-1816 "I swear — God's sure word! — because you have gone through with this, and have not refused to give me your son, your dear, dear son, 17 I'll bless you — oh, how I'll bless you! And I'll make sure that your children flourish — like stars in the sky! like sand on the beaches! And your descendants will defeat their enemies. 18 All nations on Earth will find themselves blessed through your descendants because you obeyed me." (from THE MESSAGE: The Bible in Contemporary Language © 2002 by Eugene H. Peterson. All rights reserved.)
This was the promise given to Abraham, I liked the way the Message phrased it. The Aramaic reads as follows:
Gen 22:17 I will surely bless you, and I will surely multiply your descendants as the stars of the heaven, and as the sand which is on the sea shore; and your descendants shall inherit the lands of their enemies; 18 and by your seed [teaching] shall all the nations of the earth be blessed because you have obeyed my voice.
The Aramaic Peshitta by George Lamsa notes that the word seed in verse 18 can also mean teaching. What is the teaching of Abraham? That he did not withhold his son, and was obedient in all things.
How do we then have the victory? We have victory when we are obedient in all things. Our Hollywood stories always leave that part out. In the Hollywood versions the good guys have victory randomly; simply because they are good they then outsmart and outwit the enemy. We can defeat the enemies’ if we are obedient. That truly takes the fun out of good guys randomly winning and puts the onus back on us to be obedient. Yet even when there is victory in our lives, there still can be sorrow. The story of Sarah’s death is very sad. We can learn a great deal about how not to behave in tumultuous times when the devil attempts to knock us down.
Jasher 23:76And Satan went to Sarah, and he appeared to her in the figure of an old man very humble and meek, and Abraham was yet engaged in the burnt offering before the Lord. 77And he said unto her, Dost thou not know all the work that Abraham has made with thine only son this day? for he took Isaac and built an altar, and killed him, and brought him up as a sacrifice upon the altar, and Isaac cried and wept before his father, but he looked not at him, neither did he have compassion over him.78And Satan repeated these words, and he went away from her, and Sarah heard all the words of Satan, and she imagined him to be an old man from amongst the sons of men who had been with her son, and had come and told her these things.79And Sarah lifted up her voice and wept and cried out bitterly on account of her son; and she threw herself upon the ground and she cast dust upon her head, and she said, O my son, Isaac my son, O that I had this day died instead of thee. And she continued to weep and said, It grieves me for thee, O my son, my son Isaac, O that I had died this day in thy stead.
Satan told Sarah a lie and she believed it, she didn’t even question the validity of the “old man’s” story at first. And while she seemed to believe the old man, she rejoiced over the commands of God.
Jasher 23:80And she still continued to weep, and said, It grieves me for thee after that I have reared thee and have brought thee up; now my joy is turned into mourning over thee, I that had a longing for thee, and cried and prayed to God till I bare thee at ninety years old; and now hast thou served this day for the knife and the fire, to be made an offering.81But I console myself with thee, my son, in its being the word of the Lord, for thou didst perform the command of thy God; for who can transgress the word of our God, in whose hands is the soul of every living creature?82Thou art just, O Lord our God, for all thy works are good and righteous; for I also am rejoiced with thy word which thou didst command, and whilst mine eye weepeth bitterly my heart rejoiceth.
Sarah calls God, just. She doesn’t accuse or curse God. She recognizes that the soul of every living being is in God’s hands.
Jasher 23:83And Sarah laid her head upon the bosom of one of her handmaids, and she became as still as a stone.84She afterward rose up and went about making inquiries till she came to Hebron, and she inquired of all those whom she met walking in the road, and no one could tell her what had happened to her son.85And she came with her maid servants and men servants to Kireath-arba, which is Hebron, and she asked concerning her Son, and she remained there while she sent some of her servants to seek where Abraham had gone with Isaac; they went to seek him in the house of Shem and Eber, and they could not find him, and they sought throughout the land and he was not there.
If we remember, Abraham told Sarah that he was taking Isaac to learn about sacrifice to God and then was taking him to stay with Shem and Eber to learn about God. Sarah goes to look for Isaac, so now she is wondering if the old man was correct.
Jasher 23:86And behold, Satan came to Sarah in the shape of an old man, and he came and stood before her, and he said unto her, I spoke falsely unto thee, for Abraham did not kill his son and he is not dead; and when she heard the word her joy was so exceedingly violent on account of her son, that her soul went out through joy; she died and was gathered to her people.
Satan tells the truth and then Sarah dies because her joy was so violent. At least she died on appositive note, and she never cursed God. However she let her emotions get ahead of the entire situation. This is what we can learn from. If we can learn to control our emotions in times of trouble we would do better at listening to God. If we also learn not to be reactionary in times of trouble, we will also be able to hear God’s directions. Like Abraham, in sorrow lifting the knife before Isaac, yet not so out of control that he couldn’t hear God’s voice. That was satan’s hope that Abraham would kill his own son. This is why he ensnared the ram in the bushes, satan wanted Abraham to react quickly but God sent the angel of the Lord to stop Abraham.
Here is another key point from this story. Many times the devil may tell us the truth, but prior misunderstanding or confusion on our part may cause us to not believe it. I would reference previous blogs regarding timeline history. It may be that all the things we have heard by Scientists and Archaeologists and Historians are true, but maybe we just have our timing bunched up? Maybe we have thought that all the things we are told could not possibly all be true because we have missed the small detail of time. What we believe is hardly the point, what exists has to be explained. Therefore maybe the devil tells us the truth about history but has us confused as to when things took place, and because we have compartmentalized Science, Archaeology, and History, we haven’t understood them all together. By combining what these experts have said into a timeline, it then seems to all fit together quite well.
One more point to look at is that Sarah died and was gathered to her people. What does it mean for her to be gathered to her people? Are they alive somewhere? Does this coincide with what we saw previously that Jesus said God was a God of the living, referring to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob?
Jasher 23:87And when Abraham had finished his service he returned with his son Isaac to his young men, and they rose up and went together to Beersheba, and they came home.88And Abraham sought for Sarah, and could not find her, and he made inquiries concerning her, and they said unto him, She went as far as Hebron to seek you both where you had gone, for thus was she informed.89And Abraham and Isaac went to her to Hebron, and when they found that she was dead they lifted up their voices and wept bitterly over her; and Isaac fell upon his mother's face and wept over her, and he said, O my mother, my mother, how hast thou left me, and where hast thou gone? O how, how hast thou left me! 90 And Abraham and Isaac wept greatly and all their servants wept with them on account of Sarah, and they mourned over her a great and heavy mourning.
When Abraham and Isaac came down the mountain it was probably first a surprise to Ishmael, who was expecting Isaac to be dead so that he would inherit Abraham’s wealth. It was also a surprise to Eliezer who thought the inheritance would go to him. I’m sure Abraham and Isaac were so high from this experience, rejoicing and retelling the story of what happened to them on the mountain to the two men. When they could not find Sarah I’m sure their hearts sank. Abraham and Isaac probably rushed to Hebron in search of Sarah, yet they found her dead. Satan is responsible for the death of Sarah through the lies he told her, even though he later told her the truth, I’m sure satan knew what an emotional turmoil could do to an elderly person. Therefore satan is directly responsible for causing the emotional low and high that killed Sarah. This is another great key for us. Emotions can harm our body. If we are so inclined to get worked up over bad things, we can hurt ourselves. To what extent the impact will be on our physical bodies is debatable, however we do know that negative thoughts and emotions bring us down, causing even the cells in our bodies to become weak and sickly. I’ll refer to Dr Emoto’s water experiments in the end notes.
Jasher 24:1And the life of Sarah was one hundred and twenty-seven years, and Sarah died; and Abraham rose up from before his dead to seek a burial place to bury his wife Sarah; and he went and spoke to the children of Heth, the inhabitants of the land, saying,2 I am a stranger and a sojourner with you in your land; give me a possession of a burial place in your land, that I may bury my dead from before me.
Previously we explored that Sarah was 127 when she died, making Isaac 37 at the time of her death, and Abraham 137 at the time of her death. We know that Sarah went to Hebron, which was about 40 miles from where they lived. This is why Abraham says to Heth that he is a sojourner in the land. Jasher gives us the details of what Genesis says, as we will look at later. Genesis says that Abraham went to Sarah at Hebron and then told Heth that he was a sojourner in the land, but the bible doesn’t tell us why Sarah was there.
Jasher 24:3And the children of Heth said unto Abraham, behold the land is before thee, in the choice of our sepulchers bury thy dead, for no man shall withhold thee from burying thy dead.4And Abraham said unto them, If you are agreeable to this go and entreat for me to Ephron, the son of Zochar, requesting that he may give me the cave of Machpelah, which is in the end of his field, and I will purchase it of him for whatever he desire for it.5And Ephron dwelt among the children of Heth, and they went and called for him, and he came before Abraham, and Ephron said unto Abraham, Behold all thou requirest thy servant will do; and Abraham said, No, but I will buy the cave and the field which thou hast for value, In order that it may be for a possession of a burial place for ever.6And Ephron answered and said, Behold the field and the cave are before thee, give whatever thou desirest; and Abraham said, Only at full value will I buy it from thy hand, and from the hands of those that go in at the gate of thy city, and from the hand of thy seed for ever.7And Ephron and all his brethren heard this, and Abraham weighed to Ephron four hundred shekels of silver in the hands of Ephron and in the hands of all his brethren; and Abraham wrote this transaction, and he wrote it and testified it with four witnesses.8And these are the names of the witnesses, Amigal son of Abishna the Hittite, Adichorom son of Ashunach the Hivite, Abdon son of Achiram the Gomerite, Bakdil the son of Abudish the Zidonite.9And Abraham took the book of the purchase, and placed it in his treasures, and these are the words that Abraham wrote in the book, namely:10That the cave and the field Abraham bought from Ephron the Hittite, and from his seed, and from those that go out of his city, and from their seed for ever, are to be a purchase to Abraham and to his seed and to those that go forth from his loins, for a possession of a burial place for ever; and he put a signet to it and testified it with witnesses.11And the field and the cave that was in it and all that place were made sure unto Abraham and unto his seed after him, from the children of Heth; behold it is before Mamre in Hebron, which is in the land of Canaan.
This purchase was a big deal, Abraham paid for the cave, he wrote it in a purchase book, and he used a signet ring to seal it, all in front of several witnesses. This is one transaction that Abraham wanted to make sure was established for ever. Today the Tombs of the Patriarchs still exist in Hebron, I’ve included a link in the end notes.
Jasher 24:12And after this Abraham buried his wife Sarah there, and that place and all its boundary became to Abraham and unto his seed for a possession of a burial place.13And Abraham buried Sarah with pomp as observed at the interment of kings, and she was buried in very fine and beautiful garments.14And at her bier was Shem, his sons Eber and Abimelech, together with Anar, Ashcol and Mamre, and all the grandees of the land followed her bier.
This is astounding, as we previously observed, Abimelech, the King that took Sarah, but gave her back to Abraham, who seemed to reverence God, was the son of Shem, Melchizedek. This is significant as to what we explored earlier regarding other people in the land knowing God. Here we see that Abimelech is the king of the Philistines, so the true Philistine heritage was that the people were led by a Godly King.
Jasher 24:15And the days of Sarah were one hundred and twenty-seven years and she died, and Abraham made a great and heavy mourning, and he performed the rites of mourning for seven days.16And all the inhabitants of the land comforted Abraham and Isaac his son on account of Sarah.17And when the days of their mourning passed by Abraham sent away his son Isaac, and he went to the house of Shem and Eber, to learn the ways of the Lord and his instructions, and Abraham remained there three years.
Isaac stays in Hebron with Shem and Eber to learn the ways of the Lord. It seems that Shem and Eber were busy teaching the ways of the Lord to lots of people. Isaac goes to school until he was 40 years old. In the meantime Abraham stays around, but then goes back to Beersheba.
Jasher 24:18At that time Abraham rose up with all his servants, and they went and returned homeward to Beersheba, and Abraham and all his servants remained in Beersheba.19And at the revolution of the year Abimelech king of the Philistines died in that year; he was one hundred and ninety-three years old at his death; and Abraham went with his people to the land of the Philistines, and they comforted the whole household and all his servants, and he then turned and went home.
Abemelech lives to 193 years old.
Jasher 24:20And it was after the death of Abimelech that the people of Gerar took Benmalich his son, and he was only twelve years old, and they made him lying in the place of his father.21And they called his name Abimelech after the name of his father, for thus was it their custom to do in Gerar, and Abimelech reigned instead of Abimelech his father, and he sat upon his throne.
The Death and Burial of Sarah (xix. 1-9; cf. Gen. xxiii.)
Jubilees 19:1 And in the first year of the first week in the forty-second jubilee, Abraham returned and dwelt opposite Hebron, that is Kirjath Arba, two weeks of years. 2. And in the first year of the †third† week of this jubilee the days of the life of Sarah were accomplished, and she died in Hebron. 3. And Abraham went to mourn over her and bury her, and we tried him [to see] if his spirit were patient and he were not indignant in the words of his mouth; and he was found patient in this, and was not disturbed. 4. For in patience of spirit he conversed with the children of Heth, to the intent that they should give him a place in which to bury his dead. 5. And the Lord gave him grace before all who saw him, and he besought in gentleness the sons of Heth, and they gave him the land of the double cave over against Mamre,that is Hebron, for four hundred pieces of silver. 6. And they besought him, saying, "We shall give it to thee for nothing"; but he would not take it from their hands for nothing, for he gave the price of the place, the money in full, and he bowed down before them twice; and after this he buried his dead in the double cave. 7. And all the days of the life of Sarah were one hundred and twenty-seven years, that is, two jubilees and four weeks and one year: these are the days of the years of the life of Sarah. 8. This is the tenth trial wherewith Abraham was tried, and he was found faithful, patient in spirit. 9. And he said not a single word regarding the rumour in the land how that God had said that He would give it to him and to his seed after him, and he begged a place there to bury his dead; for he was found faithful, and was recorded on the heavenly tables as the friend of God.
Abraham was tried at least ten times. We have to wonder why Abraham needed to be tried so many times. Is it possible that we are tried for a reason? Something I think of is the millennial reign of Christ. For one thousand years the devil will be bound, people will be ruled by Jesus, and then the devil will be loosed for a short time to go out and deceive the nations. It seems like testing and trying is a theme in our lives. Knowing that, how should we then live?
JOSEPHUS CHAPTER 14.CONCERNING SARAH ABRAHAM'S WIFE; AND HOW SHE ENDED HER DAYS.Now Sarah died a little while after, having lived one hundred and twenty-seven years. They buried her in Hebron; the Canaanites publicly allowing them a burying-place; which piece of ground Abraham bought for four hundred shekels, of Ephron, an inhabitant of Hebron. And both Abraham and his descendants built themselves sepulchers in that place.
We have to note that the Philistines, the Hittites, and the Canaanites were kind to Abraham, he lived among them and they were like family. Abraham went to the funeral of Abimelech and mourned with them. We remember that the descendants of the Nephilim inhabit the areas of Philistia and Canaan. Goliath and his brothers were from Philistia at the time of David, and at the time of Joshua entering the Promised Land the Canaanites were large, as well as Og from Bashan who went out against the Israelites. Heth and his descendants were Hittites, who were also a tall race of people, suspected to be descended from Nephilim. These people were all taught by Shem and Abraham about God. Why they eventually became enemies of Israel we will see later but to understand the history of these people, we see they were friends of Abraham. This also answers the question that the chicken little’s use to scare the body of Christ regarding the bastard nature of the Nephilim. The scare tactic is that the Nephilim will alter our genetics and will re-establish their supremacy on earth. Yet they did not rule in Philistia, Shem’s son did, and they may have ruled in Canaan, but they were kind to Shem, Eber and Abraham. Under the Melchizedek Priesthood, the offspring of the Nephilim can be saved and live for God. I find it interesting that God would establish Shem and Abraham among the people of mixed lineage. Would this mean we should establish ourselves among those who do not know God, rather than cloister ourselves among those who do know God?
From our knowledge of history Noah divided the land among his sons and pronounced a curse on anyone who would move into a land not allotted to them. Japheth went north, Shem central, Ham went south. Ham’s son Canaan moved into Shem’s allotted portion of land. Shem did not remove him and his people, instead he converted them. Noah prophesied that the offspring of Japheth would dwell in the tents of Shem. Understandably, after a period of time, these things are forgotten.
We see the bible tells us that Abraham came to mourn for Sarah in Hebron, it does not say why she was there, it says that is where she died and was buried. But the bible says when Abraham and Isaac came down they met up with their servants, Ishmael and Eliezer, and went to Beer-sheba which is 40 miles from Hebron where Sarah was. Funny that Ishmael and Eliezer were known as young men, both were younger than Abraham and Sarah. Also remember that Abraham’s people spread out from Beersheba to Hebron but Abraham, himself, dwelt in Beersheba.
Gen 22:19 So Abraham returned unto his young men, and they rose up and went together to Beer-sheba; and Abraham dwelt at Beer-sheba.KJV
Gen 23:1 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 Kirjath-arba; 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 sure18 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.KJV
While we see the sadness of Sarah’s death, we also see the importance of Abraham securing a place of burial that is still observed today. He had a very good reputation in the land, he did not overreact when people tried to take advantage of him and he stayed even keeled. He obeyed God without arguing or negotiating. We also see how the people he lived around, all Nephilim descendants respected him. They were not evil toward Abraham nor did they try to overtake Abraham. The history of these people at this time was that they were taught about God and that they were living among the teachers of their time. Abraham then believes Isaac should marry.
End Notes:
Dr Emoto’s water experiments
Tombs of the Patriarchs in Hebron
