Devotional 2
A Down Payment on the Promise
Genesis 23:1–19
Sarah’s Death and Burial
1 Sarah lived 127 years; these were the years of the life of Sarah. 2 And Sarah died at Kiriath-arba (that is, Hebron) in the land of Canaan, and Abraham went in to mourn for Sarah and to weep for her. 3 And Abraham rose up from before his dead and said to the Hittites,1 4 “I am a sojourner and foreigner among you; give me property among you for a burying place, that I may bury my dead out of my sight.” 5 The Hittites answered Abraham, 6 “Hear us, my lord; you are a prince of God2 among us. Bury your dead in the choicest of our tombs. None of us will withhold from you his tomb to hinder you from burying your dead.” 7 Abraham rose and bowed to the Hittites, the people of the land. 8 And he said to them, “If you are willing that I should bury my dead out of my sight, hear me and entreat for me Ephron the son of Zohar, 9 that he may give me the cave of Machpelah, which he owns; it is at the end of his field. For the full price let him give it to me in your presence as property for a burying place.”
10 Now Ephron was sitting among the Hittites, and Ephron the Hittite answered Abraham in the hearing of the Hittites, of all who went in at the gate of his city, 11 “No, my lord, hear me: I give you the field, and I give you the cave that is in it. In the sight of the sons of my people I give it to you. Bury your dead.” 12 Then Abraham bowed down before the people of the land. 13 And he said to Ephron in the hearing of the people of the land, “But if you will, hear me: I give the price of the field. Accept it from me, that I may bury my dead there.” 14 Ephron answered Abraham, 15 “My lord, listen to me: a piece of land worth four hundred shekels3 of silver, what is that between you and me? Bury your dead.” 16 Abraham listened to Ephron, and Abraham weighed out for Ephron the silver that he had named in the hearing of the Hittites, four hundred shekels of silver, according to the weights current among the merchants.
17 So the field of Ephron in Machpelah, which was to the east of Mamre, the field with the cave that was in it and all the trees that were in the field, throughout its whole area, was made over 18 to Abraham as a possession in the presence of the Hittites, before all who went in at the gate of his city. 19 After this, Abraham buried Sarah his wife in the cave of the field of Machpelah east of Mamre (that is, Hebron) in the land of Canaan.
(ESV)
Abraham desires a burial place for his wife, so he must purchase a small plot of land from the Canaanites, this is the first bit of land that God’s people now own. This land has been promised to him by God, and now he must purchase the land. Surely there ought to be a burial place provided by God in this promised land. But yet Abraham does not doubt God’s plan for a second, he does not complain he purchases the field, at what seems to be quite a premium.
This will be the one piece of land they own for several generations, but yet you see it was a down payment, a deposit on what would one day rightfully be all theirs. But they must wait. Abraham knew that.
As Christians we too are waiting for our promised inheritance, a new heavens and a new earth, a heavenly Jerusalem where God will finally dwell with his people, without any spot or blemish of sin in any of it. We have not yet received it, but we have received a down payment.
In him you also, when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and believed in him, were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit, 14 who is the guarantee of our inheritance until we acquire possession of it, to the praise of his glory. — Ephesians 1:13–14
The Holy Spirit is our plot of land, our down payment, our foretaste of the inheritance to come. We will walk through this world mistreated and abused, not respected and honoured as the children of God that we are.
God has a plan; we may walk through the wilderness for many years, waiting, but one day we shall enter into that hope we have been so desperately waiting for. Don’t lose hope, you’ve got the downpayment, and that is guarantee that cannot be broken.
Reflection:
Where do you feel the “waiting” most in your life right now? How does the Spirit’s presence reassure you of what is coming?
Prayer:
Father, thank You for the Holy Spirit, the guarantee of my inheritance. Strengthen my hope as I wait for the day You make all things new. Amen.