The slow outworking of God’s purposes (Gen 22:20-23:20)
Gen 22:20-24; 23:1-20
It keeps amazing me how God works out His purposes without any hurry. We are often anxious that we are running out of time whether we wait for God’s direction in our careers, for financial support for study or ministry, for a change in our circumstances such as getting married or having children. According to our perception, God seems to arrive later than late, and we may look at others and envy the seeming smoothness with which their lives move forward. God, on the other hand, is satisfied with the painstakingly slow pace and small advances. But why?
Abraham and his brother
As we pick up again Abraham’s story, we read of the news that Abraham’s brother has fathered 12 sons (Gen 22:20-24). The narrator invites us to see the shocking contrast (note the link ‘after these things’ v.20) with Abraham’s own life. The patriarch only managed two sons, one (Ishmael) lost to him and the other (Isaac) barely regained. Should not the fate of Nahor and Abraham be reversed? After all, it is Abraham who was chosen and promised many descendants.
Abraham after 62 years in the land
Likewise, Sarah’s death reminds us that Abraham is ‘a stranger and a sojourner’ (Gen 23:4) without land even to bury his dead. Abraham is 137 years old at this point (Gen 12:4; 17:17; 23:1) and has lived in Canaan for 62 years. During this time, he did not insist on his seniority to pick the best land but gave his nephew first choice (Gen 13:8-9), neither did he take advantage of others to enrich himself (Gen 14:22-23). Now, however, he has been blessed with the means to buy land and it is reasonable for him to desire a permanent burial ground that he owns (v.4), so that it cannot be taken away by the locals later. From the conversation that follows, it is clear that the people esteem him highly (‘you are a mighty prince’ or ‘a prince of God’ – Gen 23:6) and there is a warmth and sympathy for this aging man who is grieving for his wife of a lifetime. That Abraham is not only going through the traditional mourning rites, but feels genuine sorrow is expressed in the second verb ‘to weep for her’ (Gen 23:2).
Owning land at last
At first, the Hittites offer to share with him their own graves (Gen 23:6), but Abraham persists in wanting a burial ground of his own and when they propose to give it to him for free, again, he insists on paying (Gen 23:8-11). We cannot be sure if the offer to give the land for free is genuine or simply part of the convention to be courteous (much like the way we might protest initially when someone offers to do us a favour). In any case, Abraham eventually gets an asking price (Gen 23:15). Four hundred shekels was a considerable amount that Walton estimates to have weighed over 7.25 pounds in silver coin (over three kilos). He notes in comparison that King Omri later purchased the site for the city of Samaria for 6,000 shekels (1 Kings 16:24) and David bought the temple site for 600 gold shekels (1 Chron 21:25), of which the threshing floor cost 50 shekels (2 Sam 24:24). An artisan or labourer would have earned about ten shekels a year.[1] These figures show that Abraham was a very wealthy man. Whether the price was fair or not, he does not quibble, and the likelihood is that he received a substantial piece of land for that money along with the cave for burial. Despite the slow developments in the fulfilment of the promises, God is at work.
God’s way of growing us
Our passage does not explain why God works at such a slow pace, yet we may speculate that it is often in that waiting that we learn trust in God and endurance in our circumstances. The Lord is not only concerned about a particular plan that He wants to bring to fruition but about the kind of people we become in the process. It is in those times of need and hardship that we learn perseverance and faith in the One who promised.
[1] John H. Walton, Genesis, NIVAC (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2001), 528-29.
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