Picking up where we left off in the last post.
Genesis 23:3-7
"And Abraham stood up from before his dead, and spake unto the sons of Heth, saying, (now remember it’s in the land of Canaan) 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. And the children of Heth answered Abraham, saying unto him, '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 the dead'. And Abraham stood up, and bowed himself to the people of the land, even to the children of Heth."
I’m making mention of the fact that he must have had his eye on this place for quite a while, that if, and when, somebody was going to die, that’s where he wanted them buried, or even himself. Now verse 8.
Genesis 23:8-9
"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, That he may give me (not a cave, but) the cave of Machpelah, which he hath, (Abraham had his eye on this one in particular) 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."
Well now in the intervening verses, they haggle over the price and so on and so forth, but now come on down to verse 16.
Genesis 23:16-18
"And Abraham hearkened unto Ephron; and Abraham (now watch this, underline it, pass it on to anybody that will listen) 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. 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. Unto Abraham for a possession in the presence of the children of Heth, before all that went in at the gate of his city."
In other words, they deeded it to him and it was agreed in the presence of those Canaanites that it was a done deal. He wrote it down and recorded all that was said and agreed to and who agreed to what, then he stored it in a jar and probably sealed it and marked the jar so it wouldn't get lost. This jar they then carried with them as a family heirloom of a great treasure.
Genesis 23:19
"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."
All right, now Mamre, the cave of Machpelah is today’s Hebron. It’s in the news constantly because it is a controversial place now between the Palestinians and the Hebrews. Now when I say Palestinians, that brings another thought. How many people are confused by the term Palestine? Now it’s a Scriptural word, you’ll find it way back in Exodus. But I’m going to make a point. You want to remember that the word Palestine is merely a term of geographical area. Much like we refer to the Mid-West, here in the United States. But, does the Mid-West have a definitive border? No. Does the Mid-West have a capital? No. Does the Mid-West have a flag? No. Does the Mid-West have a government? No. It’s merely a geographical area.
Another area is the Sahara. Same thing. Does the Sahara have definitive borders? No. Is the Sahara a nation? No. Does the Sahara have a flag or a constitution? No. Does it have an intrinsic language? No. But again, there isn’t a person, that if I speak of the Sahara you don't know what I’m talking about - that huge area of the northern part of Africa.
I can give you another one. The South Pacific. The South Pacific is a huge geographic area. Everybody knows what you’re talking about. Does it have a government? No. Does it have a flag? No. See? All right, that’s Palestine. Palestine is just a generalized geographical area there in the Middle East from the Mediterranean out east. It has never, never been a definitive area. It has never had a government. It has never had a definitive language. It’s just simply like the Mid-West. The Sahara. The South Pacific. Palestine. It’s an area in which various people have lived and are now living.
Now when you go back into Biblical history then, who were the true Palestinians. Well, early on it was the Canaanites and they were made up of many tribes and city states. They were living in the area of Palestine. Then it became the deeded land of Israel so the Hebrews were the true Palestinians. Then the Arabs started coming in for whatever reason. The region had been a nomadic region ie...a free zone, with lord's of city states who occupied as territorial land mass but had no claim ei...deed to it. All right, now what it all really boils down to is that we should define the people as the Palestinian Hebrews, and Palestinian Arabs. But everybody’s got it all wrong. They have gotten to the place now because of the propaganda machine that the Palestinians are the occupiers of the land of Palestine. Well they’re not. They don’t occupy all of Palestine. In fact a good portion of Palestine is the present day Jordan. A good part of Palestine as the term implies is maybe even parts of Syria. So, it’s just become a complete mix-mash of definitions but Palestine is not a nation. It is not a definitive government; it’s merely people living in a generalized geographical area. Now maybe that will help.
So the Hebrews then, are inhabitants of Palestine ever since they became a nation, especially under Moses. It’s been their homeland all right, but go back further than Moses, go to Abraham. He already bought a tract of land and paid silver for it in what is today the city of Hebron. From which we got the name or title Hebrew, though it could have also come from a descendant before Abraham named Eber as well, as he settled in Salem and was a lord over that city state at the time of Abraham's conquest of the kings.
All right, let’s look at the second one. Jump up ten chapters and go to Genesis chapter 33. Jacob has just come back from his twenty years with his uncle Laban and you all know that account. As he’s coming back he has just met with his brother Esau in the early part of this chapter but now drop in at verse 18. Now this is what I call Bible study. This just simply compares Scripture with Scripture. What does the Book say?
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