Women of Note in the Old Testament
23
received it. When Abraham desired a burial place for his dead, he had
to buy it of the Canaanites. His sole possession in the Land of Promise
was that rock-hewn tomb in the cave of Machpelah.—
Patriarchs and
Prophets, 169 (1890)
.
[“Sarah lived one hundred and twenty-seven years; these were
the years of the life of Sarah. So Sarah died in Kirjath Arba (that is,
Hebron) in the land of Canaan, and Abraham came to mourn for Sarah
and to weep for her.
[“Then Abraham stood up from before his dead, and spoke to the
sons of Heth, saying: ‘I am a foreigner and a visitor among you. Give
me property for a burial place among you, that I may bury my dead
out of my sight’....
[“Hear us, my lord: You are a mighty prince among us; bury your
[29]
dead in the choicest of our burial places. None of us will withhold
from you his burial place, that you may bury your dead.”—
Genesis
23:1-6
, NKJV].
Rebekah
This chapter is based on
Genesis 24
.
Abraham sent his servant Eliezar to choose a wife for his son Isaac. In
answer to Eliezar’s prayer, God led him to the one he had chosen to be
Isaac’s wife, Rebekah
.
The Canaanites were idolaters, and the Lord had commanded that
His people should not intermarry with them, lest they should be led
into idolatry. Abraham was old, and he expected soon to die. Isaac
was yet unmarried. Abraham was afraid of the corrupting influence
surrounding his son, and was anxious to have a wife selected for him
who would not lead him from God. He committed this matter to his
faithful, experienced servant who ruled over all that he had. Abraham
required his servant to make a solemn oath to him before the Lord,
that he would not take a wife for Isaac of the Canaanites, but that he
would go to Abraham’s kindred, who believed in the true God, and
select a wife for the young man. He charged him not to take Isaac
to the country from which he came; for they were nearly all affected
with idolatry. If he could not find a wife for Isaac who would leave her