Sarah Dies
Genesis 23 skips ahead. Sarah has died at the age of 127, and Abram purchases a cave from the Hittites to bury her. They generously offer it to him for free, but he insists on paying. It’s interesting that an entire chapter is dedicated to the debate between Abraham and the Hittites about purchasing the cave. I’m not sure what the significance of this is.
Isaac marries Rebekah
On to chapter 24, Abraham is now very old and tells his servant to swear to him that he will not find a Canaanite wife for his Isaac, but instead, to find a wife for him in his homeland. The servant travels to Nahor where he meets Rebekah, Abraham’s niece. Rebekah is offered gold jewelery, and the servant stays at her home for the night and explains the situation to Rebekah’s brother Laban. She travels back with the servant to marry Isaac. The chapter ends “So she became his wife, and he loved her; and Isaac was comforted after his mother’s death.” A nice emotional touch at the end.
Abraham dies
In chapter 25, Abraham remarries, has more kids, and dies at the age of 175, leaving everything to Isaac, having sent his other children away to the east with gifts, but no inheritance. Isaac and Ishmael buried him with his mother in the field Abraham bought from the Hittites, and God blesses Isaac.
The Twelve Tribes of Ishmael
Ishmael’s descendants also get a shout out here. Ishmael, son of Abraham and Sarah’s Egyptian slave Hagar, has 12 sons who become hostile tribal leaders near the eastern border of Egypt. I have learned about the 12 tribes of Israel, but here we have the 12 tribes of Ishmael, what a fascinating parallel!
Muslims are said to be the descendants of Ishmael, who they believe was the true son who inherited God’s promise to Abraham. It is both sad and fascinating to see right here the beginnings of feuds between the Jewish and Muslims that we still see today. It is also disheartening to read of Abraham’s rejection of the Canaanites, and the negative description of Ishmael’s descendants. Rather than promoting unity and world peace, Genesis promotes the tribalism and prejudice that have led to horrible world events. At the same time, it is probably wrong to interpret ancient writings with only a modern state of mind, but what I get stuck on is that if this is supposed to be from God, it seems it should speak more to universal truths, and not require cultural/historical understanding to find value.