Loss

"Abraham, my friend, what brings you here?" Ephron the Hittite was seated among his friends when he saw the old man approaching. He had come to know Abraham recently as a sojourner in Hittite land. They weren't close friends, but they did have a healthy respect for each other. Ephron was willing to let Abraham live among them, at least.

"My wife," Abraham began. He seemed on the verge of tears. "My wife, Sarah..."

"Yes," Ephron prodded him on. "Yes, I've met your wife. Lovely woman. What's wrong, Abraham?"

"Sarah died the other day. I need to purchase some land from you to bury her."

Ephron glanced toward his own tent, thinking of his wife and family. "Abraham, my friend, I am so sorry. What happened?"

"Well," Abraham said, looking off into the distance, "I had to obey a command from God. I took my son, Isaac, to that mountain over there and intended to sacrifice him to please God."

Ephron glanced toward the mountain. "Intended?" he asked.

Abraham nodded. "I didn't do it. At the last minute, an angel of the Lord stopped me and showed me a ram caught in the thicket, a ram that I could sacrifice instead of my son. God wanted to know if I valued him above everything else. And I do, so God provided what I needed. God provided a ram."

Ephron nodded. He didn't believe in Abraham's strange God, but he knew Abraham was a man of strong convictions. Besides, it wasn't unusual for Ephron's gods to ask similar things, only they didn't provide another way out. So he knew his friend's pain, and once again he glanced toward his own tent. "I understand, my friend," he said. Then, looking back at Abraham, he said, "But I don't understand what this has to do with Sarah's death."

Abraham swallowed. "Isaac was angry with me for a time, and so he didn't come back with me. Not right away. I don't blame him. But when I returned without him—well, Sarah assumed the worst. She wouldn't speak to me. She didn't believe me that I hadn't killed our only son." Abraham seemed once again on the verge of tears. "It wasn't until he came back himself that she believed me and asked for forgiveness. Can you believe that? SHE asked ME for forgiveness. It should have been the other way around! But the damage was done. Her heart was weak, and I think the stress was too much for her. She died soon after Isaac returned." He lifted his head to look again at Ephron. "So I need a place to bury her."

Ephron stood up and crossed to his friend. "No, Abraham. You can have the land. Don't worry about the price."

Abraham shook his head. "No, my friend. I can't place Sarah in a tomb that costs me nothing. I must pay you for it." And, together, they agreed on a price, and Abraham paid for it. Then, he took his bride and placed her body there in the tomb that is near Mamre. As the tomb was closed, Abraham whispered one final time to his bride: "I will join you soon, Sarah. And know that I will do everything I can to keep our family safe."

As he turned to walk away, he couldn't help but wonder that the first piece of land he actually owned in this "promised land" was a tomb.

Tomb of the Patriarchs, today