While Abraham was engaged in the sacrifice, Satan went to Sarah, and
appeared to her in the figure of an old man, very humble and meek, and
said to her: "Dost thou not know all that Abraham has done unto thine
only son this day? He took Isaac, and built an altar, slaughtered him,
and brought him up as a sacrifice. Isaac cried and wept before his
father, but he looked not at him, neither did he have compassion upon
him." After saying these words to Sarah, Satan went away from her, and
she thought him to be an old man from amongst the sons of men who had
been with her son. Sarah lifted up her voice, and cried bitterly,
saying: "O my son, Isaac, my son, O that I had this day died instead of
thee I It grieves me for thee! After that I have reared thee and have
brought thee up, my joy is turned into mourning over thee. In my
longing for a child, I cried and prayed, till I bore thee at ninety.
Now hast thou served this day for the knife and the fire. But I console
myself, it being the word of God, and thou didst perform the command of
thy God, for who can transgress the word of our God, in whose hands is
the soul of every living creature? Thou art just, O Lord our God, for
all Thy works are good and righteous, for I also rejoice with the word
which Thou didst command, and while mine eye weepeth bitterly, my heart
rejoiceth." And Sarah laid her head upon the bosom of one of her
handmaids, and she became as still as a stone.
She rose up afterward and went about making inquiries concerning her
son, till she came to Hebron, and no one could tell her what had
happened to her son. Her servants went to seek him in the house of Shem
and Eber, and they could not find him, and they sought throughout the
land, and he was not there. And, behold, Satan came to Sarah in the
shape of an old man, and said unto her, "I spoke falsely unto thee, for
Abraham did not kill his son, and he is not dead," and when she heard
the word, her joy was so exceedingly violent that her soul went out
through joy.
When Abraham with Isaac returned to Beer-sheba, they sought for Sarah
and could not find her, and when they made inquiries concerning her,
they were told that she had gone as far as Hebron to seek them. Abraham
and Isaac went to her to Hebron, and when they found that she was dead,
they cried bitterly over her, and Isaac said: "O my mother, my mother,
how hast thou left me, and whither hast thou gone? O whither hast thou
gone, and how hast thou left me?" And Abraham and all his servants wept
and mourned over her a great and heavy mourning, even that Abraham did
not pray, but spent his time in mourning and weeping over Sarah.[257]
And, indeed, he had great reason to mourn his loss, for even in her old
age Sarah had retained the beauty of her youth and the innocence of her
childhood.[258]
The death of Sarah was a loss not only for Abraham and his family, but
for the whole country. So long as she was alive, all went well in the
land. After her death confusion ensued. The weeping, lamenting, and
wailing over her going hence was universal, and Abraham, instead of
receiving consolation, had to offer consolation to others. He spoke to
the mourning people, and said: "My children, take not the going hence
of Sarah too much to heart. There is one event unto all, to the pious
and the impious alike. I pray you now, give me a burying-place with
you, not as a gift, but for money."[259]
In these last few words Abraham's unassuming modesty was expressed. God
had promised him the whole land, yet when he came to bury his dead, he
had to pay for the grave, and it did not enter his heart to cast
aspersions upon the ways of God. In all humility he spake to the people
of Hebron, saying, "I am a stranger and a sojourner with you."
Therefore spake God to him, and said, "Thou didst bear thyself
modestly. As thou livest, I will appoint thee lord and prince over
them."[260]
To the people themselves he appeared an angel, and they answered his
words, saying: "Thou art a prince of God among us. In the choice of our
sepulchres bury thy dead, among the rich if thou wilt, or among the
poor if thou wilt."[261]
Abraham first of all gave thanks to God for the friendly feeling shown
to him by the children of Heth, and then he continued his negotiations
for the Cave of Machpelah.[262] He had long known the peculiar value of
this spot. Adam had chosen it as a burial-place for himself. He had
feared his body might be used for idolatrous purposes after his death;
he therefore designated the Cave of Machpelah as the place of his
burial, and in the depths his corpse was laid, so that none might find
it.[263] When he interred Eve there, he wanted to dig deeper, because
he scented the sweet fragrance of Paradise, near the entrance to which
it lay, but a heavenly voice called to him, Enough! Adam himself was
buried there by Seth, and until the time of Abraham the place was
guarded by angels, who kept a fire burning near it perpetually, so that
none dared approach it and bury his dead therein.[264] Now, it happened
on the day when Abraham received the angels in his house, and he wanted
to slaughter an ox for their entertainment, that the ox ran away, and
in his pursuit of him Abraham entered the Cave of Machpelah. There he
saw Adam and Eve stretched out upon couches, candles burning at the
head of their resting-places, while a sweet scent pervaded the cave.
Therefore Abraham wished to acquire the Cave of Machpelah from the
children of Heth, the inhabitants of the city of Jebus. They said to
him. "We know that in time to come God will give these lands unto thy
seed, and now do thou swear a covenant with us that Israel shall not
wrest the city of Jebus from its inhabitants without their consent."
Abraham agreed to the condition, and he acquired the field from Ephron,
in whose possession it lay.[265]
This happened the very day on which Ephron had been made the chief of
the children of Heth, and he had been raised to the position so that
Abraham might not have to have dealings with a man of low rank. It was
of advantage to Abraham, too, for Ephron at first refused to sell his
field, and only the threat of the children of Heth to depose him from
his office, unless he fulfilled the desire of Abraham, could induce him
to change his disposition.[266]
Dissembling deceitfully, Ephron then offered to give Abraham the field
without compensation, but when Abraham insisted upon paying for it,
Ephron said: "My lord, hearken unto me. A piece of land worth four
hundred shekels of silver, what is that betwixt me and thee?" showing
only too well that the money was of the greatest consequence to him.
Abraham understood his words, and when he came to pay for the field, he
weighed out the sum agreed upon between them in the best of current
coin.[267] A deed, signed by four witnesses, was drawn up, and the
field of Ephron, which was in Machpelah, the field, and the cave which
was therein, were made sure unto Abraham and his descendants for all
times.
The burial of Sarah then took place, amid great magnificence and the
sympathy of all. Shem and his son Eber, Abimelech king of the
Philistines, Aner, Eshcol, and Mamre, as well as all the great of the
land, followed her bier. A seven days' mourning was kept for her, and
all the inhabitants of the land came to condole with Abraham and
Isaac.[268]
When Abraham entered the cave to place the body of Sarah within, Adam
and Eve refused to remain there, "because," they said, "as it is, we
are ashamed in the presence of God on account of the sin we committed,
and now we shall be even more ashamed on account of your good deeds."
Abraham soothed Adam. He promised to pray to God for him, that the need
for shame be removed from him. Adam resumed his place, and Abraham
entombed Sarah, and at the same time he carried Eve, resisting, back to
her place.[269]
One year after the death of Sarah, Abimelech king of the Philistines
died, too, at the age of one hundred and ninety-three years. His
successor upon the throne was his twelve-year old son Benmelek, who
took the name of his father after his accession. Abraham did not fail
to pay a visit of condolence at the court of Abimelech.
Lot also died about this time, at the age of one hundred and forty-two.
His sons, Moab and Ammon, both married Canaanitish wives. Moab begot a
son, and Ammon had six sons, and the descendants of both were numerous
exceedingly.
Abraham suffered a severe loss at the same time in the death of his
brother Nahor, whose days ended at Haran, when he had reached the age
of one hundred and seventy two years.[270]