Episode Transcript
[00:00:16] Well, last week, jumping right into the hard work here, we talked about tests. We talked a little bit about abraham and hagar and eyes, isaac and ishmael. So I figured we'd start with a test today. It's a simple one, actually. There are probably multiple answers, but I'm looking for one. What do all of these guys have in common? Listen to the list. Moses, joshua, david, solomon, cyrus, and ezra. One more time. It's a long list. Moses, joshua, david, solomon, cyrus, and ezra. Give me some thoughts. What do they have in common?
[00:00:59] They're what?
[00:01:01] That's it. Thank you, lance. They're all in the bible. This is the deep start I was looking for.
[00:01:08] Also that. Yeah, well, that's true. Let me give a hint.
[00:01:12] Let's consider what they did, and then I want you to tell me what they all had in common. Moses led the children out of exile, out of slavery, into the land. I mean, up to the land. Right? Took them to the land. Joshua took them into the land. David conquered the land, established jerusalem in the land. Solomon built the temple in jerusalem in the land. Cyrus allowed the jews to return to the land after exile. Ezra restored judaism in the land after exile. What do they have in common?
[00:01:55] The land. Very, very good. That establishing the jews in the land. Thousands of years of establishing the jews in the land.
[00:02:10] There is archaeological and historical evidence for these. Of course, critics do not like this. And moses, of course, they would say, would be the weakest link. We don't have any evidence for an exodus. Well, that's not true, but we won't get into that. That's a different thing.
[00:02:26] There's a second test question.
[00:02:30] Who has the strongest claim to establishing israel as the rightful home of the jewish people? We listed all these guys. Who has the strongest claim to establishing israel as the rightful home of the jewish people?
[00:02:47] Thank you.
[00:02:49] None of the above. In the list that we started, even though that comprises thousands of years of history, it starts with avraham way back. You got to get in the wayback machine and press the way back button to abraham.
[00:03:12] And I want to remind you that actually starts right here in this week's portion, which is called what? Haye avraham. No, it's called haye sarah. The life of sarah. This is where it starts. We're in genesis 23.
[00:03:31] This is how far back it goes.
[00:03:35] Now, god promised five times.
[00:03:40] Five times. Abraham. What? Two things. Land and descendants. I'm not going to read them all to you. Blake has them. They're up there. Genesis twelve. Seven. To your offspring, I will give this land. Genesis 13.
[00:03:56] Lift up your eyes and look from the place you are. For all the land you see, I will give you. Genesis 15. I am the lord who brought you out to give you this land to possess. Genesis 1518. Lord made a covenant with abraham to your offspring. I give this land from the river. Ooh, that sounds familiar.
[00:04:15] Genesis 17. Seven. I will establish my covenant between you and your offspring. For an everlasting covenant, I will give you the land of your sojournings, the land of canaan. If you don't believe in god or the bible, okay, you can dismiss that. But if you do, that's a lot of giving of land, right? One land.
[00:04:39] Thousands of years ago, studying abraham, you find a recurring theme.
[00:04:44] Testing.
[00:04:45] Abraham was tested. We talked about some of it last week even. It was a test for him to take ishmael out. It was a test for him to do that with isaac. Some were official. He has other unofficial tests that judaism speaks of.
[00:04:59] But interestingly, the land and the acquisition of the land was also a test.
[00:05:05] Not really listed in the ten, but it was a test. Now, I want to read you something. I want to read you just. Blake has it up there, I think, right? I don't want to read an entire chapter of the bible. You'll all be asleep.
[00:05:20] But I do want to say this.
[00:05:23] Sarah died. Abraham's looking for a burial spot for her. He knows where he wants it. He wants it in the land where ephron the hittite rules. And he goes to ephron and he says, sell me this land. Right? We'll pick it up there.
[00:05:40] He got up and bowed down to the people of the land, to the sons of het, and spoke to them, saying, if you're a mind to let me bury my dead from before my presence, listen to me plead with ephron, son of zophar. He's asking the people to go to ephron and help him get this land. Ephron, the conniver, the hittite, he has his own little deal. He was sitting in the midst of the sons of het and ephron the hittite answered abraham in the ears of the sons of chet. All those who enter the gate of his city, saying, no, my lord, listen to me. The field, I hereby give it to you. Also. The cave that is in it, I hereby give it to you. In the eyes of the sons of my people, I hereby give it to you. Bury your dead one. Okay, I'll give it to you. Abraham says, no, I don't want you to give it to me. I don't want you to give it to me. He spoke to ephron in the ear, saying, if only you would please listen to me. I hereby give the price of the field. Accept it for me, that I might bury my dead one there.
[00:06:40] Ephron answered, abraham, my lord, listen to me.
[00:06:44] What's a land worth 400 silver shekels to me? Like I'm so generous. What does abraham do? He's shrewd. He knows that's the price. It's an exorbitant price. It's a ridiculous price, but abraham pays it. Why?
[00:07:03] I want to talk about that. Afterward. Abraham buried sarah, his wife, in the cave of the field at machpela, next to mamre. That is hebron, in the land of canaan. So the field and the cave that was in it were handed over to abraham as a site from the sons of het. Okay, you want a message? You want an exciting message? Is that what you're here for? Let's talk about a cave.
[00:07:34] A cave that you put dead people in. How exciting is this? It's a special cave.
[00:07:42] It's a very special cave. In this cave, we will learn about land ownership, humility, connection, sacrifice, paradise, and our call as disciples of messiah. How so? First off, let me give you some background on the cave so you understand it. Where did I say it is?
[00:08:00] Was. Is. It's in israel. It's in.
[00:08:04] Okay. Machpela, possibly meaning double. Could be a double layered cave. Could be because there are doubles buried there. Couples. Right. Abraham and sarah are buried there. We know that sarah is from this portion. But abraham, isaac, rebecca, jacob, leah are buried in the cave of machpelah, possibly someone else. We'll talk about them. Right. David, what is it? What is the cave known for? Well, we know it's a burial place. Where was it? It's in hebron. Kyriath arba, in the land of canaan, specifically on the edge of ephron, son of zohar. Who was ephraim? Ephraim, he was a son of ham. He was a hittite.
[00:08:55] And the significance, in the most tangible way of this cave and why we would spend 35 minutes talking about it today is something that you cannot ever forget in the conversations, arguments and lies that are going on right now. This was the first purchased, established claim of the jewish people in the land of israel.
[00:09:21] He bought it. He paid for it, the rights transferred, it is his. Not only the field, but the cave and the trees contained within. And he bought a piece of land by abraham. It is one of three undisputed indisputable property acquisitions within the land of israel. The cave of machpela, the field, jerusalem, and joseph's burial place in shechem.
[00:09:53] Herod in the first century. The first century was islam around in the first century.
[00:10:00] Herod in the first century built a very large stone building. It stands today above the cave of machpela.
[00:10:09] First century, six foot thick stone walls. It's actually the only fully intact herodian structure. We'll see how long they allow that to happen, but we can't go there anymore. Well, you sort of can, but you wouldn't want to. Hebron. We've never been able to go to hebron on one of our trips because you have to have a bulletproof bus, you have to have a different guide, you have to have all kinds of things that don't allow you into the area, but arabs do not allow you into the cave. You can't go where the matriarchs and patriarchs of judaism are buried since 1490.
[00:10:49] Arabs consider it a holy place, but jews are restricted access. What was in the cave?
[00:10:56] Well, spiritually speaking, it's very clear from abraham's argument that abraham knew that this was a point of separation and an establishment point. For the other part of the promise, not only the land, but the descendants. They needed a legal right to the land.
[00:11:18] It would be his. It couldn't be borrowed. He couldn't take it and borrow it from ephron. It had to be his for the future, for the progeny. That's the word, right? For the future, for his, then theirs, and ultimately, prophetically, ours. Which brings up something significant. The portion where this happens, as I said, is not called chaye avraham. It's called chaye sarah. It started, of course, with this beautiful, wonderful matriarch, sarah. It was her death that actually was the start of the land of israel for abraham and his descendants, because she's the one for whom he acquired this burial site. Chayesurah, the life of sarah. It was the end of her life that officially launched the life of israel. The nation promised to abraham with this purchase. But let me ask this question.
[00:12:18] God had already spoken to abraham that this was going to be his land. I read you one of these promises. Genesis 15. On that day, the lord made a covenant with abraham to your descendants. I've given this land from the river of egypt as far as the great river, river euphrates, the kenite, the kennezite, the codmanite, and the hittite and other people. God is saying to abraham, this is yours, not theirs. Okay, what was ephron? He was a hittite, right? Was it his land or abraham's land?
[00:12:52] God said, it was abraham's.
[00:12:55] He could have gone in and said, ephron, mine.
[00:13:01] God told me, it's mine. But he didn't do that. Abraham took it in a humble, practical way, knowing that ephron was a shyster, and said, nah, I'll pay it. Just give it to me. I'll pay you for it. Okay, so he didn't have to, but he did something of incredible, incredible value.
[00:13:29] So I also think there's an interesting parallel to think about israel today. Right?
[00:13:35] We'll do the right thing. We'll do the right thing. Just let us have our land.
[00:13:42] Going back to 48 and the two state solutions and all the other things where the arabs have said, no, we're not doing it. Israel has said, we've been given this land. Can we just have it? And you can do your thing? No, you can't. Ephron did not want abraham to have a legal claim to this land, which is why he said, oh, don't worry about it, friend. Just have it. Abraham said, no, I will own it. Okay, that's something incredibly important.
[00:14:17] But we need to realize this is probably completely overlooked by most bible readers. It's like, so what?
[00:14:27] He bought a grave. Big deal. No. This establishes the covenant of god with abraham in regard to the land. This is it. This is the beginning of it. This is it.
[00:14:40] It's not just being nice to his wife and loving her and mourning her and providing a beautiful gravesite for her.
[00:14:48] It started here. And as I said, ephron is no prince of a man. I read you his little comment. 400 shekels. What is that among friends? Go ahead. Well, 400 shekels. This is negotiable currency. The talmud tells us that this means centenaria, large shekels. Not just your little shekels. Gadol shekels. Gadolim, shklim. Big shekels worth a million ordinary shekels.
[00:15:21] So you want to talk about a test? Who wants to go out and buy a cave for that amount of money?
[00:15:27] Abraham did, because he knew, and he gives it to him without complaint.
[00:15:34] This is the test. But I want to point out something that I love, that jonathan sachs repeats and goes back to over and over and over again.
[00:15:43] God made a promise. Abraham did the action.
[00:15:48] You see, the divine promise was not that god would drop the land into abraham's lap, because that did not actually happen.
[00:15:59] Abraham had to do his part. Humanity had a part to play, and it was at great cost. That cost was not even fully realized because abraham's generations would ultimately be kicked out and sent into slavery in egypt. But I want to show you something.
[00:16:19] What did he buy? Where is the place he bought this? Kyriath arba machpela in hebron. Right.
[00:16:28] Chaisera starts with the beginning of it. It points out sarah died at kyriath arba. That is hebron, the land of canaan. The narrative of her death and burial ends with these words. Abraham buried sarah, his wife, in the cave of the field of machpela. That is hebron. For some reason, the text really wants you to know. This is hebron. It starts with hebron. It ends with hebron. But let me show you something that you may not have ever noticed. You have to go forward a little bit. It's on the return. It's on the scouting mission of the spies. That's in the book of numbers in chapter 13.
[00:17:06] Do you remember where they go when they go in to scout out the land that they're going to return to hebron.
[00:17:15] Why?
[00:17:17] Because that's the epicenter of the establishment of the land. They have been exiled. Moses sends them out. They went up and spied out the land from the wilderness of zin to rachob, near label hamath. They went up to the negev and he came to hebron.
[00:17:37] He came to hebron, the officially purchased part of israel, to re enter their land. Caleb visits hebron, symbolizing the recognition of that land's significance in its connections to the promises. So the purchase of land from abraham, from ephron, connects abraham to moses and the returning generation. But that's not all.
[00:18:03] You go forward a little bit and you read.
[00:18:07] It came about afterward that david inquired of the lord, saying, shall I go up to the one of the cities of judah? And the lord said to him, go up. So david said, where shall I go? And god said, hebron.
[00:18:24] So david went to the place that abraham had established in the wayback machine as the birth of the nation.
[00:18:34] Abraham buys it, the children of israel scout it, and that's a central part of their return. Then the great king of israel establishes, he went up there, had two wives. David brought up his men who were with him, and they settled in the cities of hebron. During his time in hebron, david established himself as a capable leader and warrior. Hebron was his capital. It was from there that he governed the tribe of judah for a while.
[00:19:03] It's important what happens in chaye sarah. In hebron, this little cave, it is the establishment. He purchases this.
[00:19:15] There's a little bit more.
[00:19:19] That's. We'll call this the fun part. Okay, those are practical, those are real things. But there's a fun part of this as well. Who else is buried in machpela? Why was abraham willing to pay millions of shekels for this? Well, here we look to the midrush.
[00:19:40] It gives an interesting answer. You see, jacob was all about getting back there. That's where he wanted to be buried. When caleb went in with the spies, it says they all went in, but he went to hebron. There's a change of subject. They to he. Who's the he? Caleb went up, they ascended and spied out the land. From the wilderness of zinn to the expanse to the approach of hamath. They ascended in the south and he arrived at hebron. That change from plural to singular indicates something. It means that caleb, who was spiritually astute, went to hebron because of abraham's claim. He knew that there was something special there. What was there? The cave of machpela. The cave of the ancestors. But here's the midrashic and cool thing about abraham. Story, tradition, legend. Who knows, could be true. It's from pirke de rabbi eliezer. According to the midrash, this last week, remember when abraham had some guests come and he prepared the calf and the curds and all that stuff? According to the midrash, abraham, who was a resident of hebron, had a supernatural encounter at the side of the cave of machpela. It was after his circumcision. He was receiving three angels disguised as humans as guests, a calf that he wanted to serve them. Ran away.
[00:21:01] You with me? He's being a good host. He wants to take the calf and serve it to him. It ran away. And while chasing after it, he stumbled into this cave.
[00:21:12] He recognized the graves there of adam and eve.
[00:21:19] Candles were lit and there was a special fragrance. And there, within the cave of machpela, he saw the entrance to the garden of eden.
[00:21:32] Is it true?
[00:21:34] Don't know. Tradition says it is. So those are the other two people who might be buried in the cave of machpela. Which would explain partially why abraham was willing to pay anything to be close to where the entrance to gan edin dwells.
[00:21:58] Abraham, you know yeshua references paradise as abraham's bosom says that many will come to recline at the table with abraham, isaac and jacob in the kingdom, the righteous who die for their faith are received by abraham, isaac and jacob in paradise. That's from maccabees.
[00:22:16] He would pay any price. This was something worth having. Kind of brings to mind the pearl of great price. Parable, right? You sell anything, everything, to get this thing. That is the kingdom. That's what the pearl is.
[00:22:34] But you know, this story ends in death.
[00:22:38] The parshah ends with sarah dies at the beginning. Abraham dies. Chaye sarah. It's kind of weird. They never saw the promises. Actually, he did these things. But there's a chinese sage, lao tzu, who says that the journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step.
[00:23:05] Judaism reminds us it's not up to you to complete the work, but neither are you free to desist from it. Abraham started. This was his swan song of faith, so to speak. He didn't need to see the land, he didn't need to see it in jewish hands, nor did he see the jewish people become numerous. He had done his part. He took the first step. He had a child for a descendant. He had purchased the land. The rest is up to you, he says.
[00:23:36] And we have to do that? You place your life in god's hands. You pursue what's valuable, what's valuable to him. To have faith that whatever you do, you're planting some seed, and the next great thing will be taken up by your descendants, god willing to believe that others begin what you will continue what you began. They had faith. What is happiness? Happiness is a myth. First of all, happiness is not a real thing. Happiness is like this. You can be happy one day and super sad.
[00:24:08] There are much better words. Maybe one day I'll teach you about some of those things. It's more self help than bible teaching, but it's good.
[00:24:16] Happiness does not mean you have everything you want or everything that you're promised.
[00:24:22] It means simply to have done what you were called to do. To make progress in life brings joy and bliss and happiness, if you want to call it the righteous, even in death, are regarded as though they were still alive, because the righteous leave a living trace for those who come behind. That's abraham's test and task, which he passed with flying colors.
[00:24:50] He started the process in a very big way. He positioned people for success. Isaac the seed, the future. Machpela, the land of israel. Machpela the next, the beginning. The gun. Aiden entrance.
[00:25:05] And I believe he could be content. But I want to leave you just this one last consideration. Since we're being mid rashic and telling stories about adam and eve, I believe that abraham saw something else in that cave.
[00:25:17] He sensed he knew something better than adam and eve or a candle. Candle burning at the entrance to ganaden.
[00:25:26] You know, in john eight, yeshua says your father abraham was overjoyed that he would see my day and he saw and rejoiced.
[00:25:36] Right?
[00:25:38] Your father abraham saw my day and rejoiced. What do people think that means? So many people are prone and want to say abraham came and he saw jesus saving souls, knowing that they wouldn't burn in hell because jesus came to save their souls. He saw that day. That's not the day jesus ever talked about.
[00:26:02] What day was jesus talking about? The day that the kingdom would be established. That there would be peace, that nation would lay down their swords and would not battle one another. And that the promises given to abraham would be realized in that kingdom. That there would be descendants, jewish descendants, living and thriving in the land that he purchased in hebron and built.
[00:26:35] That he would see and saw the day not of yeshua on the cross or anything like that. The day of yeshua's return, the establishment of the land, the people of israel.
[00:26:51] That's what he saw and rejoiced over.
[00:27:02] The critics tell us that we can't use the bible as a basis for the jewish right to the land of israel. I spend a lot of time dealing with critics, theologically. Whatever, whatever. So you know what? I don't care what the critics say this is, you know, it's in the book.
[00:27:28] It's not the only basis. There are plenty of secular reasons why israel owns the land of israel. It was given to them. Do you know that? In 1929. I'll just tell you this real quick. There was this mufti, I think that's. I can't remember his name. Abdullah, allah, something like that, who was also a partner with hitler. You know this guy, he was a palestinian in palestine. When it was legitimately palestine, he partnered with hitler. Muslim soldiers went and fought in the wafin, in the ss.
[00:28:09] But he also riled up all the arabs in 1929 to commit jihad, whatever it was called. I guess it was still called jihad. That's an old term. But you know what they did?
[00:28:24] They went into hebron and brutally murdered 63 jews that lived and raped and pillaged hebron in 1929.
[00:28:40] I just wanted you to know that.
[00:28:44] But I'm saying there are plenty of reasons, if we look at wars and treaties and declarations, why israel has the right to the land, but this is why israel has the right to the land, because god gave them the right to the land and abraham legally acquired the land and they fought for and raised up and built the land, and they are still doing that today. So, yes, I'm giving you one more message, one more reason about israel, because the lies, the despicable lies, are unbearable. So I want you equipped to understand it. And so now you have it from a biblical perspective, and you already knew. So our god said to abraham avinu, our father, abraham, jew and gentile, whether you're natural or grafted in avraham avinu said to him, from your father's house to the land, which I will show you, I will make you into a great nation. I will bless you and make your name great. And you shall be a blessing. And I will bless those who bless you, and I will curse those who curse you.
[00:30:07] So thank you, avraham avinu, that you have opened all of our eyes to be a blessing, to be blessed by the god of israel.
[00:30:23] And I say one more time, am yisrael chai. The people of israel live and will live. Shabbat shalom.
