Posted on by Abe Austin

Scriptural Analysis- Genesis 23:1-2

1 And Sarah was an hundred and seven and twenty years old: these were the years of the life of Sarah.

2 And Sarah died in Kirjath-arba; the same is Hebron in the land of Canaan: and Abraham came to mourn for Sarah, and to weep for her.

Sarah was Abraham’s longtime companion and friend. From one journey to the next, Abraham had to part ways with one family member after another, but she remained his constant partner. Now, though, after 172 years, Sarah finally took a separate journey of her own.

Abraham has had many causes to attend to throughout the Genesis chapters. He has proven honorable and devoted with Lot, Abimelech, and God. He has faithfully fulfilled his duty to each in turn. Now his story is winding to its close, and there are not going to be any more duties to perform, just a quiet retirement until he rests in his grave.

Or rather, almost it is time for that retirement. Before he comes to that there remains one last duty for Abraham to fulfill, and it is fitting and touching that it is to his wife, Sarah. Now that she has died he must find a place to bury her, and the entirety of this chapter is about Abraham diligently seeking and finding the perfect resting place for her. We will read in the next chapter how he begins entrusting his duties to his servants, but this one task, this is the last that he will undertake with his own hand.

Posted on by Abe Austin

Scriptural Analysis- Genesis 9:20-23

20 And Noah began to be an husbandman, and he planted a vineyard:

21 And he drank of the wine, and was drunken; and he was uncovered within his tent.

22 And Ham, the father of Canaan, saw the nakedness of his father, and told his two brethren without.

23 And Shem and Japheth took a garment, and laid it upon both their shoulders, and went backward, and covered the nakedness of their father; and their faces were backward, and they saw not their father’s nakedness.

Each of us have our personal low point, our “naked shame” that reveals us at our absolute worst. As with Moses, it is often our family who get to see us at those low points. Sometimes they get to see the best of us, but they also get to see the worst. Here we read that Noah was drunk and passed out, certainly not the most honorable of situations to be found in, and the different reactions of his three sons is very telling.

Shem and Japheth keep themselves turned away from their father’s shame and cover him. They are clearly retaining a reverence and respect for the man, even at his low point. And by that I don’t mean to suggest that we should just sweep the failings of our family members under the rug, but if confrontation and boundaries are needed, we can still establish those from a place of love and respect.

Ham, on the other hand, has no excuse for his behavior. Glorying in another’s shame and ridiculing them is never acceptable. By trying to expose his father’s wrong, Ham was also revealing his own.