Abraham is still a stranger in the land he is living when his wife Sarah dies. He seeks out a place to bury her. A complicated negotiation begins with the “sons of Heth”, they offer any of their burial sites. Abraham requests a specific cave and it is offered for free. Abraham says that he is willing to pay for it and the owner responds, “a piece of land worth four hundred shekels of silver, what is that between me and you?” Abraham pays the man four hundred shekels of silver and buries his wife.

I am sure there are some cultural things going on in here that I am not aware of. The one thing I noticed is that Abraham finishes this negotiation without being beholden to anyone. All his debts are clear and no one has any claim on him.

This may suggest that when we put ourselves in the debt of anyone but God we may put ourselves in a dangerous position. Jesus says, a man can not serve two masters; when we owe someone a favor they have a certain amount of mastery over us. We should be careful into whose debt we fall.d

Eulogia (a blessing) may speak of the consecrated bread used in the Eucharist.  To subscribe to this podcast please go to iTunes and subscribe to “The Koine Greek Word of the Day Podcast”.