A great Lady

Genesis 23

This chapter is about the death of a great lady, Sarah, she was the only woman in the Bible, that her age is given at death.  Many generations later the apostle Peter gives this instruction to wives.  “Likewise, wives, be submissive to your own husbands, so that even if some do not obey the word, they may be won without a word by the conduct of their wives – when they see your respectful and pure conduct.  Do not let your adorning be external – the braiding of hair, the wearing of goal, or the putting on of clothing – but let your adorning be the hidden person of the heart with the imperishable beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which in God’s sight is very precious.  For this is how the holy women who hoped in God used to adorn themselves, by submitting to their husbands, as Sarah obeyed Abraham, calling him lord.”

I have often heard wives state, “there is no way I will submit to any man” and I understand what they are saying.  They are saying I cannot trust the man to be my head, I cannot trust him to love me like Christ loves the Church and gave Himself for it.  Was it man who told the wife to submit, or was it God?  Anytime we tell God we have a better plan than Him for living life on planet earth, we have stepped into “independent living” and just look around at the devastation in marriage that is clearly manifested. 

My wife is a daughter of Sarah, she has one of the sweetest spirits; she has learned to apply this Scripture to the way she lives; “but let your adorning be the hidden person of the heart with the imperishable beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which in God’s sight is very precious.”  Her husband is a slow learner and has often been told by Jan, “Bob that is not treating me as if I was precious.” We have spent 44 years as husband and wife, and I am still working on the art of loving my wife, as Christ loved the church and gave himself for it.  It is hard to learn the art of loving if you grew-up being consumed with self, but that is when we should ask the Lord to teach us how to love and be gentle and understanding with our mate.

Most of the chapter is about what Abraham did after Sarah’s death, how he mourned for Sarah and wept for her.  Then he went to the Hittites whose land he was living in and offered to buy a field with a cave, so he could bury Sarah. He paid Ephron the Hittite the some of money he was asking for the land without negotiating over the price.  The Scripture states that the Hittites looked at Abraham as a prince of God, and offered to give him the land, but that would not do, Sarah would not be put in someone else’s grave.

From the Back Porch,

Bob Rice