"MACHPELAH, THE BURIAL-GROUND OF GENESIS:IT’S MEANING.

Before Abraham buried his dead, he had received Isaac in a figure from the dead, as seen in Gen. 22:

In Gen. 23:he buries Sarah.

Thus, before the first burial scene the hope of resurrection-the resurrection of Christ-is set before us in type.

How it tells of the tender mercy of God:"And Sarah died in Hebron, in the land of Canaan; and Abraham came to mourn for Sarah, and to weep for her"! How much is contained in these words, "to weep for her"!

"And Abraham stood up from before his dead, and spake unto the sons of Heth, saying,

"I am a stranger and a sojourner with you:give me a possession of a burying-place with you, that I may bury my dead out of my sight."

"His dead," the Spirit of God says. "My dead," the mourner says. The departed one still lives-the body is to be tenderly entombed, to await the resurrection. "Whether we live or whether we die, we are the Lord's" (Rom. 14:).

He "stood up from before his dead." He had taken a last look. He arouses himself to face the cold world and the tomb.

Abraham conducts himself with dignity and with respect towards the sons of Heth, in securing from them a burial-place for Sarah.

"And Abraham bowed down himself before the people of the land." And then he offers money for the land, and pays it,-400 shekels of silver,-and the field was made sure to him "in the presence of the children of Heth, before all that went in at the gate of his city."

This field for a burying-place, this first burial-ground recorded in the history of men, of God's people, is minutely described. Our attention seems to be invited to it.

"And the field of Ephron, which was in Machpelah, which was before Mamre, the field, and the cave which was therein, and all the trees that were in the field, that were in all the borders round about, were made sure unto Abraham for a possession."

'' And after this, Abraham buried Sarah his wife in the cave of the field of Machpelah before Mamre:the same is Hebron in the land of Canaan."

There is the "field" and the "trees;" it is not a barren spot; it is fruitful, and suggests what is pleasant, and peaceful, and restful. We are reminded of Eden, of the garden and its trees; that is, we have an object-lesson, for our benefit, of what was passing in Abraham's mind. We have suggested to us life out of death-resurrection; and the fruitfulness of God's salvation – the "paradise of God" and the "tree of life." This is the tender mercy and goodness of God.

We are reminded of the eleventh chapter of John, and of the tomb of Lazarus. He who wept with them that wept, and said, "I am the resurrection and the life," comforted Abraham in his sorrow, by the figurative resurrection of Isaac.

We can face death and the world, resting in the love of Christ, who died and rose again for us (2 Cor. 5:).

"Machpelah" is said to mean "turning back," and doubtless suggests resurrection. "Mamre" is fatness, and " Hebron" communion, or of kindred meaning, and no doubt,, from the connection, suggesting these precious appropriate thoughts. Throughout Genesis "Machpelah" is the burial-ground, and burial scenes are more or less prominent in this book of the first life, in the history of Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob.

In Chap. 23:we have Sarah's burial; in Chap. 25:, Abraham's.

In the account of Isaac's burial, in chap. 35:, the burial-place is not mentioned, and Esau takes the lead in burying him. '' Esau and Jacob buried him." In all this there is something sadly in accord with Isaac's long dimness of sight and weakness towards Esau and his venison. But nevertheless Isaac was buried in Machpelah. It is recorded later, in Chap. xlix, 29, in Jacob's last words, "Bury me with my fathers, in the cave that is in the field of Ephron the Hittite, in the cave that is in the field of Machpelah, which is opposite to Mamre, in the land of Canaan, which Abraham bought of Ephron the Hittite, along with the field, for a possession of a sepulcher."

And now follows a registration:'' There they buried Abraham and Sarah his wife; there they buried Isaac and Rebekah his wife ; and there I buried Leah. The purchase of the field and of the cave that is therein was from the children of Heth."

The careful and detailed way in which Jacob describes the ancestral burial-ground contrasts favorably with the case of Isaac. He was in Egypt, and dying, but type of a Christian who in a world of death calmly and peacefully looks for Him to come who is the Resurrection and the Life.

Thus there are six mentioned who were buried in Machpelah:Abraham and Sarah, Isaac and Rebekah, Jacob and Leah. A seventh, whose death closes the Genesis record, is Joseph. He is not buried, but embalmed and put in a coffin in Egypt-a perpetual reminder of the departure of the one they had once despised and rejected, but equally an assurance of the certainty of deliverance at the appointed time.

Wonderfully associated thus with the history of Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob, whose history fills the main part of Genesis, are these burial scenes-all at the same ancestral burial-ground, Machpelah, which is intertwined with their history:these burial scenes being introduced by the figurative resurrection of Isaac; the name Machpelah, "turning back," confirming the thought of resurrection; and the description of the ground, with its trees,-a peaceful, Eden-like suggestion,-carrying the mind on to the paradise of God above, where the true Isaac, the Tree of Life, is in the midst.

Thus the Lord of life leads His own through a scene of death, comforting them, and assuring them by line upon line of precious and wonderful types.

The sons of Heth knew not Abraham's secret-his faith in God, who raises the dead:nor the meaning to him of "Machpelah." They were but onlookers, as are the people of the world now at a Christian funeral. Sad is the condition of the world, and God's people are ever distinguished from it. But the believer can look upon the open grave, and upon the world around, rejoicing inwardly in Jesus. His word always to us is, "I am the resurrection and the life:he that believeth in Me, though he were dead, yet shall he live; and he that liveth and believeth in Me shall never die."

Death may come, but "death is ours." We are victors in every direction, and the Lord's farewell word to us is, " Behold, I come quickly."

May this hope be real, and precious, and constant in our hearts. May we steadfastly follow in His steps who has gone through death for us, into the presence of God, to the "Father's house." What a life becomes us, if such is our character, and such our hope!

May things that make us halt, and linger, and turn aside, be put away. May we purify ourselves "as He is pure." Joy becomes the Christian, but not levity, or trifling, or self-indulgence; nor selfish aims; nor the "lust of the flesh, nor the lust of the eye, nor the pride of life."

All that passes away:the believer abides forever in Christ, who is "risen from the dead, and become the first-fruits of them that slept." E. S. L.