Abraham, Prince of God

Gen 23:3-7 3 Then Abraham rose from before his dead, and spoke to the sons of Heth, saying, 4 “I am a stranger and a sojourner among you; give me a burial site among you that I may bury my dead out of my sight.” 5 The sons of Heth answered Abraham, saying to him, 6 “Hear us, my lord, you are a mighty prince among us; bury your dead in the choicest of our graves; none of us will refuse you his grave for burying your dead.” 7 So Abraham rose and bowed to the people of the land, the sons of Heth. http://olivetree.com/b/Gen.23.3.NASBStr

When Sarah dies, Abraham loses a wife of nearly a Century. That exceeds most hopes of modern couples, if not their imaginations. And understandably, he mourns. And then he buys a place to bury her. This is a problem because he is a nomad and holds no land of his own. That is part of what makes God's promise of all of Canaan so odd to Abraham; it takes great faith. In this chapter it begins to be fulfilled with a field and a cave.

Abraham goes to the people of Hebron, the Sons of Beth, another term for the Hittites. It's a long convoluted ritual dialogue, but one interesting element is the term the people use for Abraham: a Prince of God. It could be that these are pagans and this really refers to "gods", but this is Abraham. It seems he has made quite an impression. Most translations render this unique reference as "mighty prince", but I suspect the faith he had and the work of God around him made this reference as it is.

Abraham's "witness" was so good pagans thought of Abraham as a prince wof his God. How often can that be said of me? Not as often as it should be, that I know. I'm more concerned that others know I know my Master at all, rather than see me as a "prince" of His. I don't do so well at that. I'm supposed to be a knight and servant, and I doubt people even see that in me. How would I be perceived as a prince. But the truth is that I am a prince. I'm the adopted child of the King of the Universe, and therefore a prince. But can others tell by watching my actions and hearing my words? I'm not confident of that.