“And his sons Isaac and Ishmael buried him in the cave of Machpelah, in the field of Ephron the son of Zohar the Hittite, which is before Mamre;”
His sons Isaac and Ishmael buried him in the cave of Machpelah near Mamre, in the field of Ephron son of Zohar the Hittite. The burial by both sons is the narrative's gesture of reconciliation — Isaac and Ishmael, the covenant son and the rejected son, come together to bury their father. The cave of Machpelah, purchased in Genesis 23, is where Abraham joins Sarah in burial. The application: death creates spaces for reconciliation and reunion that life sometimes cannot. Isaac and Ishmael stand together at their father's grave.
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