Uploaded August 2011 | Updated September 2026, 7 hours ago

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Welcome to part twenty three in this series of videos in which I take the advice of all of those Christian fundamentalists and read my bible - literally

You see if you are going to believe in the literal "truth" of the bible and take it literally then literally is the only way that you can read it.

In this episode there is a death in the family

Abraham has to go to the funeral of his wife, and his sister who is the same person, Sarah, who has died in Hebron however there is a snag. He doesn't have anywhere to bury her.

As a solution he decides to buy a cave from one of the locals and he goes to great lengths to make sure that everyone knows he has bought it at market value for shekels and not chocolate coins even though, according to previous chapters, thanks to the generosity of the Lord, he already owns the whole of Canaan in which Hebron is located.

This chapter in the Bible is quite short and directly to the point, in essence being a record of the transaction undertaken to purchase Sarah's Tomb rather than an account of the death of Sarah.

Today, however, Sarah's tomb which would eventually also become Abraham's tomb also is known as the Cave of the Patriarchs and over the years it has seen many owners, passing into the hands of the Byzantines, the Persians, early Muslims, Christian Crusaders, back into Muslim hands under the rule of Saladin and finally, after 2,000 years, following the founding of Israel, back into Jewish hands although today it is still predominantly a mosque though special arrangements are in place granting access for Jews.

Today access is severely restricted due in part to the increased security measures in the area but also as the result of a terrorist attack in 1994 when an ultra-orthodox Israeli-American settler by the name of Baruch Goldstein went on a shooting spree killing 29 Muslims worshiping at the site and wounding a further 125 before he was overpowered and beaten to death by survivors of the massacre.


Though this episode is quite short, do not fear, the next one is a 67 seven verse epic.


Music:
"The Good Book"
Written and Performed by Tim Minchin

youtube.com/user/timminchin