Brian Flores, the Cave of Machpelah, and access vs ownership
When it came time to bury his wife, access to a burial site wasn’t enough for Abraham. He insisted on ownership.
When Abraham’s wife, Sarah, dies in Genesis 23, he needs a place to bury her.
Ephron the Hittite tries to take that worry off his grieving friend’s plate. He offers up a burial plot. Gratis. “Just outta respect.”
“I give it to you in the presence of my people,” Ephron said. “Bury your dead.”
Abraham insists on a price and Ephron offers one: 400 shekels.
“But what is that between me and you?” Ephron said in Genesis 23:15.
In 23:16, Abraham weighs out the money and pays the cost.
“So Ephron’s field in Machpelah near Mamre — both the field and the cave in it, and all the trees within the borders of the field was deeded to Abraham as his property.”
Paying a high price isn’t the same as making an investment. Learn the lesson of former Miami Dolphins Coach Brian Flores.
Last week Flores filed a federal lawsuit claiming the NFL and three top franchises within it — the Dolphins, the Denver Broncos and the New York Giants — mistreated him racially in his firing and in the hiring process, respectively.
Flores’s complaint is an old one for black coaches, which the NFL thought it remedied with the Rooney Rule in 2003. This required teams to interview at least one minority candidate for head coaching jobs, in most cases.
The Rooney Rule was meant to give access to black coaches to head coaching jobs. It has, but has also resulted in embarrassing, box-checking interviews like Flores claims he was put through.
In 2003, black coaches wanted access to head-coaching interviews. Two decades later, Flores has jumped on a grenade to push for black ownership.
But this won’t necessarily result in Flores, or any black coach, being hired or keeping their jobs. Brian Flores has served an interest that neither benefits himself nor his family.
What Flores doesn’t get: all coaches can hope for is access. Calling the plays and owning the team are on different realms. Bill Belichick makes good money for the New England Patriots. He’s not a part owner.
Turns out the Broncos Flores sued are up for sale. And the claims Flores made about his old owner — that Stephen Ross offered to pay him $100K per loss in 2019 — could ultimately result in that team being sold, too. Who would see a qualified black candidate being locked out of the next two NFL ownership slots?
Whether black ownership would change outcomes for black coaches is an unknown, and unlikely. One that Flores has staked his entire career on. This is an all-in bet that, if it works, will benefit other people, but not himself. This is not selfless, it is foolish for a young man with a family.
To file his lawsuit, Brian Flores hired two white lawyers. There is no Rooney Rule in litigation. You want the best people for the job.
Lesson in there.
Abraham knew that whimsical access to his wife’s grave was not enough.
Only ownership — only holding the deed — allowed the family to be buried together, for generations.
Handshake agreements end when men die. Word-of-mouth promises die sooner still. For the things that matter most, only legally binding agreements will suffice.
In Genesis 49:29, Jacob gives his dying wish. To be carried from Egypt and buried with the Patriarchs and Matriarchs, Abraham and Sarah, Isaac and Rebekah, and his own wife, Leah.
For this, Joseph returns Jacob’s body to the cave, at great time and cost and with extensive manpower, provided by Pharaoh. (One wonders why Israel did not stay in its homeland, Canaan, rather than return to Egypt with Joseph. Things go very badly for the family once their meal ticket dies, as could be expected.)
Imagine traveling long distances with an embalmed body and many men, and arriving at the burial site, and staking your claim on a promise spoken generations ago.
People were never that trusting. Not even in the good old days.
Abraham was wise to insist on ownership. He needed a burial plot. What he bought became a generational resting place.
As our Jewish sister wrote at Chabad: Somebody has to pay retail.
“Friend” or not, pay full price for the important things in life. This is actually especially true of a friend.
“Free” just means the price will be named later, and collected when you can least afford.
Access is nothing to build a legacy on. Only ownership will do.