And Abraham rose up from before his dead, and spoke to the sons of Heth, saying,
Commentary for this verse has not been generated yet.
I am a stranger and a sojourner with you; give me a possession of a sepulchre with you, that I may bury my dead from before me.
Sarah has died. God had promised this whole land to Abraham, yet he now asks the local Hittite landowners for nothing more than a grave. His opening words describe himself, and the whole chapter turns on them.
(Older translations say "a stranger and a sojourner." The writers quoted below use that wording.)
Abraham's words are a public statement about where he belongs and how long he expects to stay. One writer draws out both halves of the description:
The man of faith rises so far above everything here. His bold confession before men is: "I am a stranger and a sojourner (v. 4). All I want here is a grave to bury my dead out of my sight. And even that I cannot accept as a gift; I will pay the true price for it." This is a noble confession. "I am a stranger; I am not one of you. For all your possessions, rank and courtesy, I do not want you to count me as one of you. I do not belong to this scene. I am a sojourner — only here for a little while; how long or short I do not know. The next hour may bring commands from God to go elsewhere."
There is something Abraham does not say to these men:
Abraham did not tell every Canaanite he happened to meet that he was the heir of the country. In the hearing of the children of Heth he said, "I am a stranger and a sojourner with you." He was content to be a man with no home and no house. Harder still, he was content to be thought one.
The Hittites would have given him the grave for nothing. He insisted on paying, and the reason lies in the word "stranger":
The kindness of the world would press a burying place on Abraham as a gift. True to his pilgrim character, he refuses the place of a prince who receives gifts. He is content to be the stranger who pays for what he needs. He refused to use the world's praise to exalt himself, and he will not let the world's kindness move him off the stranger's path.
Buying a field in a land God had already promised him looks like a contradiction:
It is completely wrong to say that God later gave him a possession in Canaan — the piece of land he bought from Ephron as a burial place. God's gift is absolute and still future. Buying a burial place from the Hittite confirms that; it does not weaken it. For who that owned this land, or any other, would think of buying his own possession? There he lays his dead in land so plainly not his own that he has to buy it. That is the pledge to faith that he will have it one day.
There is a gap here between what Abraham sees and what his neighbours see:
To them it seemed a small matter where he buried his dead, but it was by no means a small matter to him... It might, and clearly did, seem strange to them that he made so much fuss about a grave. But "the reason why the world does not know us is that it did not know Him." The natural man finds the finest marks of faith the hardest of all to understand.
Asking for a burying place was not surrender to death. Commentators read it as an act of hope:
I believe Abraham showed his faith in resurrection when he bought Machpelah as a burying place. "He stood up from before his dead." Faith cannot keep death in view for long; it has a higher object... Death is the boundary of Satan's power; but where Satan ends, God begins... Abraham knew that in the ages to come God would keep His promise about the land of Canaan, so he could lay Sarah's body in the tomb "in sure and certain hope of a glorious resurrection."
He owned no ground here, and he was not the poorer for it:
God, having brought him there, gives him nothing. He lives there content, in complete reliance on God. He gained by it. He waited for a city that had foundations. He openly confesses that he is a stranger and a pilgrim on earth (Gen. 23:4). So, in spirit, he draws nearer to God. Although he has nothing, his heart is engaged. He desires a better country. Such is the Christian.
- Stranger — Abraham tells the world he does not belong to it. He does not want it to count him as one of its own.
- Sojourner — he is here only for a while, ready to move whenever God says go.
- Silence — he was heir to the whole land, yet said nothing of it, content to be thought a homeless man.
- Silver — he refused the free gift and paid the full price. A stranger buys; he does not take favours that would settle him in.
- Sarah's grave — the only ground he owned was a tomb. He bought it as a pledge that God would yet give him the land, and as an act of faith in resurrection.
And the sons of Heth answered Abraham, saying to him,
Abraham is grieving for Sarah, and he has asked the Hittites — the sons of Heth — only for a grave, calling himself a stranger among them. Their reply gives him a title he never claimed, and it raises a question every believer meets: what do you do when the world admires you and offers you something free?
Abraham's own words and their answer sit side by side in one conversation. The exact wording of their compliment matters.
The contrast between verses 4 and 6 is striking. The man who called himself a stranger and a sojourner is the man the sons of Heth call "a mighty prince." Notice too that they said "among us," and not "over us." Abraham moved among them, but as a stranger he did not meddle in their business or interfere with their politics. Just because he did not, they could see his moral greatness clearly. As the friend of God he had something they knew nothing of.
Their words are more than flattery. They fulfil a promise God made to Abraham sixty years earlier, and they stand in sharp contrast to how the world treated Lot, the believer who settled in Sodom.
He confesses before the sons of Heth, "I am a stranger and a sojourner with you." Because of this he gains the respect of the world, for they say, "You are a prince of God among us" (v. 6). What a striking contrast to poor Lot — the believer who gave up living as a pilgrim and settled in Sodom. The world treats such a man with the contempt he has earned. In the day of his trouble they say, "Stand back… this fellow came to sojourn, and he has become the judge!" (Gen. 19:9). Sixty years before this, God had told Abraham that one result of answering God's call, and taking the place outside, would be that God would make his name great (Gen. 12:2). Here we see that word fulfilled, for the world itself has to admit that this separated man is "a mighty prince of God."
Their answer comes with a gift attached, offered free. A believer finds that harder to handle than open hostility.
We may learn that the world's smile will overcome us where its frown might drive us closer to the cross… it is very hard to act faithfully with the people of the world and at the same time accept their compliments… Abraham would not take anything from the king of Sodom or the sons of Heth. He would not be in debt to the uncircumcised. So, staying separate from them, he could be a living witness against them.
Saying no without wounding the people who offered it takes its own strength.
It is very hard to refuse a gift offered like this, when the refusal will clearly cause pain. Abraham, however, must not bend in purpose, yet he is in no way harsh or stiff in manner… The man who is firmest in purpose is usually the most courteous in how he behaves.
A man called a prince can start acting like one. Abraham does the opposite.
Still, Abraham does not trade on the world's high respect for him to lift himself up. He does not speak of his honours, of his high calling, or of the glories that lie ahead of him… he is marked by a lowly mind, for twice we read that he bowed to the people of the land (vv. 7-12).
Behind the refusal lies something the Hittites could not see. God had promised Abraham the whole land, yet he owned none of it. He would not let grief push him into taking an early payment from human hands.
In Genesis 23 we see the dignity of faith in Abraham. He refused to let his sorrow at that moment become a reason for owing the world anything, however small. We know that at such times the heart is especially open to sympathy, so we are off our guard and ready to accept what at other times we would refuse. God had promised the whole land to him and to his seed, but not a foot of it was actually his. God had enriched him, and the world could only acknowledge it.
- Stranger first. Abraham called himself a stranger and a sojourner. The title "prince of God" came from others, never from him.
- Separation earns it. He lived among them and never meddled in their affairs, so they could see his moral greatness. Sodom told Lot to stand back.
- Praise tests harder. The world's smile can defeat a believer where its frown would have driven him closer to the cross.
- Firm but courteous. He refused the gift without harshness, and bowed twice to the people of the land. The firmest man in purpose is the most courteous in manner.
- No debtor. Grief is when we most easily accept what we would otherwise refuse. Just then Abraham would owe the world nothing. He waited for the land from God alone.
Hear us, my lord thou art a prince of God among us in the choicest of our sepulchres bury thy dead none of us shall withhold from thee his sepulchre for burying thy dead.
Sarah has died, and Abraham asks the Hittites for one thing: a plot to bury her. Why do they answer a landless stranger with a title and the best of their tombs — and why does he refuse?
The Hebrew phrase joins "prince" to the name of God. Older English versions turned it into a superlative instead of translating word for word. One writer connects that name for God with power:
The word Elohim may come from El, power: probably enough... Supreme power, as its meaning, would suit how Scripture uses it of the Most High Himself. It suits, too, its use in a secondary sense... Our translators keep the same idea where it occurs, treating it, as they judged, as an adjective — as in Genesis 23:6, which they render not "a prince of God," but "a mighty prince."
A second Hebrew word lies behind "choicest," and it is easy to confuse with a word meaning desire:
The true idea here is choice, while in the other word it is desire; and these are in no way interchangeable... So in Genesis 23:6, "in the desire of our tombs" would be nonsense, or at least not the sense intended; it means the choice or best.
One writer traces Abraham's standing to the very thing that kept him apart, and sets him beside his nephew Lot:
As such he gains the respect of the world. They say, "You are a prince of God among us." What a contrast to poor Lot — the believer who gave up his pilgrim character to live in Sodom. Such a man the world treats with well-deserved contempt. In the day of his trouble they say, "Stand back… this fellow came to sojourn, and he would play the judge." Sixty years earlier God had told Abraham what would come from answering His call and taking the outside place: God would make his name great (Genesis 12:2). Here we see that word fulfilled, for the world itself has to admit that this separate man is "a mighty prince of God."
The title came with an offer attached, and Abraham turned down both:
The kindness of the world would press a burial place on Abraham as a gift. True to his pilgrim character, he refuses to take the place of a prince who receives gifts. He is content to be the stranger who pays for what he needs. He refused to use the praise of the world to exalt himself, and he will not let the kindness of the world move him off the path of a stranger.
Refusing was harder than it looks, because of when the offer came:
Here we see the dignity of faith in Abraham. He refused to let his sorrow at that moment put him in debt to the world in even the smallest degree. We know that at such times the heart is wide open to sympathy. We are apt to be off our guard and accept what at other times we would refuse. God gave the whole land to him and to his seed in promise, but he owned not a foot of it. God had enriched him, and the world could only acknowledge it. Faith had made him a stranger, and in a deep trial like that faith must rule. For a friend of God to accept a gift from a judged world would not fit the high and holy closeness he was privileged to know. It would be reaching for the promised blessing ahead of God's time.
Their courtesy assumed the whole business was about a grave. It was not:
To them it seemed a small matter where he buried his dead, but it was by no means a small matter to him... The finest traits and marks of faith are the ones the natural man understands least. The Canaanites had no idea of the expectations that were shaping Abraham's actions on this occasion. They had no idea that he was looking forward to owning the land. For now he was only looking for a spot where, as a dead man, he might wait for God's time and God's way — the MORNING OF RESURRECTION.
That is why he insisted on paying for the ground:
Who that owned this land, or any other, would think of buying his own possession? There he lays his dead in land so plainly not his own that he has to buy it for the purpose — the pledge to faith that he will have it another day.
- Prince. The Hittites' greeting joins "prince" to the name of God. Older versions made it a superlative: "a mighty prince."
- Separation. The world honoured him for the very thing that looked like a disadvantage. He stayed a stranger. Lot settled in Sodom, and the people there told him to stand back.
- Refusal. He would not take the place of a prince who receives gifts. Neither the world's praise nor its kindness could pull him off the pilgrim path.
- Timing. The offer came at the one hour when the heart is least on guard, and faith still ruled.
- Resurrection. What he bought was a grave — worthless to them, priceless to him as the pledge that the land will yet be his.
And Abraham rose up, and bowed down to the people of the land, to the sons of Heth,
Commentary for this verse has not been generated yet.
and spoke to them, saying, If it be your will that I should bury my dead from before me, hear me, and entreat for me Ephron the son of Zohar,
Sarah has died, and Abraham owns no ground in Canaan. He turns to the local people, the Hittites, and asks them to speak to a man named Ephron for him about one cave. They had already offered him any tomb he liked, free of charge. So why does he insist on paying?
The Hittites had just called him a prince among them. Yet his request starts with an "if," and he asks them to plead his case instead of taking the free tomb.
God had given him the moral respect of his neighbours; but he neither presumes on his favour in their eyes, nor will he take advantage of their feelings. He rises above the sorrow that pressed on his heart, and in the same way he will not accept what costs him nothing for the burial of his dead. He went beyond the sons of Heth in courtesy, but he was just as careful to pay the full value in the proper form, and with proper witnesses.
Refusing a gift offered in kindness is hard. Abraham asks permission, and he asks them to speak for him. That is how he holds his ground without hurting anyone.
Though he has to act with dignity and reject an offered gift from the sons of Heth, he does not push it away harshly; he declines with grace... It is very hard to refuse a gift offered like this, when the refusal will clearly cause pain. Abraham, however, has to be unyielding in purpose, yet he is in no way harsh or rigid in manner... This is how the first business deal on human record was carried out... The man who is firmest in purpose is usually the most courteous in bearing.
God had promised him the whole land. At the end of a long life, he holds one thing in it: a grave he has to pay for.
In the noble manners and feelings of those simple early days, we have the great truth that Abraham had nothing here below. He had the heir and all the promises, yet he had to buy a tomb to bury his dead out of his sight. That was the only property he owned on earth at the time.
Accepting the free tomb would have made him a man of standing among the Hittites. Paying for it kept him what he had just called himself — a sojourner and foreigner.
The kindness of the world would press a burial place on Abraham as a gift. True to his pilgrim character, he refuses to take the place of a prince who receives gifts, and is content to be the stranger who pays for what he needs. He refused to use the praise of the world to lift himself up, and he will not let the kindness of the world move him out of the path of a stranger.
There is a second reason he will pay. The cave he asks for is a down payment on something no Hittite could sell him. He means to receive that from another hand.
He was "a mighty prince among them," and they would have been glad to do him a favour. But Abraham had learned to take his favours only from the God of resurrection. He would pay them for Machpelah, but he would look to Him for Canaan... To them the land was worth "four hundred shekels of silver." To him it was priceless. It was the pledge of an everlasting inheritance, and because it was everlasting, it could only be held in the power of resurrection.
Some commentators look for meaning in names. Here the seller's name and the cave's name point in opposite directions.
Abraham asks to buy a field with a cave belonging to Ephron, whose name means "he of dust," another reminder of death (dust returning to dust). The name of the cave is Machpelah, meaning "doubling." Does this not suggest resurrection — a doubling back from the way one had come?
- Stranger. He had just called himself a sojourner and foreigner. Every move in this verse — the "if," the asking, the appeal to Ephron — keeps him there.
- Asks. He had their respect, but he neither presumed on it nor leaned on their sympathy to get what he wanted.
- Pays. He turned down a gift pressed on him with kindness, and did it with grace: firm in purpose, courteous in manner.
- Owns. All the promises were his, yet one grave was the only property he actually owned.
- Waits. He took his favours only from the God of resurrection — paying men for Machpelah, looking to God for Canaan.
that he may give me the cave of Machpelah, which is his, which is at the end of his field; for the full money let him give it to me amongst you for a possession of a sepulchre.
Abraham has just lost Sarah, and now he asks the Hittites for one thing: a cave at the edge of another man's field, bought at full price. Why would a man promised the whole land pay for a grave in it?
The man who held every promise of God owned nothing on earth.
In the noble manners and feelings of that simple early age, we see the great truth that Abraham, though he had the heir and all the promises, owned nothing here below. He had to buy a burial place to bury his dead out of his sight. That was all he owned in the earth at the time.
To the people around him, the fuss over a burial plot made no sense.
To them it seemed a small thing where he buried his dead, but to him it was no small thing at all... The finest marks of faith are the ones the natural man can least understand. The Canaanites had no idea of the hopes that were shaping Abraham's actions here.
Why did the price matter so much to him? The answer lies in what he knew about the land's future.
Why was Abraham so careful about buying this place? Why was he so eager to establish his claim to the field and cave of Ephron on right principles? Why so determined to weigh out the full price, "current among the merchants"? Faith is the answer. He did it all by faith. He knew the land was his in prospect. He knew that in glory his descendants would yet own it. Until then he would owe nothing to the people who were one day to be driven out.
He said the same thing out loud, and it shaped the way he dealt with them.
"I am a stranger; I am not one of you. With all your possessions, rank, and courtesy, I have no wish to be counted as one of you, for I do not belong here. I am only passing through, here for a little while. How long or short, I do not know." ... This is his confession in front of everyone. So he could afford to be kind and courteous, and to weigh out to the Hittites four hundred shekels of silver.
Why take such care over a grave? Bellett ties it to what Abraham believed about the dead.
He bought that place and took great care to make it his own. Beyond it he did not want a single acre of the whole land. This tells us of his faith in resurrection... He placed each of them into the hands of Him who, as he knew, gives life to the dead. He knew the grain of wheat that dies would live again. He knew the handful of sacred dust would be gathered again.
The Hittites were willing to hand over the plot for nothing. Grant also finds meaning in the name of the seller and the name of the cave.
They were fully willing to give this to him without charge, because they recognized his dignity as "a mighty prince." But Abraham is firm and decided that he will pay the full value of the place in money... Abraham asks to buy a field with a cave belonging to Ephron. His name means "he of dust," another reminder of death, dust returning to dust. The cave is called Machpelah, which means "doubling." Does this not suggest the thought of resurrection, a doubling back from the direction one had come?
Some say this plot proves God gave Abraham a foothold in Canaan during his lifetime. Kelly answers on simple grounds.
Who that already owned this land, or any land, would think of buying what was his own? He lays his dead in land so plainly not his own that he has to buy it for that purpose. To faith, buying it is the pledge that he will have the land another day... God will surely give "this land" to Abraham's descendants. In that day they will buy it from no stranger.
- Stranger — Abraham held every promise of God and owned nothing on earth but a grave he had to buy.
- Price — He turned down the free offer. He would owe nothing to people whose land God had already promised to his descendants.
- Courtesy — Because he openly admitted he did not belong, he could afford to be kind and generous to them.
- Resurrection — The care he took to own the grave shows he trusted Sarah's dust to the God who raises the dead.
- Pledge — The bought grave does not shrink God's promise. It is faith's down payment on a land God will give, not sell.
And Ephron was dwelling among the sons of Heth. And Ephron the Hittite answered Abraham, in the ears of the sons of Heth, [even] of all that went in at the gate of his city, saying,
Abraham's wife Sarah has died, and he asks the Hittites — also called the sons of Heth — for a burial plot in their land. Ephron already sits among them, and at the city gate, in front of everyone, he offers Abraham the field as a free gift.
The verse notes that Ephron spoke in front of "all who went in at the gate of his city." The gate was more than a way in and out.
Besides the ordinary use of gates to protect a city, "in the gate" was the place where people settled many important matters. When Boaz wanted the question about Ruth and the inheritance settled, he went up to the gate: he argued the matter out with a nearer relative, then closed it, with the elders as witnesses. To "sit in the gate" was a place of honour.
Abraham paid for the land in a way that matched this public setting.
Ephron, in eastern fashion, set his price very high for those days. Abraham weighed out the silver in front of everyone. That was the lawful and secure way to transfer property then, and it oddly resembles the exactness we expect today.
Ephron's offer is generous and public. Abraham turns it down.
The kindness of the world would press a burial place on Abraham as a gift. True to his character as a pilgrim, he refuses to take the place of a prince who receives gifts. He is content to be the stranger who pays for what he needs. He refused to use the praise of the world to exalt himself, and he will not let the kindness of the world move him off the path of a stranger.
The people around Abraham thought well of him. He refused to use that standing to get what he wanted.
God had given him the moral respect of his neighbours; but he does not presume on his good standing in their eyes, and he will not take advantage of their feelings.
Nothing in his courtesy was weakness, and nothing in his faith made him rude.
There can be no greater mistake than the idea that faith destroys humility, or makes people careless of others. Faith truly brings God in. That judges self, and love can flow.
God had promised Abraham this whole land. So why did he pay a Hittite for a corner of it?
Some say that God did later give him a possession in Canaan — the piece of land he bought from Ephron as a burial place, Genesis 23:17. That is quite wrong. God's gift is absolute and still future, and buying a burial place from the Hittite confirms this rather than weakening it. For who that owned this land, or any other, would think of buying his own property? There he lays his dead in land so plainly not his own that he has to buy it — the pledge to faith that he will have it another day.
Abraham refused the free gift because of what he expected later.
He knew the land was his in prospect. He knew that in glory his descendants would yet own it. Until then he would owe nothing to people who would one day lose that land.
Buying a grave sounds like a surrender to death. One writer reads Abraham's purchase at Machpelah the other way round.
Now, I believe that in purchasing Machpelah for a burying place, Abraham gave expression to his faith in resurrection. "He rose up from before his dead." Faith cannot keep death in view for long; it has a higher object… Death is the boundary of Satan's power; but where Satan ends, God begins.
Ephron offers the field free; Abraham insists on paying the full price. One writer sees a picture of Christ in that.
We may be sure this is meant to be compared with Matthew 13:44. There a man finds treasure hidden in a field, then goes and sells all that he has to buy the field. The field is the world, and the Lord Jesus has sacrificed everything to buy it, just for the sake of the treasure. Satan was a usurper with no proper right to be "the god of this world," yet man has allowed him to take possession. The Lord Jesus would not simply demand it back, and He would not accept it on any terms except paying the full price for it.
- Public. Ephron answers at the city gate, the public place for settling important matters, so no one could later deny the deal.
- Offered. The world's kindness pressed a free burial place on Abraham as a gift — kindness that could have moved him off his path.
- Refused. He would not take the place of a prince who receives gifts; he was content to be the stranger who pays.
- Paid. He owed nothing to people who would one day lose the land. The plot he had to buy became the pledge to faith that he would have it another day.
- Hoped. He bought a grave because he expected a resurrection — where Satan's power ends, God begins.
No, my lord hear me. The field give I thee; and the cave that is in it, to thee I give it; before the eyes of the sons of my people give I it thee bury thy dead.
Ephron answers Abraham in front of the whole town. He offers the field and the cave as a gift, free of charge. It is a warm, public, generous offer — and Abraham will not take it.
The world here is not hostile. It is kind. And kindness is the harder thing to resist, because taking the gift would change Abraham's place among them.
The kindness of the world would press upon Abraham a burying place as a gift. True to his pilgrim character, he refuses the place of a prince who receives gifts. He is content to be the stranger who pays for what he needs. He refused to use the world's praise to lift himself up. He will not let the world's kindness move him off the stranger's path. As before he had refused the gifts of the king of Sodom, so now he declines the gifts of the children of Heth.
The offer came while he was burying his wife. Grief is exactly when a kind gift is hardest to refuse.
In Genesis 23 we see the dignity of faith in Abraham. He would not let his sorrow at that moment make him a debtor to the world, even in the smallest degree. We know that at such times the heart is wide open to sympathy. Our guard is down, and we accept what we would refuse at any other time. God had promised the whole land to him and to his seed, but he owned not a foot of it yet. God had enriched him, and the world could only acknowledge it… He was a "friend of God." For such a man to accept a gift from a judged world, and so reach for the promised blessing early, would not fit the high and holy closeness with God that he was privileged to know.
Refusing a gift can wound the giver. Abraham says no without giving offence.
Notice the courtesy of the man of faith: the dignity with which he declines the gift is obvious at once. He has to act with dignity and reject a gift from the sons of Heth. But he does not push it away harshly. He declines with grace… It is very hard to refuse a gift offered like this, when the refusal will plainly cause pain. Abraham, however, must be unyielding in purpose. Yet he is not at all harsh or stiff in manner… It was likely more painful to Abraham to turn down these friendly approaches than to go into battle with the king of Chedorlaomer. But to stay consistent he had to do it, and he does it in the most gracious way. The man who is firmest in purpose is most often the most courteous in bearing.
What Abraham asked for was modest — a cave, not an estate. Even that he would not hold as a favour, and the free offer ended in a high price paid in public.
Even in the presence of death he would keep the place of pilgrim and stranger among them. He would pay in full for a possession — not a mansion, not an estate, but a grave. Ephron, following the custom of that part of the world, set his price very high for those days. Abraham weighed it out in front of them all. That was the recognised way then of making a transfer lawful and sure… Even for a grave he would not be unequally yoked with unbelievers. For what partnership has righteousness with lawlessness? Or what fellowship has light with darkness? Abraham would be separate and touch nothing unclean. Is this scorn or pride? Not at all, but subjection to God, and the guarding of His honour by His children.
Paying instead of receiving also draws a larger picture. One commentator links it to the parable of the hidden treasure.
Ephron said he was willing to give Abraham the place without charge (vv. 10-11). Abraham answered by insisting that he should pay the full value of the land (v. 13). We may be sure we should compare this with Matthew 13:44. There a man finds treasure hidden in a field, then goes and sells all that he has to buy the field. The field is the world. The Lord Jesus has sacrificed everything to buy it, just for the sake of the treasure… He would not simply demand it back. He would not take it on any terms except paying the full price for it.
- Offer — Ephron's free gift was real kindness, not hostility. The world's courtesy is the pressure Abraham had to resist.
- Moment — The gift came in grief, when the guard is down. Faith held the line where it was weakest.
- Place — Owning even a grave as the world's gift would have made a stranger into a settler with a stake here.
- Manner — He was unmovable in purpose yet gracious in manner, refusing without wounding the giver.
- Price — He paid in full instead of receiving. In that stands a picture of One who bought the field for the treasure hidden in it.
And Abraham bowed down before the people of the land;
Sarah has died. The Hittites, who own the land, have called Abraham a prince of God among them (older translations: a mighty prince). They have offered him the best of their tombs for free, and Ephron has just pressed a whole field on him as a gift. Abraham answers with a gesture, not a speech. He bows, for the second time in this chapter, before the people of the land.
The gesture itself was ordinary courtesy in that part of the world. The same act could be turned toward God — but never toward an idol.
It is an act of respect between one person and another, very common in the East. Abraham bowed down before the people of the land when he bought a burial place for his dead (Genesis 23:7, 12). It is also an act of reverence to God (Psalm 95:6). But God forbids it before an idol or image (Exodus 20:5), where it counts as an act of worship.
They had just handed him a title. He could have taken the part of a prince; instead he bowed low in front of them.
Abraham does not trade on the high respect the world has for him in order to lift himself up. He does not speak of his honours, of his high calling, or of the glories that lie ahead of him. In the days of the Lord, when the careless world wanted to make Him a King, He makes nothing of Himself and withdraws to a mountain alone (John 6:15). In the same spirit, Abraham refuses to make himself great. He does not want the world to bow to him as a mighty prince. Instead a lowly mind marks him, for twice we read that he "bowed down before the people of the land" (vv. 7-12).
There is a second restraint. Abraham will not trade on the goodwill he has earned.
God had given him the moral respect of his neighbours. But he does not presume on the favour he has in their eyes, and he will not take advantage of their feelings.
Right after the bow, Abraham turns the gift down. Courtesy and independence prove to be two sides of one decision.
The kindness of the world would press a burial place on Abraham as a gift. True to his pilgrim character, he refuses to take the place of a prince who receives gifts. He is content to be the stranger who pays for what he needs. He refused to use the world's praise to lift himself up, and he will not let the world's kindness move him off the path of a stranger. Just as he had earlier refused the gifts of the king of Sodom, so now he declines the gifts of the Hittites.
Was this coldness? Kelly raises the question himself, and he first notes how friendly the other side was.
The Hittites were touched, courteous, and friendly. Abraham was determined to plead for others, as in Genesis 14:24, and just as determined to take nothing for himself, now as then. Even with death in front of him, he would keep the place of a pilgrim and stranger among them… Even for a grave he would not be unequally yoked with unbelievers… Is this scorn or pride? No. It is subjection to God, and His children guarding His honour.
The bowing and bargaining look like a small deal over a burial plot — the cave of Machpelah. But the two sides were not valuing the same thing.
He was "a mighty prince among them," and they would gladly have done him a favour. But Abraham had learnt to take his favours only from the God of resurrection. He would pay them for Machpelah, while he looked to Him for Canaan… "The land was worth" to them "four hundred shekels of silver," but to him it was priceless. It was the pledge of an everlasting inheritance, and because that inheritance was everlasting, he could only hold it in the power of resurrection.
Mackintosh reads the chapter in two ways at once: as a rule for daily dealings, and as a hope that lifts the heart.
So we may look at this beautiful chapter in two ways. First, it sets before us a plain, practical principle for our dealings with the men of this world. Second, it presents the blessed hope that should always stir the man of faith… The hope set before us in the gospel is a glorious immortality. That hope lifts the heart above every influence of nature and the world, and it gives us a high and holy principle to govern all our dealings with those outside.
- Stranger. Abraham keeps the place of a pilgrim and stranger through the whole scene, even while arranging a grave.
- Bow. The gesture was ordinary respect between people. The same act may be turned to God in reverence, but never to an idol.
- Lowly. They offer him the standing of a mighty prince. He bows twice instead, and will not trade the world's praise for self-importance.
- Buy. He will not presume on goodwill or take the gift; he pays in full, and so stays free.
- Hope. The plot is worth more to him than to the sellers. He holds it as a pledge of resurrection, and that hope shapes every dealing with people outside.
and he spoke to Ephron, in the ears of the people of the land, saying, But if only thou wouldst listen to me, I give the money for the field take [it] of me, and I will bury my dead there.
Abraham's wife has died, and he needs a grave in a land God has promised him but has not yet given him. The Hittites, also called the sons of Heth, offer him one for free; he answers Ephron in front of them all and insists on paying the full price.
How Abraham refuses matters as much as what he refuses.
Notice the courtesy of the man of faith: the dignity with which he declines the gift stands out at once. If he must act with dignity and turn down a gift from the sons of Heth, he still does not push it away harshly. He declines with grace… A gift offered like this is very hard to refuse, when the refusal will clearly give pain. Abraham must be unyielding in purpose, but he is in no way harsh or stiff in manner… The man who is firmest in purpose is usually the most courteous in bearing.
For Abraham the question is one of position, not price.
The kindness of the world would press a burial place on Abraham as a gift. True to his pilgrim character, he refuses to take the place of a prince who receives gifts, and is content to be the stranger who pays for what he needs. He refused to use the world's praise to exalt himself, and he will not let the world's kindness move him out of the path of a stranger.
God had promised the whole land to Abraham and his descendants. So the insistence on a full price looks strange — until you notice who the sellers are.
Why was Abraham so anxious to establish his claim to the field and cave of Ephron on righteous principles? Why so determined to weigh out the full price at the merchant's rate? Faith is the answer… He knew the land was his in prospect. He knew that in glory his descendants would yet own it. Until then he would owe nothing to people who would one day lose it.
The transaction itself is therefore evidence of what Abraham did not yet own.
For who that owned this land or any other would think of buying what was already his? There Abraham lays his dead in land so clearly not his own that he has to buy it for that purpose. That purchase is the pledge to faith that he will have the land another day… Scripture records the fact to show how truly he was a pilgrim in the very land. His descendants gave the owning of it now an exaggerated importance, because they did not walk in the faith of their father.
Buyer and seller priced the same ground very differently.
The sons of Heth knew well the value of silver weighed out at the merchant's rate, and Abraham knew the value of the cave of Machpelah. It was worth far more to him than to them. To them the land was worth four hundred shekels of silver. To him it was priceless, as the pledge of an everlasting inheritance. And because that inheritance was everlasting, he could only come into it by the power of resurrection… So Abraham stood up from before his dead and bought a burial place, which pointed to his hope of resurrection and of an inheritance founded on it.
L. M. Grant reads the purchase as a picture of a greater one.
We should compare this with Matthew 13:44, where a man finds treasure hidden in a field, then goes and sells all that he has to buy the field. The field is the world, and the Lord Jesus has sacrificed everything to buy it, just for the sake of the treasure. Satan had no right to be "the god of this world," yet man let him take possession. The Lord Jesus would not simply demand it back, nor would He accept it on any other terms than paying the full price for it.
What was true at the graveside shapes ordinary dealings now.
We have here an example of what the child of God should always be. The hope set before us in the gospel is a glorious immortality. This hope lifts the heart above every influence of nature and the world. It also supplies a high and holy principle to govern all our dealings with people outside… If I am to be like Christ by and by, I shall seek to be as like Him now as I can.
- Stranger — Abraham will not be a prince who takes gifts. He is a stranger who pays his own way.
- Courtesy — He is unyielding in purpose yet never harsh; the firmest man here is also the most gracious.
- No debtor — He will owe nothing to people who will one day lose the land God promised him.
- Pledge — Buying a grave in the land proves he did not yet own it, and holds the promise that he will.
- Resurrection — Four hundred shekels to them, priceless to him. An everlasting inheritance comes only by resurrection, and that hope shapes how a believer deals with the world today.
And Ephron answered Abraham, saying to him,
Commentary for this verse has not been generated yet.
My lord, hearken to me. A field of four hundred shekels of silver, what is that between me and thee? bury therefore thy dead.
Ephron names his price for the burial ground, then waves it off as nothing between the two of them. But why would a man who held God's promise of the whole land pay silver for a small piece of it?
Ephron's price is a weight of silver, not a stack of coins.
In the Old Testament people weighed money. The first business deal Scripture records is Abraham buying the field of Ephron the Hittite. He paid four hundred shekels of silver, which he "weighed" out to Ephron (Genesis 23:15-16). The shekel here was a weight.
Ephron offers the ground for free, and Abraham will not take it. It was not the first gift he had turned down.
The kindness of the world would press a burying place on Abraham as a gift. True to his pilgrim character, he refuses to take the place of a prince who receives gifts. He is content to be the stranger who pays for what he needs. He refused to use the praise of the world to raise himself up. He will not let the kindness of the world move him off the path of a stranger. As he had earlier refused the gifts of the king of Sodom, so now he declines the gifts of the sons of Heth. He buys the burying place. In all his dealings with the world he acts in strict righteousness, as a stranger should.
God had already promised Canaan to Abraham. Some say this purchase was that promise coming true.
It is completely wrong to say that God later gave him a possession in Canaan — the piece of land he bought from Ephron as a burial place (Genesis 23:17). God's gift is absolute and future. Buying a burial place from the Hittite confirms that gift; it does not weaken it. Would anyone who owned this land, or any land, think of buying what was already his? There he lays his dead in ground so plainly not his own that he has to buy it. That purchase is the pledge to faith that he will have the land another day.
Ephron names a market price for the field and its burial cave. To Abraham the same ground was worth something no scale could weigh.
Abraham was a mighty prince among them, and they would gladly have done him a favour. But he had learned to take his favours only from the God of resurrection. He would pay them for the burial cave, and look to God for Canaan. The sons of Heth knew the value of silver that any merchant would take, and Abraham knew the value of the cave of Machpelah. It was worth much more to him than to them. To them the land was worth four hundred shekels of silver. To him it was priceless. It was the pledge of an everlasting inheritance, and because that inheritance was everlasting, he could only receive it in the power of resurrection. Faith carries the soul forward into God's future; it looks at things as He looks at them.
This haggling over a price teaches how someone who lives by God's promises should handle money with people who do not share his faith.
This short section of inspiration gives the soul much sweet and profitable instruction. In it the Holy Spirit gives us a beautiful picture. It shows how the man of faith should behave toward those outside. It is true, divinely true, that faith makes a man independent of the men of the world. It is just as true that faith will always teach him to deal honestly with them. Scripture tells us to "walk properly before outsiders" (1 Thessalonians 4:12). We are to aim at what is honorable in the sight of man (2 Corinthians 8:21), and to "owe no one anything" (Romans 13:8).
Some commentators see Abraham's full payment for a field as a picture of a greater purchase.
Ephron himself was willing to give Abraham the place free of charge. But Abraham insisted on paying the full value of the land. We should surely compare this with Matthew 13:44. There a man finds treasure hidden in a field, then goes and sells all that he has to buy the field. The field is the world. The Lord Jesus has sacrificed everything to buy it, just for the sake of the treasure.
- Weighed — Abraham put four hundred shekels of silver on a scale, in the first money deal the Bible records.
- Offered — Ephron pressed the land on Abraham as a gift, but taking it would have cost him his place as a stranger.
- Paid — he bought ground God had already promised him. That proved he owned none of it yet, and left his hope resting on God's promise.
- Priceless — the seller saw four hundred shekels. Abraham saw the pledge of an inheritance he could only receive by resurrection.
- Copied — faith that is independent of the world still deals honestly with it. Owe no one anything. Walk properly before outsiders.
And Abraham hearkened to Ephron; and Abraham weighed to Ephron the money that he had named in the ears of the sons of Heth -- four hundred shekels of silver, current with the merchant.
Sarah has died at Hebron, and Abraham owns nothing in the land God promised him. Why must he pay a Hittite landowner full price for a grave, in a country God had already promised to give him?
The verse says Abraham weighed the silver. That one word tells us how payment worked:
In the Old Testament people weighed money. The first business deal recorded in Scripture is Abraham buying the field of Ephron the Hittite. He paid four hundred shekels of silver, which he "weighed" out to Ephron. The shekel here was a weight.
Older translations call the Hittites "the sons of Heth." The price alone did not make this sale secure:
When Abraham bought the field of Ephron in Machpelah, he paid the money "in the hearing of the sons of Heth," who acted as witnesses. This made the field securely his.
The offer of a free grave came wrapped in praise. Abraham turned down both:
The kindness of the world would press a burying place on Abraham as a gift. True to his pilgrim character, he refuses the place of a prince who receives gifts. He is content to be the stranger who pays for what he needs. He refused to use the praise of the world to lift himself up. He will not let the kindness of the world move him off the path of the stranger. As before he had refused the gifts of the king of Sodom, so now he declines the gifts of the children of Heth. He buys the burying place, and, as suits a stranger, he acts in strict righteousness in all his dealings with the world, paying "four hundred shekels of silver, current money with the merchant."
In his refusal, firmness and courtesy went together:
It is very hard to decline a gift offered like this, when the refusal will clearly cause pain. Abraham, however, must be unyielding in purpose, but he is by no means harsh or stiff in manner... That is how the first business deal in human record was carried out.
Buyer and seller agreed on the price and disagreed about the worth:
The sons of Heth knew well the value of "current money with the merchant," and Abraham knew the value of the cave of Machpelah. It was worth much more to him than it was to them. "The land was worth" to them "four hundred shekels of silver." To him it was priceless. It was the pledge of an everlasting inheritance, and an everlasting inheritance could only be held in the power of resurrection.
The purchase does not weaken God's promise of the land — it shows how little of it Abraham held:
Would anyone who already owned this land, or any other, think of buying his own property? There he lays his dead in land so clearly not his own that he has to buy it for the purpose. That is the pledge to faith that he will have it another day... God will surely give "this land" to Abram's seed. They will buy it from no stranger in that day.
Another writer feels how strange the scene is, and looks ahead to the day God settles it:
Abraham weighed out the purchase money and handed it over: four hundred shekels of silver, current money with the merchant... How strange a thing to do for "the heir of the world"! Where those title deeds were kept for safety, no one can say. But we may be sure that the God of Abraham will see to it. A day is coming when Christ takes up His earthly rights with His ancient people. He is the One "who is of the seed of David according to the flesh, and declared to be the Son of God with power."
One writer draws a line from Abraham's payment to a far greater one:
This payment, however, reminds us of the infinitely greater payment of the Lord Jesus in the sacrifice of Himself at Calvary, by which He has purchased the whole world. Purchase is not the same as redemption, however. The Lord has bought the whole world, but has redeemed only those who have received Him as Saviour.
- Weighed — payment meant silver on scales, not coins. The scales came out in public, and the witnesses made the field securely Abraham's.
- Paid — the field was offered free, and Abraham said no with grace. He stayed a stranger who pays his way, not a prince who takes favours.
- Priced — the sellers valued the field at four hundred shekels. Abraham valued it beyond price, as the pledge of an inheritance that only resurrection could give.
- Promised — he bought land God had already promised him. That shows how little he held, and points to a day when his descendants will buy it from no one.
- Purchased — this payment points to the far greater price paid at the cross. The Lord has bought the whole world, but has redeemed only those who receive Him.
So the field of Ephron, which was at Machpelah, which was before Mamre, the field, and the cave that was in it, and all the trees that were in the field, that were in all its borders round about,
Genesis 23:17 records a legal sale: Ephron's field at Machpelah, the cave in it, and every tree inside its borders pass to Abraham before the people of the city. It reads like a title deed — but why buy a corner of land God had already promised him?
Abraham was grieving, yet he handled the burial like a piece of formal business:
Even in the presence of death he would keep the place of pilgrim and stranger among them. He would pay in full for a possession — not of a mansion or an estate, but of a grave. Ephron, in Eastern fashion, set his price very high for those days. Abraham weighed it out in front of everyone. That was the accepted way to make a lawful and secure transfer — a curious foreshadowing of modern exactness.
This plot was the sum of Abraham's real estate in the land God had promised him.
In these noble, simple manners and feelings of the early fathers we have a great truth. Abraham held the heir and all the promises, yet he had nothing here below. He had to buy a grave to bury his dead out of his sight. That is all he ever had as a present possession on the earth.
Far from weakening God's promise, the sale proves it still stands:
For who that owned this land, or any land, would think of buying his own possession? There he lays his dead in ground that is clearly not his own. He has to buy it for that purpose. The sale is the pledge to faith that he will have the land another day.
The sons of Heth offered the burial ground free of charge. Abraham refused, and the refusal was deliberate.
The kindness of the world would press a burial place on Abraham as a gift. True to his pilgrim character, he refuses to take the place of a prince who receives gifts. He is content to be the stranger who pays for what he needs. He refused to use the praise of the world to lift himself up. He will not let the kindness of the world move him off the stranger's path. As he had earlier refused the gifts of the king of Sodom, so now he declines the gifts of the children of Heth.
The purchase was more than a funeral arrangement. Commentators read it as an act of confidence, not defeat:
I believe Abraham showed his faith in resurrection when he bought Machpelah as a burial place... Faith cannot keep death in view for long; it has a higher object. Resurrection is what always fills the sight of faith, and in its power faith can rise up from before the dead... Death is the boundary of Satan's power; but where Satan ends, God begins.
The trees named in the deed carry the same hope, and one writer extends it to Israel:
How good it is to remember that the grave has been bought. It is far from being only a scene of desolation. The trees flourish around it with their blossoms and fruit — the blessed hopes and assurances of immortality and a glorious resurrection. So too for Israel, buried for the present: the trees of promise still grow all around the field of her burial. They declare that the Lord will yet visit His people, bring them up out of their graves of national scattering, and restore them in blessing to the land.
One writer compares Abraham's buying of a whole field for one grave to a parable Jesus told:
Ephron himself offered to give Abraham the place without charge, but Abraham insisted on paying the full value of the land. We should surely compare this with Matthew 13:44. There a man finds treasure hidden in a field, then sells all he has to buy the field. The field is the world, and the Lord Jesus has sacrificed everything to buy it, just for the sake of the treasure. Abraham's treasure, of course, was Sarah, whom he would hide in the field. So the treasure stands for the godly in Israel, and the field is the world.
- Bought, not begged. Abraham turned down free land from the Hittites, just as he had turned down the king of Sodom's goods. He paid full price and stayed a stranger.
- Bought, not owned. A man does not buy what is already his. The sale proves the land was still to come, and it pledged that he would have it one day.
- Bought, and witnessed. He weighed out the silver in front of witnesses. Even in grief he was exact in business.
- Bought in hope. The grave was bought in hope, not defeat. The trees named in the deed stand around it like a promise of resurrection.
- Bought for a treasure. Abraham bought a whole field for the one he laid in it. In the same way, commentators suggest, Christ paid for the world for the sake of the treasure in it.
were assured to Abraham for a possession before the eyes of the sons of Heth, before all who went in at the gate of his city.
Here the sale is complete. The field, the cave, and every tree in it become Abraham's own property. The Hittites at the city gate all watched it happen. It is the only piece of Canaan he ever owned — and he bought it to bury his wife in.
This verse reads like a property deed. One writer notes what the public weighing of the silver meant:
Even in the presence of death he would keep the place of pilgrim and stranger among them. He would pay in full for a possession — not of a mansion or an estate, but of a grave. Ephron, in Eastern fashion, set his price high for those days. Abraham weighed it out in front of them all. That was the way of lawful and sure conveyance back then, and it strangely anticipates modern exactness.
Some treat faith as a reason to leave the details to other people.
Faith was never meant to encourage a careless spirit. Abraham's conduct in this business shows it, at a moment when anyone else would sooner have taken another's help. Whatever the circumstances, faith makes the believer superior to them all.
The Hittites first offered him the ground for nothing. One writer explains what Abraham was protecting when he refused:
The kindness of the world would press a burying place on Abraham as a gift. True to his pilgrim character, he refuses to take the place of a prince who receives gifts. He is content to be the stranger who pays for what he needs. He will not let the kindness of the world move him out of the path of the stranger.
Why pay four hundred shekels for ground God had already promised him? One writer points to what Abraham refused to become:
Why was Abraham so particular about this purchase? Why was he so anxious to make good his claim to the field and cave of Ephron on righteous principles? Why so determined to weigh out the full price, current with the merchant? Faith is the answer. He knew the land was his in prospect. He knew that in glory his descendants would yet own it. Until then he would owe nothing to those who would one day be driven out of it.
Some have argued from this deed that God did give Abraham a holding in Canaan after all. One writer answers that the purchase proves the opposite:
It is wrong to say that God did afterwards give him a possession in Canaan — meaning the piece of land he bought from Ephron as a burial place. The gift of God is absolute and future. Buying a burial place from the Hittite confirms that; it does not weaken it. For who that owned this land, or any other, would think of buying what was already his? There he lays his dead in land so clearly not his own that he has to buy it. That buying is the pledge to faith that he will have it another day.
The sale included every tree around the field. One writer finds hope in that detail:
How good it is to remember that the grave was bought. It is no mere scene of desolation. All around it the trees flourish with their blossoms and fruit — the blessed hopes and assurances of immortality and a glorious resurrection. So too for Israel, buried for now. The trees of promise are still growing all around the field of her burial. They declare that the Lord will yet visit His people, bring them up out of their graves of national dispersion, and restore them in blessing to the land.
Abraham now held legal title to a plot in Canaan. He had paid the full price for it, and he still lived there as a stranger.
How strange a thing to do for "the heir of the world"! Where those title deeds were kept for safekeeping, one is unable to say. But we may be sure that the God of Abraham will see to it. He who was descended from David according to the flesh, and declared to be the Son of God in power, will come to take up His earthly rights with His ancient people.
- Bought, not begged. Abraham refused a free tomb. He weighed out the full price in public and kept the place of a stranger who owes the world nothing.
- Bought, not banked. A man who buys land is admitting he does not own it; the deed is proof he was still a stranger in the country promised to him.
- Bought, not bargained. Grief did not make him careless; faith made him exact, so the claim rested on righteous ground in front of witnesses.
- Bought for the future. He paid for a grave because he expected the land in glory, and would not be in debt to people who were one day to lose it.
- Bought and kept. The title stands secure, waiting for the day Christ comes to take up His earthly rights with His ancient people.
And after this, Abraham buried Sarah his wife in the cave of the field at Machpelah, opposite to Mamre that is Hebron, in the land of Canaan.
Genesis 23 ends with a funeral and a purchase. Abraham buries Sarah in a cave he has just bought from the people who already hold the land God had promised him.
Commentators read his careful purchase of a grave as a statement about the future.
I believe that in buying Machpelah for a burying-place, Abraham gave expression to his faith in resurrection. "He stood up from before his dead." Faith cannot keep death in view for long. Resurrection is what always fills the vision of faith, and in its power faith can rise up from before the dead. Death is the boundary of Satan's power; but where Satan ends, God begins.
This was not new ground for Abraham. He had already trusted God with Isaac.
This was the same faith. The faith of a dead and risen man, the faith that had already received Isaac and offered Isaac, now buries Sarah. Abraham believed in resurrection. He believed in God as the God of resurrection — the God who gives life to the dead, and calls things that do not exist as though they did. The cave of Machpelah tells us this.
The last phrase of the verse is not just geography. Abraham chose that ground on purpose.
God had revealed Himself to Abraham as the Almighty and as the God of resurrection. He had assured him that the land where he lived as a stranger — all the land of Canaan — was his for an everlasting possession (Genesis 17:8). It was all his by promise, though not yet in his possession. Trusting God's promise, he was careful to lay Sarah's body to rest in the promised land. In the land of Canaan she had lived with Abraham as a stranger and a pilgrim. "In the land of Canaan" she had died, and "in the land of Canaan" she was buried.
Owning a grave was as close as Abraham ever came to owning Canaan.
Hebrews 11 tells us plainly that these all — Sarah included — died, not in possession, but in faith. This passage is the most striking witness of it. Until Sarah's burial Abraham owned not so much as a place to set his foot. He remains a pilgrim and a stranger to the last. He has to buy even a burying-place. He would have Canaan only under the glory of the Lord, and in the day of resurrection. He is content to wait until then.
Start with the name of the cave.
The name "Machpelah" means a "doubling," or a turning back on itself — a hint, it would seem, of resurrection.
The terms of the sale also speak of what death now means for those who belong to Christ.
Abraham bought it from the sons of Heth (fear) with the silver money (of atonement). So it becomes the portion of faith — a tomb, yes, but with a fruitful field attached, and right opposite Hebron. It stands in view of "participation" with Christ. For Christ has been in death. Through death He destroyed the one who had the power of death, so that He might free those who lived their whole lives as slaves to the fear of death (Hebrews 2:14-15). Death then becomes simply being made like Him in His death.
Around this bought grave, writers see hope growing — for Sarah, and for Israel too.
How good it is to remember that the grave was bought and paid for. It is far from being only a scene of desolation. The trees with their blossoms and fruit — the blessed hopes and assurances of immortality and a glorious resurrection — flourish around it. So too for Israel, buried for the present. The trees of promise still grow around the field of her burial. They declare that the Lord will yet visit His people, bring them up out of their graves of national dispersion and restore them in blessing to the land.
Genesis never says what kept Abraham content with so little.
We have to travel on to Hebrews 11:9-16 to get light on that point. There we discover that he had expectations tied to a scene lying not only outside the land of promise but outside the earth altogether. He went to live in the land of promise, as in a foreign land. He did that because he was "looking forward to the city that has foundations, whose designer and builder is God." We further read that he desired "a better country, that is, a heavenly one."
- Death. Sarah dies in the land God promised. Abraham must bury her, and the promise is still unfulfilled.
- Faith. He rises from before his dead. The same faith that offered Isaac now buries his wife, trusting the God who gives life to the dead.
- Purchase. He buys the plot with silver from the sons of Heth, whose name means fear, so the grave is truly his own.
- Promise. A tomb is the only ground he ever owns. He stays a stranger, content to wait for Canaan until the day of resurrection.
- Resurrection. Machpelah means "a doubling." It is a grave with a fruitful field around it — a burial made in the hope of a heavenly country and a people raised again.
And the field and the cave that was in it were assured to Abraham for a possession of a sepulchre by the sons of Heth.
Genesis 23 ends like a legal document. The field and the cave pass from Ephron to Abraham, with the Hittites as witnesses. God had promised him the whole land, yet he ends the chapter owning one grave in it. Commentators call that plot the chapter's strongest act of faith.
This grave was everything Abraham owned in the land.
The noble manners and feelings of these early fathers show us a great truth. Abraham had the heir and all the promises, yet he owned nothing here below. He had to buy a grave to bury his dead out of his sight. That is all he had as a present possession in the earth.
Some read the purchase as God starting to hand over the land. One writer answers that it proves the opposite.
It is completely wrong to say that God later gave him a possession in Canaan — the piece of land he bought from Ephron as a burial place. God's gift is absolute and future... Who that already owned this land, or any other, would think of buying what was his own? There he lays his dead in land so clearly not his own that he has to buy it for the purpose. That is the pledge to faith that he will have it another day.
One writer turns the careful payment into a question, and answers it in a single word.
Why was Abraham so particular about this purchase? Why was he so eager to make his claim to Ephron's field and cave good in a righteous way? Why so determined to weigh out the full price "current with the merchant"? Faith is the answer. He did it all by faith. He knew the land was his in prospect. He knew that in glory his descendants would yet own it. Until then he would owe nothing to people who would one day be driven out of it.
Another writer compares the purchase to a scene in the Gospels.
We may be sure that we should compare this with Matthew 13:44. There a man finds a treasure hidden in a field, then goes and sells all that he has to buy the field. The field is the world, and the Lord Jesus has sacrificed everything to buy it, just for the sake of the treasure... He would not simply demand the world back. He would accept it on no other terms than paying the full price for it.
Abraham paid, and buried his wife. One writer notes how strange that looks for a man promised the world.
Abraham weighed out the purchase money, four hundred shekels of silver in the currency merchants used, and handed it over... and there he buried Sarah. How strange a thing to do for "the heir of the world"! Where those title deeds were stored for safe keeping, no one can say. But we may be sure that the God of Abraham will see to it. The One who "was descended from David according to the flesh and was declared to be the Son of God in power" will come to take up His earthly rights among His ancient people.
He took great care over this one plot and wanted no other land in the country. One writer reads that care as a statement about death.
He bought that place and took every care to make it his own, to have it as his possession. Beyond it he cared nothing for a single acre of the whole land. That tells us of his faith in resurrection... He placed both Sarah and his son Isaac into the hands of the One who, as he knew, gives life to the dead. The grain of wheat that died, as he knew, would live again. The handful of sacred dust, as he knew, was to be gathered again.
Abraham's choice of burial place set a pattern his family kept.
All was his by promise, though not yet in possession. In the faith of God's promise he was careful to lay the body of Sarah to rest in the Promised Land... In the same faith, at a later date, the sons of Isaac bury their father at Hebron, in the land of Canaan. So too, in due time, his sons bury Jacob in faith in the land of Canaan, in the cave of Machpelah, though he dies in Egypt. In the same fine faith, Joseph, as he came to die, makes the children of Israel swear to carry his bones from Egypt to the land of Canaan.
- Stranger. Abraham held the promise of the whole land and owned one burial plot in it. He was still a stranger there, not yet an heir in possession.
- Price. He weighed out the full price, so he would owe nothing to people who would one day lose the land.
- Deed. The Hittites witnessed the sale, so the title held. The inheritance itself was still only a promise.
- Pledge. The grave he bought was land so clearly not his that he had to pay for it. That purchase was the pledge that one day the land would be his.
- Resurrection. He cared for a tomb and for no other acre. He buried Sarah sure that the dust would be gathered again.