Bible Commentaries
Genesis 23

Verse 16

Genesis 23:16

I. On Mount Moriah we find Abraham doing God's will; here we find him suffering it.

II. Look at Abraham buying a grave; the best man of his age here bargains for burial ground. Ponder well this transaction, and consider that in return for four hundred pieces of silver Abraham gets a burying-place.

III. The behaviour of the children of Heth calls for appreciative notice. They treated Abraham with generous pity and helpfulness.

IV. Man's final requirement of man is a grave. In the grave there is no repentance; the dead man cannot obliterate the past.

V. Abraham mourned for Sarah. Consecration to God's purpose does not eradicate our deep human love; say, rather, that it heightens, refines, sanctifies it.

Parker, The Pulpit Analyst, vol. ii., p. 271.

References: Genesis 23:19 . J. Baines, Sermons, p. 139. Genesis 24:0 R. S. Candlish, Book of Genesis, vol. i., p. 401; F. W. Robertson, Notes on Genesis, p. 68; W. H. Burton, Penny Pulpit, No. 834; M. Dods, Isaac, Jacob, and Joseph, p. 23.Genesis 24:1 . G. Woolnough, Christian World Pulpit, vol. xiv., p. 366. Genesis 24:12 . C. J. Vaughan, Good Words, 1864, p. 485