4 `A sojourner and a settler I `am' with you; give to me a possession of a burying-place with you, and I bury my dead from before me.'
by faith he did sojourn in the land of the promise as a strange country, in tabernacles having dwelt with Isaac and Jacob, fellow-heirs of the same promise,
for sojourners we `are' before Thee, and settlers, like all our fathers; as a shadow `are' our days on the land, and there is none abiding.
and He gave him no inheritance in it, not even a footstep, and did promise to give it to him for a possession, and to his seed after him -- he having no child.
A sojourner I `am' on earth, Hide not from me Thy commands.
`And the land is not sold -- to extinction, for the land `is' Mine, for sojourners and settlers `are' ye with Me;
in the cave which `is' in the field of Machpelah, which `is' on the front of Mamre, in the land of Canaan, which Abraham bought with the field from Ephron the Hittite for a possession of a burying-place;
by the sweat of thy face thou dost eat bread till thy return unto the ground, for out of it hast thou been taken, for dust thou `art', and unto dust thou turnest back.'
In faith died all these, not having received the promises, but from afar having seen them, and having been persuaded, and having saluted `them', and having confessed that strangers and sojourners they are upon the earth, for those saying such things make manifest that they seek a country; and if, indeed, they had been mindful of that from which they came forth, they might have had an opportunity to return, but now they long for a better, that is, an heavenly, wherefore God is not ashamed of them, to be called their God, for He did prepare for them a city.
Also of that which is high they are afraid, And of the low places in the way, And the almond-tree is despised, And the grasshopper is become a burden, And want is increased, For man is going unto his home age-during, And the mourners have gone round through the street.
If a man doth beget a hundred, and live many years, and is great, because they are the days of his years, and his soul is not satisfied from the goodness, and also he hath not had a grave, I have said, `Better than he `is' the untimely birth.'
For I have known To death Thou dost bring me back, And `to' the house appointed for all living.
and his sons bear him away to the land of Canaan, and bury him in the cave of the field of Machpelah, which Abraham bought with the field for a possession of a burying-place, from Ephron the Hittite, on the front of Mamre.
And Jacob saith unto Pharaoh, `The days of the years of my sojournings `are' an hundred and thirty years; few and evil have been the days of the years of my life, and they have not reached the days of the years of the life of my fathers, in the days of their sojournings.'
Worthy.Bible » Commentaries » Matthew Henry Commentary » Commentary on Genesis 23
Commentary on Genesis 23 Matthew Henry Commentary
Chapter 23
Here is,
Gen 23:1-2
We have here,
Gen 23:3-15
Here is,
Gen 23:16-20
We have here the conclusion of the treaty between Abraham and Ephron about the burying-place. The bargain was publicly made before all the neighbours, in the presence and audience of the sons of Heth, v. 16, 17. Note, Prudence, as well as justice, directs us to be fair, and open, and above-board, in our dealings. Fraudulent contracts hate the light, and choose to be clandestine; but those that design honestly in their bargains care not who are witnesses to them. Our law countenances sales made in market-overt, and by deed enrolled. Observe,