Genesis 23
SIBGenesis 23:3-20
Abraham wanted to purchase a burying-place in Canaan, and to have the claims thereto ascertained, that he, and his nearest relations, might have their dust laid there apart from the Heathen natives; and might have it as a pledge and earnest to confirm their faith in God’s promise of their possession of the whole country in his due time; ch. xxv. 9. xlvii. 20, 30. xlix. 31, and l. 13, 24, 25
REFLECTIONS UPON CHAP. XXIII.—Ponder, my soul, how the clouds of trouble return after the rain; how death parts the nearest and most affectionate relatives! The marriage-state is but the forerunner of death and sorrow—it is but a porch of entrance into eternity! Tears and grief are the tribute which we owe to our departed friends. But if they and we be Christ’s, let us not mourn as those that have no hope. Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord—they are not lost, but gone before us. How death changes the comely countenance, and makes the dearest body loathsome! Let the death of others always remind me of my own; and let me live as a stranger and sojourner in this world. Let me so behave as to make my friendship valued and sought for by all around me. Never let Hittites, or other Heathens, outstrip me in humanity or kindness; but let good manners, civility, modesty, and the strictest regard to equity, adorn my profession, and mingle themselves with all my behaviour. Let me carefully avoid being a burden to my neighbours, or being too much indebted for favours to carnal men; and, though I be heir of the world through the righteousness of faith, let me be content with little of it now, and rejoice that the Canaan above, where neither death, nor famine, nor war, even enter, is my inheritance. If my flesh rest in hope, it is enough if I am allowed a grave on earth. 3