01.09.2015 Old Testament: Gen 23.17–20

To read the Bible in a year, read Genesis 23–24 on January 9, In the year of our Lord 2015

By Don Ruhl

The Lord promised Abraham that his descendants would inherit the Land of Canaan, but that would happen four hundred years later. Genesis 23 does show that Abraham managed to own a small piece of Canaan. When Sarah died, he needed a place to bury her, and he found the perfect location and bought it,

So the field of Ephron which was in Machpelah, which was before Mamre, the field and the cave which was in it, and all the trees that were in the field, which were within all the surrounding borders, were deeded to Abraham as a possession in the presence of the sons of Heth, before all who went in at the gate of his city. And after this, Abraham buried Sarah his wife in the cave of the field of Machpelah, before Mamre (that is, Hebron) in the land of Canaan. So the field and the cave that is in it were deeded to Abraham by the sons of Heth as property for a burial place (Genesis 23.17–20). 

Little did those people know that in four centuries their descendants would become exceedingly evil and the Lord would need to remove them from the land, and He would do it by the descendants of Abraham.

In that way, the descendants of Abraham would gain the land, and eventually deliver to the world the Savior of the world.