The verse stands in the account of Abraham's purchase of a cave from the sons of Heth as a burial place for his beloved Sarah. The cave bought is Machpelah near Hebron, which became the burial place of the patriarchs. Hebron is later known as Mamre and is connected with that burial site.
In making the purchase Abraham deals respectfully with the sellers and bows before them, showing courtesy and regard for what is due from one person to another. That bowing is the finest example of the power of true courtesy and of a Christian gentleman who well knows what is due from one person to another. Abraham has to buy ground to bury Sarah because he owns none of Canaan, though God has promised him the whole land and told him to walk through its length and breadth, having not a foot of it in possession and not so much as a piece of land for his dead. The purchase proves he is only a pilgrim and stranger in this world, who does not gain wonderful prosperity in this life in possessions, land, gold, or silver, but looks for a city whose builder and maker is God and for future immortal life on this earth purified as his home, and is satisfied with that claim.
The verse stands in the account of Abraham's purchase of a cave from the sons of Heth as a burial place for his beloved Sarah. The cave bought is Machpelah near Hebron, which became the burial place of the patriarchs. Hebron is later known as Mamre and is connected with that burial site.
In making the purchase Abraham deals respectfully with the sellers and bows before them, showing courtesy and regard for what is due from one person to another. That bowing is the finest example of the power of true courtesy and of a Christian gentleman who well knows what is due from one person to another. Abraham has to buy ground to bury Sarah because he owns none of Canaan, though God has promised him the whole land and told him to walk through its length and breadth, having not a foot of it in possession and not so much as a piece of land for his dead. The purchase proves he is only a pilgrim and stranger in this world, who does not gain wonderful prosperity in this life in possessions, land, gold, or silver, but looks for a city whose builder and maker is God and for future immortal life on this earth purified as his home, and is satisfied with that claim.