Genesis 23:18
Unto Abraham for a possession in the presence of the children of Heth, before all that went in at the gate of his city. Unto Abraham for a possession in the presence of the children of Heth, before all that went in at the gate of his city.
The transaction secured to Abraham as a legal possession the burial ground with the cave of Machpelah at Hebron, bought from the Canaanites and made sure publicly in the presence of the children of Heth and before all who entered the gate of his city. That tomb was his only holding in the promised land, even though the whole land of Canaan had been promised to him as an everlasting inheritance. He owned not a foot of it, so that when Sarah died he had no ground in which to bury her and had to purchase one. The cave thus bought became the burial place of the patriarchs.
This owning of nothing but a grave shows he was only a pilgrim and stranger in this world, looking for a city whose builder and maker is God. He was content because the prospect had been opened before him of immortal life upon this earth purified and made his true home. Full reward is therefore not to be looked for now in possessions, in land, or in gold and silver, but in the claim to the future immortal life and to an eternal weight of glory.