Genesis 23:1-6 King James Version (KJV)

23 And Sarah was an hundred and seven and twenty years old: these were the years of the life of Sarah.

² And Sarah died in Kirjatharba; the same is Hebron in the land of Canaan: and Abraham came to mourn for Sarah, and to weep for her.

³ And Abraham stood up from before his dead, and spake unto the sons of Heth, saying,

⁴ I am a stranger and a sojourner with you: give me a possession of a buryingplace with you, that I may bury my dead out of my sight.

⁵ And the children of Heth answered Abraham, saying unto him,

⁶ Hear us, my lord: thou art a mighty prince among us: in the choice of our sepulchres bury thy dead; none of us shall withhold from thee his sepulchre, but that thou mayest bury thy dead.

Genesis 23:1-6 The Message (MSG)

23 ^1-2 Sarah lived 127 years. Sarah died in Kiriath Arba, present-day Hebron, in the land of Canaan. Abraham mourned for Sarah and wept.

^3-4 Then Abraham got up from mourning his dead wife and spoke to the Hittites: “I know I’m only an outsider here among you, but sell me a burial plot so that I can bury my dead decently.”

^5-6 The Hittites responded, “Why, you’re no mere outsider here with us, you’re a prince of God! Bury your dead wife in the best of our burial sites. None of us will refuse you a place for burial.”

The Message (MSG) Copyright © 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996, 2000, 2001, 2002 by Eugene H. Peterson

These are my thoughts, please share yours.

1-2 Sarah lived a long life was able to see the child that she had in her old age grow to an adult. Abraham was saddened by his wife’s death as you would thing. This broke his heart all they had been thru, she was now gone and he was without her. To be grieved when a love one dies is normally and is not at all sinful even “Jesus wept” at the passing of a loved one.

3-4 Abraham at this time owned no land to bury her on, so he was going to buy land so he could bury her, this would be the only land Abraham would own in the Promised Land. Abraham was doing the honorable thing.

5-6 The people of the land had a respect for him, we as Christians are outsiders but we can gain respect from those of this world but how we serve the Lord is more important than their respect, the world may hate us because we serve Him though. They knew that God who Abraham served is mighty, even thought they did not serve Him themselves. People come to God often by how we who follow Him act.