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We noted last time that it appears that Abraham has paid an inflated price for a property he is going to use as a burial ground. The process followed was they offered the object as a gift not expecting the offer to be accepted then they asked for a price that they said its modest when it was actually exorbitant. Then as today in the middle east, everyone understood that this was the starting point for the bargaining process to begin. So, what's going on here they're haggling over the price and Abraham is saying I want to pay you the full price now. Abraham then weighted out the 400 shekels of silver.

Verse  17 and 18 tell us in essence that they made a contract it says.

“So, Ephron’s field in Machpelah near Mamre—both the field and the cave in it, and all the trees within the borders of the field—was deeded to Abraham as his property in the presence of all the Hittites who had come to the gate of the city”. 

(Genesis 23: 17-18)

He buys the field, the plot for the property and the cave as well as the trees which are deeded to him. The word deeded in verse 17 means this is a legal contract. Today we still get a deed to a property. Mamre is where Abraham lived so he wanted this particular piece of property because it was right beside the cave that would be the cemetery of Sarah so to speak  So why does the text of Genesis give us so many verses explaining the purchase of a piece of property to bury his wife. The answer is this is no ordinary transaction this is an act of faith. God promised the land to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. We haven't yet gotten to Isaac and Jacob in the narrative, but he promised it to the Patriarchs and by burying Sarah their and by planning to bury other subsequent family members Abraham is in essence saying and I believe the promise of God. That is what's going on in this passage of scripture. Abraham said earlier in this passage said, “I'm just a Pilgrim I'm a foreigner I'm a visitor but God promised me this land and I'm staying here and burying my wife here because I believe the promise of God. Hebrews 11 confirms this for us

By faith Abraham, when called to go to a place he would later receive as his inheritance, obeyed and went, even though he did not know where he was going. By faith he made his home in the promised land like a stranger in a foreign country.

(Hebrews 11: 8-9a)

Because Abraham believes that God he buried his wife in the Cave of Machpelah in the land of what would become Israel. I believe if you go to Israel today you will discover The Cave of Machpelah is still there, and if you kept reading the Bible you will find out that Abraham is buried there, Rebecca is buried there, Leah is buried there and Joseph is buried there.

As I said there were three things he did when his wife died. The first thing is he wept and mourned. The second thing is he purchased a piece of property. The third thing is he buried Sarah his wife in The Cave of the field of Machpelah. Alright we're done, the funeral is over she died, and he mourned and buried her  This is where the story would normally end but it's not the end of this story  We should look at verse 19/20 

“Afterward Abraham buried his wife Sarah in the cave in the field of Machpelah near Mamre (which is at Hebron) in the land of Canaan. So, the field and the cave in it were deeded to Abraham by the Hittites as a burial site.

(Genesis 23: 19-20)

The field and the cave were deeded to Abraham. This story ultimately is not about the death of Sarah it's about the deed of the land being given to Abraham The point of the story has to do with the fact that God promised the land of Palestine to Abraham, and he believed God. This is the spiritual point of this story granted he buried Sarah, but the point is not that he buried her, the last line, (v20) so to speak, is when he gets the deed to the property. For the first time Abraham now owns a piece of property in the land 

Interesting stuff it's very important that you notice that the last thing that said is here is that he gets the deed to the land.

If you want to destroy a good joke, give the punchline before you get to the end of the joke. That principle is often true in Bible stories as well. If I had time, I could demonstrate that, but very often in the Bible the point of the  the story is at the end of the story and if you don't go all the way through to the end you don't quite get the point the author was trying to make. So, you got to go all the way through to verse 20 and if you do that the point becomes Abraham got the plot of the land. This is about Abraham believing gods promise and God delivering on that promise. That’s it for today, tomorrow I’ll try and summarise this chapter and make some suggestions as to what we can learn from it and apply in our own lives.