Genesis 23:16
16 And Abraham hearkened unto Ephron; and Abraham weighed to Ephron the silver, which he had named in the audience of the sons of Heth, four hundred shekels of silver, current money with the merchant.
I. On Mount Moriah we find Abraham doing God's will; here we find him suffering it.
II. Look at Abraham buying a grave; the best man of his age here bargains for burial ground. Ponder well this transaction, and consider that in return for four hundred pieces of silver Abraham gets a burying-place.
III. The behaviour of the children of Heth calls for appreciative notice. They treated Abraham with generous pity and helpfulness.
IV. Man's final requirement of man is a grave. In the grave there is no repentance; the dead man cannot obliterate the past.
V. Abraham mourned for Sarah. Consecration to God's purpose does not eradicate our deep human love; say, rather, that it heightens, refines, sanctifies it.
Parker, The Pulpit Analyst,vol. ii., p. 271.
References: Genesis 23:19. J. Baines, Sermons,p. 139. Genesis 24 R. S. Candlish, Book of Genesis,vol. i., p. 401; F. W. Robertson, Notes on Genesis,p. 68; W. H. Burton, Penny Pulpit,No. 834; M. Dods, Isaac, Jacob, and Joseph,p. 23.Genesis 24:1. G. Woolnough, Christian World Pulpit,vol. xiv., p. 366. Genesis 24:12. C. J. Vaughan, Good Words,1864, p. 485