Genesis 23
1Now Sarah lived to be 127 years old. 2She died in Kiriath-arba (that is, Hebron) in the land of Canaan, and Abraham went out to mourn and to weep for her.
3Then Abraham got up from beside his dead wife and said to the Hittites, 4“I am a foreigner and an outsider among you. Give me, all of you, a burial site among you so that I can bury my dead.”
5The Hittites replied to Abraham, 6“Listen to us, sir. You are God’s chosen one among us. Bury your dead in the finest of our tombs. None of us will withhold his tomb for burying your dead.”
7Then Abraham rose and bowed down before the people of the land, the Hittites. 8“If all of you are willing for me to bury my dead,” he said to them, “listen to me, all of you, and approach Ephron son of Zohar on my behalf 9to sell me the cave of Machpelah that belongs to him; it is at the end of his field. Let him sell it to me in your presence for full price, so that I may have a burial site.”
10Now Ephron was sitting among the sons of Heth. So in the presence of all the Hittites who had come to the gate of his city, Ephron the Hittite answered Abraham, 11“No, my lord. Listen to me. I give you the field, and I give you the cave that is in it. I give it to you in the presence of my people. Bury your dead.”
12Again Abraham bowed down before the people of the land
13and said to Ephron in their presence, “If you will please listen to me, I will pay you the price of the field. Accept it from me, so that I may bury my dead there.”
14Ephron answered Abraham, 15“Listen to me, my lord. The land is worth four hundred shekels of silver, but what is that between you and me? Bury your dead.”
16Abraham agreed to Ephron’s terms and weighed out for him the price he had named in the hearing of the Hittites: four hundred shekels of silver, according to the standard of the merchants.
17So Ephron’s field at Machpelah near Mamre, the cave that was in it, and all the trees within the boundaries of the field were deeded over 18to Abraham’s possession in the presence of all the Hittites who had come to the gate of his city. 19After this, Abraham buried his wife Sarah in the cave of the field at Machpelah near Mamre (that is, Hebron) in the land of Canaan. 20So the field and its cave were deeded by the Hittites to Abraham as a burial site.
Genesis 23:5–20 Commentary
Archaeology Confirms the Hittite Empire Was Real:
For decades, skeptical scholars dismissed this chapter with an arrogant smirk, claiming the Hittites were a mythical tribe invented by late biblical writers. Then archaeology shattered the myth: excavations at Hattusa in modern Turkey unearthed thousands of cuneiform tablets documenting a vast, powerful Hittite empire that rivaled ancient Egypt. The specific legal mechanics of Abraham’s purchase — weighing silver before civic witnesses at the city gate and inventorying the trees on the property (Genesis 23:17)—reflect genuine second-millennium Near Eastern property law. Once again, a biblical people mocked as folklore was verified as concrete historical fact.
City Gate Witnesses Provide Legal Standing:
The commercial deed for Machpelah closes formally in Genesis 23:18, “in the presence of all the Hittites who had come to the gate of his city” Establishing witnesses at the civic city gate guaranteed binding, irreversible legal ownership.
Genesis 23:1–4 Commentary
Decades In, Abraham Still Owns No Land:
Abraham calls himself a “foreigner and an outsider” (a stranger and sojourner) among the sons of Heth, and it is not false modesty talking. Two millennia later in the apostolic writings, Hebrews 11:13 captures this exact posture, explaining that the patriarchs “died in faith, without having received the things they were promised... He bought a burial plot because Canaan was not his present kingdom; he looked for the city whose builder and maker is God.
From Resident Alien to Prince of God:
In Genesis 23:4, Abraham humbly identifies himself to the local Hittites as a mere foreigner and outsider (in Hebrew, a ger). Yet in verse 6 (Genesis 23:6), these pagan neighbors immediately cut through his modesty and address him with elevated reverence, declaring: “You are God’s chosen one among us.” The underlying Hebrew phrase is nesi Elohim—literally a “prince of God,” which traditional translations often render as “a mighty prince.” Even these pagan Canaanite landowners recognized that the sovereign power and favor of the living God rested on this solitary pilgrim.
Sarah Dies in Kiriath-arba, City of the Anakim:
Verse 2 (Genesis 23:2) says Sarah died in Kiriath-arba, “that is, Hebron.” Kiriath-arba means “city of Arba,” and over six centuries later the conquest record in Joshua 14:15 tells you who Arba was: the greatest man among the Anakim. Over six centuries down the road during the wilderness wanderings, the spies in Numbers 13:22 would find Ahiman, Sheshai, and Talmai, descendants of Anak, still living right here in Hebron. So the field where Abraham buys his first piece of the Promised Land sits in a city named for a giant, in the same Anakim line you read about earlier back in Genesis 6:4. Generations after Moses, Caleb drives out the three sons of Anak from this very place and takes it as his inheritance (Joshua 14:12–15; 15:13–14). The family tomb of the patriarchs lies right in the middle of giant territory, held by faith.