Genesis 23 gives us a striking window into Abraham’s character. When Sarah died, he sought a burial place in the land God had promised — the land his descendants would one day inherit. The Hittites offered him the cave of Machpelah as a gift, but Abraham refused. He insisted on paying the full price: 400 shekels of silver.
That was no small sum. Four hundred shekels is about 4.4 kilograms of silver — a little over €3,000 in metal today. But in the ancient world, it represented decades of wages of an ordinary person. In modern economic terms, it easily exceeds a million euro.
Abraham wasn’t being extravagant.
He was making a declaration.
He did not want to lay hold God’s promise through favors, shortcuts, or manipulation. He secured that plot of land righteously and legally, trusting that the God who cut the covenant with him would fulfill it in his way and in his time.
When David later sought to buy the threshing floor of Araunah — the future site of the temple — Araunah offered it freely. But David refused the gift, saying:
“I will not offer burnt offerings to the LORD my God that cost me nothing.”
(2 Sam. 24:24)
Like Abraham, David wanted the foundation of God’s dwelling place to be marked by costly obedience, not convenience.
Both men understood something essential: God’s promises are received with integrity, sacrifice, and faith — never through shortcuts.
The First Foothold of Inheritance
The field in Hebron became the first tangible foothold of Israel’s inheritance in the Promised Land. Centuries later, the early Zionist pioneers acted in this same spirit, purchasing land at full — often highly inflated — prices from Arab and Ottoman landowners. Their actions were a testimony of faith in God’s ancient promise to restore his people to the land.
Abraham’s silver still speaks. God’s promises are trusted for, paid for in faith, and received in God’s time. Every redeemed square meter of land and every fulfilled covenant promise points forward to the day when Messiah will reign from Zion and all nations will proclaim: “The LORD is faithful!”
“For all the land that you see I will give to you and to your offspring forever.” (Genesis 13:15)
Not Escape, but Restoration
Many Christians see the Promised Land as a metaphor for heaven. They speak casually about “going to heaven,” as if our ultimate goal were escape from earth. But neither Jesus nor the apostles spoke this way.
The biblical hope is the physical resurrection of our bodies and the Kingdom of God coming to earth.
Heaven is not the destination.
It is only the waiting room.
We are not waiting to go up. We are waiting for him to come down — to Jerusalem, to restore Israel, and to rule the nations in righteousness. This is why Peter declared:
“Heaven must receive him until the restoration of all things.”
(Acts 3:21)
The true gospel is not a private escape plan. It is the proclamation that God’s righteous reign is coming to the world he created — renewing Israel, restoring creation, and raising the dead.
As Jesus taught us to pray:
“Your Kingdom come,
Your will be done,
on earth as it is in heaven.” (Matthew 6:10)
We long for life after the resurrection, as citizens of Messiah’s heavenly Kingdom on a restored earth — a restored people in a restored creation under a restored King.
And like Abraham and David, we choose the costly path of faith, trusting that every promise will be fulfilled when he comes.
Featured image: Sarah’s burial cave in Bet Shearim, by Deror Avi.
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