Thomas Coke Commentary on the Holy Bible - Genesis 23:4
Genesis 23:4. I am a stranger, &c.— There is something affecting in the venerable patriarch's declaration and request: a stranger in the land of promise, and inheriting no part of it, he requests the possession of a burying-place only for his beloved wife, himself, and family. The Orientals, as Le Clerc observes, seem to have had the same notion about burying-places, which afterwards prevailed among the Greeks and Romans, namely, that it was ignominious to be buried in another's ground; and... read more
Coffman Commentaries on the Bible - Genesis 23:3-6
"And Abraham rose up from before his dead, and spake unto the children of Heth, saying, I am a stranger and a sojourner with you: give me a possession of a burying-place with you, that I may bury my dead out of my sight. And the children of Heth answered Abraham, saying unto him, Hear us, my lord; thou art a prince of God among us: in the choice of our sepulchres bury thy dead; and none of us shall withhold from thee his sepulchre, but that thou mayest bury thy dead.""Spake unto the children of... read more