“My lord, listen to me: a piece of land worth four hundred shekels of silver, what is that between you and me? Bury your dead.”Abraham listened to Ephron, and Abraham weighed out for Ephron the silver that he had named in the hearing of the Hittites, four hundred shekels of silver, according to the weights current among the merchants. Genesis 23:15-16 ESV
Reading the earlier verses of Genesis 23, the people were willing to give Abraham the place so he can bury his wife, but he insisted on buying the property. The people might have been offering him the land as courtesy for as one can be quoted, "you are a prince of God among us, bury her anywhere". The offer may only be out of courtesy rather than true generosity. Or Abraham might be thinking, if they offer the land for free and something happens in the future, they might want to take it back, i honestly don't know. What i do know is that Abraham was so persistent on having the land purchased for the right price.
As for personal application from this lesson, may God grants us wisdom when to receive and decline gifts. Receiving gifts is part of life. Some just wants to put a smile on our face even when there is no occasion. Some people will be used of God to give us things or something just because God told them to and because God knows what we need and we had been asking from him. There are times we are on the receiving end of gifts. Other times we will be ones God will use to give gifts to others. When being used to be a blessing, may we always say yes to God. When on the receiving end. May we have the graciousness to receive and the graciousness to decline if we really believe we have to. 8 January
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