Chapter 23 is about the dead of Sarah. Abraham genuinely mourns but then he has to get up and deal with the very real problem of what to do with her body. Abraham is a sojourner, he owns no land. To just dump her anywhere will offend the people whose land he borrows. They are likely to disturb her if he buries her anywhere.
So Abraham convenes a meeting with the "sons of Heth". This is the first we hear this name. It seems to be a tribal delineation. Like Sons of Abraham, Sons of Jacob, Sons of Reuben it could be a subset of another group. Perhaps this a subset of the Hittites, a name also used in this chapter. What a Hittite is and where they lived has been a subject of great debate among those who study such things. Hittite may have described something more than a tribe or a sub-race.
Anyway ... the chapter shows Abraham speaking in a formulaic fashion. This is like a legal proceeding. Abraham speaks and invokes those listening as witnesses. Perhaps Abraham is speaking in a second language, the language of the locals, and not his own.
The offers by the locals to give him the land are probably not understood to be real offers. But who can be sure? Abraham finally offers to buy a certain piece of land from Ephron. It appears to be land that was wooded and had a cave. It may be prime land for burials but probably not much use for grazing or farming. The first offer by Ephron was probably a opening offer. He probably expected to haggle a price down. But Abraham pays the first offer. He can afford it we see and as a foreigner he wants there to be no appearance that anyone can have any objection to his wife's body lying in peace.
Those reading this originally lived in the land now, the fruit of the promise to Abraham. The place is described in great detail. Everyone knew the place. Everyone respected the place as a shrine to Abraham.
Abraham knew God's promise to give him the land. So it was important to him to make a place of burial for his family. He knew God would eventually bring the people back to the land and he wanted them to know where he and his family was buries. Abraham acted for the long term.
Do we act for God's long term vision? Or do we simply live for today with no thought for tomorrow? Do we act with a view of what God is doing? Is my citizenship in this world? Or do I look to the promised New Jerusalem when Jesus is coming back to receive his saints into glory?
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