38.] Abraham's burying-place in canaan. VJ1
approach of the Chaldean army, determined to sell his estate ; and offered it to Jeremiah first, because the right of redemp- tion belonged to him. By God's command Jeremiah bought the inheritance ; and had the transfer signed and scaled in a public manner; and buried the writings in an earthen vessel; that, being preserved to the expiration of the Babylonish cap- tivity, they might be an evidence of his title to the estate. This was done, not that the prophet, or his heirs, might be enriched by the purchase, but that his conviction of the truth of his own prophecies might be made manifest11.]
3. That he might perpetuate among his posterity the expectation of the promised land —
[It was to be four hundred years before his seed were to possess the land of Canaan. In that length of time it was probable that the promise itself would be forgotten ; and more especially during their Egyptian bondage. But their having a burying-place in Canaan, where their bones were to be laid with the bones of their father Abraham, was the most likely means of keeping alive in every succeeding generation the hope of ultimately possessing the whole land. Accordingly we find, it did produce this very effect : for as Abraham and Sarah were buried in that cave, so Isaac and Rebekah were, and Jacob and Leah, notwithstanding Jacob died in Egypt0. And Joseph also, though buried in Egypt, gave commandment, that when the Israelites should depart out of Egypt to possess the land of Canaan, they should carry up his bones with them, and bury them in the sepulchre of his progenitors p.]
Address —
1. Let us seek an union that shall never be dis- solved—
[All earthly connexions must sooner or later be dissolved: and when once they are broken by death, they are terminated for ever. But an union formed with the Lord Jesus Christ shall never cease. If we are grafted into him as the living vine, we shall never be broken off: if we are made living members of his body, he will suffer nothing to separate us from him. Death, so far from destroying that union, shall confirm it, and bring us into a more intimate enjoyment of it. Let us then seek that union which is effected by faith in the Lord Jesus. If we consider only the present happiness arising from it, it infinitely transcends all other : but if we regard its continuance, the longest and dearest connexions upon earth are not worthy a thought in comparison of it.]
n Jer. xxxii. 6 — 16, 42—44.
0 Gen. xxv. 9, 10. and xlv. 29, 30. andxlix. 30—32. and 1. 13.
p Gen. 1. 24, 25. with Heb. xi. 22.