The book which Jews and Christians hold sacred, the Old Testament of the Holy Scriptures, is essentially a history of a people and a land. The land is first promised by God to Abram, later renamed Abraham.
Genesis 14:14-18 Genesis 14:14-18
And the Lord said to Abram, after Lot had separated from him: "Lift your eyes now and look from the place where you are--northward, southward, eastward, and westward; for all the land which you see I give you and your descendants forever. And I will make your descendants as the dust of the earth; so that if a man could number the dust of the earth, then your descendants also could be numbered. Arise, walk in the land through its length and its width, for I give it to you." Then Abram moved his tent, and went and dwelt by the terebinth trees of Mamre, which are in Hebron, and built an altar there to the LORD. recounts the LORD's promise to Abram to "walk in the land through its length and its width, for I give it to you."
In Genesis 15:7-21, Genesis 15:7-21
Then He said to [Abram], "I am the LORD, who brought you out of Ur of the Chaldeans, to give you this land to inherit it." And he said, "LORD GOD, how shall I know that I will inherit it?" So He said to him, "Bring Me a three-year-old heifer, a three-year-old female goat, a three-year-old ram, a turtledove, and a young pigeon." Then he brought all these to Him and cut them in two, down the middle, and placed each piece opposite the other, but he did not cut the birds in two. And when the vultures came down on the carcasses, Abram drove them away. Now when the sun was going down, a deep sleep fell upon Abram; and behold, horror and great darkness fell upon him. Then He said to Abram: "Know certainly that your descendants will be strangers in a land that is not theirs, and will serve them, and they will afflict them four hundred years. And also the nation whom they serve I will judge; afterward they shall come out with great possessions. Now as for you, you shall go to your fathers in peace; you shall be buried at a good old age. But in the fourth generation they shall return here, for the iniquity of the Amorites is not yet complete." And it came to pass, when the sun went down and it was dark, that behold, there was a smoking oven and a burning torch that passed between those pieces. On the same day the LORD made a covenant with Abram, saying: "To your descendants I have given this land, from the river of Egypt to the great river, the River Euphrates--the Kenites, the Kenezzites, and the Kadmonites; the Hittites, the Perizzites, and the Rephaim; the Amorites, the Canaanites, the Girgashites, and the Jebusites."
Abram goes through an odd ritualistic killing of some animals and birds, and then is told the extent of the land which he will inherit- "from the river of Egypt to the great river, the River Euphrates."
In Genesis 17:4-9 Genesis 17:4-9
"As for Me, behold, My covenant is with you, and you shall be a father of many nations. No longer shall your name be called Abram, but your name shall be Abraham; for I have made you a father of many nations. I will make you exceedingly fruitful; and I will make nations of you; and kings shall come from you. And I will establish My covenant between Me and you and your descendants after you in their generations, for an everlasting covenant, to be God to you and your descendants after you. Also I give to you and your descendants after you the land in which you are a stranger, all the land of Canaan, as an everlasting possession; and I will be their GOD ."
, Abram's name is changed to Abraham, and he is told by God that his descendants will inherit the land of Canaan "as an everlasting possession." Why am I recounting this? Because there's a point to the narrative. The land is being promised to Abraham and his descendants. Even if you dispute it, you have to recognize that's what it says. But Abraham had a LOT of descendants. Who gets the land?
The promise of the land is not verified by the words of the patriarchs alone, however, but also by purchase. Genesis 23 Genesis 23
Sarah lived one hundred and twenty-seven years; these were the years of the life of Sarah. So Sarah died in Kirjath Arba (that is, Hebron) in the land of Canaan, and Abraham came to mourn for Sarah and to weep for her. Then Abraham stood up from before his dead, and spoke to the sons of Heth, saying, "I am a foreigner and a sojourner among you. Give me property for a burial place among you, that I may bury my dead out of my sight." And the sons of Heth answered Abraham, saying to him, "Hear us, my lord: You are a mighty prince among us; bury your dead in the choicest of our burial places. None of us will withhold from you his burial place, that you may bury your dead." Then Abraham stood up and bowed himself to the people of the land, the sons of Heth. And he spoke with them, saying, "If it is your wish that I bury my dead out of my sight, hear me, and meet with Ephron the son of Zohar for me, that he may give me the cave of Machpelah which he has, which is at the end of his field. Let him give it to me at the full price, as property for a burial place among you." Now Ephron dwelt among the sons of Heth; and Ephron the Hittite answered Abraham in the presence of the sons of Heth, all who entered at the gate of his city, saying, "No, my lord, hear me: I give you the field and the cave that is in it; I give it to you in the presence of the sons of my people. I give it to you. Bury your dead!" Then Abraham bowed himself down before the people of the land; and he spoke to Ephron in the hearing of the people of the land, saying, "If you will give it, please hear me. I will give you money for the field; take it from me and I will bury my dead there." And Ephron answered Abraham, saying to him, "My lord, listen to me; the land is worth four hundred shekels of silver. What is that between you and me? So bury your dead." And Abraham listened to Ephron; and Abraham weighed out the silver for Ephron which he had named in the hearing of the sons of Heth, four hundred shekels of silver, currency of the merchants. So the field of Ephron which was in Machpelah, which was before Mamre, the field and the cave which was in it, and all the trees that were in the field, which were within all the surrounding borders, were deeded to Abraham as a possession in the presence of the sons of Heth, before all who went in at the gate of his city. And after this, Abraham buried Sarah his wife in the cave of the field of Machpelah, before Mamre (that is, Hebron) in the land of Canaan. So the field and the cave that is in it were deeded to Abraham by the sons of Heth as property for a burial place.
describes Abraham's purchase of the cave of Machpelah from the sons of Heth, for the purpose of burying his wife, Sarah. But it reads as though it is intended as a witness to a legal transaction. The ownership of the land is to remain undisputed in future years, and this long and elaborate 23rd chapter seems to be written for this purpose.
Eventually, others are buried with Sarah in the cave of the field of Machpelah. In Genesis 49:29-33Genesis 49:29-33
Then [Jacob, renamed Israel] charged [his twelve sons] and said to them: I am to be gathered to my people; bury me with my fathers in the cave that is in the field of Ephron the Hittite, in the cave that is in the field of Machpelah, which is before Mamre in the land of Canaan, which Abraham bought with the field of Ephron the Hittite as a possession for a burial place. There they buried Abraham and Sarah his wife, there they buried Isaac and Rebekah his wife, and there I buried Leah. The field and the cave that is there were purchased from the sons of Heth." And when Jacob had finished commanding his sons, he drew his feet up into the bed and breathed his last, and was gathered to his people.
, we are told that the people buried in the cave of Machpelah are Abraham and Sarah, Isaac and Rebekah, and Jacob (Israel) and his wife, Leah (and not, significantly, Rachel).
This next point is somewhat esoteric, but I don't think it's impossible or incomprehensible. The Hebrew initials of the people buried in the cave are: Y (Yod, as in Yitzhak, the Hebrew for Isaac), S (Siyn, as in Sarah),R (Resh, as in Rebekah), A (Aleph, a silent letter with a vowel, beginning the name Avraham), and L (Lamed, as in Leah). These five Hebrew consonants spell out the name Yisroel, or Israel, which is Jacob, who is also buried there, as well as the name of the people and the land. (Hebrew words are recognized by their consonants. Vowels are not included in Hebrew writing, as they are understood.) The cave in the field has been purchased, and the people buried there signify the attachment of their descendants to the land, as the LORD promised Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. So, unless you think it's purely a coincidence, even though Rachel, Jacob's beloved, is buried elsewhere, then you must see that the most important point being driven home in the stories of the lives of the 3 patriarchs is their attachment to the land.