“Arise, walk through the land, for I will give it unto thee.”—Gen. 12:17.

“And the field of Ephron, which was in Machpelah, the field and the cave which was therein, and all the trees which were in the field, that were in all the borders round about were made sure unto Abraham for a possession.”—Gen. 23:17, 18.

“He gave him none inheritance in it, no, not so much as to set his foot on: yet he promised that he would give it to him for a possession, and to his seed after him.”—Acts 7:5.

The first of these passages is the language of promise; the last intimates that the promise was not performed to Abraham, but reserved for his posterity. It is true that he purchased a burying-ground of the sons of Heth, according to the second passage; but that could hardly be called ground to set his foot on, which expresses an idea different from that of a place to lay his bones in; and much less an inheritance of God’s giving him to set his foot on. His having to purchase even a grave was rather a proof that he was considered as a stranger than of his being a native of the soil. An inheritance given of God he had not; that only was such which his posterity enjoyed without purchase, the inhabitants of the land being driven out before them.