the Week of Christ the King / Proper 29 / Ordinary 34
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Genesis 23:1
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Sarah lived 127 years; these were the years of the life of Sarah.
And the life of Sarah was a hundred and seven and twenty years.
Sarah lived to be one hundred twenty-seven years old.
Sarah lived 127 years.
And Sarah was a hundred and twenty-seven years old: [these were] the years of the life of Sarah.
Sarah lived one hundred twenty-seven years. These were the years of Sarah's life.
Sarah lived a hundred and twenty-seven years; this was the length of the life of Sarah.
Forsothe Sare lyuede an hundrid and seuene and twenti yeer,
And the life of Sarah is a hundred and twenty and seven years -- years of the life of Sarah;
Now Sarah lived to be 127 years old.
When Sarah was one hundred twenty-seven years old, she died in Kiriath-Arba, better known as Hebron, in the land of Canaan. After Abraham had mourned for her,
Sarah lived to be 127 years old; these were the years of Sarah's life.
And the life of Sarah was a hundred and seven and twenty years: these were the years of the life of Sarah.
Now the years of Sarah's life were a hundred and twenty-seven.
Sara was an hudreth and seuen and twentie yere olde (so long liued she.)
And the life of Sarah was a hundred and twenty-seven years: [these were] the years of the life of Sarah.
And the life of Sarah was a hundred and seven and twenty years; these were the years of the life of Sarah.
And Sarah was an hundred and seuen and twenty yeeres olde: these were the yeeres of the life of Sarah.
And Sarah was an hundred and seven and twenty years old: these were the years of the life of Sarah.
Sarah lived 127 years. These were the years of Sarah's life.
Sarah lived one hundred twenty-seven years; this was the length of Sarah's life.
And the life of Sarah came to be, a hundred and twenty-seven years, - the years of the life of Sarah.
When Sarah was an hundreth twentie and seuen yeere olde ( so long liued she).
AND Sarah was a hundred and twenty-seven years old; these were the years of the life of Sarah.
Sarah lived to be 127 years old.
And Sara lived a hundred and twenty-seven years.
Sarah lived a hundred and twenty-seven years; these were the years of the life of Sarah.
And the life of Sarrha was an hundred and twenty-seven years.
And the life of Sarah was an hundred and seven and twenty years: these were the years of the life of Sarah.
Now Sarah lived 127 years; these were all the years of her life.
Sarah lived one hundred twenty-seven years. These were the years of Sarah's life.
And Sarah lived one hundred and twenty-seven years; these were the years of the life of Sarah.
And the life of Sarah was a hundred and twenty seven years, the years of the life of Sarah.
Sara was an hundreth and seue and twentye yeare olde: so longe lyued she,
Sarah lived 127 years. Sarah died in Kiriath Arba, present-day Hebron, in the land of Canaan. Abraham mourned for Sarah and wept.
Now Sarah lived 127 years; these were the years of the life of Sarah.
Sarah lived one hundred and twenty-seven years; these were the years of the life of Sarah.
When Sarah was 127 years old,
Now Sarah lived one hundred and twenty-seven years; these were the years of the life of Sarah.
And Sarah lived 127 years; these were the years of the life of Sarah.
Contextual Overview
Bible Verse Review
from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge
am 2144, bc 1860
Sarah: It is worthy of remark, that Sarah is the only woman whose age, death, and burial are distinctly noted in the Sacred writings.
an: Genesis 17:17
Reciprocal: Genesis 25:1 - General
Cross-References
Abraham bowed his face to the ground to show he respected God. But he laughed and said to himself, "I am 100 years old. I cannot have a son, and Sarah is 90 years old. She cannot have a child."
Gill's Notes on the Bible
And Sarah was an hundred and seven and twenty years old,.... This following immediately upon the account of the offering up of Isaac, led many of the Jewish writers to conclude, that Isaac was when thirty seven years of age, as he must be when Sarah his mother was one hundred and twenty seven, for he was born when she was ninety years of age; but this seems not to be observed on that account, but to give the sum of her age at her death, since it follows:
[these were] the years of the life of Sarah; who, as it is remarked by many interpreters, is the only woman the years of whose life are reckoned up in Scripture.
Barnes' Notes on the Bible
- The Death of Sarah
2. ארבע קרית qı̂ryat-'arba‛, “Qirjath-arba‘, city of Arba.” ארבע 'arba‛, “Arba‘, four.”
8. עפרון ‛eprôn, “‘Ephron, of the dust, or resembling a calf.” צחר tshochar, “Tsochar, whiteness.”
9. מכפלה makpêlâh, “Makpelah, doubled.”
The death and burial of Sarah are here recorded. This occasions the purchase of the field of Makpelah, in the cave of which is her sepulchre.
Genesis 23:1-2
Sarah is the only woman whose age is recorded in Scripture. She meets with this distinction as the wife of Abraham and the mother of the promised seed. “A hundred and twenty and seven years,” and therefore thirty-seven years after the birth of her son. “In Kiriatharba.” Arba is called the father of Anak Joshua 15:13; Joshua 21:11; that is, of the Anakim or Bene Anak, a tall or gigantic tribe Numbers 13:22; Numbers 28:0; Numbers 33:0, who were subsequently dispossessed by Kaleb. The Anakim were probably Hittites. Abraham had been absent from Hebron, which is also called Mamre in this very chapter Genesis 23:17, Genesis 23:19, not far from forty years, though he appears to have still kept up a connection with it, and had at present a residence in it. During this interval the sway of Arba may have commenced. “In the land of Kenaan,” in contradistinction to Beer-sheba in the land of the Philistines, where we last left Abraham. “Abraham went to mourn for Sarah,” either from Beer-sheba or some out-field where he had cattle pasturing.
Genesis 23:3-16
Abraham purchases a burying-ground in the land. “The sons of Heth.” These are the lords of the soil. “A stranger and a sojourner.” He is a stranger, not a Hittite; a sojourner, a dweller in the land, not a mere visitor or traveller. The former explains why he has no burial-ground; the latter, why he asks to purchase one. “Bury my dead out of my sight.” The bodies of those most dear to us decay, and must be removed from our sight. Abraham makes his request in the most general terms. In the somewhat exaggerated style of Eastern courtesy, the sons of Heth reply, “Hear us, my lord.” One speaks for all; hence, the change of number. “My lord” is simply equivalent to our “Sir,” or the German “mein Herr.” “A prince of God” in those times of simple faith was a chief notably favored of God, as Abraham had been in his call, his deliverance in Egypt, his victory over the kings, his intercession for the cities of the vale, and his protection the court of Abimelek. Some of these events were well known to the Hittites, as they had occurred while he was residing among them.
Genesis 23:7-9
Abraham now makes a specific offer to purchase the field of Makpelah from Ephron the son of Zohar. “Treat for me” - deal, use your influence with him. Abraham approaches in the most cautious manner to the individual with whom he wishes to treat. “The cave of Makpelah.” The burial of the dead in caves, natural and artificial, was customary in this Eastern land. The field seems to have been called Makpelah (doubled) from the double form of the cave, or the two caves perhaps communicating with each other, which it contained. “For the full silver.” Silver seems to have been the current medium of commerce at this time. God was known, and mentioned at an earlier period Genesis 2:11; Genesis 13:2. “A possession of a burying-ground.” We learn from this passage that property in land had been established at this time. Much of the country, however, must have been a common, or unappropriated pasture ground.
Genesis 23:10-16
The transaction now comes to be between Abraham and Ephron. “Was sitting.” The sons of Heth were seated in council, and Ephron among them. Abraham seems to have been seated also; for he stood up to make his obeisance and request Genesis 23:7. “Before all that went in at the gate of his city.” The conference was public. The place of session for judicial and other public business was the gate of the city, which was common ground, and where men were constantly going in and out. “His city.” This implies not that he was the king or chief, but simply that he was a respectable citizen. If Hebron was the city of the Hittites here intended, its chief at the time seems to have been Arba. “The field give I thee.” Literally, have I given thee - what was resolved upon was regarded as done. “In the sight of the sons of my people.” This was a public declaration or deed before many witnesses.
He offers the field as a gift, with the Eastern understanding that the receiver would make an ample recompense. This mode of dealing had its origin in a genuine good-will, that was prepared to gratify the wish of another as soon as it was made known, and as far as it was reasonable or practicable. The feeling seems to have been still somewhat fresh and unaffected in the time of Abraham, though it has degenerated into a mere form of courtesy. “If thou wilt, hear me.” The language is abrupt, being spoken in the haste of excitement. “I give silver.” “I have given” in the original; that is, I have determined to pay the full price. If the Eastern giver was liberal, the receiver was penetrated with an equal sense of the obligation conferred, and a like determination to make an equivalent return. “The land is four hundred shekels.” This is the familiar style for “the land is worth so much.” The shekel is here mentioned for the first time. It was originally a weight, not a coin. The weight at least was in common use before Abraham. If the shekel be nine pennyweights and three grains, the price of the field was about forty-five pounds sterling. “And Abraham weighed.” It appears that the money was uncoined silver, as it was weighed. “Current with the merchant.” The Kenaanites, of whom the Hittites were a tribe, were among the earliest traders in the world. The merchant, as the original imports, is the traveller who brings the wares to the purchasers in their own dwellings or towns. To him a fixed weight and measure were necessary.
Genesis 23:17-20
The completion of the sale is stated with great formality. No mention is made of any written deed of sale. Yet Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob remained in undisturbed possession of this burial-ground. Undisputed tenure seems to have been acknowledged as a title. The burial of Sarah is then simply noted. The validity of Abraham’s title is practically evinced by the actual burial of Sarah, and is recited again on account of the importance of the fact.
This chapter is interesting as containing the first record of mourning for the dead, of burial, of property in land, of purchase of land, of silver as a medium of purchase, and of a standard of weight. Mourning for the dead was, no doubt, natural on the first death. Burial was a matter of necessity, in order, as Abraham says, to remove the body out of sight, as soon as it was learned by experience that it would be devoured by beasts of prey, or become offensive by putrefaction. To bury or cover it with earth was a more easy and natural process than burning, and was therefore earlier and more general. Property in land was introduced where tribes became settled, formed towns, and began to practise tillage. Barter was the early mode of accommodating each party with the articles he needed or valued. This led gradually to the use of the precious metals as a “current” medium of exchange - first by weight, and then by coins of a fixed weight and known stamp.
The burial of Sarah is noted because she was the wife of Abraham and the mother of the promised seed. The purchase of the field is worthy of note, as it is the first property of the chosen race in the promised land. Hence, these two events are interwoven with the sacred narrative of the ways of God with man.
Clarke's Notes on the Bible
CHAPTER XXIII
The age and death of Sarah, 1, 2.
Abraham mourns for her, and requests a burial-place from the
sons of Heth, 24.
They freely offer him the choice of all their sepulchres, 5, 6.
Abraham refuses to receive any as a free gift, and requests
to buy the cave of Machpelah from Ephron, 7-9.
Ephron proffers the cave and the field in which it was situated
as a free gift unto Abraham, 10, 11.
Abraham insists on giving its value in money, 12, 13.
Ephron at last consents, and names the sum of four hundred
shekels, 14, 15.
Abraham weighs him the money in the presence of the people;
in consequence of which the cave, the whole field, trees, c.,
are made sure to him and his family for a possession, 16-18.
The transaction being completed, Sarah is buried in the cave, 19.
The sons of Heth ratify the bargain, 20.
NOTES ON CHAP. XXIII
Verse Genesis 23:1. And Sarah was a hundred and seven and twenty years old — It is worthy of remark that Sarah is the only woman in the sacred writings whose age, death, and burial are distinctly noted. And she has been deemed worthy of higher honour, for St. Paul, Galatians 4:22-23, makes her a type of the Church of Christ and her faith in the accomplishment of God's promise, that she should have a son, when all natural probabilities were against it, is particularly celebrated in the Epistle to the Hebrews, Hebrews 11:11. Sarah was about ninety-one years old when Isaac was born, and she lived thirty-six years after, and saw him grown up to man's estate. With SARAH the promise of the incarnation of Christ commenced, though a comparatively obscure prophecy of it had been delivered to Eve, Genesis 3:15; and with MARY it terminated, having had its exact completion. Thus God put more honour upon these two women than upon all the daughters of Eve besides. Sarah's conception of Isaac was supernatural; she had passed the age and circumstances in which it was possible, naturally speaking, to have a child; therefore she laughed when the promise was given, knowing that the thing was impossible, because it had ceased to be with her after the manner of women. God allows this natural impossibility, and grants that the thing must be the effect of Divine interposition; and therefore asks, Is any thing too hard for God? The physical impossibility was in creased in the case of Mary, she having no connection with man; but the same power interposed as in the case of Sarah: and we find that when all aptitude for natural procreation was gone, Sarah received strength to conceive seed, and bore a son, from whom, in a direct line, the Messiah, the Saviour of the world, was to descend; and through this same power we find a virgin conceiving and bearing a son against all natural impossibilities. Every thing is supernatural in the births both of the type and antitype; can it be wondered at then, if the spiritual offspring of the Messiah must have a supernatural birth likewise? hence the propriety of that saying, Unless a man be born again-born from above-born, not only of water, but of the Holy Ghost, he cannot see the kingdom of God. These may appear hard sayings, and those who are little in the habit of considering spiritual things may exclaim, It is enthusiasm! Who can bear it? Such things cannot possibly be." To such persons I have only to say, God hath spoken. This is sufficient for those who credit his being and his Bible; nor is there any thing too hard for him. He, by whose almighty power, Sarah had strength to conceive and bear a son in her old age, and by whose miraculous interference a virgin conceived, and the man Christ Jesus was born of her, can by the same power transform the sinful soul, and cause it to bear the image of the heavenly as it has borne the image of the earthly.
