Bible Commentaries
Genesis 23

Verses 1-20

CHAPTER 23 The Death of Sarah

1. Sarah dies (Genesis 23:1-2 )

2. The grave obtained (Genesis 23:3-18 )

3. The burial of Sarah (Genesis 23:19-20 )

We call the attention to the typical meaning of the death of Sarah.

She is the type of the nation Israel and her death in this chapter signifies the death of Israel, nationally. This must be brought in connection with the previous chapter. There we learned that Isaac was upon the altar and taken from it. This is typical of the death and resurrection of the true Isaac, the Promised One, the Lord Jesus Christ. Immediately after, Sarah dies, the one from whom Isaac came. And so after the Lord Jesus Christ had died and was raised from the dead, the nation from whom He came, according to the flesh, passes off the scene. Israel, like Sarah, is buried in the midst of the children of Heth, that is the Gentiles. But Israel has the promise of restoration typified by resurrection. God has promised to open the national grave of Israel and bring them back to the land, which He has given to the seed of Abraham forever. This typical application becomes still more striking and irrefutable by what follows in the twenty-fourth chapter. Here we find the call of the bride who is to comfort Isaac, after his mother’s death.

It is interesting that Sarah is the only woman, whose age is mentioned in the Bible.