Genesis 23:2

Matthew Henry's Complete Commentary - Genesis 23:1-2

We have here, 1. Sarah's age, Gen. 23:1. Almost forty years before, she had called herself old, Gen. 18:12. Old people will die never the sooner, but may die the better, for reckoning themselves old. 2. Her death, Gen. 23:2. The longest liver must die at last. Abraham and Sarah had lived comfortably together many years; but death parts those whom nothing else could part. The special friends and favourites of Heaven are not exempted from the stroke of death. She died in the land of Canaan,... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Genesis 23:2

And Sarah died in Kirjatharba ,.... Which was so called, either, as Jarchi says, from the four Anakims or giants that dwelt here, Joshua 15:13 ; or else, as the same writer observes, from the four couple buried here, Adam and Eve, Abraham and Sarah, Isaac and Rebekah, Jacob and Leah; but then it must be so called by anticipation; rather, as Aben Ezra thinks, it had its name from Arba, a great man among the Anakims, and the father of Anak, Joshua 14:15 ; though some take it to be a... read more

Adam Clarke

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible - Genesis 23:2

Sarah died in Kirjath-arba - Literally in the city of the four. Some suppose this place was called the city of the four because it was the burial place of Adam, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob; others, because according to the opinion of the rabbins, Eve was buried there. with Sarah, Rebekah, and Leah. But it seems evidently to have had its name from a Canaanite, one of the Anakim, probably called Arba (for the text, Joshua 14:14 , does not actually say this was his name), who was the chief of... read more

John Calvin

John Calvin's Commentary on the Bible - Genesis 23:2

Verse 2 2.And Sarah died in Kirjath-arba. It appears from Joshua 15:54, that this was the more ancient name of the city, which afterwards began to be called Hebron. But there is a difference of opinion respecting the etymology. Some think the name is derived from the fact, that the city consisted of four parts; as the Greeks call the city divided into three orders, Tripoli, and a given region, Decapolis, from the ten cities it contained. Others suppose that Arba is the name of a giant, whom... read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - Genesis 23:1-20

The death and burial of Sarah. I. THE DEATH OF SARAH . 1. The mournful event . The death of— 2. The attendant circumstances . Sarah died— II. THE BURIAL OF SARAH . 1. The days of mourning . "Abraham came to mourn and to weep for Sarah." The sorrow of the patriarch was— 2. The purchase of a grave . Here may be noted— 3. The last rites of sepulture . " After this Abraham buried Sarah his wife in the cave of the field of Machpelah;"... read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - Genesis 23:2

And Sarah died in Kirjath-arba —or city of Arba, Abraham having again removed thither after an absence of nearly forty years, during which interval Murphy thinks the reign of Arba the Anakite may have commenced, though Keil postpones it to a later period (cf. Joshua 14:15 ). The same is Hebron —the Original name of the city, which was supplanted by that of Kir-jath-arba, but restored at the conquest (Keil, Hengstenberg, Murphy; vide Genesis 13:18 ) in the land of Canaan —indicating... read more

Albert Barnes

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Whole Bible - Genesis 23:1-20

- The Death of Sarah2. 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 23:1-2Sarah is the only woman whose age is recorded in Scripture. She meets with this distinction as... read more

Joseph Benson

Joseph Benson's Commentary of the Old and New Testaments - Genesis 23:2

Genesis 23:2. Sarah died in Kirjath-arba, or city of Arba So called, it seems, from Arba, a giant, who lived and ruled in those parts, Joshua 14:15; Joshua 15:13. Abraham came into Sarah’s tent to mourn for Sarah. He did not only perform the ceremonies of mourning according to the custom of those times, but did sincerely lament the great loss he had sustained, and gave proof of the constancy of his affection. Therefore these two words are used, he came both to mourn and to weep. read more

Donald C. Fleming

Bridgeway Bible Commentary - Genesis 23:1-20

Further expressions of faith (22:20-23:20)While Abraham was establishing his family in Canaan, the family of his brother Nahor in Mesopotamia was growing. The writer records this growth to introduce Rebekah, the future wife of Isaac (20-24).Back in Canaan, Abraham moved from Beersheba to Hebron, and there Sarah died (23:1-2). Though God had promised the whole of Canaan to Abraham and his descendants, Abraham still owned no land there. The death of Sarah gave him an opportunity to buy a piece of... read more

E.W. Bullinger

E.W. Bullinger's Companion Bible Notes - Genesis 23:2

Kirjath-arba. See notes on Numbers 13:22 , and App-25 . read more

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