Genesis 23:2-3 NIV

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

Matthew Henry

Matthew Henry's Complete Commentary - Genesis 23:3-15

Here is, I. The humble request which Abraham made to his neighbours, the Hittites, for a burying-place among them, Gen. 23:3, 4. It was strange he had this to do now; but we are to impute it rather to God's providence than to his improvidence, as appears Acts 7:5; where it is said, God gave him no inheritance in Canaan. It were well if all those who take care to provide burying-places for their bodies after death were as careful to provide a resting-place for their souls. Observe here, 1. The... 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

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Genesis 23:3

And Abraham stood up from before his dead ,.... The corpse of Sarah, by which he sat pensive and mourning, perhaps upon the ground, as was the custom of mourners, Job 1:13 ; where having sat awhile, he rose up and went out of the tent, to provide for the funeral of his wife as became him: and spake unto the sons of Heth ; the descendants of Heth the son of Canaan, see Genesis 10:15 ; who were at this time the inhabitants and proprietors of that part of the land where Abraham now was:... 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

Adam Clarke

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible - Genesis 23:3

Abraham stood up from before his dead - He had probably sat on the ground some days in token of sorrow, as the custom then was, (see Tobit 2:12, 13; Isaiah 47:1 ; and Genesis 37:35 ;); and when this time was finished he arose and began to treat about a burying place. 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

John Calvin

John Calvin's Commentary on the Bible - Genesis 23:3

Verse 3 3.And spake unto the sons of Heth. Moses is silent respecting the rite used by Abraham in the burial of the body of his wife: but he proceeds, at great length, to recite the purchasing of the sepulcher. For what reason he did this, we shall see presently, when I shall briefly allude to the custom of burial. How religiously this has been observed in all ages, and among all people, is well known. Ceremonies have indeed been different, and men have endeavored to outdo each other in various... 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