Genesis 23:1-25:11

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 23:1

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... read more

Adam Clarke

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible - 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 honor, for St. Paul, Galatians 4:22 , Galatians 4:23 , 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... read more

John Calvin

John Calvin's Commentary on the Bible - Genesis 23:1

Verse 1 1.And Sarah was an hundred and seven and twenty years old (450) It is remarkable that Moses, who relates the death of Sarah in a single word, uses so many in describing her burial: but we shall soon see that the latter record is not superfluous. Why he so briefly alludes to her death, I know not, except that he leaves more to be reflected upon by his readers than he expresses. The holy fathers saw that they in common with reprobates, were subject to death. Nevertheless, they were not... read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - Genesis 23:1

And Sarah was an hundred and seven and twenty years old (literally, and the lives of Sarah were an hundred and twenty and seven years ); so that Isaac must have been thirty-seven, having been born in his mother's ninetieth year. Sarah, as the wife of Abraham and the mother of believers ( Isaiah 51:2 ; 1 Peter 3:6 ), is the only woman whose age is mentioned in Scripture. These were the years of the life of Sarah —an emphatic repetition designed to impress the Israelitish mind... 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

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 23:1

Genesis 23:1. The years of the life of Sarah Of all the women that had lived, it is the peculiar honour of Sarah, the mother of the faithful, 1 Peter 3:6, to have the number of the years of her whole life recorded in Scripture. 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 23:1

Sarah. The only woman whose age is mentioned in the Bible. in Genesis 22:23 Rebekah is mentioned: one sun rising before the other sets. read more

Group of Brands