Genesis 23:1-2

"And the life of Sarah was a hundred and seven and twenty years: these were the years of the life of Sarah. And Sarah died in Kiriath-arba (the same is Hebron), in the land of Canaan: and Abraham came to mourn for Sarah, and to weep for her, And Abraham rose up from before his dead."

The first question regarding this is the matter of how long this event occurred after those of the previous chapter. Our conviction that Isaac was about 33 years old at the time would place this event about four years afterward. Leupold thought Sarah died "twenty years" after the offering of Isaac.[5] Willis placed the interval at "twenty-five years";[6] and other scholars differ from both. Our own conviction that the interval was only about four years, while not proved, is strongly supported by the statement of Josephus that, "Now Sarah died a little while after"[7] the offering of Isaac. In the absence of any other actual testimony, we consider the calculation that Isaac was 33 years of age when Abraham offered him, and that Sarah died about four years later, as safe.

The death of Sarah is the only event of a woman's death and burial to be recorded in the Bible thus far, indicating the epic importance of Sarah in the divine economy. N.T. references stress her status as "a type of the Jerusalem above which is our mother" (Galatians 4:26ff). Peter pointed Christian women to the example of Sarah, "whose children ye now are" (1 Peter 3:6). And the author of Hebrews extolled her faith along with that of the greatest of the patriarchs (Hebrews 11:11).

"Kiriath-arba (the same is Hebron) ..." The allegation that this is an anachronism is As Keil pointed out, Hebron was the original name of this city, that Kiriath-arba was later given to it by Arba the Anakite, and that after the conquest of Canaan by Joshua, the children of Israel did not re-name the city, but only restored its original name.[8] In the light of this, we should reject the suggestion that this passage has raised any problem whatever with reference to dating Genesis. The old name of Hebron was known for centuries before Moses wrote, and his explanation here that the Kiriath-arba mentioned was called Hebron was perfectly natural. Furthermore, this could well have been the reason that the Jews changed it back to the old name after they conquered Canaan.

"In the land of Canaan ..." Abraham and his company had evidently moved back to the scene of his earlier residence, following an extended period in Beersheba. At least, it is stated that "Sarah died ... in the land of Canaan." This itself is significant. Her death and burial in Canaan was "the real occupation of the land of Canaan."[9] This tied the posterity of Abraham irrevocably to the land of promise.

"Abraham came to mourn for Sarah, and to weep for her ..." This was done by loud wailing and falling upon the ground, after the customs of the times, and the statement that Abraham "came," etc., would indicate that he was not actually present for Sarah's death. He might have been concluding arrangements necessary in the move to Hebron from Beersheba, or he might merely have been in some field or pasture looking after his herds. We cannot know for certain. In either case, it is probable that Sarah's death came rather quickly.

The history of redemption is focused right here in the record of Sarah's precious life. It started with the great Protoevangelium of Genesis 3:15, where the "seed of woman" was promised who would crush the head of the serpent (Satan), a promise which by no stretch of imagination can be a reference to Jews racially. It appears again in the supernatural birth of Isaac from the womb of Sarah. And it culminates finally in the virgin birth of Jesus Christ our Lord, from the womb of Mary. We agree with Clarke who pointed out that, "God put more honor upon these two women, Sarah and Mary, than upon all the daughters of Eve besides."[10]

"And Abraham rose up from before his dead ..." This first half of Genesis 23:3 actually pertains to the death and mourning over Sarah. "Rose up" indicates that Abraham rose up from lying or sitting upon the ground, after the ancient oriental custom of mourning the dead. However, mourning could not go on forever. It never can. The tragic end of the life of a loved one never fails to be a traumatic shock to the bereaved, but the part of nobility is that of acceptance in humble submissiveness to the will of God, drying the tears, and confronting the tasks that remain. Similarly, that great successor to Abraham, David, after weeping over the death of the son of Bathsheba, called for a bowl of water, washed his face, commanded food to be set before him, and applied himself to the affairs of the kingdom. How shameful is that response to grief that permits sorrow to overcome the mourner, that renounces all duty, turns resentful against God Himself, and becomes, finally, not only more tragic than death itself but sinful as well.

"Abraham rose up ..." The burden was upon him. He was compelled to bury Sarah, but where? He might have thought of returning the body to Ur or to Haran his native land, but, no, God had given him the land of Canaan and had sworn by Himself that He would bring Abraham's posterity into full possession of it after centuries had intervened. And Abraham, the "father of the faithful," believed it. That faith lay behind his buying at once, at whatever cost, a burial plot for Sarah and others of his family who would follow him in "his own land," the Promised Land.