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class="maintable3"><tr><td><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" align="center" id="announce"><tr><td><div id="l1"><div id="breadcrumbs"><a href="http://biblehub.com">Bible</a> > <a href="http://biblehub.com/commentaries/">Commentaries</a> > Genesis 23:1</div><div id="anc"><iframe src="/anc.htm" width="100%" height="27" scrolling="no" frameborder="0"></iframe></div><div id="anc2"><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" align="center"><tr><td><iframe src="/anc2.htm" width="100%" height="27" scrolling="no" frameborder="0"></iframe></td></tr></table></div></div></td></tr></table><div id="movebox2"><table border="0" align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0"><tr><td><div id="topheading"><a href="../genesis/22-24.htm" title="Genesis 22:24">◄</a> Genesis 23:1 <a href="../genesis/23-2.htm" title="Genesis 23:2">►</a></div></td></tr></table></div><div align="center" class="maintable2"><table border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" align="center"><tr><td><div id="topverse">And Sarah was an hundred and seven and twenty years old: <i>these were</i> the years of the life of Sarah.</div><div id="jump">Jump to: <a href="/commentaries/barnes/genesis/23.htm" title="Barnes' Notes">Barnes</a> • <a href="/commentaries/benson/genesis/23.htm" title="Benson Commentary">Benson</a> • <a href="/commentaries/illustrator/genesis/23.htm" title="Biblical Illustrator">BI</a> • <a href="/commentaries/calvin/genesis/23.htm" title="Calvin's Commentaries">Calvin</a> • <a href="/commentaries/cambridge/genesis/23.htm" title="Cambridge Bible">Cambridge</a> • <a href="/commentaries/clarke/genesis/23.htm" title="Clarke's Commentary">Clarke</a> • <a href="/commentaries/darby/genesis/23.htm" title="Darby's Bible Synopsis">Darby</a> • <a href="/commentaries/ellicott/genesis/23.htm" title="Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers">Ellicott</a> • <a href="/commentaries/expositors/genesis/23.htm" title="Expositor's Bible">Expositor's</a> • <a 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href="/commentaries/king-en/genesis/23.htm" title="Kingcomments Bible Studies">King</a> • <a href="/commentaries/lange/genesis/23.htm" title="Lange Commentary">Lange</a> • <a href="/commentaries/maclaren/genesis/23.htm" title="MacLaren Expositions">MacLaren</a> • <a href="/commentaries/mhc/genesis/23.htm" title="Matthew Henry Concise">MHC</a> • <a href="/commentaries/mhcw/genesis/23.htm" title="Matthew Henry Full">MHCW</a> • <a href="/commentaries/parker/genesis/23.htm" title="The People's Bible by Joseph Parker">Parker</a> • <a href="/commentaries/poole/genesis/23.htm" title="Matthew Poole">Poole</a> • <a href="/commentaries/pulpit/genesis/23.htm" title="Pulpit Commentary">Pulpit</a> • <a href="/commentaries/sermon/genesis/23.htm" title="Sermon Bible">Sermon</a> • <a href="/commentaries/sco/genesis/23.htm" title="Scofield Reference Notes">SCO</a> • <a href="/commentaries/ttb/genesis/23.htm" title="Through The Bible">TTB</a> • <a href="/commentaries/wes/genesis/23.htm" title="Wesley's Notes">WES</a> • <a href="#tsk" title="Treasury of Scripture Knowledge">TSK</a></div><div id="leftbox"><div class="padleft"><div class="comtype">EXPOSITORY (ENGLISH BIBLE)</div><div class="vheading2"><a href="/commentaries/ellicott/genesis/23.htm">Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers</a></div>XXIII.<p>DEATH AND BURIAL OF SARAH.</span><p>(1) <span class= "bld">Sarah was an hundred and seven and twenty years old.</span>—Sarah is the only woman whose age at her death is mentioned in the Bible, an honour doubtless given her as the ancestress of the Hebrew race (<a href="/isaiah/51-2.htm" title="Look to Abraham your father, and to Sarah that bore you: for I called him alone, and blessed him, and increased him.">Isaiah 51:2</a>). As she was ninety at Isaac’s birth, he would now be thirty-seven years of age.<p><div class="vheading2"><a href="/commentaries/benson/genesis/23.htm">Benson Commentary</a></div><span class="bld"><a href="/genesis/23-1.htm" title="And Sarah was an hundred and seven and twenty years old: these were the years of the life of Sarah.">Genesis 23:1</a></span>. <span class="ital">The years of the life of Sarah — </span>Of all the women that had lived, it is the peculiar honour of Sarah, the mother of the faithful, <a href="/1_peter/3-6.htm" title="Even as Sara obeyed Abraham, calling him lord: whose daughters you are, as long as you do well, and are not afraid with any amazement.">1 Peter 3:6</a>, to have the number of the years of her whole life recorded in Scripture.<span class="p"><br /><br /></span><a name="mhc" id="mhc"></a><div class="vheading2"><a href="/commentaries/mhc/genesis/23.htm">Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary</a></div>23:1-13 The longest life must shortly come to a close. Blessed be God that there is a world where sin, death, vanity, and vexation cannot enter. Blessed be his name, that even death cannot part believers from union with Christ. Those whom we most love, yea, even our own bodies, which we so care for, must soon become loathsome lumps of clays, and be buried out of sight. How loose then should we be to all earthly attachments and adornments! Let us seek rather that our souls be adorned with heavenly graces. Abraham rendered honour and respect to the princes of Heth, although of the ungodly Canaanites. The religion of the Bible enjoins to pay due respect to all in authority, without flattering their persons, or countenancing their crimes if they are unworthy characters. And the noble generosity of these Canaanites shames and condemns the closeness, selfishness, and ill-humour of many that call themselves Israelites. It was not in pride that Abraham refused the gift, because he scorned to be beholden to Ephron; but in justice and in prudence. Abraham was able to pay for the field, and therefore would not take advantage of Ephron's generosity. Honesty, as well as honour, forbids us to take advantage of our neighbour's liberality, and to impose, upon those who give freely.<a name="bar" id="bar"></a><div class="vheading2"><a href="/commentaries/barnes/genesis/23.htm">Barnes' Notes on the Bible</a></div>Sarah is the only woman whose age is recorded in Scripture. She meets with this distinction as the wife of Abraham and the mother of the promised seed. "A hundred and twenty and seven years," and therefore thirty-seven years after the birth of her son. "In Kiriatharba." Arba is called the father of Anak <a href="/joshua/15-13.htm">Joshua 15:13</a>; <a href="/joshua/21-11.htm">Joshua 21:11</a>; that is, of the Anakim or Bene Anak, a tall or gigantic tribe <a href="/numbers/13-22.htm">Numbers 13:22</a>; 28; 33, who were subsequently dispossessed by Kaleb. The Anakim were probably Hittites. Abraham had been absent from Hebron, which is also called Mamre in this very chapter <a href="http://biblehub.com/genesis/23-17.htm">Genesis 23:17</a>, <a href="http://biblehub.com/genesis/23-19.htm">Genesis 23:19</a>, not far from forty years, though he appears to have still kept up a connection with it, and had at present a residence in it. During this interval the sway of Arba may have commenced. "In the land of Kenaan," in contradistinction to Beer-sheba in the land of the Philistines, where we last left Abraham. "Abraham went to mourn for Sarah," either from Beer-sheba or some out-field where he had cattle pasturing.<a name="jfb" id="jfb"></a><div class="vheading2"><a href="/commentaries/jfb/genesis/23.htm">Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary</a></div>CHAPTER 23<p>Ge 23:1, 2. Age and Death of Sarah.<p>1. Sarah was an hundred and seven and twenty years old, &c.—Sarah is the only woman in Scripture whose age, death, and burial are mentioned, probably to do honor to the venerable mother of the Hebrew people.Sarah’s age and death; Abraham mourns, <span class="bldvs"> <a href="/genesis/23-1.htm" title="And Sarah was an hundred and seven and twenty years old: these were the years of the life of Sarah.">Genesis 23:1</a>,2</span>. He speaks to the sons of Heth for a burying-place, <span class="bldvs"> <a href="/genesis/23-3.htm" title="And Abraham stood up from before his dead, and spoke to the sons of Heth, saying,">Genesis 23:3</a>,4</span>. They offer him the choice of their sepulchres, <span class="bldvs"> <a href="/genesis/23-5.htm" title="And the children of Heth answered Abraham, saying to him,">Genesis 23:5</a>,6</span>. Abraham desires to purchase a field of Ephron, <span class="bldvs"> <a href="/genesis/23-8.htm" title="And he communed with them, saying, If it be your mind that I should bury my dead out of my sight; hear me, and entreat for me to Ephron the son of Zohar,">Genesis 23:8</a>,9</span>. Ephron would give it him, <span class="bldvs"> <a href="/context/genesis/23-10.htm" title="And Ephron dwelled among the children of Heth: and Ephron the Hittite answered Abraham in the audience of the children of Heth, even of all that went in at the gate of his city, saying,...">Genesis 23:10-15</a></span>. Abraham purchases it, and weighs the silver, <span class="bldvs"> <a href="/genesis/23-16.htm" title="And Abraham listened to Ephron; and Abraham weighed to Ephron the silver, which he had named in the audience of the sons of Heth, four hundred shekels of silver, current money with the merchant.">Genesis 23:16</a></span>. The field made sure to Abraham for a possession before witnesses, <span class="bldvs"> <a href="/context/genesis/23-17.htm" title="And the field of Ephron which was in Machpelah, which was before Mamre, the field, and the cave which was therein, and all the trees that were in the field, that were in all the borders round about, were made sure...">Genesis 23:17-20</a></span>. <span class="p"><br /><br /></span> <span class="ital">1860</span> <span class="p"><br /><br /></span>This is the peculiar honour of Sarah the mother of the faithful, <span class="bldvs"> <a href="/1_peter/3-6.htm" title="Even as Sara obeyed Abraham, calling him lord: whose daughters you are, as long as you do well, and are not afraid with any amazement.">1 Peter 3:6</a></span>, to have the years of her life numbered in Scripture. <span class="p"><br /><br /></span><a name="gil" id="gil"></a><div class="vheading2"><a href="/commentaries/gill/genesis/23.htm">Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible</a></div>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: <p>these were the years of the life of Sarah; who, as it is remarked by many interpreters, is the only woman the years of whose life are reckoned up in Scripture. <a name="gsb" id="gsb"></a><div class="vheading2"><a href="/commentaries/gsb/genesis/23.htm">Geneva Study Bible</a></div><span class="cverse2">And Sarah was an hundred and seven and twenty years old: these were the years of the life of Sarah.</span></div></div><div id="centbox"><div class="padcent"><div class="comtype">EXEGETICAL (ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)</div><div class="vheading2"><a href="/commentaries/cambridge/genesis/23.htm">Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges</a></div><span class="bld">1</span>. <span class="ital">the life of Sarah</span>] Sarah died at the age of 127, 37 years after the birth of Isaac. Cf. <a href="/genesis/17-1.htm" title="And when Abram was ninety years old and nine, the LORD appeared to Abram, and said to him, I am the Almighty God; walk before me, and be you perfect.">Genesis 17:1</a>; <a href="/genesis/17-17.htm" title="Then Abraham fell on his face, and laughed, and said in his heart, Shall a child be born to him that is an hundred years old? and shall Sarah, that is ninety years old, bear?">Genesis 17:17</a>, <a href="/genesis/21-5.htm" title="And Abraham was an hundred years old, when his son Isaac was born to him.">Genesis 21:5</a> (P).<span class="p"><br /><br /></span><a name="pul" id="pul"></a><div class="vheading2"><a href="/commentaries/pulpit/genesis/23.htm">Pulpit Commentary</a></div><span class="cmt_sub_title">Verse 1.</span> - <span class="cmt_word">And Sarah was an hundred and seven and twenty years old</span> (literally, and <span class="accented">the lives of Sarah were an hundred and twenty and seven years</span>); 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 (<a href="/isaiah/51-2.htm">Isaiah 51:2</a>; <a href="/1_peter/3-6.htm">1 Peter 3:6</a>), is the only woman whose age is mentioned in Scripture. <span class="cmt_word">These were the years of the life of Sarah</span> - an emphatic repetition designed to impress the Israelitish mind with the importance of remembering the age of their ancestress. Genesis 23:1<a name="kad" id="kad"></a><div class="vheading2"><a href="/commentaries/kad/genesis/23.htm">Keil and Delitzsch Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament</a></div>Sarah is the only woman whose age is mentioned in the Scriptures, because as the mother of the promised seed she became the mother of all believers (<a href="/1_peter/3-6.htm">1 Peter 3:6</a>). She died at the age of 127, thirty-seven years after the birth of Isaac, at Hebron, or rather in the grove of Mamre near that city (<a href="/genesis/13-18.htm">Genesis 13:18</a>), whither Abraham had once more returned after a lengthened stay at Beersheba (<a href="/genesis/22-19.htm">Genesis 22:19</a>). The name Kirjath Arba, i.e., the city of Arba, which Hebron bears here and also in <a href="http://biblehub.com/genesis/35-27.htm">Genesis 35:27</a>, and other passages, and which it still bore at the time of the conquest of Canaan by the Israelites (<a href="/joshua/14-15.htm">Joshua 14:15</a>), was not the original name of the city, but was first given to it by Arba the Anakite and his family, who had not yet arrived there in the time of the patriarchs. It was probably given by them when they took possession of the city, and remained until the Israelites captured it and restored the original name. The place still exists, as a small town on the road from Jerusalem to Beersheba, in a valley surrounded by several mountains, and is called by the Arabs, with allusion to Abraham's stay there, el Khalil, i.e., the friend (of God), which is the title given to Abraham by the Mohammedans. The clause "in the land of Canaan" denotes, that not only did Sarah die in the land of promise, but Abraham as a foreigner acquired a burial-place by purchase there. "And Abraham came" (not from Beersheba, but from the field where he may have been with the flocks), "to mourn for Sarah and to weep for her," i.e., to arrange for the customary mourning ceremony. <div class="vheading2">Links</div><a href="/interlinear/genesis/23-1.htm">Genesis 23:1 Interlinear</a><br /><a href="/texts/genesis/23-1.htm">Genesis 23:1 Parallel Texts</a><br /><span class="p"><br /><br /></span><a href="/niv/genesis/23-1.htm">Genesis 23:1 NIV</a><br /><a href="/nlt/genesis/23-1.htm">Genesis 23:1 NLT</a><br /><a href="/esv/genesis/23-1.htm">Genesis 23:1 ESV</a><br /><a href="/nasb/genesis/23-1.htm">Genesis 23:1 NASB</a><br /><a href="/kjv/genesis/23-1.htm">Genesis 23:1 KJV</a><span class="p"><br /><br /></span><a href="http://bibleapps.com/genesis/23-1.htm">Genesis 23:1 Bible Apps</a><br /><a href="/genesis/23-1.htm">Genesis 23:1 Parallel</a><br /><a href="http://bibliaparalela.com/genesis/23-1.htm">Genesis 23:1 Biblia Paralela</a><br /><a href="http://holybible.com.cn/genesis/23-1.htm">Genesis 23:1 Chinese Bible</a><br /><a href="http://saintebible.com/genesis/23-1.htm">Genesis 23:1 French Bible</a><br /><a href="http://bibeltext.com/genesis/23-1.htm">Genesis 23:1 German Bible</a><span class="p"><br /><br /></span><a href="/">Bible Hub</a><br /></div></div></td></tr></table></div><div id="mdd"><div align="center"><div class="bot2"><table align="center" width="100%"><tr><td align="center"><div align="center"> <script id="3d27ed63fc4348d5b062c4527ae09445"> (new Image()).src = 'https://capi.connatix.com/tr/si?token=51ce25d5-1a8c-424a-8695-4bd48c750f35&cid=3a9f82d0-4344-4f8d-ac0c-e1a0eb43a405'; </script> <script id="b817b7107f1d4a7997da1b3c33457e03"> (new Image()).src = 'https://capi.connatix.com/tr/si?token=cb0edd8b-b416-47eb-8c6d-3cc96561f7e8&cid=3a9f82d0-4344-4f8d-ac0c-e1a0eb43a405'; </script><br /><br />  <div id='div-gpt-ad-1529103594582-2'> </div><br /><br />  <div id='div-gpt-ad-1529103594582-0' style='max-width: 300px;'> </div><br /><br />  <div id='div-gpt-ad-1529103594582-3'> </div><br /><br />  <div id='div-gpt-ad-1529103594582-1' style='max-width: 300px;'> </div><br /><br />  <div align="center" id='div-gpt-ad-1531425649696-0'> </div><br /><br /> <ins class="adsbygoogle" style="display:inline-block;width:200px;height:200px" data-ad-client="ca-pub-3753401421161123" data-ad-slot="3592799687"></ins> <script> (adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({}); </script><br /><br /> </div> <div id="left"><a href="../genesis/22-24.htm" onmouseover='lft.src="/leftgif.png"' onmouseout='lft.src="/left.png"' title="Genesis 22:24"><img src="/left.png" name="lft" border="0" alt="Genesis 22:24" /></a></div><div id="right"><a href="../genesis/23-2.htm" onmouseover='rght.src="/rightgif.png"' onmouseout='rght.src="/right.png"' title="Genesis 23:2"><img src="/right.png" name="rght" border="0" alt="Genesis 23:2" /></a></div><div id="botleft"><a href="#" onmouseover='botleft.src="/botleftgif.png"' onmouseout='botleft.src="/botleft.png"' title="Top of Page"><img src="/botleft.png" name="botleft" border="0" alt="Top of Page" /></a></div><div id="botright"><a href="#" onmouseover='botright.src="/botrightgif.png"' onmouseout='botright.src="/botright.png"' title="Top of Page"><img src="/botright.png" name="botright" border="0" alt="Top of Page" /></a></div> <div id="bot"><iframe width="100%" height="1500" scrolling="no" src="/botmenubhnew2.htm" frameborder="0"></iframe></div></td></tr></table></div></body></html>