John Gill Commentary Genesis 23

And Sarah was a hundred and twenty-seven years old
This following immediately upon the account of the offering up of Isaac, led many Jewish writers to conclude that Isaac was thirty-seven years old at that time. This age is derived from Sarah being a hundred and twenty-seven, given she was ninety when Isaac was born.

But this seems not to be observed for that reason, but to give the total of her age at her death, as it follows: [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.

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 Tetrapolls, a city consisting of four parts; but be it as it will, here Abraham and Sarah were at the time of her death; when they removed from Beersheba hither is not said:

the same [is] Hebron, in the land of Canaan ;
so it was afterwards called: here Abraham and Sarah had lived many years ago, see (Genesis 13:18) ; and hither they returned, and here they ended their days and were buried:

and Abraham came to mourn for Sarah, and to weep for her ;
Aben Ezra observes, that, when Sarah died, Abraham was in another place, and therefore is said to come to mourn for her; and the Targum of Jonathan is, ``and Abraham came from the mount of worship (Moriah), and found that she was dead, and he sat down to mourn for Sarah, and to weep for her.'' Others ^F21 report, that, upon hearing of the offering up of Isaac, she swooned away and died. But the meaning is, that he came from his own tent to Sarah's, see (Genesis 24:67) , where her corpse was, to indulge his passion of grief and sorrow for her; which, in a moderate way, was lawful, and what natural affection and conjugal relation obliged him to.

The Hebrews ^F23 observe, that, in the word for "weep", one of the letters is lesser than usual, and which they think denotes, that his weeping for her was not excessive, but little; but both phrases put together seem to denote that his sorrow was very great; and the one perhaps may refer to his private, and the other to his public mourning for her, according to the custom of those times.

FOOTNOTES:

• F21: Pirke Eliezer, c. 32. Jarchi in loc.
• F23: Baal Hatturim in loc.

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 spoke 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: saying; as follows:

I [am] a stranger and a sojourner with you Not a native of the place, only dwelt as a sojourner among them for a time; but had not so much as a foot of ground he could call his own, and consequently had no place to inter his dead:

give me a possession of a buryingplace with you ; not that he desired it as a free gift, but that he might be allowed to make a purchase of a piece of ground to bury his dead in; so the Targum of Jonathan, ``sell me a possession,'' &c. (Genesis 23:9);

and this he was the rather desirous of, not only because it was according to the rules of humanity, and the general custom of all nations, to provide for the burial of their dead; but he was willing to have such a place in the land of Canaan for this purpose, to strengthen his faith and the faith of his posterity, and to animate their hope and expectation of being one day put into the possession of it; hence the patriarchs in later times, as Jacob and Joseph, were desirous of having their bones laid there:

that I may bury my dead out of my sight ; for, though Sarah was a very lovely person in her life, and greatly desirable by Abraham, yet death had changed her countenance and was turning her into corruption, which rendered her unpleasant, and began to make her loathsome; so that there was a necessity of removing her out of his sight, who before had been so very agreeable to him;

and this is the case of the dearest relation and friend at death.

And the children of Heth answered Abraham
In a very civil and respectful manner: saying unto him ,
as follows: