Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Genesis 23:2

And Sarah died in Kirjath-arba; the same [is] Hebron in the land of Canaan: and Abraham came to mourn for Sarah, and to weep for her.

2. Kiriath-arba ( the same is Hebron)] Cf. Gen 35:27 (P). Kiriath-arba means “the city of four,” probably four confederate tribes. It was the earlier name of Hebron, which itself may mean “Confederation.” The two names are mentioned in Jdg 1:10. In Jos 14:15; Jos 15:13, where the early name is also mentioned, Arba is regarded as a proper name. For Hebron as one of the dwelling-places of Abraham, see Gen 13:18.

Abraham came to mourn for Sarah ] As if, at the time of Sarah’s death, Abraham had been residing in some different place. He came to “mourn”; and this word refers to the Oriental solemnity of wailing for the departed.

Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

Verse 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, Jos 14:14, does not actually say this was his name,) who was the chief of the four brothers who dwelt there; the names of the others being Sheshai, Ahiman, and Talmai. See Jdg 1:10. These three were destroyed by the tribe of Judah; probably the other had been previously dead.

Abraham came to mourn for Sarah] From verse 19 of the preceding chapter Ge 22:19 it appears that Abraham had settled at Beer-sheba; and here we find that Sarah died at Hebron, which was about twenty-four miles distant from Beersheba. For the convenience of feeding his numerous flocks, Abraham had probably several places of temporary residence, and particularly one at Beer-sheba, and another at Hebron; and it is likely that while he sojourned at Beersheba, Sarah died at Hebron; and his coming to mourn and weep for her signifies his coming from the former to the latter place on the news of her death.

Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible

Kirjath-arba, or, the city of Arba; so called probably from a giant or great man called Arba, who lived and ruled in those parts. See Jos 14:15; 15:13. It is objected against this scripture, that this city was not called Hebron till Joshua’s time, Jos 14:15; but this is a mistake, Joshua doth not say so, but only that the name of Hebron before, ( or in old time), as this very particle is rendered, Deu 2:20, and elsewhere. So the sense is, the most ancient name of it was Kirjath-arba. Nor doth Joshua there give any account or reason of this change of the name at that time, or upon that occasion, as the sacred writers used to do in such cases, but rather supposeth that Hebron was the name of it before he came thither; and how long before that time he doth not express.

Abraham came into Sarah’s tent, (see Gen 18:6-9)

to weep for her, according to the laudable custom of all ages and nations, to manifest their sense of God’s hand upon them, and of their own loss. See Gen 50:3; Deu 34:8, &c.

Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole

2. Abraham came to mourn for Sarah,c.He came from his own tent to take his station at the door ofSarah’s. The “mourning” describes his conformity to thecustomary usage of sitting on the ground for a time while the”weeping” indicates the natural outburst of his sorrow.

Ge23:3-20. PURCHASE OF ABURYING-PLACE.

Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible

And Sarah died in Kirjatharba,…. Which was so called, either, as Jarchi says, from the four Anakims or giants that dwelt here,

Jos 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, Jos 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

Ge 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 u 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 Ge 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 w 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.

u Pirke Eliezer, c. 32. Jarchi in loc. w Baal Hatturim in loc.

Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible

2. And Sarah died in Kirjath-arba. It appears from Jos 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 they believe to have been the king or the founder of the city. Others again prefer the notion, that the name was given to the place from four (452) of the Fathers, Adam, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, who were buried there with their wives. I willingly suspend my judgment on a matter of uncertainty, and not very necessary to be known. It more concerns the present history to inquire, how it happened that Sarah died in a different place from that in which Abraham dwelt. If any one should reply, that they had both changed their abode, the words of Moses are opposed to that, for he says that Abraham came to bury his dead. It is hence easily inferred, that he was not present at her death; nor is it probable that they were separated, merely by being in different tents; so that he might walk ten or twenty paces for the sake of mourning, while a more important duty had been neglected. For this reason, some suspect that he was on a journey at the time. But to me it seems more likely that their abode was then at Heron, or at least in the vale of Mamre, which adjoins the city. For, after a little breathing time had been granted him he was soon compelled to return to his accustomed wanderings. And although Moses does not say, that Abraham had paid to his wife while yet alive, the due attentions of a husband; I think that he omits it, as a thing indubitably certain, and that he speaks particularly of the mourning, as a matter connected with the care of sepulture. That they dwelt separately we shall afterwards see: not as being in different regions, but because each inhabited separate, though contiguous, tents. And this was no sign of dissension or of strife, but is rather to be ascribed to the size of the family. For as Abraham had much trouble in governing so large a herd of servants; so his wife would have equal difficulty to retain her maids under chaste and honest custody. Therefore the great number of domestics which it was not safe to mingle together, compelled them to divide the family.

But it may be asked, what end could it answer to approach the body for the sake of mourning over it? Was not the death of his wife sufficiently sad and bitter to call forth his grief, without this additional means of excitement? It would have been better to seek the alleviation of his sorrow, than to cherish and even augment it, by indulgence. I answer; if Abraham came to his dead wife, in order to produce excessive weeping, and to pierce his heart afresh with new wounds, his example is not to be approved. But if he both privately wept over the death of his wife, so far as humanity prescribed, exercising self-government in doing it; and also voluntarily mourned over the common curse of mankind; there is no fault in either of these. For to feel no sadness at the contemplation of death, is rather barbarism and stupor than fortitude of mind. Nevertheless, as Abraham was a man, it might be, that his grief was excessive. And yet, what Moses soon after subjoins, that he rose up from his dead, is spoken in praise of his moderation; whence Ambrose prudently infers, that we are taught by this example, how perversely they act, who occupy themselves too much in mourning for the dead. Now, if Abraham at that time, assigned a limit to his grief; and put a restraint on his feelings, when the doctrine of the resurrection was yet obscure; they are without excuse, who, at this day, give the reins to impatience, since the most abundant consolation is supplied to us in the resurrection cf Christ.

(452) The word ארבע ( arba) signifies four.

Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary

(2) Kirjath-arba; the same is Hebron.This was a very ancient city, built seven years before Zoan in Egypt (Num. 13:22), probably by a tribe of Semites on their way to the Delta. It lies upon the very border of the Negeb of Judah, about twenty-two miles south of Jerusalem. Originally it was named Kirjath-arba, and though Arba is called the father of Anak (Jos. 15:13), yet the literal meaning City of Four (arba being the Hebrew numeral four), coupled with the fact that Hebron means alliance (Gen. 13:18), suggests that its building was the result of the union of four families; and afterwards, from the name of the city, Arba may have been often used as a proper name. At the conquest of Palestine there were descendants of Anak still dwelling there, and apparently they had restored the old title, but were expelled by Caleb (Jos. 15:14), who took it as his possession, and seems to have given its name to a grandchild, as a memorial of his victory (1Ch. 2:42). It is still an important town, with a population of 17,000 Moslems and about 600 Jews.

Abraham came to mourn.At this period Abraham was in quiet possession of several headquarters, and apparently was himself at Beer-sheba when Sarah died at Hebron, where probably he had left Isaac in charge of his mother and the cattle.

Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)

2. Sarah died in Kirjath-arba To this place Abraham had again brought his family after his residence in Beer-sheba . Gen 22:19. Kirjath-arba appears to have been the original name of Hebron, named after its founder or distinguished resident, Arba, a chief among the Anakim . Jos 14:15. Mamre was in the immediate neighbourhood . See on Gen 13:18.

In the land of Canaan As distinguished from the land of the Philistines . Gen 21:34.

Came to mourn This implies that he was absent from Hebron when she died . His coming may have been from Beer-sheba, whither he had gone for some business with his distant herdsmen, (comp . Gen 37:12-17,) or from some other similar field of his flocks; or perhaps from the neighbouring Mamre . Some suppose that the expression is only a formal mode of statement, not necessarily implying absence from home.

To mourn to weep A great display of loud lamentation and bitter weeping would be made on occasion of the death of one so distinguished as Sarah. This is a part of Oriental reverence and respect for the dead. Comp. Gen 50:1-4; Gen 50:10.

Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments

‘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.’

We are not told why Sarah happened to be in Hebron. It had previously been a place occupied by the family tribe and a sanctuary had been established there (Gen 13:18; Gen 14:13; Gen 18:1 with Gen 23:19). She may well have been visiting connections there, possibly with the purpose of maintaining the old alliances.

“Came to mourn for Sarah and to weep for her.” The mourning rites associated with death were considered very important and paid mourners would often be employed (compare Gen 50:10. See Jer 9:17 on). The phrase thus refers to Abraham as coming to prepare for her funeral. We need not however doubt that it was an intensely personal moment for him.

“Kiriath Arba”. This was an earlier name for Hebron and means ‘the city of four’ or ‘the city of Arba’ (see Jos 14:15). The Anakim Arba may have taken his name from the city. It is stressed that it is in the land of Canaan, the promised land.

Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett

Gen 23:2. Abraham came to mourn Not came from any particular place, or tent, as some would have it; but went forth, vaiabo, to make a public mourning, or funeral lamentation for this faithful and long-approved companion of his life and labours. It is not possible for us to determine, what particular rites of mourning, or what sort of solemnities were then used at funerals. It should seem from Gen 23:3, that the corpse was publicly carried forth; as Abraham rose up from before it, to obtain a proper burying-place. See Gen 3:10.

REFLECTIONS.Sarah first pays the tribute of nature; and Abraham, justly afflicted with her loss, with tears of no fictitious grief, laments the partner of his cares, who had been so long the comforter of his pilgrimage. Note; 1. Death will part the nearest relatives: let us remember and provide against it. 2. Tears are due to the memory of our departed friends. 3. The great support under such afflictions is, when, though we mourn, we can say, Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord.

See commentary on Gen 23:1

Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke

And Sarah died in Kirjatharba; the same is Hebron in the land of Canaan: and Abraham came to mourn for Sarah, and to weep for her.

Gen 50:10 ; Act 8:2 . How suited the observation of the Patriarch, both to this, as well as to himself; and to all other cases. Gen 47:9 . How applicable that prayer! Psa 90:12 . How delightful that thought! Psa 102:24-27 .

Fuente: Hawker’s Poor Man’s Commentary (Old and New Testaments)

Gen 23:2 And Sarah died in Kirjatharba; the same [is] Hebron in the land of Canaan: and Abraham came to mourn for Sarah, and to weep for her.

Ver. 2. And Sarah died. ] The Jews would persuade us that the devil represented to her the offering of Isaac, whereat she took sick and died. This is but a mere conceit of theirs; for Abraham then dwelt at Beersheba, now at Hebron.

And Abraham came to mourn for Sarah. ] So she was the first that we read of mourned for at death; and it is mentioned as an honour to her. Solon’s Mors mea ne careat lachrymis , is to be preferred before Ennius’s Nemo me decoret lachrymis . It is one of the dues of the dead, a to be lamented at their funerals; and the want of it is threatened as a curse in many scriptures. It is a practice warranted by the best in all ages; and mourn we may in death of friends, so we mourn (1.) in truth, and not feignedly; (2.) in measure, and not as men without hope. For the first, how grossly did Tiberius dissemble at the death of Augustus, b and at the funeral of Drusus! Whereupon Tacitus makes his note, Vana et irrisa vero et honesto fidem adimunt . So when Julius Caesar wept over Pompey’s head, presented to him in Egypt, they that saw it, laughed in their sleeves, c and held them no better than crocodile’s tears. So the mourning that Nero and his mother made over the Emperor Claudius, whose death they had conspired and effected, was deep dissimulation. d This is no less hateful, than to mourn heartily, but yet immoderately, is unlawful. Here Jacob forgat himself, when so overgrown with grief for his Joseph, Gen 37:35 and Rachel for the rest of their children, that they would not be comforted. Jer 31:15 So David for his Absalom: Alexander the Great for his friend Hephestion; when he not only clipped his horses’ and mules’ hair, but plucked down also the battlements of the walls of the city, &c. The soldiers of Pelopidas e were no less excessive, when for grief of his death they would neither unbridle their horses, nor untie their armour, nor dress their wounds. Something here may be yielded to nature, nothing to impatience. Immoderate sorrow for losses past hope of recovery is more sullen than useful. Our stomach may be bewrayed by it, not our wisdom. The Egyptians mourned seventy days for Jacob: Joseph (who had more cause, but with it more grace) mourned but twenty days. God flatly forbade his people those heathenish customs, of shaving their heads and cutting their flesh, Lev 21:1 in token of mourning for the dead. We read in the gospel of minstrels and people making a noise f at the terming-house, as they call it. Mat 9:23 And the Jews that were comforting Mary, when they saw her rise up hastily and go forth, followed her, saying, “She goeth unto the grave to weep there”. Joh 11:31 Such customs, it seems, they had in those days among them, to provoke themselves to weeping and lamentation; which was, saith one, g as if they that have the dropsy should eat salt meats. How much better father Abraham here, who came indeed from his own tent to Sarah’s, to mourn for her (as good reason he had), but exceeded not, as the Jews think is signified by that one letter less than ordinary in the Hebrew word for weep (Libcothah) used here in the text. Hebrew Text Note Baal-turim gives but a bald reason of it: Parum flevit; erat enim vetula ; Abraham wept not much for her, she being but an old wife, and past her best. Buxtorf gives a better: Potius quia luctus eius fuit moderatus . And therefore also in the next verse it is said, that he stood up from before his dead – where in likelihood he had sat a while on the earth, as was the manner of mourners to do Job 2:12-13 Isa 47:1 – to take order for her burial, as having good hopes of a glorious resurrection. Excellent for our purpose is that of St Jerome, Lugeatur mortuus, sed ille quem Gehenna suscipit, quem Tartarns devorat, in cuius poenam aeternus ignis aestuat. Nos, quorum exitum Angelorum turba comitatur, quibus obviam Christus occurret, &c., gravemur magis, si diutius in tabernaculo isto habitemus . Mourn for none, but such as are dead in their sins, killed with death, as those in Rev 2:23 .

a Hinc , et Iusta defunctorim .

b Testamentum Augusti praelegit tanto simulato gemitu, ut non modo vox, sed et spiritus deficeret .

c E .

d Eum se lugere simulabant quem necaverant . – Dio in Claud.

e Plutar. in Vita Pelop.

f Mar 5:38 ; A , vel O ; ut Jas 5:1 .

g Perinde ac si intercute laborantes falsamenta comederent – Cartur.

Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)

Kirjath-arba. See notes on Num 13:22, and App-25.

Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics

Kirjatharba: Gen 23:19, Gen 13:18, Num 13:22, Jos 10:39, Jos 14:14, Jos 14:15, Jos 20:7, Jdg 1:10, 1Sa 20:31, 2Sa 2:11, 2Sa 5:3, 2Sa 5:5, 1Ch 6:57

came: For the convenience of feeding his numerous flocks, Abraham had several places of temporary residence; and it is likely, that while he sojourned at Beer-sheba, as we find he did from Gen 23:19, of the preceding chapter, Sarah died at Hebron, which was 24 miles distant.

mourn: Gen 27:41, Gen 50:10, Num 20:29, Deu 34:8, 1Sa 28:3, 2Sa 1:12, 2Sa 1:17, 2Ch 35:25, Jer 22:10, Jer 22:18, Eze 24:16-18, Joh 11:31, Joh 11:35, Act 8:2

Reciprocal: Gen 25:1 – General Gen 35:27 – Mamre Gen 37:14 – Hebron Jos 15:54 – Kirjatharba Jos 21:11 – the city of Arba 2Ch 11:10 – Hebron Luk 8:52 – all

Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge

Gen 23:2. Sarah died in Kirjath-arba, or city of Arba So called, it seems, from Arba, a giant, who lived and ruled in those parts, Jos 14:15; Jos 15:13. Abraham came into Sarahs tent to mourn for Sarah. He did not only perform the ceremonies of mourning according to the custom of those times, but did sincerely lament the great loss he had sustained, and gave proof of the constancy of his affection. Therefore these two words are used, he came both to mourn and to weep.

Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments