GRIFFIN COMMENTS—GEN 23 (Gen 23:1) And Sarah was an hundred and seven and twenty years old: these were the years of the life of Sarah. Sarah served as a type of the church (Gal_4:22-23), as the mother of a miracle son [like Mary], the son of promise (Gen_3:15), as a woman of faith (Heb_11:11), and is the only woman in the Bible who had her age, death, and burial recorded. She is one of the few people in the Bible who had a name change by God Himself.
WHAT LESSONS WOULD SUCH A MAN AS ABRAHAM LEARN IN THIS HOUSE OF MOURNING? I. THAT IN VIEW OF THE AWFUL FACT OF DEATH THE LITTLENESS OF HUMAN LIFE IS SEEN. II. TO REALIZE THE FACT OF HIS OWN MORTALITY. "I may be the next to go." III. TO FEEL THAT THERE IS A LIFE BEYOND. IV. THE SACREDNESS OF SORROW FOR THE DEAD. (T. H. Leale) (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. Abraham was rich and had a lot of herds that needed constant grazing land so he was probably traveling a lot from place to place in this part of Canaan, thus we find here that when Sarah died in Hebron Abraham came to mourn for her. That is, he left the camping place wherever that was, and came to the place where she died to mourn. WEEPING (Gen_23:2) 1.
THE TEARS OF ABRAHAM'S SORROW (Gen_23:2)
In his sorrow Abraham revealed something of the dignity of soul that characterizes a strong man of God. Besides wailing and otherwise loudly manifesting his grief, he broke forth into weeping. The Hebrew words for mourn and weep carry both ideas.
GRIFFIN COMMENTS GEN 23—PAGE 1