The BibleTruth.cc Torah Study Series

Parashat Chayei Sarah

"The Life of Sarah"

Bereshith [Genesis] 23:1-25:18

Chayei Sarah begins by summarizing the length of Sarah's life, and proceeds to tell of the circumstances of her death and burial.  In order to bury his wife, Avraham purchases his first piece of the land which Yahuwah promised him.

Theme

The theme of Parashat Chayei Sarah

Sedarim

The Death and Burial of Sarah

A Bride for Yitzchak

Avraham's Other Wife

Avraham's Death and Burial

Yishmael's Descendants

Prophetic Pictures in this Week's Torah Portion

Messiah in the Torah Parashah

Prophetic End Time Shadows in the Torah Parashah

The Death and Burial of Sarah

23:1 Sarah lived to be a hundred and twenty-seven years old.
2 She died at Kiriath Arba (that is, Hebron) in the land of Canaan, and Avraham went to mourn for Sarah and to weep over her.
3 Then Avraham rose from beside his dead wife and spoke to the Hittites. He said,
4 "I am an alien and a stranger among you. Sell me some property for a burial site here so I can bury my dead."
5 The Hittites replied to Avraham,
6 "Sir, listen to us. You are a mighty prince among us. Bury your dead in the choicest of our tombs. None of us will refuse you his tomb for burying your dead."
7 Then Avraham rose and bowed down before the people of the land, the Hittites.
8 He said to them, "If you are willing to let me bury my dead, then listen to me and intercede with Ephron son of Zohar on my behalf
9 so he will sell me the cave of Machpelah, which belongs to him and is at the end of his field. Ask him to sell it to me for the full price as a burial site among you."
10 Ephron the Hittite was sitting among his people and he replied to Avraham in the hearing of all the Hittites who had come to the gate of his city.
11 "No, my Lord," he said. "Listen to me; I give you the field, and I give you the cave that is in it. I give it to you in the presence of my people. Bury your dead."
12 Again Avraham bowed down before the people of the land
13 and he said to Ephron in their hearing, "Listen to me, if you will. I will pay the price of the field. Accept it from me so I can bury my dead there."
14 Ephron answered Avraham,
15 "Listen to me, my Yahuwah; the land is worth four hundred shekels of silver, but what is that between me and you? Bury your dead."
16 Avraham agreed to Ephron's terms and weighed out for him the price he had named in the hearing of the Hittites: four hundred shekels of silver, according to the weight current among the merchants.
17 So Ephron's field in Machpelah near Mamre-- both the field and the cave in it, and all the trees within the borders of the field-- was deeded
18 to Avraham as his property in the presence of all the Hittites who had come to the gate of the city.
19 Afterward Avraham buried his wife Sarah in the cave in the field of Machpelah near Mamre (which is at Hebron) in the land of Canaan.
20 So the field and the cave in it were deeded to Avraham by the Hittites as a burial site.

A Bride for Yitzchak

Avraham was now old and well advanced in years, and Yahuwah had blessed him in every way.
2 He said to the chief servant in his household, the one in charge of all that he had, "Put your hand under my thigh.
3 I want you to swear by Yahuwah, the Elohim of heaven and the Elohim of earth, that you will not get a wife for my son from the daughters of the Canaanites, among whom I am living,
4 but will go to my country and my own relatives and get a wife for my son Yitzchak."
5 The servant asked him, "What if the woman is unwilling to come back with me to this land? Shall I then take your son back to the country you came from?"
6 "Make sure that you do not take my son back there," Avraham said.
7 "Yahuwah, the Elohim of heaven, who brought me out of my father's household and my native land and who spoke to me and promised me on oath, saying, 'To your offspring I will give this land'-- he will send his angel before you so that you can get a wife for my son from there.
8 If the woman is unwilling to come back with you, then you will be released from this oath of mine. Only do not take my son back there."
9 So the servant put his hand under the thigh of his master Avraham and swore an oath to him concerning this matter.
10 Then the servant took ten of his master's camels and left, taking with him all kinds of good things from his master. He set out for Aram Naharaim and made his way to the town of Nahor.
11 He had the camels kneel down near the well outside the town; it was toward evening, the time the women go out to draw water.
12 Then he prayed, "Yahuwah, Elohim of my master Avraham, give me success today, and show kindness to my master Avraham.
13 See, I am standing beside this spring, and the daughters of the townspeople are coming out to draw water.
14 May it be that when I say to a girl, 'Please let down your jar that I may have a drink,' and she says, 'Drink, and I'll water your camels too'-- let her be the one you have chosen for your servant Yitzchak. By this I will know that you have shown kindness to my master."
15 Before he had finished praying, Rivkah came out with her jar on her shoulder. She was the daughter of Bethuel son of Milcah, who was the wife of Avraham's brother Nahor.
16 The girl was very beautiful, a virgin; no man had ever lain with her. She went down to the spring, filled her jar and came up again.
17 The servant hurried to meet her and said, "Please give me a little water from your jar."
18 "Drink, my master," she said, and quickly lowered the jar to her hands and gave him a drink.
19 After she had given him a drink, she said, "I'll draw water for your camels too, until they have finished drinking."
20 So she quickly emptied her jar into the trough, ran back to the well to draw more water, and drew enough for all his camels.
21 Without saying a word, the man watched her closely to learn whether or not Yahuwah had made his journey successful.
22 When the camels had finished drinking, the man took out a gold nose ring weighing a beka and two gold bracelets weighing ten shekels.
23 Then he asked, "Whose daughter are you? Please tell me, is there room in your father's house for us to spend the night?"
24 She answered him, "I am the daughter of Bethuel, the son that Milcah bore to Nahor."
25 And she added, "We have plenty of straw and fodder, as well as room for you to spend the night."
26 Then the man bowed down and worshiped Yahuwah,
27 saying, "Praise be to Yahuwah, the Elohim of my master Avraham, who has not abandoned his kindness and faithfulness to my master. As for me, Yahuwah has led me on the journey to the house of my master's relatives."
28 The girl ran and told her mother's household about these things.
29 Now Rivkah had a brother named Laban, and he hurried out to the man at the spring.
30 As soon as he had seen the nose ring, and the bracelets on his sister's arms, and had heard Rivkah tell what the man said to her, he went out to the man and found him standing by the camels near the spring.
31 "Come, you who are blessed by Yahuwah," he said. "Why are you standing out here? I have prepared the house and a place for the camels."
32 So the man went to the house, and the camels were unloaded. Straw and fodder were brought for the camels, and water for him and his men to wash their feet.
33 Then food was set before him, but he said, "I will not eat until I have told you what I have to say." "Then tell us," [Laban] said.
34 So he said, "I am Avraham's servant.
35 Yahuwah has blessed my master abundantly, and he has become wealthy. He has given him sheep and cattle, silver and gold, menservants and maidservants, and camels and donkeys.
36 My master's wife Sarah has borne him a son in her old age, and he has given him everything he owns.
37 And my master made me swear an oath, and said, 'You must not get a wife for my son from the daughters of the Canaanites, in whose land I live,
38 but go to my father's family and to my own clan, and get a wife for my son.'
39 "Then I asked my master, 'What if the woman will not come back with me?'
40 "He replied, 'Yahuwah, before whom I have walked, will send his angel with you and make your journey a success, so that you can get a wife for my son from my own clan and from my father's family.
41 Then, when you go to my clan, you will be released from my oath even if they refuse to give her to you-- you will be released from my oath.'
42 "When I came to the spring today, I said, 'Yahuwah, Elohim of my master Avraham, if you will, please grant success to the journey on which I have come.
43 See, I am standing beside this spring; if a maiden comes out to draw water and I say to her, "Please let me drink a little water from your jar,"
44 and if she says to me, "Drink, and I'll draw water for your camels too," let her be the one Yahuwah has chosen for my master's son.'
45 "Before I finished praying in my heart, Rivkah came out, with her jar on her shoulder. She went down to the spring and drew water, and I said to her, 'Please give me a drink.'
46 "She quickly lowered her jar from her shoulder and said, 'Drink, and I'll water your camels too.' So I drank, and she watered the camels also.
47 "I asked her, 'Whose daughter are you?' "She said, 'The daughter of Bethuel son of Nahor, whom Milcah bore to him.' "Then I put the ring in her nose and the bracelets on her arms,
48 and I bowed down and worshiped Yahuwah. I praised Yahuwah, the Elohim of my master Avraham, who had led me on the right road to get the granddaughter of my master's brother for his son.
49 Now if you will show kindness and faithfulness to my master, tell me; and if not, tell me, so I may know which way to turn."
50 Laban and Bethuel answered, "This is from Yahuwah; we can say nothing to you one way or the other.
51 Here is Rivkah; take her and go, and let her become the wife of your master's son, as Yahuwah has directed."
52 When Avraham's servant heard what they said, he bowed down to the ground before Yahuwah.
53 Then the servant brought out gold and silver jewelry and articles of clothing and gave them to Rivkah; he also gave costly gifts to her brother and to her mother.
54 Then he and the men who were with him ate and drank and spent the night there. When they got up the next morning, he said, "Send me on my way to my master."
55 But her brother and her mother replied, "Let the girl remain with us ten days or so; then you may go."
56 But he said to them, "Do not detain me, now that Yahuwah has granted success to my journey. Send me on my way so I may go to my master."
57 Then they said, "Let's call the girl and ask her about it."
58 So they called Rivkah and asked her, "Will you go with this man?" "I will go," she said.
59 So they sent their sister Rivkah on her way, along with her nurse and Avraham's servant and his men.
60 And they blessed Rivkah and said to her, "Our sister, may you increase to thousands upon thousands; may your offspring possess the gates of their enemies."
61 Then Rivkah and her maids got ready and mounted their camels and went back with the man. So the servant took Rivkah and left.
62 Now Yitzchak had come from Beer Lahai Roi, for he was living in the Negev.
63 He went out to the field one evening to meditate, and as he looked up, he saw camels approaching.
64 Rivkah also looked up and saw Yitzchak. She got down from her camel
65 and asked the servant, "Who is that man in the field coming to meet us?" "He is my master," the servant answered. So she took her veil and covered herself.
66 Then the servant told Yitzchak all he had done.
67 Yitzchak brought her into the tent of his mother Sarah, and he married Rivkah. So she became his wife, and he loved her; and Yitzchak was comforted after his mother's death.

Avraham's Other Wife

25:1 Avraham took another wife, whose name was Keturah.
2 She bore him Zimran, Yokshan, Medan, Midian, Ishbak and Shuah.
3 Yokshan was the father of Sheba and Dedan; the descendants of Dedan were the Asshurites, the Letushites and the Leummites.
4 The sons of Midian were Ephah, Epher, Hanoch, Abida and Eldaah. All these were descendants of Keturah.
5 Avraham left everything he owned to Yitzchak.
6 But while he was still living, he gave gifts to the sons of his concubines and sent them away from his son Yitzchak to the land of the east.

Avraham's Death and Burial

 7 Altogether, Avraham lived a hundred and seventy-five years.
8 Then Avraham breathed his last and died at a good old age, an old man and full of years; and he was gathered to his people.
9 His sons Yitzchak and Ishmael buried him in the cave of Machpelah near Mamre, in the field of Ephron son of Zohar the Hittite,
10 the field Avraham had bought from the Hittites. There Avraham was buried with his wife Sarah.
11 After Avraham's death, Elohim blessed his son Yitzchak, who then lived near Beer Lahai Roi.

Yishmael's Descendants

12 This is the account of Avraham's son Ishmael, whom Sarah's maidservant, Hagar the Mitzrayimian, bore to Avraham.
13 These are the names of the sons of Ishmael, listed in the order of their birth: Nebaioth the firstborn of Ishmael, Kedar, Adbeel, Mibsam,
14 Mishma, Dumah, Massa,
15 Hadad, Tema, Yetur, Naphish and Kedemah.
16 These were the sons of Ishmael, and these are the names of the twelve tribal rulers according to their settlements and camps.
17 Altogether, Ishmael lived a hundred and thirty-seven years. He breathed his last and died, and he was gathered to his people.
18 His descendants settled in the area from Havilah to Shur, near the border of Mitzrayim, as you go toward Asshur. And they lived in hostility toward all their brothers.

Messiah in the Torah Parashah

Prophetic End Time Shadows in the Torah Parashah