Genesis 25:8-10 - Exposition

Then Abraham gave up the ghost (literally, breathed out , a the breath of life), and died in a good old age ,—literally, in a flood hoary age , i . e . "with a crown of righteousness upon his hoary head" (Hughes)— an old man, and full of years . Literally, and satiated , i . e . satisfied not merely with life and all its blessings, but with living. The three clauses give an elevated conception of the patriarch's life as that of one who had tasted all the sweets and realized all the ends of a mundane existence, and who accordingly was ripe and ready for transition to a higher sphere. And was gathered to his people . An expression similar to "going to his fathers" ( Genesis 15:15 , q.v.), and to "being gathered to one's fathers" ( 2:10 ). "The phrase is constantly distinguished from departing this life and being buried, denotes the reunion in Sheol with friends who have gone before, and therefore presupposes faith in the personal continuance of a man after death" (Keil). Abraham died in the hope of a better country, even an heavenly ( Hebrews 11:13-16 ). And his sons Isaac and Ishmael —Isaac as the heir takes precedence; but Ishmael, rather than the sons of Keturah, is associated with him at his father's funeral; probably because he was not so distant as they from Hebron (Lunge), or because he was the subject of a special blessing, which they were not (Keil, Murphy); or perhaps simply Ishmael and Isaac united as the eldest sons to perform the last rites to a parent they revered (Kalisch). "Funerals of parents are reconciliations of children ( Genesis 35:29 ), and differences of contending religionists are often softened at the side of a grave" (Wordsworth)— buried him ( vide on Genesis 23:19 ) in the cave of Machpelah, in the field of Ephron the son of Zohar the Hittite, which is before Mamre ( vide on Genesis 23:3-20 ); the field which Abraham purchased of the sons of Heth : there was Abraham buried, and Sarah his wife.