Sarah and HerStory

(1) Now Sara’s life was one hundred years and twenty years and seven years, [thus] the years of Sara’s life. *(thus) the years of Sara’s life: She is the only biblical woman whose life span is given, again as a sign of importance.

[Everette Fox]

(2) And Sara died in Qiryat-arba; that is Ḥevron, in the land of Kena῾an: and Avraham came to mourn for Sara, and to weep for her. (Koret)

(19) Abraham then returned to his servants, and they departed together for Beer-sheba; and Abraham stayed in Beer-sheba.

(1) וישב אברהם בבאר שבע AND ABRAHAM DWELT AT BEER-SHEBA — This does not mean really dwelling there but merely staying there on his way home, because he was, as a matter of fact, living at Hebron. Twelve years before the Binding of Isaac he had left Beer-Sheba and had gone to Hebron, as it is said, (21:34) ‘‘And Abraham sojourned in the land of the Philistines many days”, i.e. exceeding in number the earlier days when he had resided at Hebron — altogether 26 years, as we have explained above (21:34).

(1) AND ABRAHAM CAME. Rashi comments: “From Beer-sheba.” Now this does not mean to imply that Abraham remained in Beer-sheba — as is indicated in the verse, And Abraham abode at Beer-sheba, for how then would Sarah have been in Hebron? Rather, the intent is to state that Abraham had gone to Beer-sheba for the day for some purpose, and while there he heard of the death of Sarah and came from there to Hebron to mourn and weep for her.

However, the expression of our Rabbis is, “And Abraham came — from Mount Moriah.” This is in accord with the Midrash which the Rabbi [Rashi] previously cited which states that hearing of the Binding [in which her son had been made ready for sacrifice and had indeed almost been sacrificed] her soul flew from her and she died. It would appear that the Divine command concerning the Binding was delivered to Abraham in Beer-sheba for there he dwelt and he returned thereto after the Binding, .... This teaches us that he tarried there and dwelled in Beer-sheba for a period of years. Now if this was the case, Sarah did not die during that period immediately following the Binding for it would not be that Abraham lived in Beer-sheba while Sarah dwelt in Hebron.

How is it that Sarah died in Hebron, [since] Abraham's dwelling place was in Beersheba... for it was in Beersheba that he was commanded about the Akedah, for that's where his home was, and if so, who brought Sarah to Hebron?

To answer this question, R. Isaac quotes the solution of his brother R. Ephraim—the father of the famous R. Joseph Karo, author of the Shulchan Arukh—that Sarah left Beersheba, which was part of the Philistine land, to die in Hebron, which was part of the holy land promised to her and Abraham:

Abraham's intention from the beginning was for him and his wife to be buried in the land of Canaan, since the land of Israel atones for sin... [9] Therefore, when she (Sarah) felt that her powers were waning and feebleness was coming upon her, and she knew that she would not live much longer, she commanded [her servants] to bring her to Hebron to die... since it is in the land of Canaan.

לספוד לשרה ולבכותה TO BEWAIL SARAH AND TO WEEP FOR HER — The narrative of the death of Sarah follows immediately on that of the Binding of Isaac, because through the announcement of the Binding — that her son had been made ready for sacrifice and had almost been sacrificed — she received a great shock (literally, her soul flew from her) and she died (Pirkei DeRabbi Eliezer 32).