Sarah As a Tragic Victim of Avraham’s Mistaken Obedience
In the following, we would like to posit another way to look at the life of Sarah, after whom a Torah portion is named: Chayei Sarah, “The Life of Sarah” (Genesis 23:1-25:18). When the Bible wants to teach us something, it takes the most extreme cases possible, so that the contrasts can be appreciated more easily.
The Torah portion begins with a paradox, seeing that it is named “The Life of Sarah” (literally, “The Lives of Sarah”) but the very first verse of it situates an apparent contradiction; it begins with her death, not with her life. This suggests that the Torah portion should have been called “The Death of Sarah”. Yet the tradition chose the name Chayei Sarah to describe her life. Of all the women in the Scripture, only for Sarah are the number of her days and years and the time of her life mentioned, as well as the place in which she was buried, as we read,
And the life of Sarah was a hundred and seven and twenty years; these were the years of the life of Sarah. And Sarah died in Kiryat Arba – the same is Hevron – in the land of Kena’an. and Avraham came to mourn for Sarah, and to weep for her. (Genesis 23:1-2)
Why was there the necessity for the Torah to introduce Sarah’s life, saying “And the life of Sarah was a hundred and seven and twenty years …” versus simply saying, “And Sarah died, and Avraham mourned for her”? This is how the Torah begins Chayei Sarah, “The Lives of Sarah” implying that what the reader will read from that point on is closely related to what the reader has already read previously in the Torah portion the previous Torah portion Va’yera, “And he appeared” (Genesis 18:1-22:24). This is a common way for the Torah to connect two stories together. The reason why we find this important to emphasize will be made clear further on in this study.
Up until this portion, Avraham owned no land and had no grandchildren, only promises. However, Sarah’s death forced Avraham to buy a piece of land where he wanted to bury his wife, and three years later her death prompted him to find a wife for Yitschak to ensure the Covenant would continue. Thus, classical rabbinic thought views the opening of our Torah portion not as an end, but as a beginning of her real life through Yitshak.
In the article “The Troublesome Lives of a Mother”, we addressed the “two lives” of the first matriarch hinted in the redundant phrasing in the opening verse: “And the life of Sarah was a hundred years and twenty years and seven years; the years of the life of Sarah”, namely the repetition of the word “years”. Our interpretation there notes that the Hebrew word for “years of” (shenei) shares a root with the word for “two” (shenayim). Thus, we suggested that the Torah divides her age into two sections: Sarah lived “two lives”—her first life of 90 years of infertility, and her second life of 37 years which began with the birth of her only child Yitschak. Thus, each life of Sarah is to be distinguished and looked at as a separate term and interpreted by itself, as we literally read,
And the lives of Sarah were one hundred year and twenty year and seven years; the two lives of Sarah. (Gen. 23:1)
Because the entire Torah portion “The Lives of Sarah” deals with the enduring impact of her life—namely the birth of her only son Yitschak and the continuation of her values through his marriage (which she did not live to see) to the second matriarch Rivkah—the narrative is considered a chronicle of her true life in the descendants that would come from him. Thus, by introducing her death in the opening of the portion, the Torah emphasizes her years of a complete life in which she endured both hardship and joy.
The Juxtaposition to the Binding of Yitschak
The plain text when read continually suggests why Sarah died at this exact moment of her life, linking it structurally to the end of the previous Torah portion Va’yera in which the Binding of Yitschak on the altar was the main theme. The plain reading also suggests that the report of Sarah’s death immediately follows the Binding of Yitschak meaning that her death was a direct consequence of it; just as she heard that her son was bound and almost slaughtered on the altar by her husband, “her soul flew out of her and she died”. By placing her death at the immediate opening of this section, the Torah framed her passing not as a random event, but as the heartbreaking climax of her life. Hence, the Sages honored the first matriarch by naming the Torah portion after her. But who brought the report to Sarah? Let us suspend this question for a moment, seeing that we will address it at the end of our study.
A Devastating Emotional Rift
Rewinding the time back to the binding of Yitschak on the altar, we re-read the incident of the binding the 37-year-old Yitschak on the altar and came to the strong conclusion that by no means the Eternal had commanded Avraham to slaughter his son as a sacrifice to Him, but Avraham mistakenly assumed that. This is taught in the article “Did YHVH Tell Abraham to Sacrifice Isaac?“ In the light of what we have said in it, the reader can now understand the error of the traditional commentaries, which should not have been written. Our commentary of Genesis 22 is a window into solving several key issues such as the life and death of the first matriarch Sarah. However, let the reader not hope that we can explain everything, for that is hard labor, and indeed, impossible.
YHVH had never had in mind to command Avraham to make a human sacrifice, an abomination to Him which He hates. Yet despite the mistake Avraham made, Elohim turned evil into good. Although humans may misunderstand Him and attempt to do evil believing they do good, He can turn the things around; the story of Yoseph in Egypt is another good example. We strongly believe that what YHVH simply wanted from Avraham to do was to bring his beloved son to the top of the mountain where He would show them both something. There we argued that YHVH planned to give Avraham a beautiful prophetic picture of a man who would ultimately fulfill His Redemption Plan. Yet despite the intervention from heaven, Avraham and Yitschak split permanently because of the mistaken obedience on the altar. Several textual clues point to this emotional estrangement. Yitschak never walked down the mountain with his father.
At the end of the previous Torah portion (Vayera), the text says, “Avraham then returned to his servants, and they departed together for Beer-sheba” (Genesis 22:19). Yitschak is completely missing from this scene. The trauma of the near-death experience shattered the family structure. Sarah died immediately at the start of Chayei Sarah of grief and shock upon hearing what almost happened to her only child. We suggested that following the mountain, Avraham and Yitschak did not return to Sarah, because they split; Yitschak could no longer live with his father in the shadow of the incident. The emotional horror of seeing his father holding a knife over him and the passing of his mother fundamentally altered how he perceived his father. Modern science would call this as “post-traumatic stress”. The son established his own independent life and residence away from his father.
Where Was Avraham?
If Yitschak was living independently in the south (Negev), where was Avraham during the past three years and particularly during his servant’s mission to find a wife for his son?
Three years passed (Yitschak was 37 in the incident and 40 when he married), Avraham decided to find a wife for his son. By this time, Avraham was 140 years old. The Eternal had blessed Avraham in everything, primarily with a son. But now Avraham, considering his advanced age, decided it was time for Yitschak to marry.
Instead of sending his son Yitschak, Avraham summoned his servant (Eliezer) and made him swear an oath to him that he should bring a wife for Yitschak, but when the servant returned to Kena’an and saw Yitschak from a distance, he told Rivkah, “It is my master”, referring directly to Yitschak, not Avraham (Genesis 24:65).
The Torah narrative now shifts where the servant reported directly to Yitschak instead of returning to the one who had sent him—his master Avraham. This anomaly we addressed in the article “The Troublesome Life of a Patriarch”. The text notes that the servant went straight to Yitschak in the Negev and “told Yitschak all the things that he had done” (Genesis 24:62-66). Avraham was completely absent from the scene, leading us to look closely at where Avraham was when his servant brought Rivkah to his son Yitschak. We argued and strongly suggested there that a profound rift had occurred between father and son, because of the incident on the altar.
The plain reading of the narrative suggests that Avraham has textually receded into the scene of history to make way for the new patriarch. If so, Avraham is removed from the active role as a patriarch, in order to let Yitschak assume the role of the “master” of the household before Avraham even passes away.
And Yitschak came from the way of Beer-lahai-roi, for he dwelt in the land of the South. (Genesis 24:62)
Until then, he had been living in the southern region, i.e., in or around Be’ersheva. The text notes that when Yitschak met them, he was coming from Beer-lahai-roi in the Negev (the south). The location Torah saw fit to inform us about perhaps is highly symbolic—it is the very place where we see Hagar, Avraham’s concubine whom Sarah expelled. By choosing this place, Torah wants us to notice this. The text also notes that when the servant returned to Kena’an, he returned to Yitschak, not to Avraham.
And she said to the servant: “What man is this that walks in the field to meet us?” And the servant said: “That is my master”. And she took her veil, and covered herself. And the servant told Yitschak all the things that he had done. (Genesis 24:65-66)
The servant said, “That is my master.” He did not say “this is my master’s son “, which suggests that Avraham was no longer the master of Eliezer; from now on it was Yitschak. She then took her veil and covered herself.
The servant then related to his new master the result of his journey; Avraham was not there. The father and son had already separated.
And Yitschak brought her into his mother Sarah’s tent, and took Rivkah, and she became his wife; and he loved her. And Yitschak was comforted for his mother. (Genesis 24:67)
It was customary in those times for man and his wife to live in separate tents. When they wanted to be intimate, the man would go to his wife’s tent, as for instance when Leah said to Ya’akov, “come to me,” i.e. “come to my tent” (Genesis 30:16). This brief but important comment in the Torah speaks a lot. The tent of Sarah remained intact for three years, as Yitschak kept it. The new matriarch of the family brought Yitschak back to life.
This whole episode suggests that after the rift between father and son, Yitschak lived with his mother, while Avraham moved away to remarry.
And Avraham took another wife, and her name was Keturah. (Genesis 25:1)
Strictly chronologically reading of the text, after Sarah’s passing and immediately following Yitschak’s marriage, the Torah says that Avraham took another wife, Keturah, and fathered more children. He remained in Hevron, where he had just purchased the Cave of Machpelah to bury Sarah.
The Ultimate Reconciliation
Though the text strongly implies a deep and silent estrangement born from the trauma on the mountain, the Torah provides a quiet closure to their relationship. When Avraham finally dies at the age of 175, Yitschak and Ishmael buried him together in the cave where he buried Sarah (Genesis 25:9). The sons returned to honor their father, bridging the fractures that had kept them apart in life. They reconciled, but did Yitschak reconciled with his father? We will try to explain below.
And it came to pass after the death of Avraham, that Elohim blessed Yitschak his son; and Yitschak dwelt by Beer-lahai-roi. (Genesis 25:11)
Why was it that Elohim, and not Avraham, blessed Yitschak? The careful reader will notice that Avraham did not bless either of his two sons, Ishmael and Yitschak. After Avraham died, we find that the Torah records that the Eternal bestowed the blessing He had first given to Avraham on his son Yitschak but only after his father had died. Yitschak did not fail to do that; in turn he blessed Ya’akov, and Ya’akov blessed all his twelve sons. But Avraham failed, perhaps because they never reconciled after the incident on the altar, and the division between father and son remained until Avraham’s death.
We will now return to explain what we commenced at the beginning of this study.
Who brought the report to the mother?
Sarah died as a result of grief over the binding of her son on the altar by Avraham, thus her passing from the physical and emotional reaction is juxtaposed to her lifetime. And Avraham mourned for Sarah and wept for her.
If the Torah had only written “And Sarah died, and Avraham mourned for her” without mentioning the years of her life, we would not have known that Avraham outlived Sarah by 48 years during which he started new life. Why does the Torah found necessary to bring this time gap to the reader’s attention? The reason for what is implied here is what Rosh Hashanah explains. In Rosh Hashanah 16b, Rabbi Avin said:
“Anyone who passes a case against another to God is punished first. Praying for God to pass judgment on another causes one’s own deeds to be examined and compared with the deeds of the other, as it is stated: “And Sarai said to Avram: My anger be upon you; I have given my maid into your bosom, and when she saw that she had conceived, I was despised in her eyes; let the Lord judge between me and you” (Genesis 16:5)”
Sarah called upon Heaven to pass judgment between her and her husband, and therefore she was punished and died first. If we have properly understood the author’s intent, Sarah died prematurely.
Word reached Sarah about the binding of her son. The shock of Avraham’s attempted sacrifice of her son together with the relief of hearing that he was spared was too much for her to bear, and she died. Avraham heard of his wife’s death and came from Be’ersheva to bury his wife.
When we reflect on what we have written above, we are ready to present to the thinker our version of the consequent events of this incident.
According to the oral tradition, it was hasatan (Hebrew for “the accuser”, “the prosecutor”), who deliberately sought to break Sarah. He approached her while Abraham was on his way home and brought the news of what had happened while her husband and son were away from her. Before hasatan could even finish the sentence, her soul departed. The mother died believing her son was dead, unable to withstand the grief.
We, however, attempting to find a straightforward interpretation clearly suggested by the text, would like to present to the reader our interpretation.
By laying out these factors, we are forced to use our logic concerning these events, as we have no sources beyond the oral tradition. Let us reconstruct the proper sequence of events at that time. Yitschak returned from Mount Moriah and his mother asked him where he had been. He explained that his father took him up a mountain and bounded him to an altar with the intent of slaughtering him to the Lord, but the angel suddenly interceded and saved his life. Upon hearing what her son described and how close he came to death, Sarah died. After the incident of the altar, Yitschak returned to his mother alive, but the sheer shock of what almost happened there proves fatal.
Regardless of what indeed happened after the binding of Yitschak, Sarah became a tragic victim of the incident on the mountain. While Avraham was wrong in his presupposition of what the Lord wanted him to do with his son, Sarah’s death is presented by the narrative as the literal cost of that mistaken obedience.
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