November 7, 2026: Torah Portion Parashat Chayei Sarah - "The Life of Sarah"
In this study, we will explore the Torah Portion Chayei Sarah - "The Life of Sarah"
Torah Portion: Genesis 23:1-25:18
Haftarah: 1Kings 1:1-31
Brit Hadashah (New Testament): Matthew 1:1-17; 1 Corinthians 15:50-57
Join us as we explore Torah Portion Chayei Sarah - "The Life of Sarah"!
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📜Torah Portion Chayei Sarah - "The Life of Sarah"
Last week's Parashah Vayera recounted how the LORD was faithful to Abraham and Sarah by miraculously giving them a son, Isaac, in their old age.
Nonetheless, Abraham faced his greatest test of all by being asked to offer up his child as a sacrifice on Mount Moriah, the place of the future Temple. On account of Abraham's willingness to obey, the LORD promised that He would multiply his offspring as the stars of heaven and that in his seed (singular) all the nations of the earth would be blessed.
This week's parashah, Chayei Sarah - the "life of Sarah"- begins (paradoxically) with the account of Sarah's death:
Abraham had encamped at various times at the trees of Mamre, just east of Hebron, and this is the place where Sarah, the mother of the Jewish people, died at the age of 127.
After mourning for Sarah, Abraham spoke to the sons of Heth saying that he was a stranger and a sojourner among them, and asked to bury his wife in the nearby Cave of Machpelah. Abraham inquired about the price for the cave and field, and without any negotiation, paid Ephron the Hittite's asking price of 400 shekels of silver - an exorbitant price - in the full presence the leaders of the Hittites. He then buried Sarah in the cave among the people of the Hittites.
After this, Abraham's servant, Eliezer of Damascus (the one Abraham had originally thought would be his heir), made a covenant with Abraham to find his son Isaac a wife from among his relatives living in Mesopotamia - and not from among the Canaanites.
Eliezer took the oath and set out on the 550 mile journey to Haran (also known as the city of Nahor and the place where his father Terah died), taking ten camels laden with gifts in search of Isaac's bride.
At a village well near the City of Nahor, Eliezer made the camels kneel down and asked the LORD for a sign: when the maidens would come to the well, he would ask some for water to drink, but the woman who offered to also draw water for his camels as well would be the one chosen by the LORD for Abraham's son.
As if scripted by divine providence, before he had finished praying, Rivkah (Rebekah), Abraham's nephew's daughter, came out with her water jar on her shoulder. Eliezer ran to her and asked her for a drink, and after giving him some water, generously offered to draw water for all ten of his camels. After she "passed the test," Eliezer gave her expensive rings and bracelets and inquired of her family status. When he learned that the LORD had led him directly to Abraham's close kinsmen (Rebekah was the granddaughter of Abraham's brother Nachor), he was overjoyed and thanked the LORD for guidance and success.
Meanwhile Rebekah ran home to tell her family what happened and her brother Lavan (Laban) went out to invite Eliezer to come under their hospitality. Eliezer agreed but refused to eat with them until he had clearly communicated the purpose of his mission and fulfilled his promise to his master Abraham.
Eliezer then retold the entire story of his journey from Abraham in Canaan, including his prayer to the LORD for the sign of a wife for Abraham's son, and how Rebekah had passed the divine test. He then asked Rebekah's family whether they would show kindness to their relative Abraham by agreeing to give Rebekah as Isaac's wife, so that Eliezer would know whether to "turn to the right hand or to the left."
Both Bethuel and Laban agreed that the LORD had indeed chosen Rebekah to be Abraham's son's wife and did not object to the match. Upon hearing this, Eliezer gave Rebekah more gifts and also gave gifts to the rest of the family. They then ate a meal together and spent the night.
The following morning, Eliezer wanted to leave for Canaan with Rebekah, but her parents wanted her to stay another ten days. When they finally asked her if she was willing to depart immediately, she said she was, and left for Canaan without further delay with her maidservants.
Eliezer then led Rebekah back to the land of Canaan, where she met and married Isaac. Isaac loved her and was comforted over the loss of his mother Sarah.
We are then told that, after the death of Sarah, Abraham got remarried to a woman named Keturah (some claim that she was actually Hagar) who bore him six more sons. Abraham later gave gifts to these children as a legacy, but left everything else he owned to Isaac, the appointed (and exclusive) heir of the family. Abraham was making it clear that Isaac was his sole heir. Only Isaac—not any of Abraham's other offspring—would inherit the land of promise:
"Abraham took another wife, whose name was Keturah. 2 She bore him Zimran, Jokshan, Medan, Midian, Ishbak, and Shuah. 3 Jokshan fathered Sheba and Dedan. The sons of Dedan were Asshurim, Letushim, and Leummim. 4 The sons of Midian were Ephah, Epher, Hanoch, Abida, and Eldaah. All these were the children of Keturah. 5 Abraham gave all he had to Isaac. 6 But to the sons of his concubines Abraham gave gifts, and while he was still living he sent them away from his son Isaac, eastward to the east country." Genesis 25:1-6
The parashah ends with Abraham's death at age 175, and how his two sons, Isaac and Ishmael, buried him in the Cave of Machpelah beside his wife Sarah.
Chayei Sarah Outline:
1. The death of Sarah in Hebron (Gen. 23:1-2)
2. Abraham's purchase of the Cave of Machpelah (Gen. 23:3-20)
3. Abraham sends Eliezer to Nachor to find a bride for Isaac (Gen. 24:1-10)
4. The prayer and test of Eliezer (Gen. 24:11-29)
5. Rebekah is chosen for Isaac (Gen. 24:30-61)
6. Isaac receives Rebekah in Hebron (Gen. 24:62-67)
7. Abraham's other children through Keturah (Gen. 25:1-6)
8. The death and burial of Abraham (Gen. 25:7-11)
9. The death of Ishmael and his descendants (Gen. 25:12-18)
📜Haftarah: 1 Kings 1:1-31
The Haftarah for Parashah Chayei Sarah contrasts the aging and death of King David with that of Abraham. Both were old men; both had appointed successors; but Abraham's house was full of shalom and grace, whereas David's house was full of strife and intrigues.
As King David grew old and was ready to die, his spoiled son Adoniyahu (Adonijah) attempted to usurp the throne for himself. The Tanach explains the source of this rebellion as a lack of fatherly discipline:
"Now his father, King David, had never disciplined him at any time, even by asking, “Why are you doing that?” Adonijah had been born next after Absalom, and he was very handsome." 1 Kings 1:6
Like Sarah's intervention to remove Ishmael from the chosen line, David's wife Bat Sheva (Bathsheba), the mother of Solomon, along with Nathan the prophet, aroused him to quell the rebellion and to name Solomon as the rightful successor to the throne.
Since King David represented the beginning of the dynasty of Jewish kings, which would ultimately appear in the person of the Messiah, it was crucial that the divine election of Solomon would take place, according to prophecy. This would ensure that the Temple would be built and that the Messiah would eventually come to redeem Israel.
Yeshua the Messiah is a direct descendant of King Solomon:
"5 Salmon the father of Boaz, whose mother was Rahab,
Boaz the father of Obed, whose mother was Ruth,
Obed the father of Jesse,
6 and Jesse the father of King David.
David was the father of Solomon, whose mother had been Uriah’s wife,
7 Solomon the father of Rehoboam,
Rehoboam the father of Abijah,
Abijah the father of Asa,
8 Asa the father of Jehoshaphat,"
Matthew 1:7
"29 the son of Joshua, the son of Eliezer,
the son of Jorim, the son of Matthat,
the son of Levi, 30 the son of Simeon,
the son of Judah, the son of Joseph,
the son of Jonam, the son of Eliakim,
31 the son of Melea, the son of Menna,
the son of Mattatha, the son of Nathan,
the son of David,"
Luke 3:20-31
📜Brit Hadashah (New Testament): Matthew 1:1-17; 1 Corinthians 15:50-57:
The readings from the Brit Hadashah (New Covenant/New Testament) concern the Greater Seed of Abraham and the Son of David, Yeshua the Messiah of Israel.
In the reading from Matthew, the genealogy of Yeshua is given through the lineage of Yosef (Joseph). Luke gives another genealogy tracing descent backwards from Miriam.
Matthew follows the line of Yosef (Yeshua's legal father), through David's son Solomon, while Luke follows the line of Mary (Miriam), Jesus' blood relative, through David's son Nathan. Through either line then, Yeshua is a descendant of King David and therefore eligible to be the Mashiach of Israel!
The passage from 1 Corinthians 15 tells us that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God, nor can the "perishable inherit the imperishable."
"50 I declare to you, brothers and sisters, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God, nor does the perishable inherit the imperishable. 51 Listen, I tell you a mystery: We will not all sleep, but we will all be changed— 52 in a flash, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, the dead will be raised imperishable, and we will be changed. 53 For the perishable must clothe itself with the imperishable, and the mortal with immortality. 54 When the perishable has been clothed with the imperishable, and the mortal with immortality, then the saying that is written will come true: “Death has been swallowed up in victory.”
55 “Where, O death, is your victory? Where, O death, is your sting?”
56 The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. 57 But thanks be to God! He gives us the victory through our Lord Yeshua Messiah."
1 Corinthians 15:50-57
Sarah died. Abraham died. King David died. But there is a mystery awaiting us all, since at the sound of the "last shofar," in the twinkling of an eye, the dead will be raised and transformed into immortal bodies.
When this occurs, death itself will be "swallowed up in victory" since Yeshua our LORD delivered us from the kelalah (curse) of the law's verdict against us.
On account of God's love and grace, then, we can rejoice that "love is stronger than death," and the ultimate victory over the ravages of sin will forever be reversed on behalf of Yeshua our LORD and Redeemer! HalelluYah!!
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