Genesis 25:8

Then Abraham gave up the ghost,.... Very readily and cheerfully, without any previous sickness or present pain, but through the decay of nature by reason of old age, in a very easy quiet manner: and

Then Abraham gave up the ghost, and died in a good old age, an old man, and full of years; and was gathered to his people. Died in a good old age - in filfillment of the prediction (Genesis 15:15). And was gathered to his people.

His soul was not required of him, as it was of that fool, ; not forced from him by sharp and violent diseases, but was quietly, easily, and cheerfully yielded up by him into the hands of his merciful God and Father, as the word intimates, in a good old age; good, both graciously, his hoary head being found in the way of righteousness; and naturally, free from the manifold infirmities and calamities of old age. Of which see , &c. Full of years; in the Hebrew it is only full, or satisfied; but you must understand, with days or years, as the phrase is fully expressed, 29:28 . When he had lived as long as he desired, being in some sort weary of life, and desirous to be dissolved; or full of all good, as the Chaldee renders it; satisfied, as it is said of Naphtali, , with favour, and full with the blessing of the Lord upon himself, and upon his children; he was gathered to his people; to his godly progenitors, the former patriarchs, the congregation of the just in heaven, ; in regard of his soul: for it cannot be meant of his body, which was not joined with them in the place of burial, as the phrase is, , but buried in a strange land, where only Sarah’ s body lay. And it is observed, that this phrase is used of none but good men, of which the Jews were so fully persuaded, that from this very expression used concerning Ishmael here below, , they infer his repentance and salvation. See this phrase, 49:29 27:13 .

Genesis 25:8 Then Abraham gave up the ghost, and died in a good old age, an old man, and full [of years]; and was gathered to his people.Ver. 8. Gave up the ghost.] Deficit; leniter, expiravit. Describit Moses placidam et optatam, quasi, ευθανασιαν; which in Abraham, God’ s friend, is no wonder. But how could that apostate, Julian, say, in truth, Vitam reposcenti naturae, tanquam debitor bonae fidei, rediturus, exulto? Sure it was but a copy of his countenance, but not of his dying countenance; for no wicked man alive can look death in the face with blood in his cheeks. Died in a good old age.] Or, with a good hoar head, after a hundred years’ troublesome pilgrimage in the Promised Land. We, if for one year we suffer hardship, think it a great business. Non quia dura, sed quia molles patimur, saith Seneca. An old man, and full of years.] The godly have oft a satiety of life: as willing they are to leave the world, as men are wont to be to rise from the board when they have eaten their fill, “ Cur non ut plenus vitae conviva recedis? ” said the heathen poet: and they feign that when Tithonus might have been made immortal, he would not, because of the miseries of life. This made Plotinus the Platonist account mortality a mercy, and Cato protest, that if any god would grant him, of old to be made young again, he would seriously refuse it. As for me, said Queen Elizabeth, in a certain speech, I see no such great cause why I should be fond to live, or afraid to die. And again, while I call to mind things past, behold things present, and expect things to come, I hold him happiest that goeth hence soonest. Aug., De Civ. Dei., lib. iv. cap. 10. Siquis Deus mihi largiatur, ut ex hac aetate repuerascam, et in cunis vagiam, valde recusem. - Cato ap. Cic., De Senect. Card. Elisabeth, fol. 325.

Verse 8. Then Abraham gave up the ghost] Highly as I value our translation for general accuracy, fidelity, and elegance, I must beg leave to dissent from this version. The original word יגוע yigva, from the root גוע gava, signifies to pant for breath, to expire, to cease from breathing, or to breathe one's last; and here, and wherever the original word is used, the simple term expired would be the proper expression. In our translation this expression occurs Genesis 25:8, Genesis 25:17; Genesis 35:29; Genesis 44:33; Job 3:11; Job 10:18; Job 11:20; Job 13:19; Job 14:10; Lamentations 1:19; in all of which places the original is גוע gava. It occurs also in our translation, Jeremiah 15:9, but there the original is נפחה נפשה naphecah naphshah, she breathed out her soul; the verb גוע gava not being used. Now as our English word ghost, from the Anglo-Saxon [A.S.] gast, an inmate, inhabitant, guest, (a casual visitant,) also a spirit, is now restricted among us to the latter meaning, always signifying the immortal spirit or soul of man, the guest of the body; and as giving up the spirit, ghost, or soul, is an act not proper to man, though commending it to God, in our last moments, is both an act of faith and piety; and as giving up the ghost, i.e., dismissing his spirit from his body, is attributed to Jesus Christ, to whom alone it is proper, I therefore object against its use in every other case. Every man since the fall has not only been liable to death, but has deserved it, as all have forfeited their lives because of sin. Jesus Christ, as born immaculate, and having never sinned, had not forfeited his life, and therefore may be considered as naturally and properly immortal. No man, says he, taketh it - my life, from me, but I lay it down of myself; I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it again: therefore doth the Father love me, because I lay down my life that I might take it again, John 10:17-18. Hence we rightly translate Matthew 27:50, αφηκετοπνευμα, he gave up the ghost; i.e., he dismissed his spirit that he might die for the sin of the world. The Evangelist St. John 19:30, makes use of an expression to the same import, which we translate in the same way, παρεδωκετοπνευμα, he delivered up his spirit. We translate Mr 15:37, and Lu 23:46, he gave up the ghost, but not correctly, because the word in both these places is very different, εξεπνευσε, he breathed his last, or expired, though in the latter place (Lu 23:46) there is an equivalent expression, O Father, into thy hands παρατιθεμαιτοπνευμαμου, I commit my spirit, i.e., I place my soul in thy hand; proving that the act was his own, that no man could take his life away from him, that he did not die by the perfidy of his disciple, or the malice of the Jews, but by his own free act.

8. gave up the ghost] Cf. Genesis 25:7, Genesis 35:29, Genesis 49:33 (P): the same word as “die” in Genesis 6:17, Genesis 7:21 (P). in a good old age] This was part of the promised blessing: cf. Genesis 15:15. was gathered to his people] See note on Genesis 17:14. “His people” evidently has no local significance; but means those of his own family already dead, and now in Sheôl, “the under-world” of departed spirits. Cf. Genesis 35:29, Genesis 49:29; Genesis 49:33 (P). There is no difference, then, between being “gathered to his people,” and “to go to thy fathers” (Genesis 15:15), and “to sleep with my fathers” (Genesis 47:30; cf. Deuteronomy 31:16).

8. Gave up the ghost — Hebrews, breathed out. He seems to have died of old age, and in a good old age, according to the promises of Gen 15:15.