Sarah's lifespan - The ages of the character are still fantastic but much less so.

Kiriath-arba - now Hebron - Today there is an illegal Israeli settlement named Kiryat Arba on the outskirts of Hebron, but it is unclear if this is the actual site of the Biblical settlement of the same name, or if Tel Rumeida (located in Hebron itself) is the site mentioned in the text. --- Rashi said the name means "city of the four" which he said might refer to a legend of four giants who were said to have resided here, but also may refer to four patriarchal characters that he believes were buried there: Adam and Eve, Abraham and Sarah, Issac and Rebecca, & Jacob and Leah. The JPS Tanakh commentary says the "city of four" may have been a reference to a confederation of four settlements.

Abraham mourns and "bewails" her - One of the earliest references to mourning in the Torah. Rashi believed that her death (immediately after the binding of Isaac in the narrative) was due to the shock of hearing what Abraham had attempted to do to Isaac.

Abraham rose - The JPS Tanakh commentary notes that mourners would traditionally sit on the ground, so the mention of "Abraham rising from his dead" was an important detail, showing that he is now moving from his role as a mourner to now being a negotiator.

The Hittites - They were an Anatolian people who spoke an Indo-European language (possibly one of the first to break away from proto-Indo European). Their empire (at its peak) covered most of eastern Turkey, Cyprus and parts of modern day Syria and Lebanon. The Hittites are remembered for their cultural achievements, including their extensive legal system that was somewhat averse (compared to their neighbors) to the use of the death penalty as punishment. One of their codes of laws can be found here.

However, to complicate matters a little, there is some debate whether the Hittites of the Hebrew scriptures were the same people as the Hittites of history, who were newly discovered in the 1800's.

Resident Alien - Abraham recognizes his lower status in this society. While he is wealthy, he still does not have the right to own land without a special dispensation of some kind, which is why he is making this pitch.

Elect of God among us - The Hittites are referring to Elohim. Abraham had a reputation among the Hittites as being a devotee of Elohim, and apparently they saw his wealth as a sign of his special relationship with this deity.

Ephron son of Zohar - Likely Ephron was an important nobleman, as the fatherhood of non-Israelites is rarely noted in the text.

Cave of Machpelah - Later tradition said that several of the patriarchs were buried here in this network of caves near Hebron. The name Machpelah could literally be translated as "double cave." Today the site is known as the Cave of the Patriarchs, and is considered by some to be the second most holy site of Judaism, after the Temple Mount, but is also a holy site for Muslims and Christians.

Why did Abraham insist on paying? - The best explanation is that a piece of property that is actually purchased (in front of witnesses) was more secure legally, than a piece of property that might be "given" in one generation but forgotten in a future generation.

The gate of the town - The gate was the place where important transactions were conducted in those days, a combination of our county courthouse as well as a market for real estate transactions.

400 Shekels of silver - This was a substantial amount of silver, possibly an inflated price. Abraham was likely not getting a good deal. ---- Also shekels here likely refers to a weight of silver, not to coinage, as coins were not commonly used at the time that this story is set.

The field with its cave and all of its trees - The reference to trees is significant, as we have already seen that Abraham had most of his communications with either YHVH and/or Elohim at the sites of terebinth trees. Abraham may have had innovative theological ideas, but his actual religious practices wasn't that different from that of his neighbors.

facing Mamre, now Hebron - We know Mamre from several earlier points in the story (13:18, 14:13, 18:1-15).

Old, advanced in age - Abraham is well aware that his days are numbered and that he may not live to see Isaac properly married, so he is insisting that his senior servant take an oath which would be binding upon him even after Abraham himself had passed.

Put your hand under my thigh - Many commentators (including even Rashi) say that "thigh" was a euphemism for Abraham's genitals. While this is bizarre for modern readers to hear, the commentators see this incident as a way of invoking the covenant (that was marked by circumcision, but also proven through Abraham's miraculous fertility in old age), in a ritualized manner.

Is Abraham a racist? - Maybe he is... it definitely appears that while he believes that his God has told him that this will be his new land, that he does not want to assimilate into Canaanite society, and hence he wants his son to marry someone of his own people (an early example of enforced endogamy).

At the same time, how is Abraham's wishes any different than a parent of today who wishes that their child would marry someone of their own ethnic, racial or religious background? Most modern people (including myself) would rightly condemn a parent with this intent as being bigoted, but it also wasn't that long ago that this intent would have been seen as acceptable, even "normal." Moreover, in the post exilic setting when the Torah text (in its current form was compiled), the virtue of endogamy was controversially becoming the norm for many Jews.

Why the insistence that Isaac not go back to the old country? - Abraham appears to be deeply concerned that if Isaac himself returns to the land of Abraham's origins, that Isaac would end up staying there, which would negate his understanding of God's covenant for him through Isaac.

Camels? - Many commentators have noted that camels were not yet domesticated at the time of this story, however, there is also some more recent evidence that the domestication of camels may have been earlier than once believed to be the case.

If, camels were actually present in this story, the servant's prayer was pretty audacious ---- since he had TEN camels, who likely would have required 25 gallons of water each to replenish their bodily water supplies after a long journey.

A virgin who no man had known - In Heb. betulah "young woman," not "virgin." However the rest of the line would indicate that she was not believed to have had sexual relations with a man yet.

I will also draw for your camels, until they finish drinking - As creatively retold by Rebecca Dana in Unscrolled: 54 Writers and Artists Wrestle with The Torah, this was a truly remarkable scene: one woman hustling to draw up 250+ gallons of water, all while Abraham's servant "stood gazing at her." Despite their cultural ideas of the virtues of hospitality, the servant's behavior must have still seemed strange (and even offensive) to Rebekah.

Gold! - Shekels of gold refers to a measured amount of gold, about 11 grams or .39 oz. If the total weight of the jewelry was around 10.5 shekels, this would be a little more than 4 ounces of gold. At today's gold prices of $1777.58 (USD) per ounce, this would be more than $7,000 worth of gold. And this is only the initial getting-to-know-you present, as more gifts would be coming soon!

Presumably these gifts made all of the hard work in toting water worth it for Rebekah.

her brother Laban - Laban would later play a major role in the life of one of Rebekah's sons (Jacob). His name literally means white, and was likely a reference to the moon and to some of the moon-cults of the time, but his name reversed is navel (which means "scoundrel" in Hebrew).

when he saw... - the implication is that Laban is motivated by greed, a characteristic that we will see again in the later stories of his exploitative relationship with his nephew Jacob.

blessed of the LORD - Laban refers to the servant of Abraham as being baruch YHVH (blessed of the LORD). While it is not clear that Laban is a monotheist, himself, he does seem to recognize the special role that this deity has for Abraham and his servant.

The prayers of the servant - More and more we are seeing the side characters of this saga praying and engaging with the divine. While patriarchs are still at the center of the story, more and more we will see times of epiphany given to servants and slaves (including Hagar previously), and later on some would-be-patriarchs (including Jacob and Joseph) being reduced to the most lowly of states (where they encounter the divine) before being brought back up again.

Read through a humanist lens, the text is beginning to recognize the importance and dignity of all humankind in this growing evolution of the God-concept of this family, even if the family is not yet willing to consider bucking the conventions of their patriarchal days in any kind of significant way yet. --- Or to say it another way, we are now seeing the seeds of egalitarian religion, but not yet any fruit. The servant will pray and be heard, but the servant will also still remain a servant at the end of the story. God isn't doing what God should be doing --- telling the enslaved to run away or even to fight back against their enslavement.

Laban and Bethuel - Bethuel might be the patriarch of this family, but he says very little. Laban, on the other hand does a lot of talking. One wonders if maybe Bethuel is very old or if he is just very shy?

Gifts - The giving of gifts in the context of marriage shows that at this point in time, the institution of marriage was primarily an economic relationship that tied two families together, and that while the bride would soon be leaving her family and hometown, that her marriage to Isaac would still result in long-last financial benefits to her family that will remain behind.

Will you go with this man? - Contrary to what Rashi thought, Laban and his mother are not asking Rebekah for her consent to be married (as that deal has already been struck), but rather they are asking whether Rebekah is willing to leave right away or not.

Rebekah's nursemaid? - The inclusion of the nursemaid in this story provides a few details into the family dynamics of Rebekah's upbringing. First, it meant that her family came from degree of relative wealth (as they could afford to hire a nursemaid to nurse her as a baby, instead of her own mother nursing her), but also it meant that there was a degree of protectiveness shown by her family in this story, since Rebekah is being accompanied on her journey to her new married life in a foreign land, by an older mother figure. This level of protectiveness stands in sharp contrast with the way that her relative Lot (the son of her grandfather's brother) treated his daughters back in Sodom.

Words of blessing - It is unclear who is blessing Rebekah, but it appears from context that it is Laban and her mother (and not her father, as one would expect), and that these words of blessing are meant to echo/point towards the blessings given to Abraham by his god.

Beer-lahai-roi - This is the site of a well named by Hagar, as the "well of the living one who sees me" (see 16:14), and would later be the place where Isaac would settle (see 25:11)

She alighted from the camel - This is not an accurate translation, as it literally says she "fell from her camel." It is unclear if she fell out of surprise, due to general klutzyness or if she was just in a hurry to get off the camel. I personally find this detail to be rather endearing.

She took her veil and covered herself - The veiling of women was not a common practice in this region at this time, except in the context of marriage, hence she was not veiled prior to this point (even though she was accompanied on this journey by the senior servant, his men, and her own female servants).

Isaac brought her into the tent - Note the order of events. He first "brought her into his mother's tent" (a euphemism for sexual relations), then he married her, and then he loved her. This was not an uncommon order of events at this point in history, but it should make modern religious fundamentalists question their assumptions about "biblical marriage." --- Also, the mention of "love" here is only the second time that love is mentioned up to this point in the Hebrew scriptures (the first being 22:2 which discusses Abraham's love of his son Isaac, that is prior to his decision to offer him up as a human sacrifice).

Keturah - Rashi believed that Keturah was actually a reference to Hagar, but most later commentators rejected this idea. The JPS Tanakh commentary argues that Keturah was not a subsequent wife for a now very old Abraham but rather this family tree was placed here in the story for thematic purposes (noting the name Keturah as being connected to the word for spices and her children as being the ancestors of nomadic peoples who were involved in the spice trade), but that Keturah is another concubine of Abraham from an earlier point in his life. Interestingly though, the text itself does refer to Keturah as a wife and not as only a concubine.

Abraham's estate plan - As an attorney, I find this story rather interesting. Abraham's decision to give gifts to his other sons while he was still alive served two purposes: it clarified that Isaac would be his only heir at death, but also prevented Isaac from leaving his half-siblings without anything. Given Abraham's previous concerns over his son Ishmael's welfare, this inclusion of the sons of Keturah in his gift giving is consistent with his how his character is depicted, at least in his better moments.

good ripe age, old and contented - What a beautiful way to describe a life well-lived, but it feels a bit hollow given some of the ugly parts of the story we know from the text. Still, one friend (who happens to be a rabbi) who I spoke to about my conflicted feelings regarding Abraham, reminded me that Abraham didn't get to edit the story of his life, and that the ugly parts are not the whole story.

gathered to his kin - Sforno said that "gathered to his kin" meant that "he was attached to the bundle of souls who are part of the life after death, all of whom the righteous of the various generations who were like him in lifestyle" and that this was not a reference to his biological kin.

Isaac and Ishmael, back together again - Many commentators have noted the power of this moment in the story, with the elder brother (who, along with his mother, was kicked out of the household by his father), alongside the younger brother (who was going to be murdered by his father at Mount Moriah, prior to the angel allegedly stopping him --- but who also was the heir of his father's wealth) have now come together to bury their father. Both sons had faced deep rejection by their father and had good reasons to be resentful towards each other, but death brought them together anyway.

After the death of Abraham, God blessed his son Isaac - We are not told what this blessing consisted of. Was it a verbal promise like Abraham often received? Was it a dream or a vision seen at the terebinth trees? We are not told.

Beer-lahai-roi - This is the same place where Hagar found a well, but also the same place where he first saw his future wife, Rebekah. The connection of this sacred place to important events in the lives of both him and his half-brother Ishmael seems significant.

Hagar the Egyptian, Sarah's slave - The text doesn't mince words here. Hagar was an enslaved person. Her being a concubine and mother of Ishmael didn't change that fact.

Twelve chieftains of as many tribes - The use of symbolic numbers (such as 12 tribes of Ishmael and later 12 tribes of Israel) should remind us, that despite the fascinating details, that we are reading legend and not history.

gathered to his kin - The same language used to describe what happened to his father Abraham after death. And while we are not given the glowing language used for his father at death, we also have no hint of Ishmael being anything other than a righteous man.

they camped alongside all their kinsman - In Hebrew, it literally reads as "he him camped alongside his kinsman." Ibn Ezra stated that it might be possible that this is referring to where Ishmael and his people initially camped (to the west of Canaan, towards Egypt) and not their final destination in the west.

* JPS Torah Commentary: Genesis (1989 Jewish Publications Society). Accessed via Logos.com

* Frankel, Ellen The Five Books of Miriam (1997)

* Sefaria (see contextual links above)

* Wikipedia (see contextual links above)

* "Interview with Tzemah Yoreh" Judaism Unbound Podcast

* Zoom class "Reading Biblical Stories through Humanist eyes" (City Congregation of New York)

* * Roop, Eugene F. Believers Church Bible Commentary: Genesis (1987 Herald Press). Accessed via Logos.com.

* Fretheim, Terence E. "The Book of Genesis" New Interpreter’s Bible Volume I, Accessed via Logos.com.

* Bennett, Roger (ed.) Unscrolled: 54 Writers and Artists Wrestle with the Torah (2013).

* Levenson, Jon D. “Genesis: Introductions and Annotations” The Jewish Study Bible (2nd Ed., 2014)