After I'saac had been spared by the LORD on the altar of burnt offerings, A'bra-ham and his family moved once again to the hill country of Ca'naan. Here A'bra-ham settled at He'bron, where he had lived forty years before. He'bron was the oldest city and the first place that might be called civilized in that land. It had been built by descendants of Heth, who was a son of Ham, seven years before the building of Zo'an, the oldest capital of Egypt.
Soon there came great sorrow to A'bra-ham, and the shadow of death fell upon his home. Death came at last to Sa'rah, the beloved wife of A'bra-ham, and the mother of his son I'saac. Married to A'bra-ham when they were both young, Sa'rah had gone with him on many long, dangerous journeys, had been a faithful companion to him during years of hardship and disappointment, and had rejoiced with him at the birth of I'saac. She had lived to the ripe old age of one hundred and twenty-seven years, having been spared to raise her only son until he reached the age of thirty-seven.
The death of one who had been dear to him for so many years was a great shock to A'bra-ham. He was a stern, stout-hearted man, one who had borne many trials without complaint, and who had yielded only to the will of God, but now he bowed his head in bitter grief. But he wept not as those who have no hope; the blinding tears of grief opened the eyes of his soul to see more clearly into the world beyond. With a firm belief in the future life, A'bra-ham was comforted by the thought that Sa'rah's spirit had passed into a state of perfect happiness, and that soon he would follow.
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