In Genesis 25:7-11 At the death of Abraham we are told five things about him:
• Vs. 7 The number of years of his earthly life: 175 years is a fulfillment of God’s Word to him in Gen.15:15 where we read, “you shall go to your fathers in peace; you shall be buried at a good old age.”
• Vs. 8a The quality of his life of faith: The phrase that is used, “full of years”, is an interesting one as it describes a person at a great banquet who has had plenty to eat, drink and laugh but has decided to call it a night without any regrets. The person of faith has a quality of life that goes far beyond having fulfilled their hearts desire during their earthly existence to that of seeing that their ship for an even greater life is about to set sail, thus the words of 15:15 “in peace” carry much more importance!
• Vs. 8b Life was not ending it was just beginning: There is an interesting phrase here, “was gathered to his people.” The question is, “What people are they speaking of?” In God’s word to him back in 12:2 the promise was made that he would become a great nation but he has only one son of promise and Sarah is the only one that has preceded him in death. This cannot be speaking of his past ancestors because God had told him that he was a new nation, and it can’t be speaking of those buried in the same locations because there is only one person buried there, Sarah. That means that “His people” are the people of faith and that they are not dead but alive. Jesus answered a question on the resurrection by saying, “God is not the God of the dead, but of the living.” Life was just about to begin for Abraham as he would be joined with “his people”, who preceded him in faith, three of which we are told of in Hebrews 11 “Able, Enoch, and Noah”.
• Vs. 9 The impact of his death: We last heard of Ishmael with Isaac when he was 17 years of age. Now we are told in chapter 16:16 that Abraham was 86 when Ishmael was born and we know that Abraham died at 175 which means that Ishmael is 89 and has been apart from Isaac for 72 years.
• 10-11 A ministry that brings life and death: They bury their father in a field that he purchased for his descendants of faith. This cave was a title deed to the land of promise, but it would only mean something to the sons of promise. Today we have a dispute over this land because of the blessings that God has granted to it through the sons of promise.