Genesis 23: Sarah dies

Reading of Sarah's death right after the last story in which Abraham seemed willing to offer up their son always reminds me that we didn't hear from her during that chapter. If this were a novel rather than a biblical account, can you imagine the scene? Jewish writers have composed midrash (commentaries on scripture) about this -- particularly more recently when consciousness of the absence of women's voices led many into writing midrash again. Midrash ask questions of the text that the text itself sometimes may or may not be interested in -- they aren't theology exactly, though they can be. Midrash remind me that the stories of the bible are to be lived with, pondered, chewed on, explored. Asking anything is fair game; bringing the story into your own life and concerns is vitally important. I'm not saying that we can make the Bible say whatever we want -- when we read well and read scripture in light of scripture we find ourselves engaged with and sometimes wrestling an Other that is far from containable and definable. But we are always looking for, listening for the Word of the Lord in and through these words, the words God would speak to us.
Scholars will tell you that this chatper is part of the Priestly tradition, reminding us that many hearts and minds worked to compose what we call Genesis. These writers were concerned with the proper way to do things and the consequences of doing things the right and the worng way. In many ancient cultures, burying your dead in a plot of land gave their heirs a holy claim to it. This is a foreshadowing of how a faithful people will dwell in the "Promised Land."