Genesis 15:15

Gen 15:15 And thou shalt go to thy fathers in peace; thou shalt be buried in a good old age.

Ver. 15. Thou shalt go to thy fathers.] The "spirits of just men made perfect"; all the court of heaven shall meet thee, and welcome thee into their society. That brave Panegyris, Heb 12:22-23.

In peace.] So Josiah did, according to the promise, though he died in battle. {2Ch 34:28} God made war to be peace to him. {a}

In a good old age.] Heb., With a good hoar head, which is "a crown," when "found in the way of righteousness". {Pro 16:31}

{a} Bellum, cui nos instamus, pax est, non bellum. - Zuingl. apud Melch. Adam.

John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Gen 15:15. Thou shalt go to thy fathers — At death we go to our fathers, to all our fathers that are gone before us to the state of the dead, to our godly fathers that are gone before us to the state of the blessed. The former helps to take off the terror of death, the latter puts comfort into it. Thou shalt be buried in a good old age — Perhaps mention is made of his burial here, where the land of Canaan is promised him, because a burying-place was the first possession he had in it.

Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Verse 15. Thou shalt go to thy fathers in peace] This verse strongly implies the immortality of the soul, and a state of separate existence. He was gathered to his fathers- introduced into the place where separate spirits are kept, waiting for the general resurrection. Two things seem to be distinctly marked here:

1. The soul of Abram should be introduced among the assembly of the first-born; Thou shalt go to thy fathers in peace.

2. His body should be buried after a long life, one hundred and seventy-five years, Ge 25:7. The body was buried; the soul went to the spiritual world, to dwell among the fathers - the patriarchs, who had lived and died in the Lord. See Clarke on Gen 25:8.

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

15. And thou shalt go to thy fathers in peace. Hitherto the Lord had respect to the posterity of Abram as well as to himself, that the consolation might be common to all; but now he turns his address to Abram alone, because he had need of peculiar confirmation. And the remedy proposed for alleviating his sorrow was, that he should die in peace, after he had attained the utmost limit of old age. The explanation given by some that he should die a natural death, exempt from violence; or an easy death, in which his vital spirits should spontaneously and naturally fail, and his life itself should fall by its own maturity, without any sense of pain, is, in my opinion, frigid. For Moses wishes to express that Abram should have not only a long, but a placid old age, with a corresponding joyful and peaceful death. The sense therefore is that although through his whole life, Abram was to be deprived of the possession of the land, yet he should not be wanting in the essential materials of quiet and joy, so that having happily finished his life, he should cheerfully depart to his fathers. And certainly death makes the great distinction between the reprobate and the sons of God, whose condition in the present life is commonly one and the same, except that the sons of God have by far the worst of it. Wherefore peace in death ought justly to be regarded as a singular benefit, because it is a proof of that distinction to which I have just alluded. Even profane writers, feeling their way in the dark, have perceived this. Plato, in his book on the Republic, (lib.1) cites a song of Pindar, in which he says, that they who live justly and homily, are attended by a sweet hope, cherishing their hearts and nourishing their old age; which hope chiefly governs the fickle mind of men. Because men, conscious of guilt, must necessarily be miserably harassed by various torments; the Poet, when he asserts that hope is the reward of a good conscience, calls it the nurse of old age. For as young men, while far removed from death, carelessly take their pleasure; the old are admonished by their own weakness, seriously to reflect that they must depart. Now unless the hope of a better life inspires them, nothing remains for them but miserable fears. Finally, as the reprobate indulge themselves during their whole life, and stupidly sleep in their vices, it is necessary that their death should be full of trouble; while the faithful commit their souls into the hand of God without fear and sadness. Whence also Balaam was constrained to break forth in this expression,

‘Let my soul die the death of the righteous,’ (Numbers 23:10.)

Moreover, since men have not such a desirable close of life in their own power; the Lord, in promising a placid and quiet death to his servant Abram, teaches us that it is his own gift. And we see that even kings, and others who deem themselves happy in this world, are yet agitated in death; because they are visited with secret compunctions for their sins, and look for nothing in death but destruction. But Abram willingly and joyfully went forward to his death, seeing that he had in Isaac a certain pledge of the divine benediction, and knew that a better life was laid up for him in heaven.

John Calvin's Commentaries (1540-1563) — public domain. Text from the Calvin Translation Society English edition (1840s-50s) via the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (ccel.org). Calvin's coverage is partial (roughly two-thirds of the Bible); uncommented books and verses are honest gaps, never fabricated. The 19th-century editor's footnotes and remarks are omitted so the notes are faithfully Calvin's own voice.

(15) Thou shalt go to thy fathers in peace.—Abram’s ancestors had died in Babylonia, but the phrase, used here for the first time, evidently involves the thought of the immortality of the soul. The body may be buried far away, but the soul joins the company of its forefathers in some separate abode, not to be absorbed, but still to enjoy a personal existence. (Comp. Gen_25:8.) A similar, but more exact, distinction between the body and the spirit is drawn in Ecc_12:7.

A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

15. go to thy fathers] i.e. depart in death to join thy forefathers in the place of departed spirits, i.e. Sheôl. Cf. Gen_47:30, “when I sleep with my fathers”; Gen_49:33, “was gathered unto his people.”

a good old age] See for the fulfilment of this promise, Gen_25:7-8. To live to a good old age and to depart this life in peace, was, as is shewn in the typical lives of the patriarchs, regarded as the reward of true piety. Cf. Job_5:26, “Thou shalt come to thy grave in a full age, like as a shock of corn cometh in its season”; Pro_9:11; Pro_10:27.

The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

And in the fourth generation they shall come hither again,.... The seed of Abram were in the land of Canaan before their descent into Egypt; and it is here predicted and promised, that they should come thither again, as they did, in the fourth generation of those that descended thither; for Moses and Aaron were the fourth from Levi, or Eleazar from Kohath, and Caleb from Judah; or rather this was in the fourth age or century from the birth of Isaac, when the four hundred were up before mentioned, men living at that time about an hundred years: Grotius interprets this of the fourth generation of the Amorites, because of what follows:

for the iniquity of the Amorites is not yet full; and therefore as yet would not be turned out of the land, and the seed of Abram could not till then inherit it: wicked people have a measure of iniquity to fill up, which is known of God; some are longer, some are quicker in filling it up, during which time God waits patiently and bears with them; but, when it is completed, he stays no longer, but takes vengeance on them, Mat 23:32. The Amorites were only one of the nations of the Canaanites, but were a very strong and powerful one, and are put for them all, and are the rather mentioned, because Abram at this time dwelt among them; and it seems as if there were some good men among them, such as the confederates of Abram might be, and they were not arrived to that depth of wickedness they afterwards would and did, and which brought on their ruin, and so made way for the posterity of Abram to inherit their land. Ben Melech interprets it of the punishment of the sin of the Amorites, the time for that was not come to dispossess them of their land.

John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

To thy fathers, i.e. either,

1. Into heaven, where thy godly progenitors are gone; or,

2. Into the state of the dead, where all thy fathers are gone before thee. This may seem more probable, at least in this place, partly, because this or the like phrase is indifferently used concerning good and bad men; see Gen 25:8; Psa 49:19; partly, because this phrase is so expounded, Act 13:36, He, i.e. David, was laid to his fathers, and (for that is) saw corruption; partly, because some of Abraham’s fathers, and particularly Nahor, his grandfather, who lived and died an idolater, cannot with any warrant from Scripture be presumed to be gone to the place of blessedness in their souls. Free from those afflictions which shall come upon thy posterity after thy decease.

Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

15. Go to thy fathers — A profound expression, suggestive of reunion in another and immortal life. Comp. Gen_25:8; Gen 39:29; Gen_49:33. To go to one’s father or people implies that they were somewhere living still. That the words do not here mean being buried in the ancestral tomb is evident from the fact that Abram was not buried with his father; and then, in all the passages cited above, the burial is mentioned as subsequent and distinct.

A good old age — One hundred and seventy-five years old; Gen_25:7-8.

Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

And thou shalt go to thy fathers in peace (cf. Gen_25:8 Gen_35:29 Gen_49:33) Not a periphrasis for going to the grave (Rosenm since Abram s ancestors were not entombed in Canaan; but a proof of the survival of departed spirits in a state of conscious existence after death (Knobel, Murphy, Wordsworth, "Speaker s Commentary," Inglis), to the company of which the patriarch was in due time to be gathered. The disposal of his remains is provided for in what follows.

Thou shalt be buried in a good old age.

The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Thou shalt go to thy fathers - At death we go to our fathers, to all our fathers that are gone before us to the state of the dead, to our godly fathers that are gone before us to the state of the blessed. The former helps to take off the terror of death, the latter puts comfort into it. Thou shalt be buried in a good old age - Perhaps mention is made of his burial here, where the land of Canaan is promised him, because a burying-place was the first possession he had in it. Old age is a blessing, if it be a good old age: theirs may be called a good old age,

1. That are old and healthful, not loaded with such distempers as make them weary of life:

2. That are old and holy, whose hoary head is found in the way of righteousness, old and useful, old and exemplary for godliness, that is indeed a good old age.

John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.

ואתה תבוא BUT THOU SHALT COME etc. Thou shalt not behold all this.

אל אבותיך UNTO THY FATHERS — His father was an idolator and yet it (the text) announced to him that he (Abraham) would go to him! But this teaches you that Terah repented of his evil ways (Genesis Rabbah 30:4).

תקבר בשיבה טובה THOU SHALT BE BURIED IN A GOOD OLD AGE — He announced to him that Ishmael would repent during his (Abraham’s) life-time (Genesis Rabbah 38:12). Esau, too, did, not become degenerate during Abraham’s life-time. It was just for this reason (in order that he might not witness Esau’s evil conduct) that Abraham died five years before his proper time, for the very day when he died Esau rebelled against God (Genesis Rabbah 63:12).

Rashi on the Tanakh — English translations: “The Judaica Press complete Tanach with Rashi, translated by A. J. Rosenberg” (CC BY 4.0); “Pentateuch with Rashi's commentary by M. Rosenbaum and A.M. Silbermann, 1929-1934” (public domain); “The Metsudah Tanach series, Lakewood, N.J” (CC BY 4.0); and “The Book of Joshua, Metsudah Publications, 1997” (CC BY 4.0). Text via Sefaria.

AND THOU SHALT COME TO THY FATHERS IN PEACE. And thou shalt not behold at this. Thus the language of Rashi.This is not correct according to Rashi’s own interpretation, namely, that the decree, thy seed shall be a stranger in a land not their own, took effect as soon as Abraham had a child. Thus, soon after Isaac was born it states, And Abraham sojourned (‘vayagar’) in the land of the Philistines; has the same root letters as geir (stranger), thus suggesting that Abraham lived as a “stranger” in a land which was not his own. And Isaac sojourned in Gerar., 26:6. The verse however states, vayeshev (and he “dwelled”), and not vayagar. In Rashi a different verse is quoted: Sojourn (‘gur’) in this land. (Ibid., Verse 3.) Now gur has the same root as vayagar. (See preceding note.) Now if so, Abraham was also included in the decree! But the meaning of the verse, And thou shalt come to thy fathers in peace, is that “no punishment will come to you from Me even though I decree on your children punishments of servitude and affliction.”

Ramban (Nachmanides) on the Tanakh — English translation: “Commentary on the Torah by Ramban (Nachmanides). Translated and annotated by Charles B. Chavel. New York, Shilo Pub. House, 1971-1976” (CC BY 4.0). Text via Sefaria.

ואתה תבא אל אבותיך בשלום, you will die in peace, i.e. you will not witness in your lifetime any of the upsetting developments of which I have spoken to you. As far as the word אבותיך is concerned, this is a common expression used by most people as a metaphor making death sound less negative. Expressions such as ויאסף אל עמיו, "he was gathered in to his people" in Genesis 49,33, or והאסף אל עמיך, "be gathered in to your people" in Deuteronomy 32,50 all express similar sentiments. Some commentators (quoted by Rashi) claim that the wording proves that Terach, Avraham's father had discarded idolatry and accepted monotheism prior to his own death. This is problematic, seeing that we find in Chronicles II 34,28 that kind Yoshiyahu is told by G'd הנני אוסיפך אל אבותיך, and we know that his father Amon died as an unrepentant sinner. תקבר בשיבה טובה, you will see sons and grandsons before you die.

ודור רביעי ישובו הנה, the fourth generation, starting with those who descended to Egypt, which was the place of their exile, will return to this their land that they migrated from. This prediction was fulfilled, seeing that Kehat who was one of Yaakov's grandsons went down to Egypt, and the children of Moses and Aaron who were the fourth generation were among those who entered the land of Canaan under the leadership of Joshua.

Radak on the Tanakh — English translations: “Sefaria Community Translation” (CC0 1.0 (public-domain dedication)); “Eliyahu Munk, HaChut Hameshulash” (CC BY 4.0); “Rabbi Mike Feuer, Jerusalem Anthology” (CC BY 4.0); and “R. David Kimhi on the first book of Psalms, Translated by R.G. Finch, London, 1919” (public domain). Text via Sefaria.