Genesis 18:11

18:11 Abraham and Sarah were old and advancing in years; ¹  Sarah had long since passed menopause.) ² 

Genesis 21:5

21:5 (Now Abraham was a hundred years old when his son Isaac was born to him.) ³ 

Genesis 25:20

25:20 When Isaac was forty years old, he married Rebekah, ⁴  the daughter of Bethuel the Aramean from Paddan Aram and sister of Laban the Aramean. ⁵ 

Genesis 25:1

The Death of Abraham

25:1 Abraham had taken ⁶  another ⁷  wife, named Keturah.

Genesis 1:1

The Creation of the World

1:1 In the beginning ⁸  God ⁹  created ¹⁰  the heavens and the earth. ¹¹ 

Luke 1:7

1:7 But they did not have a child, because Elizabeth was barren, ¹²  and they were both very old. ¹³ 

[18:11]  ¹ tn Heb “days.”

[18:11]  ² tn Heb “it had ceased to be for Sarah [after] a way like women.”

[21:5]  ³ tn The parenthetical disjunctive clause underscores how miraculous this birth was. Abraham was 100 years old. The fact that the genealogies give the ages of the fathers when their first son is born shows that this was considered a major milestone in one’s life (G. J. Wenham, Genesis [WBC], 2:80).

[25:20]  ⁴ tn Heb “And Isaac was the son of forty years when he took Rebekah.”

[25:20]  ⁵ sn Some valuable information is provided here. We learn here that Isaac married thirty-five years before Abraham died, that Rebekah was barren for twenty years, and that Abraham would have lived to see Jacob and Esau begin to grow up. The death of Abraham was recorded in the first part of the chapter as a “tidying up” of one generation before beginning the account of the next.

[25:1]  ⁶ tn Or “took.”

[25:1]  ⁷ tn Heb “And Abraham added and took.”

[1:1]  ⁸ tn The translation assumes that the form translated “beginning” is in the absolute state rather than the construct (“in the beginning of,” or “when God created”). In other words, the clause in v. 1 is a main clause, v. 2 has three clauses that are descriptive and supply background information, and v. 3 begins the narrative sequence proper. The referent of the word “beginning” has to be defined from the context since there is no beginning or ending with God.

[1:1]  ⁹ sn God. This frequently used Hebrew name for God (אֱלֹהִים,’elohim ) is a plural form. When it refers to the one true God, the singular verb is normally used, as here. The plural form indicates majesty; the name stresses God’s sovereignty and incomparability – he is the “God of gods.”

[1:1]  ¹⁰ tn The English verb “create” captures well the meaning of the Hebrew term in this context. The verb בָּרָא (bara’) always describes the divine activity of fashioning something new, fresh, and perfect. The verb does not necessarily describe creation out of nothing (see, for example, v. 27, where it refers to the creation of man); it often stresses forming anew, reforming, renewing (see Ps 51:10; Isa 43:15, 65:17).

[1:1]  ¹¹ tn Or “the entire universe”; or “the sky and the dry land.” This phrase is often interpreted as a merism, referring to the entire ordered universe, including the heavens and the earth and everything in them. The “heavens and the earth” were completed in seven days (see Gen 2:1) and are characterized by fixed laws (see Jer 33:25). “Heavens” refers specifically to the sky, created on the second day (see v. 8), while “earth” refers specifically to the dry land, created on the third day (see v. 10). Both are distinct from the sea/seas (see v. 10 and Exod 20:11).

[1:7]  ¹² sn Elizabeth was barren. Both Zechariah and Elizabeth are regarded by Luke as righteous in the sight of God, following all the commandments and ordinances of the Lord blamelessly (v. 6). With this language, reminiscent of various passages in the OT, Luke is probably drawing implicit comparisons to the age and barrenness of such famous OT personalities as Abraham and Sarah (see, e.g., Gen 18:9-15), the mother of Samson (Judg 13:2-5), and Hannah, the mother of Samuel (1 Sam 1:1-20). And, as it was in the case of these OT saints, so it is with Elizabeth: After much anguish and seeking the Lord, she too is going to have a son in her barrenness. In that day it was a great reproach to be childless, for children were a sign of God’s blessing (cf. Gen 1:28; Lev 20:20-21; Pss 127 and 128; Jer 22:30). As the dawn of salvation draws near, however, God will change this elderly couple’s grief into great joy and grant them the one desire time had rendered impossible.

[1:7]  ¹³ tn Grk “were both advanced in days” (an idiom for old age).