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King Solomon said, “A good name is better than precious ointment; and the day of death than the day of one’s birth” (Eccl. 7:1). He did not say that death is better than birth, for, after all, we must be born before we can die.
Solomon’s point was that the name given to you at birth is like fragrant ointment, and you must keep it that way until you die. When you received your name at birth, nobody knew what you would make out of it, but at death, that name is either fragrant or putrid. If it is fragrant at death, then people can rejoice, for after death, nothing can change it. So, for a person with a good name, the day of death is better than the day of birth.
The names of Abraham and Sarah were fragrant in life and in death and are still fragrant today. In these chapters, we meet Abraham and Sarah at the end of life’s road, and we learn from them what it means to die in faith.