The life of Sarah was one hundred twenty-seven years, the years of Sarah's life.
The Ohr Hachaim comments on the fact that the possuk uses the expression ויהיו. In most other places, when describing the life of a Tzadik or any character from the Torah, the possuk uses the expression אלה חיי – these are the lives, or ימי חיי – the days of the life. Why did the Torah change the expression here? We quoted some explanations of the Ohr Hachaim on this last year, but he still has another one.
Chazal tell us that ויהי is an expression of pain. The years were painful for Sarah. Until she was ninety years old, she suffered the pain of infertility. However, once Yitzchok was born, her pain was not over, she had to watch Yishmael threatening the wellbeing of her son. As we see in last week’s Parsha and the Medrash, Yishmael threatened to kill Yitzchok. Once Yishmael was sent away, her life calmed down, and she could enjoy some of it.
The possuk now reads differently - יֵּיַח וּיְה יַו שָׂרָׂה מֵּאָׂה שָׂנָׂה – and the years of pain that Sarah endured were one hundred. וְעֶשְרִּ ים שָׂנָׂה וְשֶבַע שָׂנִּים שְנֵּי חַיֵּי שָׂרָׂה - and twenty seven years were the years of Sarah’s life. That was when she truly lived.
