'And he was GATHERED to his people' — the death-formula, spoken over Abraham (25:8) and Ishmael (25:17), and later Isaac, Jacob, Moses, Aaron. It is distinct from burial (Abraham is 'gathered' in v8, then buried in v9) — the phrase reaches past the grave to a JOINING of the ancestors, a quiet, undogmatic hint of continued existence long before the Hebrew Bible speaks plainly of resurrection (Daniel 12:2). Not a tomb but a homecoming; the same dignity is given Ishmael as Abraham. → first discussed at Gen 25:8