Sarah
- Dates
- 1936–1809 BC
Her name means "princess." She is the daughter of Terah and wife and sister of Abram. They had the same father, but not the same mother. Sarai, later Sarah, became the mother of a promised child (Rom. 4:19), Isaac, through whom the Savior came.
In detail
The wife of Abraham (Gen 11:29) and daughter of his father, but not of his mother (ch 20:12). She was about 10 years younger than Abraham (ch 17:17), and was therefore about 65 years old when her husband left Haran at the age of 75 (ch 12:4). Shortly after their arrival in Palestine a famine broke out which forced them to go to Egypt to keep their large household alive. Fearing that Sarah's beauty would, in spite of her age, attract the attention of the Egyptians, Abraham pretended she was his sister.
Posing now as unmarried, she was taken to Pharaoh's harem. But the king returned her to Abraham when her true status became known, with a rebuke for Abraham's deception and a request that Abraham leave the country (vs 10—20). Abraham did not profit by this experience, but again passed off Sarah as his sister, this time in the country of Abimelech of Gerar (ch 20:1—18). When about 75 years of age (cf. chs 16:16 17:17) Sarah despaired of ever becoming a mother, and requested her husband to have a child through Hagar, her Egyptian slave.
In making this proposal Sarah followed a custom of her native Mesopotamia. The result was the birth of Ishmael (ch 16:1—16). Later, when about 89 years old, Sarah received a definite promise that she would give birth to a son within a year. It was on this occasion that her name, which had hitherto been Sarai, was changed to Sarah. The promise was fulfilled in the birth of Isaac. During Isaac's weaning feast Sarah saw Ishmael tormenting Isaac (Gen 21:9 Gal 4:29), whereupon she demanded that Ishmael and Hagar be expelled from the family.
At God's direction Abraham reluctantly obeyed (Gen 21:9—14). Nothing more is recorded of Sarah except that she died at the age of 127 at Kiriath—arba, or Hebron (Gen 23:1, 2). She was buried in the Cave of Machpelah, which Abraham bought after her death as a family sepulcher (vs 19, 20). Isaiah refers to Sarah as the mother of the Israelite nation (Is 51:2), and Paul writes of her as the mother of the child of promise (Rom 4:19 9:9). Peter mentions her as an example of a good wife (1 Pe 3:6), and in Heb 11:11 she is praised for her faith.
Bible passages
- Genesis 23:1-2
1 And Sarah was an hundred and seven and twenty years old: these were the years of the life of Sarah. 2 And Sarah died in Kirjath–arba; the same is Hebron in the land of Canaan: and Abraham came to mourn for Sarah, and to weep for her.
- Genesis 20:12
And yet indeed she is my sister; she is the daughter of my father, but not the daughter of my mother; and she became my wife.
Text of the King James Version.
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