Who was Sarah in the Bible? God continually looks for those people who will be faithful to participate in His plan to bring salvation to the world. Enter Abraham and Sarah. God called Abram and his wife Sarai to leave their home and go on a journey of faith that would change the world.
God’s call and promise to Abraham is still the binding call and promise today: the call to faithfulness (Romans 4:15-16). Eve is the mother of humanity, but Sarah is the mother of all children of faith, including you and me. Sarah is not incidental in the story of Abraham. She was as much a part of God’s plan as Abraham was.
In their 60-year journey, the couple traveled through a land mass a little larger than Texas, from what is now Iraq, north through Syria, and down through Canaan (modern-day Israel). At one point, God sent them to Egypt to avoid a famine. After that they remained in Canaan where God acquainted Abraham with the promised land—the land He was promising them and their descendants.
Sarah: A Beloved Princess
Who was Sarah? She was a beautiful and cherished princess.
“As for Sarai your wife, you shall not call her name Sarai, but Sarah shall be her name. I will bless her, and moreover, I will give you a son by her. I will bless her, and she shall become nations; kings of peoples shall come from her.” (Genesis 17:15-16, ESV)
Eleven years into their journey, God changed Abram’s name (“exalted father”) to Abraham (“father of many nations”). He changed Sarai to Sarah; however, both versions of her name mean “princess.” It may be that the name “Sarah” adds the more personal “my” princess, but either is an expression of endearment and meant she was valued and deeply cared for. I would like to think that God wanted Sarah to know He cherished her as well as Abraham.
Who was Sarah in the Bible? “He changed Sarai to Sarah; however, both versions of her name mean ‘princess.'”
As many women have learned, beauty can be a burden as well as a blessing. When Abraham undertook the mission God gave him, he also understood that they could all be in danger because of Sarah’s great beauty. Notice that Abraham was seventy-five and Sarah was sixty-five when they left Ur of the Chaldees.
“When he was about to enter Egypt, he said to Sarai his wife, ‘I know that you are a woman beautiful in appearance, and when the Egyptians see you, they will say, “This is his wife.” Then they will kill me, but they will let you live. Say you are my sister, that it may go well with me because of you, and that my life may be spared for your sake.’When Abram entered Egypt, the Egyptians saw that the woman was very beautiful.” (Genesis 12:12-14, ESV)
Abraham tried this charade again with King Abimelech when they traveled through Gerar (near Gaza today). Although Abraham’s conduct with her isn’t at all praiseworthy, it is important to resist the temptation to read Abraham’s words and actions through today’s lens. In Genesis 20:12, Abraham informs Abimelech that Sarah is the daughter of his father but not of his mother. It was common to refer to a wife as a sister if this would give the husband more esteem. Marriage to a sister was accepted in some cases when there were multiple wives.
However, Abraham’s actions ended up putting the mother of God’s promised children into an Egyptian Pharaoh’s harem! God rescued Sarah and her future children by exposing Abraham’s ploy. In an outcome only God could have brought about, Abraham went on his way with his wife (before she slept with the Pharaoh), and with rich bounty as well.
Who was Sarah in the Bible? “God rescued Sarah and her future children by exposing Abraham’s ploy.”
Sarah: A Leader
Leaders are problem solvers, and Sarah’s abilities proved she could do the job.
Abraham and Sarah were nomads (Genesis 23 & 24). I can relate to Sarah here. We moved our family of six back and forth between two countries. I have lived in fifteen different homes, and one thing I know is moving a family is not for the faint of heart. Abraham and Sarah had lived in the important city of Haran in the land of Ur. They were educated and they were wealthy. They had possessions, servants, and livestock (Genesis 12:5; 13:6). After God’s claim on their lives, they lived in tents and traveled continuously for approximately sixty years before Sarah died. They resided in approximately twelve locations, until Sarah’s death when she was 125 years old.
The wife of a man like Abraham would have had the responsibility to direct servants and oversee all the normal work of keeping people fed and clothed, all that is necessary to maintain a functional home. Add to that the manual labor demanded by the nomadic lifestyle. Depending on the circumstances, wives set up the tents and pounded tent pegs into hard ground. Sarah’s responsibilities required leadership, organizational skills, and stamina.
Who was Sarah in the Bible? “Sarah’s responsibilities required leadership, organizational skills, and stamina.”
However, that problem-solving inclination can also lend itself to the tendency to be controlling, or solving problems that are not ours to solve. Sarah’s biggest heartache was her barrenness. Unable to give Abraham a child, despite God’s promises to Abraham, she watched the years go by, and she watched other women have child after child. At various times along the way, Sarah decided she needed to help God solve a problem, and at that point she created chaos.
When God’s promise that Abraham would have a son did not happen in good time, Sarah gave her servant, Hagar, to Abraham to ensure the family would have an heir. To our minds, Sarah’s scheme may seem bizarre, although in recent years surrogate motherhood has become more accepted. The desire to have children is not unique to this generation, and the heartbreak of waiting month after month was no easier in Sarah’s time than it is now. In fact, the law of Sarah’s homeland required wives to present their husbands with a child, and if a wife could not, she was to offer one of her servants to provide offspring. Although the Bible does not specify one way or another, there is no mention that Abraham had seen fit to make this demand. It does not appear that he pressured Sarah to give him one of her handmaidens. Certainly, Sarah went from year to year, hoping.
While we charge Sarah with “taking things into her own hands,” we must allow that she was doing nothing wrong in her culture and time. We know that the scheme did produce a son—Ishmael—but God had made it clear that it was Sarah who would bear the son through whom He would send the Savior. However, the delicate balance between a woman and her servant shifted as Hagar took pride in providing the son that her mistress could not.
“Sarah gave her servant, Hagar, to Abraham to ensure they would have an heir.”
Then, as we women sometimes do, Sarah took the frustration out on her husband. “You are responsible for the wrong I am suffering…may the Lord judge between you and me” (Genesis 16:5, ESV). It was as if she was saying, “You fix this mess! Choose one of us and be done with it.” Abraham obviously loved Sarah and so put the situation back into her hands. In her resentment, Sarah mistreated Hagar.
Thirteen years later, when the promised son of Abraham and Sarah—Isaac—came and was weaned, amid the celebration, Ishmael mocked him. This infuriated Sarah to the point that she demanded that Abraham banish him and his mother. Abraham was not in agreement. However, God told Abraham to cooperate with Sarah and promised him that Hagar and Ishmael would not only survive but become a great nation.
Promise or no promise, Sarah suffered for the shortcut she had taken. God will not be strong-armed to fit into our will, nor our timeline. We all find ourselves in this hard learning curve from time to time. God rarely takes away the consequences of our bad choices, but he remains faithful and helps us through these hard things. Sarah put her hope in God but made mistakes in the process. Her strengths served her well. Her weaknesses forced her to admit that her strengths were from God alone, and after she chose to force her own will, she needed to step back and reset her direction.
“Promise or no promise, Sarah suffered for the shortcut she had taken.”
Sarah: A Faithful Follower
Sarah followed her husband. She left her family and her comfortable life as Abraham obeyed God’s call. Obviously, he had shared his calling from God with her, and we have no reason from Scripture to believe that Sarah was not in agreement with God’s claim on their lives (Genesis 12:1-9).
She left a stable, safe life and homeland among family to live as a nomad. She cooperated with Abraham’s risky tactics to mislead the Egyptian Pharoah and King Abimelech. She watched Abraham put up with Lot, his troublesome nephew, and accepted the agreement of their separation. And finally God blessed her with the miraculous conception and birth of their son Isaac. Abraham, together with Sarah, raised Isaac to follow in their footsteps to honor God.
Yet some women chafe at the apostle Peter’s advice that women imitate Sarah in their relationship with their husbands.
“Do not let your adorning be external—the braiding of hair and the putting on of gold jewelry, or the clothing you wear—but let your adorning be the hidden person of the heart with the imperishable beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which in God’s sight is very precious. For this is how the holy women who hoped in God used to adorn themselves, by submitting to their own husbands, as Sarah obeyed Abraham, calling him lord. And you are her children, if you do good and do not fear anything that is frightening.” (1 Peter 3:3-6, ESV)
Who was Sarah in the Bible? “This is how the holy women who hoped in God used to adorn themselves, by submitting to their own husbands, as Sarah obeyed Abraham.”
Our culture has moved toward moral upheaval, a chaotic version of “everyone did what was right in his own eyes” (see Judges 17:6, ESV). So it is not surprising that many people disdain and misunderstand Peter’s advice. Note that the passage is a serious discussion of the importance of submission to authority, concluding a broader teaching in the first three chapters of 1 Peter on a life of holiness. Peter mentions scenarios in which we are to honor others, not as a slave, but in obedience to God and to imitate Christ, who is our example.
Peter uses Sarah’s example to advocate for an attitude that makes strong marriage relationships, harmony, and stability rather than fear. Sarah faithfully followed God, and God recognized her faithfulness, despite her impatience. She is one of only two women mentioned in the list of faith superstars by the writer of the letter to the Hebrews.
“By faith Sarah herself received power to conceive, even when she was past the age, since she considered him faithful who had promised. Therefore from one man, and him as good as dead, were born descendants as many as the stars of heaven and as many as the innumerable grains of sand by the seashore.” (Hebrews 11:11-12, ESV)
There is some ambiguity in the Greek text, so that we aren’t sure whether the subject here is Sarah or Abraham and Sarah (based on the previous verse). Either way, the author of Hebrews commends the faith of both Abraham and Sarah (Hebrews 11:8-12).
“The author of Hebrews commends the faith of both Abraham and Sarah.”
What Faith Is and Isn’t
God knew the life Abraham and Sarah had accepted was difficult. Perhaps that is why He appeared to Abraham several times. But it had to have taken its toll on Sarah’s human faith. Years had passed since the promise was made; before they saw its fulfillment, Sarah and Abraham were well past the age of childbearing. In one of God’s appearances, the following conversation took place:
They said to him, “Where is Sarah your wife?” And he said, “She is in the tent the LORD said, “I will surely return to you about this time next year, and Sarah your wife shall have a son.” And Sarah was listening at the tent door behind him. Now Abraham and Sarah were old, advanced in years. The way of women had ceased to be with Sarah. So Sarah laughed to herself, saying, “After I am worn out, and my lord is old, shall I have pleasure?” The LORD said to Abraham, “Why did Sarah laugh and say, ‘Shall I indeed bear a child, now that I am old?’ Is anything too hard for the LORD? At the appointed time I will return to you, about this time next year, and Sarah shall have a son.” But Sarah denied it, saying, “I did not laugh,” for she was afraid. He said, “No, but you did laugh.”
(Genesis 18:10-15, ESV)
Sarah’s laugh has been characterized as a sign of disbelief—lack of faith, or even impertinence. But note that she laughed and kept her thoughts to herself. When she overheard her husband’s visitor repeat the promise again, is it any wonder she laughed? God knew it was time for them to have a face to face. He let Sarah know that He saw her and He understood her frustration and confusion. She knew it was impossible! And that is right where God wanted her!
“He let Sarah know that He saw her and He understood her frustration and confusion.”
God asked Abraham where his wife was, and then He repeated the promise so she would hear it. But the Lord knew those private ponderings, and He recognized her feelings. He knew that she was no longer physically able to have a child, nor was her husband able to impregnate her. The fulfillment of this promise was completely out of her control, and she needed to know it. He did not rebuke or ridicule her.
For the first time, He spoke directly to Sarah. He simply reiterated His promise to Abraham, and then He addressed Sarah in a way that revealed an intimate understanding of her heart: ” Yes, you did laugh.”
God knows that our knowledge is limited. Our mistakes, doubts, and fears do not prohibit God from working through us. It is in those very fears and doubts that God works with his followers to show His infinite mercy and power. We are not to worship faith; we worship a faithful God. Faith is when, despite what we cannot understand from a human perspective, we say, “I’m still standing with you, God, because You are in control.” Notice that faith is not saying, “I know you’ll do what I want.”
Despite her struggles, God blessed Sarah with a son, Isaac. She and Abraham raised him to be a God follower as well. She was revered at her death and mourned by her family (Genesis 23).
“She was revered at her death and mourned by her family.”
A Conversation with Sarah
If we could talk to Sarah about her faith sojourn today, she might share something like this:
“I am Sarah, wife of Abraham, on whom God bestowed great mercy and love. My husband was a gifted man, and with his brother and father, he built up a thriving business and great wealth. Yes, we did live two thousand years before the Messiah, but do not think of us as scrubby cave dwellers who hovered over fires in a cave. Abraham had hundreds of flocks of sheep and goats, and he was a prosperous merchant. We had over three hundred men working for us as servants and for protection.
“When Abraham heard God’s voice, I trusted and respected his decision to follow God’s call to a new land. Abraham relied upon me as well. But I was barren. Even though God had promised us a child, I took matters into my own hands. I truly believed I was doing the right thing, but I was so wrong.
“All I can tell you is, no matter how hard it seems, wait on God. Do not give up on Him. He will never let you down and He is faithful. And He was gracious to me and gave me a son, Isaac. Despite my interference, God still blessed the whole world though Abraham’s seed, and through Him we can have peace. Do not ever think you need to fix God’s plan. He is faithful and His works are always good and in His perfect time. But when we interfere, we just cause chaos.”
