And Sarah laughed within herself, saying, After I am become old, shall I have pleasure, and my lord old?
Visitors are at Abraham's tent, and the Lord promises him a son. Sarah, listening inside, answers with a laugh nobody else could hear — and with words spoken only in her heart. Two questions follow: what was wrong with that laugh, and what was right in the words that went with it?
Abraham and Sarah heard the same promise. One writer sets their two responses side by side:
Abraham hears this great promise, and he fully realises the glory of the One who is speaking. So he expresses no astonishment, raises no difficulties, and expresses no doubt. In sharp contrast, Sarah's faith and discernment are not equal to her husband's. She hears the words, but has little sense of the glory of the Speaker. She doubts them because of what she finds in herself. She is old and her body is worn out. So she argues that what the Lord has said cannot come true. In her heart she laughs in unbelief at the very suggestion of having a son.
She laughed "to herself." That was the whole point of it — and it failed:
Sarah was now to be tested, and the announcement of the birth of a son came where she could hear it. Her response was also a laugh, but one she thought nobody else knew about. It clearly did have an element of unbelief in it, since she tried to deny it. It was known to the Lord, however. Sarah's unbelieving question only drew from Him the great question, "Is anything too hard for the LORD?" Nothing was too hard. He had recently revealed Himself to her husband as "God Almighty," though she had not yet grasped it. Sarah did grasp it in time, or we would not have the statement: "By faith Sarah herself received power to conceive" (Hebrews 11:11).
Sarah calls Abraham "my lord." This verse is where that Hebrew word first appears in the Bible:
Adon (lord) first occurs in Genesis 18:12, where Sarah speaks of Abraham as "her lord." And 1 Peter 3:6 says, "as Sarah obeyed Abraham, calling him lord." This sense is acknowledged deference to the one addressed. The superiority may belong to a position within a relationship, as of a husband addressed by a wife, or of a servant to a master, or of a subject to a king. That is the common use.
The setting proves the sincerity. Nobody was meant to hear this:
It is clear from these words that Sarah's words as well as her laughter were within herself, that is, not spoken aloud. So Sarah's words "my lord," used of her husband, were not said out loud at the time. She only said them inside herself. What a proof, then! With her those words were not a meaningless confession of the lips. They came from the thoroughly submissive and obedient heart of a truly godly wife.
Read Genesis alone and Sarah looks like a failure here. Yet Hebrews lists her among people of faith. One writer faces the gap directly:
It is only in Hebrews 11 that we find mention of Sarah's faith. You look in vain in the Old Testament narrative for any evidence of faith on her part. How good it is to remember that God's eye can detect what we cannot! ... She laughed; and when the Lord spoke to her, she denied it. So the two things that marked her at that time were unbelief and untruthfulness. This seems most unpromising soil for any plant of faith to grow in; and yet God could see there the elements of a faith which in His sight was of great price.
Sarah's story does not end at the tent door. When the child arrives, the same word comes back with the opposite meaning. The older translation this writer used ends the verse "will laugh with me," and that is the sense he draws from it:
"And Sarah said, God has made laughter for me; everyone who hears will laugh over me." She had laughed at first when Jehovah announced the set time for her to become a mother. She added the shame of untruth when charged with it (Genesis 18). But here grace changes everything. God, she owns, made her laugh now. It was no longer within herself, but from Him; and others who heard would share her joy.
- Inward. Sarah's laugh was silent and meant to stay silent. She weighed the promise by her own worn-out body, not by the glory of the One speaking.
- Inward, but heard. The Lord knew the laugh she thought was hidden, and her denial afterwards exposed the unbelief in it.
- Inward, and honest. She said "my lord" only in her heart. So it proves real submission, not a polite phrase for other people's ears.
- Inward, and sifted. Unbelief and untruthfulness marked her. Yet God's eye saw faith of great price there, and He recorded it.
- Inward turned outward. The private laugh of doubt became public joy at Isaac's birth. God made her laugh, and those who heard shared her joy.
And Jehovah said to Abraham, Why is this, that Sarah laughs, saying, Shall I indeed bear, when I am become old?
Commentary for this verse has not been generated yet.
Is [any] matter too wonderful for Jehovah? At the time appointed I will return to thee, at [this] time of the year, and Sarah shall have a son.
A visitor at Abraham's tent has promised a son to a couple far too old for children. Sarah, listening behind the door, laughed. The reply she gets is not an argument but a question, and everything turns on who is asking it.
No one tells Abraham who his guest is. He hears it in the wording of the promise — words no ordinary man could use.
Perhaps it was then that the first word, showing the divine power of Him who chose to be there, fell on Abraham's attentive ear. "I will surely return to you." It does not suit man to talk of surely returning. Was this lost on Abraham? Of course not. His long-cherished hope was now to enjoy a promise with a stated and, I may say, dated fulfilment: "I will surely return to you about this time next year, and Sarah your wife shall have a son." If it seemed vague before, it was now clear and fixed.
Husband and wife hear the same sentence and react in opposite ways. The difference is not information but the weight each of them gives to the One speaking.
Abraham hears this great promise with a full sense of the glory of the One who speaks. So he shows no astonishment, raises no objections, and expresses no doubt. In sharp contrast, Sarah's faith and discernment are not equal to her husband's. She hears the words, but has little sense of the glory of the Speaker. She doubts them because of what she finds in herself... She is rebuked for her unbelief, and Abraham is reminded that nothing is too hard for the Lord, however impossible the promise looks on natural ground.
The question was not new truth. God had already given Abraham a name for Himself that answered it, and Sarah caught up later.
Sarah's unbelieving question only drew from Him the great question, "Is anything too hard for the LORD?" Nothing was too hard. He had just revealed Himself to her husband as "the Almighty God," though she had not grasped it yet. Jeremiah grasped it in his day (Jer. 32:17), and Sarah soon did too. Otherwise we would not read: "By faith Sarah herself received power to conceive" (Heb. 11:11).
The same challenge comes to Jeremiah, who buys a field in land the enemy already holds. He and Sarah stumble at the same point.
"Is anything too hard for the Lord?" is the Lord's challenge to Jeremiah on that occasion, as it is to Sarah in Genesis 18. Sarah did not know how she could have a child, for her body was then dead. She did not know the resurrection-strength of God. Jeremiah was spending his money on a piece of ground then held by the enemy. He did not know how he could ever get its value back, for, like Sarah, he did not know the resurrection-strength of God.
Power is only half the promise. The Lord also fixes the date, and the birth record shows He kept it.
Everything on man's side having broken down, we learn that the "set time of which God had spoken" has come and the promised heir is born. He is called Isaac, meaning "laughter"... Everything takes place in God's set time, and according to God's Word.
Sarah's laugh was silent, and she thought no one heard it. What follows exposes a second failure and names its cause.
But Sarah laughed in her disbelief. Then, once found out, she denied it: "I did not laugh." She denied it for the same reason that some of us may have had to blame ourselves for something no better. "She was afraid!" How often these sad departures from the truth come from nothing but a lack of moral courage! One thing would train the soul in unflinching and most careful truthfulness. It is what Abraham cultivated and Sarah failed in: being at home in the presence of God day by day.
Scripture's later verdict on Sarah mentions none of this. That silence is deliberate, and it turns the Lord's question into an invitation.
But all this makes the grace of God so marked and cheering. We find her early failures entirely forgotten, and only the later triumph recorded here. What undeniable proof that He loves to speak well of His own! "Is anything too hard for the LORD?" He overturned all the thoughts and reasonings of her mind. Her doubts and her evasions deepened her self-judgment. His own word carried its own convincing light. From then on she "considered Him faithful who had promised." May we not ask, Is anything too good for the Lord?
- Nothing hidden — Sarah laughed to herself, and He answered that laugh. Then fear pushed her into denial, a failure that came from not living in God's presence.
- Nothing too hard — the answer to the question is a name. He had already shown Himself to Abraham as the Almighty, and His strength is resurrection strength.
- Nothing vague — "I will surely return" is language no man can use. The promise moved from open-ended to dated.
- Nothing early — Isaac arrives at "the set time of which God had spoken," so power and timing are both His.
- Nothing too good — the record drops Sarah's doubts and keeps only her faith. So the question can be turned round and asked of His grace.
And Sarah denied, saying, I did not laugh; for she was afraid. And he said, No; but thou didst laugh.
Sarah laughed to herself behind the tent door. Then the Lord named that laughter out loud, and she denied it. Why would a woman standing this close to God's promise lie about what she felt?
The verse gives the reason for her lie: she was afraid. That failure is not hers alone.
But Sarah laughed in her disbelief. Then, convicted, she denied it, saying, "I did not laugh." She denied it for the same reason that some of us may have had to blame ourselves for doing the same. "She was afraid!" How often these sad departures from the truth come from nothing but the lack of moral courage! One thing trains the soul to be truthful without flinching: being at home in the presence of God, day after day. That is what Abraham cultivated, and what Sarah failed in.
Her laughter and her lie grow from one root.
There is also the laughter of unbelief. It fills our mouths when God's promises are too great for our narrow hearts to take in. Or when the visible means look too small, in our judgement, to carry out His grand designs... "But Sarah denied it, saying, 'I did not laugh,' for she was afraid." Unbelief makes us cowards and liars; faith makes us bold and truthful.
Her denial had a grain of truth in it. She had laughed in her heart, not out loud. That defence is what fails.
Charged with her unbelief, Sarah is ashamed to own the truth. As so often, fear of consequences leads to lying and deceit. She "denied, saying, I did not laugh." It may have been true that she did not laugh aloud. But she laughed in her heart. She has to learn that she is in the presence of One who can read the heart and see behind tent doors.
The God who reads the hidden heart does more than expose it.
As soon as Sarah knew that God could see her heart, she was afraid and said that she did not laugh. Such a lie is no use before God. So He said, "No, but you did laugh." Oh, friends! please remember that God can see your inner hearts. Yet He loves you. He wants to take away your sins and to give you everlasting life.
He contradicts her to her face. One writer weighs what that cost her afterwards.
In this particular case there was a lesson to be taught, and so God does not pass it by. He does not allow Sarah to simply say, "I did not laugh." So He says, "No, but you did laugh." His unmistakable voice brings the sin home. Oh, what a thought for Sarah afterwards, and how humbling! Not only did she lie — she dared to lie to God Himself. And her one meeting with Him left her this to reflect on! It was the last word that passed between her and God Himself.
Yet God corrects her with patience, and the lesson holds.
What a God we have to do with! What patience, long-suffering, goodness! and this with (not merely a human being, but) a child of His! And His way is to let a word from Him act on her conscience. Never do we hear of any repetition of the evil on Sarah's part. It was a lesson not to be forgotten, yet how gracious!
Here Sarah's record is unbelief and lying. God saw something else in her.
The heavenly visitors came to the door of Abraham's tent. Sarah was listening behind the door to the astounding promise the Lord was giving to Abraham... She laughed; and when the Lord spoke to her, she denied it. So the two things that marked her at that time were unbelief and untruthfulness. This seems most unpromising soil for any plant of faith to grow in. Yet God could see there the makings of a faith that in His sight was of great price.
What God later recorded of her shows how He treats the failures of His own.
All this makes the grace of God stand out and cheer us. He completely forgets these early failures, and records only the later triumph here. How undeniable the proof that He loves to speak well of His own!... Her doubts, her evasions, deepened her self-judgment. His own word carried its own convincing light. From then on she counted the One who had promised to be faithful.
- Fear. The verse names the motive itself: she lied because she was afraid. Departures from truth often come from nothing worse than a lack of moral courage.
- Cover. She had not laughed aloud, so her denial had cover. It still failed before One who reads the heart and sees behind tent doors.
- Confrontation. God will not let the half-truth stand. He answers her outright, and His own unmistakable voice brings the sin home.
- Grace. The rebuke carries no harsh word, and the evil is never repeated. His way is to let one word from Him act on the conscience.
- Record. Unbelief and lying looked like unpromising soil. Yet God kept only the later triumph on record — He loves to speak well of His own.