Who was Sarah in the Bible?
Sarah stands at the start of Israel's story as Abraham's wife and the mother through whom God's promise ran, yet her recorded life includes laughter, doubt, and a lie. The Bible's own summary of her, centuries later, praises her faith — which raises the question of how God reads a life so mixed.
Wife, Mother, Half-Sister
A dictionary entry gathers the outline of her life from Genesis, including the two occasions when her husband concealed their marriage to protect himself:
Morrish Bible DictionaryWife of Abraham and mother of Isaac. Abraham said she was the daughter of his father but not of his mother, so he called her "sister"; but God preserved her in His mercy to Abraham, who had, through fear, denied his true relationship to her in the land of Egypt and before Abimelech. Sarah, being barren, gave to Abraham her Egyptian servant Hagar, who, when she had conceived, despised her mistress.
Impatience with a Promise
Hagar was not simply a household arrangement. One writer traces it to a couple who could not wait for God:
An Outline of Sound WordsAbraham and Sarah became impatient and thought to get by their own wisdom and strength the blessing that God had promised. Hagar is given to Abraham by Sarah in the attempt to secure the divine blessing by fleshly means, which immediately results in Sarah being despised by Hagar.
Guarded When Her Husband Failed
When Abraham told Pharaoh she was his sister, Sarah was taken into the royal house — and God intervened.
C. H. Mackintosh"And the Lord plagued Pharaoh and his house with great plagues because of Sarai, Abram's wife." What amazing grace to Abraham! God, who always delights to rebuke His people's fears as well as to answer their faith, covered His failing servant with the shield of His powerful protection. Abraham's life and Sarah's virtue were both preserved in safety behind that impenetrable shield.
A New Name
God renamed her when He announced the son she would bear. The change of one letter widened her whole standing:
Leslie M. GrantSarai means "my princess," as being Abraham's property, but Sarah means "the princess," giving her the wider honour of being "a mother of nations." … Sarah was to be greatly blessed: even after 90 years of age she would have a son: she would be blessed and others would be blessed through her: she would be a mother of nations, with even kings being among her descendants.
The Laugh Behind the Door
She overheard the promise of a son, laughed to herself, and then denied it. The door hid nothing:
William KellyHe who was on the other side of the door soon shows that such an obstacle could not keep Him from seeing and knowing what passed in the heart of Sarah, as well as where she was. … How surprising it must have been to her, and how sharp the rebuke, though given without a harsh word! "Is anything too hard for the LORD?" How good it is to get used to this one answer to all difficulties!
The Faith God Put on Record
Genesis never calls her a believer. Hebrews does — and that gap is the point:
Samuel RidoutIt is only in this chapter that we find mention of the faith of Sarah. You look in vain in the Old Testament account for any evidence of faith on her part. How good it is to remember that God's eye can detect what we cannot! … So the two things which marked her at that time were unbelief and untruthfulness. This seems the 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.
Another writer notes what her faith actually rested on, and how far its results reached:
C. E. StuartWith her it was not, Can it be? but, He had said it, so it shall be. She rested on this solely on the word of her God. For who before her had become a mother at ninety? … What results followed! "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."
Her Judgement, and Her Meaning
When Ishmael mocked at Isaac's weaning, Sarah demanded that the servant and her son be sent away — and God told Abraham to listen to her.
Frank WallaceSarah said, "That child has to go, he is a bad influence, he will not help, there will be no blessing through him." And Abraham said, "I cannot do that, he is my son, my flesh." … Abraham bowed to that instruction and Sarah proved herself a woman of discernment, a woman who understood what the will of the Lord was.
Paul later reads the two mothers as a picture of two covenants:
Morrish Bible DictionaryHagar answers to the covenant of law and to Jerusalem then in bondage; and Sarah to the covenant of promise and to Jerusalem above, which is free. The conclusion for the believer is, "So, brothers, we are not children of the slave but of the free woman."
Summary
- Barren. Wife of Abraham, childless into old age, and the mother of Isaac only by promise.
- Impatient. Hagar was her own attempt to secure God's blessing by human means, and it brought contempt into her house.
- Rebuked. Her hidden laugh met one question that answers every difficulty: "Is anything too hard for the LORD?"
- Counted faithful. She stopped asking whether it could be and rested on what God had said — the one thing Hebrews records of her.
- Free. From that trust came descendants beyond counting, and a picture of the covenant of promise that makes people free rather than slaves.