Sarah

Portrait of Sarah

Sarah, originally named Sarai, was the wife of the patriarch Abraham and accompanied him from Ur through Canaan as part of the divine covenant promising descendants as numerous as the stars. When angels announced that she would bear a son despite her advanced age of ninety, she laughed in disbelief, yet God fulfilled the promise by enabling her to conceive and give birth to Isaac. This event, recorded in Genesis 18 and 21, highlights the impossibility overcome by divine power and directly ties to the establishment of Israel through Isaac's line. The account illustrates God's faithfulness to his word and serves as an enduring scriptural example of how human doubt yields to miraculous fulfillment in salvation history.

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Biography

Born
c. 2156 BC
Died
c. 2029 BC, Hebron, Canaan
Age
127 years
Father
Terah
Spouse
Abraham
Children
Isaac
Era
Patriarchs
Nationality
Hebrew
Also Known As
Sarai

Family

Parents
Terah
โ†“
Sarah โšญ Abraham
โ†“
Children
Isaac
Old Testament Patriarchs Woman Genesis

Did You Know?

1

Sarah's original name Sarai appears sixteen times before God changes it to Sarah in Genesis 17, a renaming paralleled only by Abraham's and signifying her elevated role as mother of nations rather than a tribal matriarch.

2

At age sixty-five Sarah was taken into Pharaoh's household in Egypt because of her beauty, an episode repeated later with Abimelech, underscoring that her attractiveness persisted into advanced age according to the narrative.

3

Sarah alone among the matriarchs has her precise age at death recorded (127 years in Genesis 23:1), and the text immediately follows with the first detailed account of a land purchase for burial in Canaan.

4

After bearing Isaac, Sarah demanded the expulsion of Hagar and Ishmael, citing inheritance concerns, and God explicitly instructed Abraham to heed her voice, validating her authority over household succession.

5

While hidden inside the tent during the angelic visit, Sarah overheard the promise of a son and laughed silently, an act the narrative uses to explain Isaac's name and to contrast private doubt with eventual fulfillment.

Key Passages

Promise of a Son

Genesis 18:1-15

Sarah's laughter at God's promise reveals the tension between human impossibility and divine faithfulness. God's response - 'Is anything too hard for the Lord?' - becomes a theme of Scripture.

A1nd the LORD appeared unto him in the plains of Mamre: and he sat in the tent door in the heat of the day;

2 And he lift up his eyes and looked, and, lo, three men stood by him: and when he saw them, he ran to meet them from the tent door, and bowed himself toward the ground, 3 And said, My LORD, if now I have found favour in thy sight, pass not away, I pray thee, from thy servant: 4 Let a little water, I pray you, be fetched, and wash your feet, and rest yourselves under the tree: 5 And I will fetch a morsel of bread, and comfort ye your hearts; after that ye shall pass on: for therefore are ye come to your servant. And they said, So do, as thou hast said. 6 And Abraham hastened into the tent unto Sarah, and said, Make ready quickly three measures of fine meal, knead it, and make cakes upon the hearth. 7 And Abraham ran unto the herd, and fetcht a calf tender and good, and gave it unto a young man; and he hasted to dress it. 8 And he took butter, and milk, and the calf which he had dressed, and set it before them; and he stood by them under the tree, and they did eat. 9 And they said unto him, Where is Sarah thy wife? And he said, Behold, in the tent. 10 And he said, I will certainly return unto thee according to the time of life; and, lo, Sarah thy wife shall have a son. And Sarah heard it in the tent door, which was behind him. 11 Now Abraham and Sarah were old and well stricken in age; and it ceased to be with Sarah after the manner of women. 12 Therefore Sarah laughed within herself, saying, After I am waxed old shall I have pleasure, my lord being old also? 13 And the LORD said unto Abraham, Wherefore did Sarah laugh, saying, Shall I of a surety bear a child, which am old? 14 Is any thing too hard for the LORD? At the time appointed I will return unto thee, according to the time of life, and Sarah shall have a son. 15 Then Sarah denied, saying, I laughed not; for she was afraid. And he said, Nay; but thou didst laugh.

Read full chapter: Genesis 18 โ†’

Birth of Isaac

Genesis 21:1-7

The birth of Isaac to a 90-year-old woman demonstrates that God's promises are fulfilled on His timeline, not ours. The name Isaac ('laughter') transforms doubt into joy.

A1nd the LORD visited Sarah as he had said, and the LORD did unto Sarah as he had spoken.

2 For Sarah conceived, and bare Abraham a son in his old age, at the set time of which God had spoken to him. 3 And Abraham called the name of his son that was born unto him, whom Sarah bare to him, Isaac. 4 And Abraham circumcised his son Isaac being eight days old, as God had commanded him. 5 And Abraham was an hundred years old, when his son Isaac was born unto him. 6 And Sarah said, God hath made me to laugh, so that all that hear will laugh with me. 7 And she said, Who would have said unto Abraham, that Sarah should have given children suck? for I have born him a son in his old age.

Read full chapter: Genesis 21 โ†’

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