Sarah

How Nave’s arranged it

• 1. Also called SARAI
• Wife of AbrahamGenesis 11:29–31Genesis 12:5
• Near of kin to AbrahamGenesis 12:10–20Genesis 20:12
• Abraham represents her as his sister, and Abimelech, king of Gerar, takes her; she is restored to Abraham by means of a dreamGenesis 20:1–14
• Is sterile; gives her handmaiden, Hagar, to Abraham as a concubineGenesis 16:1–3
• Her jealousy of HagarGenesis 16:4–6Genesis 21:9–14
• Her miraculous conception of IsaacGenesis 17:15–21Genesis 18:9–15
• Name changed from Sarai to SarahGenesis 17:15
• Gives birth to IsaacGenesis 21:3Genesis 21:6–8
• Death and burial ofGenesis 23Genesis 25:10
• Character ofHebrews 11:111 Peter 3:51 Peter 3:6
• 2. SARAH

The passages, in Bible order (17)

The same references, sorted Genesis to Revelation. The first 16 are quoted in full; the rest are one click beneath them, book by book.

1. Genesis 11:29–31

   And Abram and Nahor took wives for themselves. Abram’s wife was named Sarai, and Nahor’s wife was named Milcah; she was the daughter of Haran, who was the father of both Milcah and Iscah.

   ›Commentary on Genesis 11:29–312 voices

   “(Verse 29) And Abram and Nachor took wives for themselves. The name of Abram's wife was Sarai, and the name of Nachor's wife was Milcah, the daughter of Haran. The father of Milcah was also the father of Iscah. Haran fathered two daughters, Milcah and Iscah, who were both called by the same name. Of these, Milcah became the wife of Nachor, and Sarai became the wife of Abram. At that time, marriage between cousins and between siblings was not yet prohibited by law, as it later became among all people, even among brothers and sisters.

   “Milcah, the daughter of Haran - Many suppose Sarai and Iscah are the same person under two different names; but this is improbable, as Iscah is expressly said to be the daughter of Haran, and Sarai was the daughter of Terah, and half sister of Abram.

   Everything gathered on Genesis 11:29–31→

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2. Genesis 12:5

   And Abram took his wife Sarai, his nephew Lot, and all the possessions and people they had acquired in Haran, and set out for the land of Canaan. When they came to the land of Canaan,

   ›Commentary on Genesis 12:52 voices

   “IF you desire to know the character or a child, you will probably learn much about it from observing the father. The young bird flies and sings as its father did before it. If we would know the life of the child of faith, we should study the history of the "father of the faithful." Abraham, the man of faith, is a type of all believing men, and the narrative of his life, if rightly considered, is the mirror of the history of all the saints of God.

   “The souls that they had gotten in Haran - This may apply either to the persons who were employed in the service of Abram, or to the persons he had been the instrument of converting to the knowledge of the true God; and in this latter sense the Chaldee paraphrasts understood the passage, translating it, The souls of those whom they proselyted in Haran.

   Everything gathered on Genesis 12:5→

   Verse page →Original language →

3. Genesis 12:10–20

   Now there was a famine in the land. So Abram went down to Egypt to live there for a while because the famine was severe.

   ›Commentary on Genesis 12:10–201 voice

   “There was a famine in the land - Of Canaan. This is the first famine on record, and it prevailed in the most fertile land then under the sun; and why? God made it desolate for the wickedness of those who dwelt in it. Went down into Egypt - He felt himself a stranger and a pilgrim, and by his unsettled state was kept in mind of the city that hath foundations that are permanent and stable, whose builder is the living God. See Heb 11:8, Heb 11:9.

   Everything gathered on Genesis 12:10–20→

   Verse page →Original language →

4. Genesis 16:1–3

   Now Abram’s wife Sarai had borne him no children, but she had an Egyptian maidservant named Hagar.

   ›Commentary on Genesis 16:1–31 voice

   “- The Birth of Ishmael 1. הנר hāgār, Hagar, “flight.” Hejrah, the flight of Muhammed. 7. מלאך mal'ak “messenger, angel.” A deputy commissioned to discharge a certain duty for the principal whom he represents. As the most usual task is that of bearing messages, commands, or tidings, he is commonly called a “messenger” ἄγγελος angelos). The word is therefore a term of office, and does not further distinguish the office-bearer than as an intelligent being.

   Everything gathered on Genesis 16:1–3→

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5. Genesis 16:4–6

   And he slept with Hagar, and she conceived. But when Hagar realized that she was pregnant, she began to despise her mistress.

   ›Commentary on Genesis 16:4–62 voices

   “It was not because he was ablaze with the heat of some unbridled passion, not because he was overcome by the charm of seductive beauty that Abraham gave preference to a relationship with a slave girl over the conjugal bed, but through a desire to procure a posterity and to enlarge his progeny. After the flood the human race was still numerically sparse. Hence it was also a matter of moral obligation that no one be seen to have failed to render the debt to nature.

   “And he went in unto Hagar, and she conceived,.... The formality of the marriage being over, he enjoyed her as his wife, and she immediately conceived by him: and when she saw that she had conceived; when she perceived that she was with child: her mistress was despised in her eyes; she thought herself above her, and treated her as her inferior, with contempt, and reproached her for her barrenness, as Peninnah did Hannah, 1Sa 1:6; and it was the more ungrateful, as it was at the motion of her mistress that she was given to Abram for wife.

   Everything gathered on Genesis 16:4–6→

   Verse page →Original language →

6. Genesis 17:15–21

   Then God said to Abraham, “As for Sarai your wife, do not call her Sarai, for her name is to be Sarah.

   ›Commentary on Genesis 17:15–212 voices

   “(Verse 15) And God said to Abraham: You shall not call your wife Sarai, but her name shall be Sarah. Those who think that the first Sarah was written with one 'R' and then another 'R' was added to it are mistaken. And because 'R' is the hundredth number among the Greeks, they suspect many silly things about her name: when in fact, whatever way they want to understand the composite word, it should have a Hebrew, not Greek, origin, since the name itself is Hebrew.

   “Sarai signifies my princess, as if her honour were confined to one family only. Sarah signifies a princess --namely, of multitudes, or signifying that from her should come the Messiah the prince, even the prince of the kings of the earth.

   Everything gathered on Genesis 17:15–21→

   Verse page →Original language →

7. Genesis 18:9–15

   “Where is your wife Sarah?” they asked. “There, in the tent,” he replied.

   ›Commentary on Genesis 18:9–151 voice

   “Care is taken that Sarah should be within hearing. She must conceive by faith, and therefore the promise must be made to her, Heb. xi. It was the modest usage of that time that the women did not sit at meat with men, at least not with strangers, but confined themselves to their own apartments; therefore Sarah is here out of sight: but she must not be out of hearing.

   Everything gathered on Genesis 18:9–15→

   Verse page →Original language →

8. Genesis 20:1–14

   Now Abraham journeyed from there to the region of the Negev and settled between Kadesh and Shur. While he was staying in Gerar,

   Verse page →Original language →

9. Genesis 20:12

   Besides, she really is my sister, the daughter of my father—though not the daughter of my mother—and she became my wife.

   ›Commentary on Genesis 20:122 voices

   “And yet indeed she is my sister,.... In the same sense as Lot was his brother; for she was sister to Lot, and both were the children of Haran, the brother of Abraham: she is the daughter of my father, but not the daughter of my mother; she was the daughter of his father, being his granddaughter, grandchildren are sometimes called children, but not the daughter or granddaughter of Abraham's mother; Terah having had two wives, by the one he had Haran, the father of Sarah, and by the other Abraham.

   “(Chapter 20, verse 12.) Truly my sister is from my father, but not from my mother. That is, her father is Aran, not her mother. But because it says in Hebrew: truly my sister is the daughter of my father, and not the daughter of my mother: and it sounds more likely that she should be called Abraham's sister, we say this in her defense, that at that time such marriages were not yet prohibited by law.

   Everything gathered on Genesis 20:12→

   Verse page →Original language →

10. Genesis 21:3

    And Abraham gave the name Isaac to the son Sarah bore to him.

    ›Commentary on Genesis 21:31 voice

    “And Abraham called the name of his son whom Sarah bore to him Isaac. Isaac is interpreted as Laughter or Joy, which very name is fitting for all the faithful, to whom among other goods of the heavenly inheritance, their Redeemer promises by saying: "Again …

    Everything gathered on Genesis 21:3→

    Verse page →Original language →

11. Genesis 21:6–8

    Then Sarah said, “God has made me laugh, and everyone who hears of this will laugh with me.”

    ›Commentary on Genesis 21:6–81 voice

    “God hath made me to laugh - Sarah alludes here to the circumstance mentioned Gen 18:12; and as she seems to use the word to laugh in this place, not in the sense of being incredulous but to express such pleasure or happiness as almost suspends the reasoning faculty for a time, it justifies the observation on the above-named verse. See a similar case in Luk 24:41, where the disciples were so overcome with the good news of our Lord’s resurrection, that it is said, They believed not for joy.

    Everything gathered on Genesis 21:6–8→

    Verse page →Original language →

12. Genesis 21:9–14

    But Sarah saw that the son whom Hagar the Egyptian had borne to Abraham was mocking her son,

    ›Commentary on Genesis 21:9–142 voices

    “(Chapter 21, Verse 9) And Sarah saw the son of Hagar the Egyptian, whom she bore to Abraham, playing. What follows, with his son Isaac, is not present in the Hebrew. Therefore, this is interpreted in two ways by the Hebrews: either that she made idols out of play, according to what is written elsewhere: The people sat down to eat and drink, and rose up to play (Exodus 32:6); or that she claimed the rights of the firstborn against Isaac, as if he were older, through play and jest.

    “Mocking - What was implied in this mocking is not known. St. Paul, Gal 4:29, calls it persecuting; but it is likely he meant no more than some species of ridicule used by Ishmael on the occasion, and probably with respect to the age of Sarah at Isaac’s birth, and her previous barrenness. Jonathan ben Uzziel and the Jerusalem Targum represent Ishmael as performing some idolatrous rite on the occasion, and that this had given the offense to Sarah. Conjectures are as useless as they are endless.

    Everything gathered on Genesis 21:9–14→

    Verse page →Original language →

13. Genesis 23:1

    Now Sarah lived to be 127 years old.

    Verse page →Original language →

14. Genesis 25:10

    This was the field that Abraham had bought from the Hittites. Abraham was buried there with his wife Sarah.

    ›Commentary on Genesis 25:101 voice

    “The field which Abraham purchased of the sons of Heth,.... Of one of them, Ephron, the rest being witnesses of it, Gen 23:16, there was Abraham buried, and Sarah his wife; Sarah had been buried there thirty eight years before, which was the reason why his sons buried, him there; if he died in Beersheba, as seems probable, see Gen 24:62; from thence to Hebron were sixteen miles (h); so far was he carried to be interred. (h) Bunting's Travels, p. 57.

    Everything gathered on Genesis 25:10→

    Verse page →Original language →

15. Hebrews 11:11

    By faith Sarah, even though she was barren and beyond the proper age, was enabled to conceive a child, because she considered Him faithful who had promised.

    ›Commentary on Hebrews 11:112 voices

    “Through faith also Sarah herself,.... Some copies add "being barren"; and so read the Vulgate Latin, and all the Oriental versions; which is a circumstance which makes her faith appear the greater: but it is a question whether the apostle speaks of the faith of Sarah, or of Abraham; some think he speaks of Abraham's faith; and that it was through his faith that Sarah conceived; and observe, that the last clause may be rendered, "because he judged him faithful", &c. and the rather, because the apostle, both before and after, is speaking of Abraham's faith, Heb 11:

    “Through faith also Sarah herself received strength to conceive seed - The word “herself” here - αὐτὴ autē - implies that there was something remarkable in the fact that “she” should manifest this faith. Perhaps there may be reference here to the incredulity with which she at first received the announcement that she should have a child; Gen 18:11, Gen 18:

    Everything gathered on Hebrews 11:11→

    Verse page →Original language →

16. 1 Peter 3:5

    For this is how the holy women of the past adorned themselves. They put their hope in God and were submissive to their husbands,

    ›Commentary on 1 Peter 3:52 voices

    “Here he calls obedience an adornment, saying: they adorned themselves by being obedient to their own husbands. Having spoken indefinitely of "holy women," he calls them daughters of Sarah either by faith or by descent. For daughters must necessarily imitate their mothers. Along with the …

    “For after this manner, in the old time - The allusion here is particularly to the times of the patriarchs, and the object of the apostle is to state another reason why they should seek that kind of ornament which he had been commending. The reason is, that this characterized the pious and honored females of ancient times - those females who had been most commended of God, and who were most worthy to be remembered on earth. Who trusted in God - Greek, “Who hoped in God;” that is, who were truly pious.

    Everything gathered on 1 Peter 3:5→

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