Sarah

For the List of the "Women of the Bible", click Blog Archive, 2008 December

17 Questions
Scripture Reference: Gen 12:1-20; 16:1-8; 17:1-22; 18:1-15;
21:1-13; Gal 4:22-31
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#1. Who was Sarah?

#1. The half-sister and wife of Abraham who gave birth to Issac in 2100 B.C. at her old age of 90. Her original name was Sarai. She was about 65 years old when Abraham left Ur for Haran. (Scripture: Gen 12-23).
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#2. True or False. Sarah suffered greatly because she was childless(barren) most of her life.

2. True. When her servant Hagar conceived, she showed contempt for Sarah which stimulated Sarah to treat her harshly. Sarah's barrenness made her a bitter and vindictive woman. Tradition demanded that she "bear children" for Abraham by her maid Hagar. A son born in this way would be regarded as the son and heir of Abraham and Sarah. Still childless at the age of 75 Sarah induced Abraham to take her handmaid hagar as a concubine. But she found no satisfaction in Hagar's pregnancy, which only helped to prove Abraham's potency(meaning non sterile) and suggested their childlessness was Sarah's fault. Thus the hostility between Hagar and Sarah grew worse.
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#3. True or False. Abraham and his wife, Sarah have the same father.

#3. True, their father is Terah. Marriage with half-sisters have been not uncommon in antiquity(ancient custom). This practice might have been there until the growth of families offered wider selection.
Gen 20:12 Besides, she really is my sister, the daughter of my father though not of my mother; and she became my wife.
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#4. Who changed Sarai's name to Sarah?

#4. God.
Gen 17:15 God also said to Abraham, "As for Sarai your wife, you are no longer to call her Sarai; her name will be Sarah.
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#5. What is God's promise to Abraham about Sarah?

#5.Gen 17:16 I(God) will bless her and will surely give you a son by her. I will bless her so that she will be the mother of nations; kings of peoples will come from her."
Then God said, "Yes, but your wife Sarah will bear you a son, and you will call him Isaac. I will establish my covenant with him as an everlasting covenant for his descendants after him. 20 And as for Ishmael, I have heard you: I will surely bless him; I will make him fruitful and will greatly increase his numbers. He will be the father of twelve rulers, and I will make him into a great nation. 21 But my covenant I will establish with Isaac, whom Sarah will bear to you by this time next year." 22 When he had finished speaking with Abraham, God went up from him.
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#6. Name the "son of promise" and the son of Hagar?

#6. Isaac, the son of promise(son born to Sarah at the age of 90) and Ishmael, born to Hagar when Sarah was 75 years old.
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#7. Because of Sarah's beauty, what did Abraham do when he lacked faith in God to protect his life in the presence of unfamiliar people and rulers?

#7. Two times Abraham tried the same ruse, his double relationship with Sarah.
1) Abraham feared the Egyptians might kill him and take her into the Pharaoh's harem. So he asked Sarah to pretend to be his sister. She went along with it. Read Gen 12:10-20.
2) For a while he stayed in Gerar, 2 and there Abraham said of his wife Sarah, "She is my sister." Then Abimelech king of Gerar sent for Sarah and took her.
Read Gen 20:2-16
Then Abraham prayed to God, and God healed Abimelech, his wife and his slave girls so they could have children again, 18 for the LORD had closed up every womb in Abimelech's household because of Abraham's wife Sarah.
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#8. How many times Hagar was expelled from sarah's home?

#8. Two times. First time Hagar returned to Sarah's home at God's direction and submitted to Sarah, then she gave birth to Ishmael. After 15 years, Issac was born to Sarah. A few years later, at a great feast celebrating the weaning of Issac, Sarah observed Ishmael mocking her son and she demanded the expulsion of Hagar and Ishmael again.
Abraham reluctantly agreed after God had instructed him to do so.
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#9. When did Sarah die and where was she buried?

#9. Sarah died at Kiriath Arba(Hebron) at the age of 127 and was buried with great celebration in the cave of Machpelah, which Abraham purchased as a family sepulcher(Gen 23:1-2), where Abraham's body was later laid. Here 127 mentioned is the only instance in scripture where the age of a woman is recorded.
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#10. At what age Isaac and Ishmael were cicumcised?

#10. Ishmael at 13 years (Gen 17:25), and Abraham at the age of 99 years both got circumcised. Isaac got circumcised when he was 8 days old.
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#11. Sarah is commended several times in the OT and NT texts. Where are the passages located?

#11. In spite of all faults of Sarah, she is held up as an example of faith in Isa 51:2 and Heb 11.11 and commended in 1 peter 3:6 as a model. Also Ref Gal 4:21-5:1, Rom 4:19, 9:9.

Isa 51:2
look to Abraham, your father, and to Sarah, who gave you birth. When I called him he was but one, and I blessed him and made him many.

Heb 11.11
By faith Abraham, even though he was past age—and Sarah herself was barren—was enabled to become a father because he considered him faithful who had made the promise.
1 peter 3:66like Sarah, who obeyed Abraham and called him her master. You are her daughters if you do what is right and do not give way to fear.

Gal 4:21-5:1 Hagar and Sarah
Tell me, you who want to be under the law, are you not aware of what the law says? 22For it is written that Abraham had two sons, one by the slave woman and the other by the free woman. 23His son by the slave woman was born in the ordinary way; but his son by the free woman was born as the result of a promise.
24These things may be taken figuratively, for the women represent two covenants. One covenant is from Mount Sinai and bears children who are to be slaves: This is Hagar. 25Now Hagar stands for Mount Sinai in Arabia and corresponds to the present city of Jerusalem, because she is in slavery with her children. 26But the Jerusalem that is above is free, and she is our mother. 27For it is written:
"Be glad, O barren woman, who bears no children; break forth and cry aloud,
you who have no labor pains; because more are the children of the desolate
woman than of her who has a husband."

28Now you, brothers, like Isaac, are children of promise. 29At that time the son born in the ordinary way persecuted the son born by the power of the Spirit. It is the same now. 30But what does the Scripture say? "Get rid of the slave woman and her son, for the slave woman's son will never share in the inheritance with the free woman's son." 31Therefore, brothers, we are not children of the slave woman, but of the free woman.

Freedom in Christ
Gal 5:1 It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm, then, and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery.

Rom 4:19 Without weakening in his faith, he faced the fact that his body was as good as dead—since he was about a hundred years old—and that Sarah's womb was also dead.

Rom 9:9 For this was how the promise was stated: "At the appointed time I will return, and Sarah will have a son."
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#12. Sarah became impatient and took matters into her own hands without waiting for the promise to come through. What was the total net result of it?
#12. Following a practice common in the ancient world, she gave Abraham permission to sleep with her Egyptian maid, Hagar. Sarah's slave would become a surrogate mother for the promised child. Thus Ishmael was born. But the child brought only discord between the two women. After 15 years Sarah became the mother of the promised child, Issac. Now the hostility grew worse. Her attempts to fulfill God's promise of a son through her servant Hagar created disastrous results.

Even in our own day, the struggle between Israel and her Arab neighbors stems from the ancient strife between two women and the children they bore.
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#13. Choose 5 adjectives that describe Sarah from the following 4 passages.
Gen 16:6; 18:12, 15; 21:10.

#13. Some suggestions are given below. pick from the list or find your own.
offended, liar, emotional, angry, annoyed, jealousy, distrust, hateful, self- cetered, ungenerous, embarassing.

1) Gen 16:6 "Your servant is in your hands," Abram said. "Do with her whatever you think best." Then Sarai mistreated Hagar; so she fled from her.

2) Gen 18:12 So Sarah laughed to herself as she thought, "After I am worn out and my master is old, will I now have this pleasure?"

3) Gen 18:15 Sarah was afraid, so she lied and said, "I did not laugh." But he said, "Yes, you did laugh."

4) Gen 21:10 and she said to Abraham, "Get rid of that slave woman and her son, for that slave woman's son will never share in the inheritance with my son Isaac."
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#14. We live in an age of the insant or immediate and we are do-it-yourselfers. Waiting patiently for God to work may be one of the most difficult experiences of our Christian walk. Give 4 examples of promises in Scripture about wait.

#14. God's promises are revealed and fulfilled in his timing, which is often on a calendar far different from our own.
Promises in Scripture(4)
1) Psalm 27:14 Wait for the LORD; be strong and take heart and wait for the LORD.
2) Psalm 130:5 I wait for the LORD, my soul waits, and in his word I put my hope.
3) Isaiah 30:18Yet the LORD longs to be gracious to you; he rises to show you compassion. For the LORD is a God of justice. Blessed are all who wait for him!
4) Micah 7:7 But as for me, I watch in hope for the LORD, I wait for God my Savior;
my God will hear me.
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#15. What did Sarah say from emotion when she gave birth to Isaac?

#15. God has brought me laughter
Gen 21:5-7 Abraham was a hundred years old when his son Isaac was born to him.
6 Sarah said, "God has brought me laughter, and everyone who hears about this will laugh with me." 7 And she added, "Who would have said to Abraham that Sarah would nurse children? Yet I have borne him a son in his old age."
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#16. Why did Sarah name her son, Isaac?

#16. In Bible-times, names had a significance. The names give us a glimpse into their personal experience or reflect their emotional response to a situation. Sarah was surprised to hear the angel that she will have a child in one year. She did take a stock of herself. Gen 18:12 "So Sarah laughed to herself as she thought, "After I am worn out and my master is old, will I now have this pleasure?". When her son was born, Sarah named him Isaac, which means "he laughs".
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#17. Throughout Scripture, God gives to his people names that offer a picture of their significance and worth to Him. Can you give 5 examples of names for this?

#17. 1)We are his "treasured possessions".
a)Gen 19:5 Now if you obey me fully and keep my covenant, then out of all nations you will be my treasured possession. Although the whole earth is mine, 6 you will be for me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.' These are the words you are to speak to the Israelites."
b) Malachi 3:17 "They will be mine," says the LORD Almighty, "in the day when I make up my treasured possession. I will spare them, just as in compassion a man spares his son who serves him. 18 And you will again see the distinction between the righteous and the wicked, between those who serve God and those who do not.

2) the "people of his inheritance"
Deut 4:20 But as for you, the LORD took you and brought you out of the iron-smelting furnace, out of Egypt, to be the people of his inheritance, as you now are.

3) "sons of the living God"
Hose 1:10 "Yet the Israelites will be like the sand on the seashore, which cannot be measured or counted. In the place where it was said to them, 'You are not my people,' they will be called 'sons of the living God.'

4) We are his friends
John 15:15 I no longer call you servants, because a servant does not know his master's business. Instead, I have called you friends, for everything that I learned from my Father I have made known to you.

5) No matter what your given name is, God knows it. In love, he calls you to him by your name and you belong to him.
Isai 43:1 But now, this is what the LORD says—
he who created you, O Jacob, he who formed you, O Israel:
"Fear not, for I have redeemed you; I have summoned you by name; you are mine.
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