Wednesday Bible Study- Ladies Night part 7

 

I think, as I type this, I have finally figured out the key to the story of Abram/Abraham's wife, Sarai/Sarah. But as I gather my thoughts, just for fun, let's look at some of the misinterpretations the rabbinical literature made when put against the Bible in her regards.

First, they claim Sarah was Abraham's NIECE, not his half-sister, despite Abraham's own words:

Gen 20:10  And Abimelech said to Abraham, "What did you see, that you did this thing?"
Gen 20:11  Abraham said, "I did it because I thought, There is no fear of God at all in this place, and they will kill me because of my wife.
Gen 20:12  Besides, she is indeed my sister, the daughter of my father though not the daughter of my mother, and she became my wife.
Gen 20:13  And when God caused me to wander from my father's house, I said to her, 'This is the kindness you must do me: at every place to which we come, say of me, He is my brother.'" 

So how did the rabbis mess this one up? Because they look at THIS verse:

Gen 11:27  Now these are the generations of Terah. Terah fathered Abram, Nahor, and Haran; and Haran fathered Lot.
Gen 11:28  Haran died in the presence of his father Terah in the land of his kindred, in Ur of the Chaldeans.
Gen 11:29  And Abram and Nahor took wives. The name of Abram's wife was Sarai, and the name of Nahor's wife, Milcah, the daughter of Haran the father of Milcah and Iscah.

And they say, if Milcah and Sarah were SISTERS, then Iscah must = Sarah, and thus is Abraham's niece.  But the Bible does NOT say they were sisters- and the commentators speculate that Iscah is mentioned because she was Lot's wife/sister. Curiously, although the rabbis say that the name "Iscah" refers to Sarah's beauty, the actual translation of "Iscah" is "From an unused root meaning to watch", and as Lot's wife became eventually a pillar of salt, watching was about all she could do.

Next, they say Sarah was "Superior to Abraham in the gift of prophecy"; so why does the Bible tell us...

Gen 20:6  Then God said to (Abimelech) in the dream, "Yes, I know that you have done this in the integrity of your heart, and it was I who kept you from sinning against me. Therefore I did not let you touch her.
Gen 20:7  Now then, return the man's wife, for he is a prophet, so that he will pray for you, and you shall live. But if you do not return her, know that you shall surely die, you and all who are yours." 

God never said, "For SHE is a prophet"...

Next, the funny story about what attracted Pharaoh to Sarah...

On the journey to Egypt, Abraham hid his wife in a chest in order that no one might see her. At the frontier the chest had to pass through the hands of certain officials, who insisted on examining its contents in order to determine the amount of duty payable. When it was opened a bright light proceeded from Sarah's beauty. 

And finally, the deal about Hagar...

As a token of his love for Sarah the king (Pharaoh) deeded his entire property to her, and gave her the land of Goshen as her hereditary possession: for this reason the Israelites subsequently lived in that land (Pirḳe R. El. xxxvi.). He gave her also his own daughter Hagar as slave .

 

Problem with that? According to Susan Wise Bauer's History Of The Ancient World, at this point in history, Pharaoh's daughters were never even given to Great Kings, let alone visiting Bedouins.

Okay, enough with the silly stuff (for now)- what do we know about Sarah? Well, we do know a couple of contradictory things about her.  First of all, Peter gives us a look into her personality...

1Pe 3:3  Do not let your adorning be external--the braiding of hair and the putting on of gold jewelry, or the clothing you wear--
1Pe 3:4  but let your adorning be the hidden person of the heart with the imperishable beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which in God's sight is very precious.
1Pe 3:5  For this is how the holy women who hoped in God used to adorn themselves, by submitting to their own husbands,
1Pe 3:6  as Sarah obeyed Abraham, calling him lord. And you are her children, if you do good and do not fear anything that is frightening.

But put that next to this, after Hagar gave birth to Ishmael...

(Contemporary English Version Bible) Gen 16:5  Then Sarai said to Abram, "It's all your fault! I gave you my slave woman, but she has been hateful to me ever since she found out she was pregnant. You have done me wrong, and you will have to answer to the LORD for this."

Ouch!  The other contradictory pair we find is this...

Heb 11:11  Even when Sarah was too old to have children, she had faith that God would do what he had promised, and she had a son.

But also this...

Gen 18:11  Abraham and Sarah were very old, and Sarah was well past the age for having children.
Gen 18:12  So she laughed and said to herself, "Now that I am worn out and my husband is old, will I really know such happiness?"
Gen 18:13  The LORD asked Abraham, "Why did Sarah laugh? Does she doubt that she can have a child in her old age?
Gen 18:14  I am the LORD! There is nothing too difficult for me. I'll come back next year at the time I promised, and Sarah will already have a son."
Gen 18:15  Sarah was so frightened that she lied and said, "I didn't laugh." "Yes, you did!" he answered.

So which Sarah was she- the quiet and humble spirit, endowed with faith, or the vengeful woman who laughed at God? And how is it that she was so beautiful that at almost 70, Pharaoh coveted her, and at 90, she was strong enough to have a baby and beautiful enough to attract Abimelech?  I have a theory- only a theory.  See, after the Flood, man's lifetime began to shrink- we've covered this before.  At this point, Abraham would live to 175 and Isaac to 180; but listen to this from Moses around 400 years later:

Psa 90:10  We can expect seventy years, or maybe eighty, if we are healthy, but even our best years bring trouble and sorrow. Suddenly our time is up, and we disappear.

So I thought, if for Moses it was 70, but for Abraham 175, then for Abraham a much older age would be the equivalent of a much younger one to Moses (and us).  Based on this theory, a little perspective:

When the promise was first given to Abraham, he and Sarah would have been 75 and 66; the equivalent would have them as 41 and 36.  When Ishmael was born of Hagar, the equivalent would have been 42 for Sarah- young enough to be beautiful, old enough to wonder if you'd ever have children.  Isaac, then would have been born at the equivalents of Abraham being 55 and Sarah 50.  Certainly easier to grasp than Abraham being 100 and Sarah 91, but this is just speculation on my part.

Okay, so tuck that away and let's get back to Sarah.  From the time they left Haran, through the incident with Pharaoh, Sarah was that quiet, gentle soul, obedient to Abraham, that Peter described.  Then came the Hagar thing...

Gen 16:1  Now Sarai, Abram's wife, had borne him no children. She had a female Egyptian servant whose name was Hagar.
Gen 16:2  And Sarai said to Abram, "Behold now, the LORD has prevented me from bearing children. Go in to my servant; it may be that I shall obtain children by her." And Abram listened to the voice of Sarai.
Gen 16:3  So, after Abram had lived ten years in the land of Canaan, Sarai, Abram's wife, took Hagar the Egyptian, her servant, and gave her to Abram her husband as a wife.

 

 

Now this COULD be interpreted as a sin on their part, but one thing I noticed is that, up to this point, the promise of descendants is ONLY to Abraham.  It is only after Ishmael is born to Hagar that God adds this...

Gen 17:15  And God said to Abraham, "As for Sarai your wife, you shall not call her name Sarai, but Sarah shall be her name.
Gen 17:16  I will bless her, and moreover, I will give you a son by her. I will bless her, and she shall become nations; kings of peoples shall come from her."
Gen 17:17  Then Abraham fell on his face and laughed and said to himself, "Shall a child be born to a man who is a hundred years old? Shall Sarah, who is ninety years old, bear a child?"
Gen 17:18  And Abraham said to God, "Oh that Ishmael might live before you!"
Gen 17:19  God said, "No, but Sarah your wife shall bear you a son, and you shall call his name Isaac. I will establish my covenant with him as an everlasting covenant for his offspring after him. 

So we are dealing, before this, with a Sarah who has a husband promised big things by God... but her connection to the promise was ONLY in her marriage. So why wouldn't she feel left out, when...

(Once again, CEV) Gen 16:4  Later, when Hagar knew she was going to have a baby, she became proud and was hateful to Sarai.
Gen 16:5  Then Sarai said to Abram, "It's all your fault! I gave you my slave woman, but she has been hateful to me ever since she found out she was pregnant. You have done me wrong, and you will have to answer to the LORD for this."
Gen 16:6  Abram said, "All right! She's your slave, and you can do whatever you want with her." But Sarai began treating Hagar so harshly that she finally ran away.

Note that last part; After she ran Hagar off, God tells Hagar to come back, because...

Gen 16:9  The angel said, "Go back to Sarai and be her slave.
Gen 16:10  I will give you a son, who will be called Ishmael, because I have heard your cry for help. And later I will give you so many descendants that no one will be able to count them all.

But after God brings her into the promise, she returns to that quiet, gentle soul, until Ishmael becomes a problem.  And here, I believe, we find the key.  The Jews tell us:

The two forms of the name, "Sarah" and "Sarai," are identical in meaning; it is difficult to understand the reason for the change. "Sarai" is probably the more archaic form of "Sarah," though the termination "ai" is unusual in the feminine.

 

But by my concordance, that's not quite true.  Witness:

Translation of Sarai: "From H8269; dominative; Sarai, the wife of Abraham".

Translation of Sarah: "Feminine of H8269; a mistress, that is, female noble: - lady, princess, queen."

Before she felt included, she had a bossy streak- not surprising for a woman who was supposed to be wife #1, but had to lie about her position, share with a concubine, sneered at by a son not her own.  But after, she became the #1 by God's declaration- she could be #1, and still have the quiet, gentle soul.

This is the change that should come over us when we receive Christ.  We should then be secure in what God has promised us, not worrying over what others might do.  Not that it completely goes away- note that Hagar was made to leave again, but this time she asked Abraham to take care of it, instead of running her off by shrewishness.  And because she did it in a way to respect her lord, Abraham, God told Him to listen to her.  And this here- the change we should feel when Christ enters our life- is I believe the key to understanding Sarah.

Which the Jews, of course, did not; I saved you two more items from the Jewish Encyclopedia.  First, they posited that Sarah was fated to live to the same age as Abraham, but because of her FIRST treatment of Hagar, God chopped 40 years off that age (she died at 127- or, by 'Martin equivalent', 70).  I kind of doubt that, when you consider Miriam insulted Moses in front of God and only got a week of leprosy. Second, Satan allegedly came to her while Abraham was taking Isaac to the mountain to be sacrificed: in one story he tells her that Abraham sacrificed the boy ( who at this point had to be about 34, or 'Martin equivalent' 19) and he could not escape his father, so she died of grief; the other says he told her the first lie, and when she went to find out the truth, Satan returned to tell her the boy yet lived, and she died of joy.

  Regardless, she DID die shortly after Abraham and Isaac returned.  One translation of the word 'quiet' in 1 Peter is "keeping one's seat"- and that, I bet, is just what the faithful, quiet spirit of Sarah did until they returned.