THE LIFE OF SARAH GEN.11:27-32, 17:16-17 WHO IS SARAH Sarai means “princely” or “a princess” Sarah means “the princess”, the source of nations & kings Sarah or “chieftainness,” the feminine of Sar, meaning a “captain” or “commander The promise of ancestorship of many nations came with the change of the name of Sarai to Sarah. “I will bless her and she shall become mother of many nations.”GEN 17:16-17 The root idea of Sarah means “to rule,” It was a name intended as a seal of the promise given to Abraham, “kings of peoples shall be of her.”

FAMILY CONNECTION Sarah came from Ur of the Chaldees, Babylonia, and her former name Sarai, “princely,” identifies her as coming from an honored family. She was the daughter of Terah and was therefore half-sister to Abram, her senior by ten years (Genesis 17:17), whom she married in the Ur of the Chaldees Abram and Sarai had the same father, they had different mothers (Genesis 20:12). Marriages between near relatives were approved in those days and were sometimes common for religious reasons (Genesis 24:3, 4; 28:1, 2), but not marriages between those actually by the same mother.

HER UNIQUENESS The first Jew was a Gentile, for Abraham who came from beyond the Euphrates was the first man to be called a Hebrew, “Abram the Hebrew” (Genesis 14:13). The word Hebrew itself means, “the immigrant,” and was no doubt the usual designation among the Canaanites.

HER THREAT A lie that is half a truth Is ever the worst of lies. A half-truth is always a lie. While it was true that Sarah was Abraham’s sister, the declaration was in reality a falsehood.

HER SORROW The one great grief of Abraham and Sarah was that through their long life together they had no children. To a Hebrew woman, barrenness was looked upon as a distressing grief, and sometimes regarded as a sign of divine disfavor. Sarah remained so until at 90 years of age God miraculously fulfilled His promise and made her the mother of the son of promise.

HER EXAMPLE Galatians 4:19-31 The Apostle called her “the freewoman” and “mother of us all.” In the book of Hebrews, the Apostle mentioned Sarah as being one of the cloud of faithful witnesses (Hebrews 11:11, 12). The reason she received strength to bear Isaac when she was so old was because she came to believe in the faithfulness of God. If Abraham is “the father of all them that believe” (Romans 4:11; Galatians 3:7), surely Sarah is their mother. “Sarah speaks of that which is in faith, and by promise, and is free— and therefore is carried on in those who live on God’s promises by faith in Christ, and have that perfect freedom which is alone found in His service, and thus belong to the Heavenly Jerusalem.”