Hebrews 11:11

Πίστει καὶ αὐτὴ Σάρρα.… “By faith Sarah herself also received power to become a mother even when past the age, since she counted Him faithful who had promised.” καὶ αὐτὴ Σάρρα is rendered by Vaughan, Sarah “in her place” as [Abraham] in his; she on her part. The reference of αὐτὴ is disputed; it has been understood to mean “Sarah the unfruitful”. In [34]. στεῖρα is added; or, as Chrysostom and Bengel, “vas infirmius,” the weaker vessel. Delitzsch thinks that as in Luke 20:42; Luke 24:15, it merely means “so Sarah likewise”. But apparently the reference is to her previous unbelief. By faith she received strength εἰς καταβολὴν σπέρματος, “the act of the husband not of the wife” (see a score of passages in Wetstein), hence Bleek, Farrar and several others prefer to understand the words of “the founding of a family,” citing Plato's πρώτη καταβολὴ τῶν ἀνθρώπων. But if εἰς be taken in the same sense as in Hebrews 10:19, “as regards” or “in connection with” or “with a view to,” the difficulty disappears. [Cf. Weiss who says the words signify “nicht ein Thun, zu dem sie Kraft empfing, sondern die Beziehung in welcher sie ein Kraft bedürfte, wenn dasselbe für sie wirksam werden sollte”. Cf. also Genesis 18:12.] Her faith was further illustrated (καὶ = and this indeed) by the circumstance that she was now παρὰ καιρὸν ἡλικίας, the comparative use of παρά frequent in this Epistle. For a woman who in her prime had been barren, to believe that in her decay she could bear a son was a triumph of faith. Cf. Genesis 18:12-13, ἐγὼ δὲ γεγήρακα. But she had faith in the promise (cf. Hebrews 6:13-18), “wherefore also there were begotten of one and him as good as dead [issue] as the stars of heaven in multitude and as the sand by the seashore innumerable”. Probably the καὶ is to be construed with διὸ as in Luke 1:35; Acts 10:29, etc. ἀφʼ ἑνὸς, that is, Abraham (cf. Isaiah 51:2, εἷς ἧν); καὶ ταῦτα, a classical expression, see Xenophon, Mem., ii. 3, and Blass, Gram., p. 248. νενεκρωμένου, “dead” so far as regards the begetting of offspring, cf. Romans 4:19. καθὼς τὰ ἄστρα, a nominative to ἐγεν. may be supplied, ἔκγονοι or σπέρμα. For the metaphors cf. Genesis 22:17. ἄστρον is properly a constellation, but used commonly for “a star”. χεῖλος found in the classics in same connection.

[34] Claromontanus Parisiensis Nationalis 107, Graeco-Latinus.