SARAH

Or SARA, the wife of Abraham, the daughter of his father by another mother, Genesis 20:12. Most Jewish writers, however, and many interpreters, identify her with Iscah, the sister of Lot, and Abraham’s niece, Genesis 1:11; the word "daughter" according to Hebrew usage, comprising any female descendant, and "sister," any female relation by blood. When God made a covenant with Abraham, he changed the name of Sarai or my princess, into that of Sarah, or princess; and promised Abraham a son by her, which was fulfilled in due time.

The most prominent points of her history as recorded in the Bible are, her consenting to Abraham’s unbelieving dissimulation while near Pharaoh and Abimelech; her long-continued barrenness; her giving to Abraham her maid Hagar as a secondary wife; their mutual jealousy; and her bearing Isaac in her old age, "the child of promise," Genesis 1:12-23. She appears to have been a woman of uncommon beauty, and a most exemplary and devoted wife. Her docility is eulogized in 1 Peter 3:6, and her faith in Hebrews 11:11. See Isa 51:2 Galatians 1:4-31. Sarah lived to the age of one hundred and twenty-seven years. She died in the valley of Hebron, and Abraham came to Beer-sheba to mourn for her, after which he bought a field of Ephron the Hittite, wherein was a cave hewn in the rock, called Machpelah, where Sarah was buried, Genesis 23:9.


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