A Cyclopaedia of Female Biography/Sarah, or Sarai
SARAH, or SARAI,
Wife of Abraham, was born in Uz of the Chaldees, (the region of fire, or where the people were fire-worshippers,) from which she came out with her husband. She was ten years younger than Abraham, and in some way connected with him by relationship, which permitted them to be called brother and sister. Some commentators suppose that she was the daughter of Haraz, Abraham's brother by a different mother, and consequently, the sister of Lot. But Abraham said of her to Abimilech, "She is indeed my sister; she is the daughter of my father, but not the daughter of my mother; and she became my wife." Such inter-marriages had not, in that age of the world, been prohibited by God or man. Her story is told at length in Genesis, chap, xii., xviii., XX., xxxiii. None of the women of the Bible are so prominently placed or so distinctly described as Sarah, whose name was changed by God so that its meaning (her title) might be "mother of nations" Her first name, Sarai, signifies "princess"—and her personal loveliness, and the excellences of her character, justify the appellation. But as the Bible is the word of divine truth, it describes no perfect men or women. Sarah's love and devotion to her husband are themes of the apostle's praise; and her maternal faithfulness is proven by the influence of her character on Isaac, and the sorrow with which he mourned her death. Yet Sarah has been accused of harshness towards the handmaid Hagar, and cruelty in causing her and her son Ishmael to be sent away. But the sacred narrative warrants no such inference. It should be born in mind that in the first promise, when God said to Abram, "I will make of thee a great nation," etc., no mention is made of the mother of this favoured race. Abram undoubtedly told his beloved Sarai of God's promise; but when ten years had passed, and she had no children, she might fear she was not included in the divine prediction. Regardless of self, where the glory and happiness of her adored husband were concerned, with a disinterestedness more than heroic, of which the most noble-minded woman only could have been capable, she voluntarily relinquished her hope of the honour of being the mother of the blessed race; and, moreover, withdrew her claim to his sole love, (a harder trial,) and gave him her favourite slave Hagar. It was Sarai who proposed this to Abram, and as there was then no law prohibiting such relations, it was not considered sin. But it was sin, as the event showed. God, from the first, ordained that the union of the sexes, to be blessed, cannot subsist but in a marriage made holy by uniting, indissolubly and faithfully, one man with one woman. This holy union between Abraham and Sarah, which had withstood all temptations and endured all trials, was now embittered to the wife by the insolence and ingratitude of the concubine.
That the subsequent conduct of Sarah was right, under the circumstances, the angel of the Lord bore witness, when he found Hagar in the wilderness, and said, "Return to thy mistress, and submit thyself under her hands."
So, too, when Hagar and her son Ishmael were sent away, God distinctly testified to Abraham that it should be thus—that Sarah was right. There are but two blemishes on the bright perfection of Sarah's character—her impatience for the promised blessing, and her hasty falsehood, told from fear, when she denied she had laughed. From the first fault came the troubles of her life through the connection of her husband with Hagar. She died at the great age of one hundred and twenty-seven years, and "Abraham came to mourn for Sarah and to weep for her;" true testimonials of her worth and his love. He purchased for her a sepulchre, at a great price, "the field of Macpelah, before Mamre," which became afterwards the site of Hebron, an important city. Sarah's death occurred B. C. 1860.