Bible Character Explorer
Patriarchs • c. 2100-1900 BC (approximate)
Sarah
MatriarchAbraham's wife, whose decades of barrenness gave way to the miraculous birth of Isaac, the child of promise.
"Through faith also Sara herself received strength to conceive seed, and was delivered of a child when she was past age, because she judged him faithful who had promised."
Hebrews 11:11 (KJV)
Overview
Sarah, originally named Sarai, left Ur and later Haran with her husband Abraham in obedience to God's call, though the promise of a son through her seemed impossible for decades because of her barrenness. Twice, out of fear for his own safety, Abraham presented her as his sister rather than his wife, in Egypt and later in Gerar, and both times God intervened to protect her. Impatient for the promise, Sarah gave her servant Hagar to Abraham to bear a child in her place, a decision that produced Ishmael but also lasting family conflict. When the LORD finally announced that Sarah herself would bear a son within the year, she laughed in disbelief at the impossibility of it, given her age, yet the promise held: Isaac, whose name means 'laughter,' was born exactly as God had said. Sarah died at 127 in Hebron, and Abraham purchased the cave of Machpelah as her burial place, the first piece of the Promised Land the family actually owned.
Gospel Connection
Paul uses Sarah's miraculous conception in Galatians 4 to contrast the child born by promise with the child born merely by natural means, applying it to all who are 'children of promise' through faith in Christ. Just as Isaac's birth came entirely through God's power against natural impossibility, salvation in Christ comes entirely through grace, not human effort.
Discover More
See how this life points to Christ in the Gospel Connection section above.