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Sarah

Both TestamentsPatriarchsFemaleWifeMother

Sarah (or Sarai) was the wife of Abraham and the mother of Isaac, through whom God fulfilled His promise to make Abraham a great nation.

Sarah illustration
Sarah

Biography

Sarah, born Sarai, was the wife of Abraham and the matriarch of the covenant people of Israel. Introduced in Genesis 11:29–31 as she accompanied Terah's household from Ur of the Chaldeans, Sarah shared in the great journey of faith that would eventually lead to Canaan. She is described as exceptionally beautiful (Genesis 12:11), a detail that created peril twice when Abraham presented her as his sister in foreign courts. Long barren, Sarah gave her Egyptian servant Hagar to Abraham as a surrogate, resulting in the birth of Ishmael. Yet God's promise was specific: Sarah herself, at ninety years old, would bear a son. Isaac was born as promised (Genesis 21:1–7), and Sarah died at 127 years of age at Kiriath-arba (Genesis 23:1–2), the only woman in Scripture whose age at death is recorded.

Significance

Sarah's theological significance is extraordinary. She is the founding matriarch through whom the covenant lineage of Abraham flows to Isaac, Jacob, and ultimately to Jesus Christ (Matthew 1). Her miraculous conception of Isaac establishes the pattern of divine election operating not through natural capacity but through divine promise alone, a principle Paul develops at length in Romans 4 and Galatians 4, where Sarah represents the covenant of grace. The New Testament also cites Sarah as a model of submission and faith (1 Peter 3:6) and places her among the heroes of faith (Hebrews 11:11), honoring the trust she placed in God's promise even amid her own doubts and failures.

Verse Appearances (41)

References

  1. Orr, J. (ed.) (1915) The International Standard Bible Encyclopedia. Chicago: Howard-Severance Company. [Public Domain]
  2. Tyndale House, Cambridge (n.d.) Translators Individualised Proper Names with all References (TIPNR). STEPBible. Available at: https://www.stepbible.org. [CC BY 4.0]
  3. Church of England (1769) The Holy Bible, Authorized (King James) Version. [Public Domain]

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Content compiled from public domain scholarship, academic sources, and verified references. Editorial standards · View all sources