(Σάρρα)
(1) Sarah has a place in the Roll of Faith (Hebrews 11:11). By faith even she herself (καὶ αὐτή) won the title to this great honour. The meaning of αὐτή, is doubtful: it may be expanded into ‘though she was the weaker vessel’ (vas infirmius, Bengel); or, ‘though she was barren’ (D adds the gloss στεῖρα); or, ‘though she had been so incredulous.’ She received strength for conception (εἰς καταβολὴν σπέρματος), believing, even when she was beyond the proper time of life (παρὰ καιρὸν ἡλικίας), that God could by a miracle give her a child. Motherhood after long childlessness is a recurrent theme in Bible narratives: Rebekah, Rachel, the mother of Samson, of Samuel, of John Baptist had each a happiness like Sarah’s. (2) St. Peter (1 Peter 3:6) praises the holy women of the olden time, who trusted in God and were in subjection to their husbands, ‘as Sarah obeyed Abraham, calling him lord.’ Her reverential use of this term in reference to her husband occurs but once (Genesis 18:12), and would in itself be an insufficient ground for making her a pattern of wifely obedience, especially as words of quite another import stand recorded against her (16:5). But the Apostle evidently felt that the dutiful word was weighted with the love and loyalty of a lifetime.
Literature.-A. Whyte, Bible Characters: Adam to Achan, 1896; R. F. Horton, Women of the OT, 1897.
James Strahan.