Sarah: An Epitome of Matriarchal Strength, Love and Faith

Written by Zhey Chua |Posted on September 3, 2008 | Comments

I’m halfway through reading Dr. John MacArthur’s Twelve Extraordinary Women book cover and MacArthur is right on the dot when he mentioned on the introduction that in one way or the other, women will find something in these extraordinary women of God that they can strongly relate to.
While I felt that there’s a bit of Hannah (for her heartfelt desire to become a mother), a bit of Rahab (for her dark past and the grace of God in her life which transformed her into a woman of faith) and maybe a bit of Ruth that I can relate myself with, I could not help but laugh at how closely I can associate myself with Sarah’s character. Thinking about it now, it wouldn’t be surprising to learn that, in fact, many women can relate more to Sarah than with any other woman in the Bible.

The Down-Side of Sarah’s Personality:
There are times in Sarah’s biblical account that she is recorded to be somewhat, shall we say, temperamental. Her faith in God faltered on ocassions and this led her to meddling with God’s “business” with her husband, Abraham. One of her biggest follies was when she gave her maidservant, Hagar, for Abraham to impregnate. Sarah’s “seemingly devious scheme” was proof of her fallenness, there are times in her life that she faltered in her faith and that her flesh took and won over the spirit. Hagar’s conception marred Sarah’s marriage for the rest of her life. She knew that God promised Abraham descendants as many as the stars and as countless as the dust, but she was so impatient she couldn’t sit still and wait for it to happen. Instead of just trusting in God’s promise, she took matters into her own hand and made Abraham’s fate her business.
Her scheme backfired at her, Hagar started to hate Sarah and became a disobedient servant. You would think that Sarah, in her self-pity because of her barrenness, would just cry in one corner and blame herself for what she did, but surprise, surprise… Sarah fought back and made it apparent that she is the woman of Abraham’s household, she continually made it clear in her own ways that Hagar, inspite of conceiving Abraham’s child, is still a mere servant and that it would be best if Hagar acted one. Genesis 16:5 records the first account of Sarah’s temperament when she confronted Abraham about Hagar’s obvious contempt of her. And then the accounts that followed tells us that Sarah mistreated Hagar to a point where Hagar felt it wise to flee from Sarah (Gen 16:6).Later, the Bible again accounts another one of Sarah’s outbursts which resulted to the exile of Hagar and her son, Ishmael (Gen 21:8).

The other side of Sarah:
Sarah’s bratty and somewhat capricious character is, however, balanced with her beauty, sense of humor,love and faith.
Sarah was without a doubt a beautiful woman, many times in their journeys, Abraham had to deny his true relationship with Sarah in order to protect themselves and he clearly stated that Sarah’s beauty might endanger them. But this is not what is important, I just felt the need to mention her looks so that we could put a face, somehow, into the character.
Sarah loved Abraham with a love that knows no bounds, no ends, no barriers.
She came from Ur of the Chaldeans, a bustling urban center which is also, incidentally, the heart of a pagan culture. So it is easy to surmise that Sarah was born at the height of the town’s affluence and power, therefore, Sarah was born with a silver spoon in her mouth. Having come from a rich family, Sarah probably was a pampered child and was never subjected to hardships during her growing years. This little information on her background also explains a lot about her brattiness, doesn’t it?
Yet, Sarah embraced Abraham’s nomadic lifestyle and willingly, uncomplainingly, happily and submissively journeyed alongside her husband. While she was always quick in coming to Abraham to complain about Hagar’s growing resentment of her and even impetuous in her dealings with Hagar, she was, however, always ready to submit to her husband’s leadership and also quick to follow as she’s told, even if it meant preparing food good for three people on such short notice. I wonder how many women would smile and graciously retreat to their kitchens without throwing fits first should their husbands ask them to prepare a meal for visitors who are “expected to arrive quite unexpectedly”? Sarah also called Abraham “My Lord”, which meant that she was quite happy and contented in her submission to him.
It was in her old age that God finally opened Sarah’s womb and it was at this time that we see much of Sarah’s faith and sense of humor come to play. She laughed as soon as she heard news of her foreboding pregnancy, but her laughter was not to mock or thwart God’s gracious plan for her, instead, she found humor in the fact that at post-menopausal stage and at such time in her life, God still found favor in her and enabled her to conceive. What endears me more to her is when she even mentioned that “all who hear will laugh with her” meaning she was aware of the comedic sight that this pregnancy elicits and that it should not be a wonder to see people laugh at the thought of an old woman carrying a child in her womb. I could not blame Sarah for her laughter, I have yet to see a pregnant 90 year old woman, it must have been one weird sight.But, again, while seeing the humor in it, Sarah clearly believed that she will indeed bear Abraham an offspring and she celebrated that!

Conclusion:
In today’s language, it would be easy to say that Sarah was a brat.She was spoiled and headstrong, impatient and likes to stick her nose where she mustn’t. Her impatience became a stumbling block for her but she was determined to have things her way despite that, to a point where she went up to Abraham and expressed her indignity over Hagar’s insolence.But then, Sarah was also more than willing to submit to the Lord’s will. When Sarah first expelled Hagar, an Angel instructed Hagar to go back and submit to Sarah. Sarah graciously accepted Hagar back, she never asked why, she didn’t question God for the humiliation this must have brought her (she sent her servant away only for God to bring her back to her, what a shame, isn’t it?).
The many years of waiting for the promised heir, and the discouragement that washed over her year after year after year brought about by her barrenness should have also deterred Sarah from perpetually hoping. But just as fast as her faith would falter, so would her faith rise up to the surface and give her courage to move on and serve God and Abraham.
Sarah has a very strong character, she is a colorful mixture of fresh, abstract and complex personality. Indeed an epitome of matriarchal strength, grace, beauty, humor, love and faith. But she is not without her flaws. Just like so many of us, we also fail and get discouraged, we get angry, throw tantrums, morph into bratty, scheming, meddling and spiteful creatures, yet, we also find the humility to submit to the Lord’s will and find humor in our own fallenness and failures.