Sarah
was Abraham's first wife, and Isaac's mother. (12:29) She was originally called
Sarai, but God changed it to Sarah. (17:15)
Sarai lived with her husband in the city of Ur, in the
kingdom of Chaldea. (11:28) (Ur was a city located in
southern part of Chaldea. Chaldea was later renamed Babylon. Archeologists have
located the ruins of the city of Ur in southeastern Iraq, about ten miles west
of the Euphrates river. The ruins of Ur are still there, but today the site is
called Tell al-Mugayyar.) At the time, her husband Abraham went by the
name of Abram. Then four members of the family-Terah, Abram, Sarai
(Abram's wife), and Lot-left Ur to live somewhere else. They intended to go to
the land of Canaan. But they stopped in the city of Haran, in the land of
Mesopotamia, and settled there. (11:29-31) (Mesopotamia is
the area between the Tigris and Euphrates rivers. By today's map, the area of
Mesopotamia would be in southern Turkey, northeastern Syria, and central Iraq.
Archeologists have located the ruins of the city of Haran in southeastern
Turkey. The ruins of Haran are still there, but today the site is called Sultan
Tepe.)
God told Abram "Go to a land that I will show you,
and I will make you a great nation." Abram and his family, including Sarai
and Lot, left on this journey. God led them to the land of Canaan. (Canaan
was a land on the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea. It was located between
the Mediterranean Sea on its west side, the Jordan river on its east side, Egypt
on its south side, and Babylon on its north side, in what would today be the
country of Israel) Here, God told Abram "Your descendants shall
become a nation. I shall give them this land." (12:1-7) At the time, the
land was lived in by the Canaanites (descendants of Canaan, the youngest son of
Ham). (12:6)
There was famine in the land at the time, so Abram and his
family went to Egypt for a while. In Egypt, Abram was afraid that people would
want his wife Sarai, and would kill him to possess her. So he passed off Sarai
as his sister, rather than his wife. The Egyptian pharaoh took a liking to Sarai.
Abram acquired sheep, cattle, camels, and slaves. When the pharaoh found out
that Sarai was actually Abram's wife, he sent Abram and his family away.
(12:10-20)
She had trouble producing children. So she gave her
slave, Hagar, to Abraham to bear his children so that she could have children
through Hagar. Hagar bore Abram a son named Ishmael. (chapter 16) But Sarai was
still disappointed that she herself couldn't have any children. God promised her
that she would. Meanwhile, God changed her name to Sarah and Abram's name to
Abraham. (chapter 17)
Later, an incident happened that was similar to what
happened in Egypt. Abraham and Sarah visited the city of Gerar (a city near the
southern border of Canaan). The city was ruled by a tribe of people known as the
Philistines. There, again, Abraham feared that people would want his wife Sarai,
and would kill him to possess her. So again he passed off Sarai as his sister,
rather than his wife. The king of Gerar, Abimelech, also took a liking to Sarah.
He kidnapped Sarah, and tried to have sex with her. God warned Abimelech in a
dream that Sarah was Abraham's wife. Abimelech confronts Abraham. Abraham
confessed "She is my wife." Abimelech gave Sarah back to Abraham.
(chapter 20)
Finally, Sarah gave birth to a son. She named him
Isaac. (21:1-7) Now that she finally had a son, she had Abraham cast Hagar and
Ishmael out of the family. (21:1-14)
Sarah lived to be 127. (23:1) She died in the city of
Kirjatharba. (23:2) She was buried in the cave of Machpelah. (23:19)
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