Imagine being Sarah

By Genesis 18:8, Sarah is probably still recovering from her husband’s rather frantic cry to her in verse 6: “Quick get three seahs (large measures, possibly a whole sack full) of fine flour and knead it and bake some bread” for the three visitors who’d just arrived (2). 

That was surprise enough, but after the visitors had sat down and eaten, she heard one of them ask her husband where she was because, he said, “I’ll be back about this time next year, by which time Sarah will have a son” (9-10). “You must be kidding” (in our terms) she chuckled to herself, and not surprisingly, because at nearly ninety years old “I’m worn out and my husband is past it too, so how can such a pleasure be mine?” (12).  

That wasn’t the last of her surprises either, because she overheard the leader of the group asking her husband, “Why did Sarah laugh and say to herself, ‘What chance have I got of having a child at my age?’” (13). But she’d only been thinking it in her head (12), so how on earth did he know?

She soon found out, because he asks, “Is anything too hard for the Lord?” (14). Oh no, now she was in trouble, not only for chuckling but for doubting the Lord’s power too – especially when the whole point of the last twenty-five years was to build their trust in YHWH and his ability to pull off the impossible. On the other hand, Abraham had also laughed at the prospect of a son in his old age (17:17). 

But in her case she was only a few feet away from the one who knew exactly what she was thinking, so she “was afraid” (15), the same Hebrew word used for Adam when his fear led him to hide from God (3:10). And at this point, Sarah probably wished she could hide and never be found too. But being Sarah, with a tendency to resort to human solutions (like suggesting Abraham have a child by Hagar, and agreeing to be his sister), she went the human route again and lied, saying, “I did not laugh.” “Yes you did,” came the answer, and we can only imagine Sarah’s reaction, having been caught in this exquisitely embarrassing moment of her own making. 

But there’s no serious telling her off by YHWH. No repercussions. She doesn’t get away with lying, but there are no recriminations either. Imagine being Sarah, then, and what she might be learning about YHWH too. So that next time she’s in a tight spot and she’s tempted to resort to human means to get herself out of it, just be open about it with YHWH. Because “YHWH listens”….(next blog)