More about Sarah

The following ideas about Sarah are not based on any podcast.  I am sure someone has thought of this idea before, but it didn't show up in any of the podcasts I listened to this week, so take it all with a grain of salt.  Still, I think the idea is compelling and if I were still in college, I would certainly write a paper about it for a Old Testament or Women in Scripture class.

This idea started to develop when my husband and I read in Genesis 20 when Abraham tells Sarah to say that she is his sister again, and Abimelech want to take her as his wife.  All the podcasts I listened to suggested that this was just another version of what happened when Abraham and Sarah went into Egypt.  But I asked myself, what if it isn't.  What if it is an important story that the editors included in the narrative on purpose.  I also thought about what I talked about in my last blog, how Sarah represents the ideal Hebrew wife.  What is Sarah's life foreshadows what will happen to the entire House of Israel?  What if her story is a way for the editors of the Pentateuch to reassure the House of Israel that they will rise again after their Babylonian captivity and that the Mesiah will eventually come?

A chronology of Sarah's life

Let's look at the important events in the life of Sarah. We first hear about her when she marries her cousin, Abram. They have to travel to Egypt to escape a famine.  Sarah is taken into Pharaoh's household to save her husband's life, and then is released because people in Pharaoh's household get sick.  When Abraham leaves, he somehow gets to keep the bride-price and is very enriched.  

They travel back to the land that was originally promised to Abraham.  Sarah and Abraham don't produce a child, so Sarah gives Hagar, a non-Israelite, to Abraham as her surrogate.  The situation turns out to be less than satisfactory.  Sarah wants to cast out Hagar and Ishmael, but they are reunited for a little while. 

Sarah is given to Abimelech to wife as Abraham's sister, but she is released when Abimelech has a dream about her.  When Abimelech lets her go, he maintains a good relationship with Abraham and gives him a place to build a well and eventually to bury Sarah.  

Finally, after all hope is past for Sarah to have an heir, she finally has a son.  Just when Isaac is about to be old enough to take over the family leadership, The LORD tells Abraham to sacrifice Isaac. Abraham is obedient, but the LORD intervenes and God provides his own sacrifice instead.  Isaac follows in the path of his father and keeps the covenant.  Ishmael and Hagar are cast out and leave the family permanently. A few years after Isaac's birth, Sarah dies, and Abraham marries a new wife and has more children. Isaac, however, carries on the birthright and is the keeper of the covenant. 

So are you seeing the parallels with the history of the House of Israel?

 Abraham, in this instance, represents God.  The House of Israel, represented by Sarah, enters into a covenant relationship (marriage) with God.  According to the covenant Sarah will have a child through which all the nations of the world will be blessed (the Messiah).  Before that happens, the House of Israel has to travel to Egypt to escape a famine.  The Egyptians find them desirable and take possession of them as slaves.  They are freed after the Passover, when Pharaoh's household is struck with sickness. They leave with the spoils of Egypt.

They travel back to the place that Abraham was originally given by the LORD, but the seed of Abraham is corrupted when it mixes with the non-covenant people of the land (Hagar).  The more corrupt part is split off and there is contentions between the 10 tribes and the two tribes (Hagar and Sarah).  The House of Israel is taken into bondage again during the Babylonian captivity but are saved with Cyrus has a dream that they should be restored to their homeland. They build a temple (well) and reestablish their inheritance (burial place).

Finally, after all hope of the promised Messiah seems gone, He is finally born, but just as he is reaching full adulthood he is sacrificed. Instead of being the end of his life, however, the sacrifice confirms his place as the true heir of the covenant. With the covenant in place, the LORD invites gentiles to join into his family.  

The parallels are not perfect.  In history the 10 tribes break off before the Messiah is born, but in the story of Sarah, the birth of the Isaac causes the final break-up of the family. Plus, you can't get too particular about the details.  Egypt is Egypt, but Abimelech is not the king of Babylon.  Still, I think the parallels are too many to be an accident.  I think the original scholars who assembled the Pentateuch portrayed the events in Sarah's life intensionally to shadow the history of the house of Israel and fortell the coming of a Messiah who would be sacrificed to save Israel. If you think of the writings of the prophets at the time of the captivity, they are always comparing the house of Israel to a bride.  (Jeremiah 3:20, Isaiah 50:1, Isaiah 54:6-8, Hosea 3:1-3 to name a few)  Maybe the idea of Sarah as a type of the House of Israel was a common theme back then because the people saw Sarah's life as a type of their own history. Or maybe after the compilers of the Pentateuch drew attention to the parallels between Sarah's life and their cultural history, the prophets picked up on the imagery. I don't know the details of the time line well enough to establish which was the egg and which the chicken.  Still, I think it is all a cool idea.