SARA, SARAH, SARAI sâr’ ə, sā’ rī (שָׂרָ֖ה, שָׂרָ֑י LXX Σάρρα, Σάρα.) The meaning of the name is princess, or possibly, mistress (in the sense of ruling). 1. The wife of Abraham (Gen 11:29, 30), and also his half-sister on his father Terah’s side (20:12). She is highly esteemed by the Jews as a kind of mother-figure and example of piety. She seems also to be admired as an epitome of feminine pulchritude. Legendary accounts of this appear in post-Biblical Jewish writing, and there is a flowery description in an Aram. fragment from the DSS collection. Even at the age of sixty-five (cf. 12:4 and 17:17) she had so retained her beauty that Abram feared that he might be killed for his wife when they fled to Egypt, to escape a famine in Canaan. To minimize this possibility he let it be known that she was his sister (12:10-13). Sarai journeyed with Abram from Ur to Haran (11:31), and after a time from thence to Canaan (12:5). Sojourns at Shechem and between the towns of Bethel and ’Ai followed, before the famine and the trip to Egypt. Pharaoh took Sarai into his harem or palace, and gave generously to Abram. Because of plagues on his household, Pharaoh suspected the truth and she and her husband were sent away.

A second incident in which a similar pretense was used occurred at the court of Abimelech, king of Gerar, when Sarai posed as Abram’s sister (ch. 20; cf. the parallel in ch. 26, concerning Isaac and Rebekah). Abimelech was warned in a dream, and following a prayer by Abram, the plague that had fallen on his house was lifted, but again Sarai and Abram had to leave.

The first mention of Sarai stated that “she had no child” (11:30). Her barrenness was a continual reproach, and after ten years in Canaan she gave her Egyp. handmaiden, Hagar, to Abram for a concubine. When Hagar conceived she despised Sarai, who in her jealousy mistreated Hagar to the extent that she fled away into the wilderness for a time, but after seeing a vision, returned to the house of Abram. A son named Ishmael was born, who is regarded as ancestral to the Arab peoples, in fulfillment of a prediction made to Hagar in the wilderness that, “I will so greatly multiply your descendants that they cannot be numbered for multitude” (16:10, cf. 17:20). In connection with the change of Sarai’s name to Sarah, a promise of a son to be born to her was made (17:15-17). This son was to be the ancestor of a great posterity, from whom prominent leaders should come. Sarah laughed at the announcement, because she was already ninety, and her husband, Abraham, was one hundred years of age. But it came to pass, and some fourteen years after Ishmael, Isaac was born (21:1-3), and all was joyous until at the time of the feast held for Isaac’s weaning, Sarah’s jealousy lest Ishmael should receive the inheritance resulted in the now permanent casting out of Hagar and Ishmael, who went and lived in the wilderness of Paran (21:8-21). Sarah is thus shown as a very human person, who because of her jealousy and hasty judgment, falls something short of the ideal character. Her faith (Rom 4:19; cf. Isa 51:2; Heb 11:11) and proper familial regard (1 Pet 3:6) are noted in these NT passages. Her name is not mentioned in the allegorical treatment of the covenants in Galatians 4:21-31, but it is obvious that she is specifically referred to in this passage.

Sarah died at the age of one hundred twenty-seven years, at Kiriath-arba (Hebron). To provide a place of burial Abraham purchased land at Hebron which included a cave known as Mach-pelah, that was destined to become the family burying place (Gen 23:3-20, cf. 25:10; 49:31), and which today is surmounted by a well-known building used as a mosque. Hebron is indelibly associated with the family of Abraham, and its early name, Kiriath-arba (or, “city of four”=Gr. Tetrapolis) comes from the leader of the Anakim, whose name was Arba (Josh 14:15). It was the center of the community of giants during the Exodus and Conquest, and was captured by Caleb during a late Conquest military action. However, during the earlier times of Abraham the area was settled by the “sons of Heth” (Hittites), and the land was purchased from a man named Ephron for a price of four hundred shekels of silver. Since this transaction antedated the invention of coinage, the silver was weighed in its bar or wire form. During Israelite time the silver shekel seemed to have averaged c. 11.424 grams, or 0.403 ounce.

2. The daughter of Raguel, and wife of Tobias (Tobit 3:7; 7:1; etc.). She is the heroine of a somewhat fanciful and engaging narrative from the time of the Assyrian Captivity. The story abounds with demons, miracles, and detail of family life from those times, and conveys a sense of verisimilitude to the reader.

Bibliography N. Avigad and Y. Yadin, A Genesis Apocryphon (1956), col. XX, 2-8.