Yet he did not punish her or retract his promise. God's grace was great enough, not only to do the impossible for Sarah, but also to accept her human limitations and forgive her unbelief. What an encouragement this is for those of us who struggle to believe! We don't have to pretend before the Lord. In fact, he won't let us. Rather, he draws near to us so that we might grow in our relationship with him, a relationship based on truth.
Are you afraid of letting God see who you really are? Do you try to hide your doubts from the Lord, fearing his response? How does the example of God's response to Sarah impact you? O Lord, I know the right answer. But you know me, Lord, and therefore you know how often I feel and act as if many things are too hard for you. When I face challenges too big for me to handle, I can be swallowed up by fear. Aside from the incongruity of an elderly couple conceiving a child, there is the fear that old parents will be inadequate to the task of raising it, or may not live long enough to accompany their heir into responsible adulthood.
That laughter — bitter and maybe even angry came from hidden knowledge and foreboding, from which Sarah protectively shields her husband but which Hashem wants Avraham to confront.
The bitterness that coats the good news arises from the circumstances into which the long-awaited son will be born. How happily this child would have been greeted by a younger mother, who could look forward to raising him and participating in his great moments and achievements, in seeing his wife and children!
Instead, this child will come after another child has already been born, after Yishmael has come to be. She knows — and so does Hagar — whether Avraham can naturally father a child. While she may believe in miracles, will the rest of the world? These rumors were given some substance by the sojourn in the Land of the Philistines — an event related in the chapters interjected between the message that Sarah would bear a child and the story of his actual birth.
One would not need a particularly cynical attitude to see some credence to the doubts that Sarah, whose restoration to youth was visibly apparent, could hardly have conceived by the aged Avraham. And the fact that Hagar, whose fertility was established by the birth of Yishmael, had failed to conceive again in all these years, further lends weight to these aspersions. Who more than Sarah could understand what resentment and ill will Yishmael and his mother would feel towards her son?
Yet, how could she accuse before they had actually attempted to harm Yitshak? How could she give voice to her suspicions to her husband, the father of Yishmael? Though Hashem attempts to reveal the darker side of the gift that is being bestowed upon him, Avraham cannot or will not believe ill of his first son.
Or can we contend that Avraham, too, in his earlier laughter, senses the irony — if not the full depth of danger — that this miracle highlights?
However, in his optimism and hopefulness, Avraham represses the early hints of danger lurking, and attempts then, as later, to ignore the fact that Yitshak would be born not only into a disbelieving and imperfect world, but into a complex and thorny family setting. Avraham remains reluctant to send Yishmael away. In all that Sarah says unto you, hearken unto her voice. More In Local.
Cavalry scout, veteran, non-trad student. Farmer, soldier, citizen. We see you are enjoying our articles! Subscribe Watch Video No, thanks! I will stick to the free stuff. Login Close. Message: Sarah, the wife of Abraham, is one of only two women named among the heroes of the faith in Hebrews Cancel Send. Brookings Register.
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