Sarah, Wife of Abraham: Matriarch?

Hello again!
It's been a bit of a break, but I'm happy to be back, and I hope you are, too. Today marks the kick-off of a new series, Women of the Bible. Now, this is a rather typical writing topic, especially for a young, married, religious woman. However, I hope to bring something new to the table. For starters, I'll be writing about these ladies from an Israelite standpoint, which will add another layer to what we already know. Also, unlike most writings I've read on the topic, I don't intend to sugarcoat, ignore, or minimize things in the name of having a "role model". With that being said, let's get into Sarah! [Disclaimer: It's about to get a little sarcastic and a little crude. There's a lot of sexual shenanigans going on in the story of Sarah, and I cover and critique it in this article.]

     Sarah is a bit of an interesting lady. She's commonly cited as the Matriarch of the Christian/Jewish/Israelite religion(s) because of her relationship to Abraham. Now, this is a theme we're going to run into a lot with this Bible women series; most of the women are only important because of their relationship to someone else rather than a skill or trait they themselves possess. I believe Sarah fits into this category.

     For her full story, check out Genesis 11:29-24. I'm not interested in a huge summary, but we can paint it in broad strokes. In no particular order: Sarah was originally named Sarai, and she was married to a fellow named Abram, who was also her brother (more on that later). Abram was picked by YHWH to be the progenitor of his people, the future Israelites. Sarah, however, was barren. Along their travels, YHWH gave Sarah and Abraham their new names. Abraham gave Sarah to two different men as a sex slave. He got her back. They continued to not have children. Sarah gave Abraham her servant as a sex slave. Abraham had a kid with said slave. Sarah got jealous and had the servant and her kid banished. Then, after laughing at God's promise and lying about it, she had a son, Isaac. Abraham tried to sacrifice Isaac, but was stopped by God. She lived to be 127 and died. Well hmmm. Her life sounds a lot more exciting when you put it like that.
   
     For the record, I've never liked Sarah. I never saw what was so good about her or what example she was supposed to be for us. She's a brother-marrying, willing-to-commit-adultery-at-the-behest-of-said-brother, jealous, manipulative, spiteful and faithless woman. More than an "example", I believe her life is an anti-example. An example of how things can go wrong. Let's dive into it.

Incest
     We'll start with the incest accusations, since I'm sure that's the most surprising thing in the above list. Alright, so, Abraham was the son of a man named Terah (Genesis 11:27). A few verses later, Sarai is introduced simply as Abram's wife (11:31). However, when you read the whole story close enough, something interesting emerges. As mentioned above, Abraham gave Sarah up to two different men during their lives together. Both men were rules--a Pharaoh and a King, respectively--and both times, Abraham was afraid he would be killed if he did not give Sarah to them. Both times, to avoid inciting these men, Sarah was identified as Abraham's sister. Now, when I was a Christian child, I was always told this was a clever ruse on the part of Abraham. However, it's an odd lie to tell twice. Probably because it wasn't a lie at all. Sarah was Abraham's sister. In Genesis 20, Abraham was pulling ye olde bait-and-switch again with Sarah and the King Abimelech. After finding out the truth, Abimelech confronts Abraham. Abraham defends himself in 20:11-12 (emphasis mine), "Because I thought, surely the fear of God is not in this place; and they will slay me for my wife's sake. And yet, indeed she is my sister; she is the daughter of my father, but not the daughter of my mother; and she became my wife." Straight from the horse's mouth; the two share a father; therefore, they are half siblings.
     From an Israelite standpoint, that relationship is wrong. The Law clearly states that half-sibling incest is a no-no. From Leviticus 18:9, "The nakedness of thy sister, the daughter of thy father, or daughter of thy mother, whether she be born at home, or born abroad, even  their nakedness thou shalt not uncover." No wiggle room there. The relationship between Sarah and Abraham was not a good one. The only saving grace they have is that the Law had not been laid down yet. If the two had been born at a later date, they would have been "cast out" as "abominations"--cut off from their people (Lev. 28-29).

Analysis
     Though they can hardly be blamed for doing something they didn't know was wrong, the Law is an eternal thing. A punishment would not be right, but at the same time, I think the Law has de jure as well as de facto punishments. I think a lot of the problems between Sarah and Abraham started with their sibling relationship. It's a sort of built-in punishment of sorts. More below.

"Here ya go, one bonafide sister, as promised."

Sex Slavery/"Why Women Shouldn't Do Everything Their Husbands Say"
     Second accusation; Abraham gave Sarah up to sex slavery on two different accounts. The first time was in Egypt. Abraham had moved his household south due to a famine (Gen. 12:10). As they travel, Abraham starts to get paranoid. He realizes Sarah is beautiful, and he fears the Egyptians will kill him in order to possess Sarah (12:11-12). So, he begs Sarah to say she is his sister rather than his wife in order to save him. Sarah complies (12:13). They settle down, and word of Sarah's beauty spreads. Soon enough, the servants of Pharaoh come to fetch her. In exchange, Pharaoh gives Abraham "sheep, oxen, he asses, menservants, maidservants, she asses, and camels" (12:16). Luckily for both Sarah and Abraham, God struck Pharaoh's house with plagues until he realized something was up and discovered Sarah was Abraham's wife. Sarah was returned, and she and Abraham were kicked out of Egypt (12:17-20).
    The second time was some years later. Apparently, Sarah was still a foxy lady, and Abimelech, the king of Gerar, took Sarah. Abraham, in the meanwhile, was sitting somewhere in the background, assuring everyone that she was his sister (Gen. 20:2). Luckily, once again, God steps in, and gives Abimelech a frightening dream that reveals the truth before Abimelech actually had sex with her (20:4-6). Abimelech returns Sarah to Abraham and gives Abraham some presents.

If you look really close, you can see the familial resemblance.

Analysis
     Revisiting what I said above about de facto punishment, let's look at this. Not once, but twice, Abraham gives Sarah to another man. Why? To save his own skin. Not even to save his own skin, actually, but because he was afraid for his own skin.  To save himself, he was willing to give up his wife (/sister) to adultery, rape, and whatever else these kings thought up. I bring up their double relationship again for a reason. Not only did he have responsibility to Sarah as his wife; she was his sister, too. What if it had gone off? He gave her to Pharaoh and got goods in exchange, went home, and Terah asks, "uh, hey, where's Sarah?" "Uh, well. You know. I gave her to the Pharaoh. To be his concubine. He gave me some really cool stuff in exchange, though! Check out them camels!" ........let that thought stew for a minute. He did not protest, did not fight, and did not try to find another way. Those are not the actions of a holy man; they are the actions of a weak and cowardly man. He was not being a good husband or brother.
     But! We're not here to learn about Abraham; we're here to learn about Sarah! Yes. Let's look at this again. Abraham asks her to claim sisterhood to him in both Egypt and Gerar. He explains to her the reason, "I don't want to die, so say you're my sister so (they'll just rape you) and leave me alone". And she went along with it. "But!" you may cry, "God had their backs! It worked out alright in the end, didn't it?!". Yeah, He had their backs--because He'd previously promised them their future. He's not going to cut out of the bargain because Abraham is a doofus. And, the way He dealt with it--plagues, nightmares, scoldings--shows that what Abraham and Sarah did was not the right thing. Lying and tricksy adultery is not right. Sarah had the chance to stop it. She could have said, at any point, that she was Abraham's wife, and God would have had their backs. Instead, she kept quiet, and because of her, plagues and curses were visited on two houses of duped rulers.
    Back to the de facto punishment line of thinking. Consider: would Abraham ever have pulled that "sister" card if Sarah had not been, in fact, his sister? I don't think so. He said it himself, "But she IS my sister" by way to explain away his lying. Their one mistake led into other mistakes. The lesson to learn here, besides not marrying your sibling, is that doing the right thing is everyone's responsibility. Abraham was wrong, and because Sarah did what he said, she experienced some unpleasantness (I doubt she was cheerful and excited to be a concubine), and two houses were cursed. Not to mention, in the future, their son, Isaac, pulls the same trick with his wife! (Gen 26:) Lead by example, I guess.

No Babies=More Adultery+Jealousy
    This next section explores the side of Sarah I like to call "the spiteful/faithless harpy". One of the problems plaguing (heh...."plaguing"....ahem) Sarah and Abraham's relationship from the get-go was Sarah's barren womb (Gen. 11:30). Considering the close relationship of Sarah and Abraham, it's no wonder they were having troubles having a kid (de facto punishment, again). When Abraham was told by God that he would be the father of a huge people, things started to sour in the S&A household. Sarah felt guilty for not being able to give Abraham a kid. Rather than waiting, trusting, working on the whole "please-stop-giving-me-to-rulers" thing, Sarah decides the best course of action is to have Abraham sleep with her slave, Hagar, (Gen. 16:2) and poach any resulting kids for her own.
     Abraham, being stupid (or maybe thinking he owes his wife on the whole "make-me-sleep-with-someone-else" bit), agrees. He sleeps with Hagar, and Hagar gets pregnant. Sarah then goes all Jerry Springer on Hagar and chases her out of the encampment. Abraham does not step in (Gen. 16:6). However, Hagar meets with an angel who tells her to go back and raise her son. She is told ,"And he will be a wild man; his hand will be against every man, and every man's hand against him...." (Gen. 16:12). Not the best news for an expectant mother, but in this situation, who could grow up as anything else? Later on, when Sarah gives birth to Isaac, she catches Ishmael, Hagar's son, "mocking" Isaac. (Gen. 21:9). Sarah appeals to Abraham about the matter, and Hagar and Ishmael are given a bottle of water and some bread and kicked out into the wilderness (21:14). Hagar wanders, lost, until the water runs out. She leaves Ishmael under a bush because she can't bear to see him die, but, at the last minute, God shows up, tells her where to find a well, and looks after Ishmael. He grows up to become an archer and marry an Egyptian (21:15-21).

And that's the LAST time you make fun of your brother!

Analysis
     This is another part of the story that has always rubbed me the wrong way. Neither Sarah nor Abraham did what was right. If Abraham had been faithful (as in the religious way. Obviously, neither one of them is maritally faithful), he would have refused to sleep with Hagar because he believed God's promise. If Sarah had been faithful, she never would have suggested such a twisted arrangement to begin with. As in the previous stories, we see that nothing good comes out of doing wrong. Sarah's actions lead to jealousy, manipulation, and attempted murder. She had no idea God would protect Hagar and Ishmael. She didn't care. They would have died in the desert for her pettiness if God had not stepped in. Abraham suffers as well. He sees Ishmael as his son, but he listens to his wife and sends him away (Granted, God also told him it would be okay), but he nonetheless suffers. He never gets to see his son again.
     Looking at long-term consequences, many people believe Ishmael to be the progenitor of the Muslim people and ancestor of Muhammad. He only existed thanks to Sarah's fecklessness. So, who is responsible for the fighting in the middle east, as well as centuries of strife and bloodshed? Sarah.

Thanks, Sarah!

Further Faithlessness: Laugh and Lie
    We're drawing near to the end of our tale. Abraham and Sarah live to a ripe old age of 100 or so, and Sarah still has not had a child. The couple is visited by a mysterious trio who tell Abraham that he and Sarah will be parents shortly. Sarah, who is sitting in the tent, laughs. Gen. 18:13-15 holds the following exchange,

"And the Lord said unto Abraham, 'Wherefore did Sarah laugh, saying, Shall I of a surety bear a child, which am old? Is any thing too hard for the Lord? At the time appointed I will return unto thee, according to the time of life, and Sarah shall have a son.' Then Sarah denied, saying, 'I laughed not'; for she was afraid. And he said, 'Nay; but thou didst laugh'."    

     Though Sarah lived her life following what God told Abraham, moving from point A to B, and though she was saved on two occasions by His intercession, she does not believe Him when he re-gives His promise. When confronted, she lies about it. Not really surprising, considering her track record.

Analysis  
     There's not much to say about this one. It doesn't really connect to others except for the common thread of faithlessness. It does show that Sarah, at least, did not learn from her experiences. She had many decades to realize that God wouldn't let her family down not matter what, but she did not learn that lesson.

Summary
Sarah is definitely an important figure in the Bible and to our history. However, she is not important for any positive qualities she may have possessed. From the beginning of her story to the end, all she makes is mistakes. It's hard to find one good thing she did. She married her brother, was willing to trick others into adultery, invited her husband to commit adultery, abused her husband's baby-mama, attempted to have said baby-mama and baby (though, to be fair, he was older than 13 at the time) exiled to their doom, and, after all that, did not trust that God would pull through for her. Yes, she had faith in her husband, but that lead her to deceiving and seducing. She is, by definition, our matriarch, but she is not a role model by any stretch of the term. The lessons to learn, I suppose, are these. A) The story of Abraham and Sarah is probably not what you grew up learning; nevertheless, it is important. B) Keep a hold of your sexuality. If it gets out of control, it can and will cause huge and long-lasting problems. C) Keep faith in God; he won't let you down, even if you screw up big time.