Biblical Babe: Sarah

§ The Gemara asks with regard to the prophetesses recorded in the baraita: Who were the seven prophetesses? The Gemara answers: Sarah, Miriam, Deborah, Hannah, Abigail, Huldah, and Esther. The Gemara offers textual support: Sarah, as it is written: “Haran, the father of Milcah, and the father of Iscah” (Genesis 11:29). And Rabbi Yitzḥak said: Iscah is in fact Sarah. And why was she called Iscah? For she saw [sakhta] by means of divine inspiration, as it is stated: “In all that Sarah has said to you, hearken to her voice” (Genesis 21:12). Alternatively, Sarah was also called Iscah, for all gazed [sokhin] upon her beauty.

יסכה JISCAH — This was Sarah; she was also named Jiscah (from a root meaning “”to see”, “to look”) because she could see the future by holy inspiration, and because everybody looked (gazed) at her beauty (Megillah 14a). The name Jiscah also has reference to princely dignity (נסיכות) just as the name Sarah (שרה) has an allusion to “ruling’’(שררה).

(1) Sarai, Abram’s wife, had borne him no children. She had an Egyptian maidservant whose name was Hagar. (2) And Sarai said to Abram, “Look, the LORD has kept me from bearing. Consort with my maid; perhaps I shall have a son through her.” And Abram heeded Sarai’s request. (3) So Sarai, Abram’s wife, took her maid, Hagar the Egyptian—after Abram had dwelt in the land of Canaan ten years—and gave her to her husband Abram as concubine. (4) He cohabited with Hagar and she conceived; and when she saw that she had conceived, her mistress was lowered in her esteem. (5) And Sarai said to Abram, “The wrong done me is your fault! I myself put my maid in your bosom; now that she sees that she is pregnant, I am lowered in her esteem. The LORD decide between you and me!” (6) Abram said to Sarai, “Your maid is in your hands. Deal with her as you think right.” Then Sarai treated her harshly, and she ran away from her. (7) An angel of the LORD found her by a spring of water in the wilderness, the spring on the road to Shur, (8) and said, “Hagar, slave of Sarai, where have you come from, and where are you going?” And she said, “I am running away from my mistress Sarai.” (9) And the angel of the LORD said to her, “Go back to your mistress, and submit to her harsh treatment.” (10) And the angel of the LORD said to her, “I will greatly increase your offspring, And they shall be too many to count.” (11) The angel of the LORD said to her further, “Behold, you are with child And shall bear a son; You shall call him Ishmael, For the LORD has paid heed to your suffering.

And God said to Abraham, “As for your wife Sarai, you shall not call her Sarai, but her name shall be Sarah. I will bless her; indeed, I will give you a son by her. I will bless her so that she shall give rise to nations; rulers of peoples shall issue from her.” Abraham threw himself on his face and laughed, as he said to himself, “Can a child be born to a man a hundred years old, or can Sarah bear a child at ninety?” And Abraham said to God, “O that Ishmael might live by Your favor!” God said, “Nevertheless, Sarah your wife shall bear you a son, and you shall name him Isaac; and I will maintain My covenant with him as an everlasting covenant for his offspring to come. As for Ishmael, I have heeded you. I hereby bless him. I will make him fertile and exceedingly numerous. He shall be the father of twelve chieftains, and I will make of him a great nation. But My covenant I will maintain with Isaac, whom Sarah shall bear to you at this season next year.” And when He was done speaking with him, God was gone from Abraham.

And the L-rd appeared to him [to "visit the sick," it being the third day after his circumcision,] in the terebinths of Mamre, [Mamre having counseled him concerning circumcision]. And he sat at the opening of the tent [to host passersby] in the heat of the day. And he lifted his eyes and he saw, and, behold, three men [i.e., angels] were standing over him, [one to give tidings to Sarah (that she would bear a son), one to overturn Sodom, and one to heal Abraham.] And he saw [that they were hesitating to approach him], and he ran towards them from the opening of the tent, and he bowed down to the ground. And he said [to the greatest of them]: My lord, if I have now found favor in your eyes, do not now pass away from your servant. Let there be taken now a little water and wash your feet [(Abraham taking them for Arabs, who bow down idolatrously "to the dust of their feet")], and recline under the tree. And I shall take a piece of bread, and feast your hearts, and then pass on. For you have therefore passed by (the domicile of) your servant. And they said: So do, as you have spoken. And Abraham hurried to the tent, to Sarah, and he said: Bring quickly three measures of meal [to cover the pot], fine flour [for cakes], and knead it, and make cakes. And Abraham ran to the herd, and he took a calf, tender and good, and he gave it to the youth [Ishmael], and he hurried to dress it. And he cook cream and milk and the calf which he had dressed, and he set it before them, and he stood over them under the tree and they [gave the impression that they] ate. And they said to him: Where is Sarah, your wife? And he said: Behold, she is in the tent. [(She is modest.)] And he said: I [the L-rd] shall surely return to you at this time [Pesach] next year, and, behold, a son to Sarah your wife. And Sarah was listening at the opening of the tent, and it [the opening] was behind him [the angel]. And Abraham and Sarah were old, advanced in years. There had ceased in Sarah the way of women [i.e., menstruation]. And Sarah laughed in [i.e., concerning] her innards, saying: After withering, I have been rejuvenated, and my lord is old. And the L-rd said to Abraham: Why, now, did Sarah laugh, saying: "Will I in truth give birth when I am old?" [(Scripture alters her words her for "the sake of peace." She really said: "when my lord is old.")] Is anything beyond the L-rd? At the appointed time I will return to you, at this time next year, and Sarah will have a son. And Sarah denied, saying: "I did not laugh," for she was afraid. And He said: "No, but you did laugh!" And the men arose from there, and they lowered at the face of Sodom. And Abraham went with them to escort them.

(1) The LORD took note of Sarah as He had promised, and the LORD did for Sarah as He had spoken. (2) Sarah conceived and bore a son to Abraham in his old age, at the set time of which God had spoken. (3) Abraham gave his newborn son, whom Sarah had borne him, the name of Isaac. (4) And when his son Isaac was eight days old, Abraham circumcised him, as God had commanded him. (5) Now Abraham was a hundred years old when his son Isaac was born to him. (6) Sarah said, “God has brought me laughter; everyone who hears will laugh with me.” (7) And she added, “Who would have said to Abraham That Sarah would suckle children! Yet I have borne a son in his old age.” (8) The child grew up and was weaned, and Abraham held a great feast on the day that Isaac was weaned. (9) Sarah saw the son whom Hagar the Egyptian had borne to Abraham playing. (10) She said to Abraham, “Cast out that slave-woman and her son, for the son of that slave shall not share in the inheritance with my son Isaac.” (11) The matter distressed Abraham greatly, for it concerned a son of his. (12) But God said to Abraham, “Do not be distressed over the boy or your slave; whatever Sarah tells you, do as she says, for it is through Isaac that offspring shall be continued for you. (13) As for the son of the slave-woman, I will make a nation of him, too, for he is your seed.” (14) Early next morning Abraham took some bread and a skin of water, and gave them to Hagar. He placed them over her shoulder, together with the child, and sent her away. And she wandered about in the wilderness of Beer-sheba. (15) When the water was gone from the skin, she left the child under one of the bushes, (16) and went and sat down at a distance, a bowshot away; for she thought, “Let me not look on as the child dies.” And sitting thus afar, she burst into tears. (17) God heard the cry of the boy, and an angel of God called to Hagar from heaven and said to her, “What troubles you, Hagar? Fear not, for God has heeded the cry of the boy where he is. (18) Come, lift up the boy and hold him by the hand, for I will make a great nation of him.” (19) Then God opened her eyes and she saw a well of water. She went and filled the skin with water, and let the boy drink.

Then Abraham rose from beside his dead, and spoke to the Hittites, saying,