Sarah's Laughter (Copy)

ואברהם זקן בא בימים, “Avraham was old, getting on in years, etc.” The meaning of the verse is 1) seeing Avraham felt that he had aged he was afraid that he might die before Yitzchak had married. He did not want to send off his servant without an oath in the event he would not return from his mission before he, Avraham, had died. By making Eliezer swear he assured himself that Yitzchak would do what he wanted as Yitzchak was in the habit of listening to Eliezer’s advice.
The reason Avraham did not impose an oath on Yitzchak instead was so that the servant would not be able to fool Yitzchak by presenting any number of arguments seeing hat he was not under oath to Avraham. Avraham considered the Canaanite as captive to deceitful practices as we know from Hoseah 12,8: כנען בידו מאזני מרמה לעשוק אהב, “A Canaanite uses false weights, loves to overreach.” He made the servant swear to reinforce Eliezer’s obligation in the matter.

ותצחק שרה, she assumed that the words of the angel were merely a blessing, not a prophecy, as occurred with the prophet Elisha. (Kings II 4,16) She believed that when such a blessing is given to old people, people who would require a miracle for the blessing to come true, it would not be effective in her case. She considered the kind of rejuvenation required for her to bear a child as equivalent to reviving the dead. Such an act, in her opinion, required G’d’s personal attention, not merely that of a prophet. At the very least it would come about in answer to a prayer.

ותצחק שרה, “Sarah laughed;” when the month of Tishrey began, six months after the prediction of the angels, and she had not experienced signs of pregnancy, she abandoned all hope of that prophecy becoming true, as there were only six months left for it to become true. Contrary to her husband Avraham, she had lost faith in the prediction. The reason that Avraham maintained faith in the prediction was that he had heard it from G-d directly, (the angel had spoken to him in the name of the Lord), whereas Sarah, had only been an eavesdropper, and possibly she had not heard correctly. She had assumed that the angels speaking to Avraham had been ordinary human beings. She took a look at her belly and asked mockingly whether such a belly could possibly produce a fetus. As soon as she had done so, in Tishrey, G-d asked Avraham why Sarah had reacted in such a manner, adding that at the time appointed, i.e. when a year had passed at the time of Passover, in the following year, the angel would return and she would have become a mother. In practice this means that the first time she heard the prediction she had heard it from the mouth of an angel whom she had believed to be a mortal human being. The second time Avraham heard it from G-d directly, i.e. 'ויאמר ה, “the Lord said;” this was followed by G-d adding: “Is anything impossible for the Lord to do?”Support for this interpretation can be found seeing that when the angels on the same evening met Lot, Lot offered them unleavened bread, matzot for supper, a hint that the date was the date that would later on become the night of the Seder of the Jewish people.[This is not far fetched at all, as the night when Avraham had fought and secured Lot’s freedom, had been the corresponding date, and Lot therefore had good reason to observe it as an anniversary of great significance for him also. Compare the numerous commentaries on Genesis 14,15, ויחלק עליהם לילה, “He divided the night for them.” Ed.] In the Talmud Rosh Hashanah, 11 both Rabbi Eliezer and Rabbi Yoshua are quoted as in agreement that three previously barren women, i.e. Sarah, Rachel and Chanah, all became pregnant on Rosh Hashanah.

'ויאמר ה, the angel, the senior of the three.

ואני זקנתי, for she had referred to her menopause in verse12.

למה זה צחקה, “why is it that she ridiculed, etc.?” [the author now repeats something he had already explained, at the top of this page, offering an alternate explanation. Ed.]“If you were to ask why G-d did not rebuke Avraham when he entertained similar doubts in Genesis 17,17, the answer is that seeing that Sarah is considered as on a lower spiritual level than her husband, it is considered as clear that if even her doubts were criticised, her husband’s doubts were deserving of a rebuke even more so, without the need for the Torah to spell this out. Our author uses a parable to demonstrate this point, writing that when a wise woman wishes to rebuke her daughterinlaw for something both she and her daughter had been guilty of, she rebukes only her daughter instead, allowing her daughterinlaw to draw the necessary conclusions about her own behaviour. If G-d had rebuked Avraham in Sarah’s presence, he would have felt ashamed; He therefore did so in an indirect manner.

ואני זקנתי, “seeing that I am too old?” According to Rashi the Torah changed what Sarah had actually said out of concern for the harmony existing between Avraham and Sarah. What Sarah had actually meant was: “what good does it do for me to have been rejuvenated as long as my husband cannot be rejuvenated also?” How can I become pregnant from his seed? Had the Torah conveyed this thought to Avraham it would have meant that it was only Avraham’s inadequacy that prevented Sarah from having a child.

ואני זקנתי, “and I am old.” Our sages base their view that it is permissible sometimes to tell a “white” lie when the purpose is to preserve harmony between husband and wife, based on this verse, where what Sarah obviously meant was that her husband was too old to sire a child, seeing that she herself had experienced rejuvenation. (Talmud, tractate Baba Metzia folio 87). Seeing that she had not said anything aloud about what she thought about her husband, G–d, i.e. His angel, still saw fit to change what she had thought to herself, in order to preserve her image as a dutiful wife respecting her husband’s masculine dignity. Our author bases his interpretation on the use of the word היתה, “was,” instead of תהיה, “will be,” in verse 12. There is however an opinion which does not agree at all that G–d or His angel had changed the words that Sarah had thought but not uttered. It argues that it is totally absurd to argue that anything appearing to us as a lie could have been uttered by G–d or His agent, an angel. The author of that opinion quotes Psalms 101,7: דבר שקרים לא יכון לנגד עיני, “he who speaks untruths shall not stand before My eyes,” in support of his statement. He claims further that what Sarah had (thought) reported as having said was indeed what is quoted by the Torah, i.e. ואני זקנתי, “and I have become old.” These words are to be understood as her wonderment at how she could have become pregnant even in spite of having seen menstrual blood once more, seeing she was way beyond child-bearing age, and had never previously conceived. The angel did not alter her words, he only did not report all of her words. In this manner he prevented any bad feeling on the part of Avraham. Any ordinary person, other than a Divine creature, is permitted to tell white lies in order to preserve שלום בית, family harmony. If you were to argue that Avraham would not have cared, seeing that he was aware that what she thought or said was true, we must assume that he was still trying to impregnate Sarah but had been unsuccessful.

ויאמר ה' אל אברהם, “G’d said to Avraham, etc.” The messenger is given the title of the Sender. This is the reason why the Torah calls the angel “G’d.” It was also he who said in verse 14: היפלא מה' דבר “is anything too wonderful for G’d?” If G’d Himself had spoken in verse 14 (and here) then the Torah should have written there: “is anything too wonderful for Me?” This is also the meaning of למועד אשוב, “I will return at the appointed time.” He, the angel, and not G’d had challenged Sarah’s laughter. It makes sense therefore that he speaks about returning. Seeing G’d Himself had never come to visit Sarah how could He have mentioned ”returning?”

Who was born to him: The lengthier expression than what is written (Genesis 16:15) regarding Yishmael - "the name of his son whom Hagar bore" - is coming to teach through this that at the time of the naming, Avraham publicized that [Yitzchak] was his son, to remove [any doubt] from people's minds.

And Avraham was a hundred years old: But it is no longer written, "and Sarah was ninety years old'; for behold, she had already reverted to being a youngster.

God has made laughter for me: [God's] trait of [strict] justice has made laughter for me - meaning, all who hear of it will laugh for me, the explanation of which is, about me; like someone who doubts if I truly gave birth from Avraham.

Since I have borne him a son in his old age - and not in my old age, but in his old age - because of this, they are in doubt and laughing to themselves about this.

And Avraham made a great banquet: [He did this] in order to show everyone that the newborn was precious to him, given that he was his son. However...

But Sarah saw, etc. laughing: [Yishmael] was still planting a doubt [about Yitzchak's paternity]. He was saying that there is no proof from this, as Avraham was doing it for the benefit of his wife, who was very beloved to him. Hence the things struck her heart.

On account of his son: As Sarah had said (Genesis 21:10), "and her son" - implying that she wanted Avraham to act towards Yishmael like towards the son of a maidservant, since her offspring is like (has the same status as) her and does not go after the father. But he knew it was not so. As behold, he had freed her and taken her as a wife. And it is like it is written above (Genesis 16:15), "and [Avram] called the name of his son."