By Rev. Ronald Jansen
Now wasn’t it thoughtful that LSB would set aside a special day just for my daughter?
Of course in our family we have a daughter-in-law named Sara, too. Furthermore, my nephew, Dan, has a daughter also named Sarah. To all the Sarahs, however their name might be spelled, give a cheer.
To be more realistic I suppose the LSB hymnal committee had in mind that other Sarah, the one who started out as Sarai back some 4,000 years ago. The first time we hear of Sarai is that she is Abram’s wife and is barren. The next time we hear of her is that Abram passes her off as his sister in Egypt in order to save his own skin. Since she was a beautiful woman, she attracted the attention of the men of the royal family of Egypt. Somehow pharaoh figured out that the plagues that descended upon them were from the Lord and were connected to Sarai being in his house. Whereupon Abram and Sarai were sent packing.
The next thing we hear of Sarai is that she barren she hands over her maid, Hagar to Abram. Abram, being a man and husband, listened to his wife. Soon Hagar was pregnant. Howe3ver, that idea didn’t work out and still causes trouble since the descendants of Hagar and Abraham’s son, Ishmael, still lay claim to the same land as Abraham and Sarah’s son.
Eventually, God changes Abram and Sarai to Abraham and Sarah. He also .promises a son to this now elderly couple. Sarah was eavesdropping behind the tent flap. When she heard the promise of a son to Abraham and her, she couldn’t help but laugh.
Well, you know the rest of the story. Isaac, “laughing boy” was born to them. Abraham again passes off his more than 90 year old wife as his sister (Gen. 20). Sarah dies at age 127. Abraham bought a burial site east of Hebron, a kind of down payment of land promised to him by the Lord.
To say the least, Sarai/Sarah lived an interesting and full life in her 127 years.
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