Our word for today is another name just like Adam, Noah, and Abraham that identified their purpose. Genesis 17:15 God also said to Abraham, “As for שָׂרַי Sarai your wife, you are no longer to call her שָׂרַי Sarai; her name will be שָׂרָה Sarah. I will bless her and will surely give you a son by her. I will bless her so that she will be the mother of nations; kings of peoples will come from her.” Our word for today is both שָׂרַי and שָׂרָה. Let’s start with שָׂרַי Sarai, literally means “my princess”. The root שָׂרַ means representative of the king so with the ending שָׂרַי becomes a female representative of the king. It is used 17 times in the Old Testament. And her new name attaches an ending on it the same one that Abram received who became Abraham. So שָׂרַי Sarai becomes שָׂרָה Sarah, again the root is representative of the king with the ending that makes it feminine so female servant of the king but now with this addition our word שָׂרָה means populous princess, princess of a multitude, or chief princess of a multitude. שָׂרָה is used 38 times in the Old Testament.
How does Abraham respond to this good news. He thinks it is ridiculous because it makes no sense at all from his almost 100 years of life experience. Genesis 17:17-18 Abraham fell facedown; he laughed and said to himself, “Will a son be born to a man a hundred years old? Will שָׂרָה Sarah bear a child at the age of ninety?” And Abraham said to God, “If only Ishmael might live under your blessing!” Notice Abraham does what we have all done when God directs us towards something that just doesn’t make sense from our so many years of life experience. He tries to show God how he could do it that would make more sense to him. This really is something to laugh about. If you think about it a finite creature like ourselves who will live a limited number of years consulting the creator God who was, and is and always will be. Now that is hilarious. It seemed easier and more logical to just make this great nation through the son he already has had through Hagar. But watch what God does. Genesis 17:19-21 Then God said, “Yes, but your wife שָׂרָה Sarah will bear you a son, and you will call him Isaac. I will establish my covenant with him as an everlasting covenant for his descendants after him. And as for Ishmael, I have heard you: I will surely bless him; I will make him fruitful and will greatly increase his numbers. He will be the father of twelve rulers, and I will make him into a great nation. But my covenant I will establish with Isaac, whom שָׂרָה Sarah will bear to you by this time next year.” Isn’t it amazing how gracious and patient God is with us. He didn’t scold Abraham for not understanding his plan. He patiently reminds him that he really will have a child from his wife Sarah even though it seems impossible. And God assures Abraham that he has plans for his other son Ishmael. That is our God who specializes in brining good out of our actions that fall short of his will for our lives. He lovingly works with us to get us pointed back toward him and his purposes for us. Sarah is also on the list of those who were not perfect because they stepped off the path but got back on it and trusted God. Hebrews 11:11 And by faith even Sarah, who was past childbearing age, was enabled to bear children because she considered him faithful who had made the promise.
