Sara (archmother)
Sara ( Hebrew שָׂרָה, "Princess") is a biblical figure from the 1st Book of Moses (Hebrew Bereschit , Greek Genesis ). As the wife of the patriarch Abraham , she is considered the archmother of Israel ( Isa 51 : 1-2 EU ), who gives birth to the promised son Isaac .
Story in the Tanach / Old Testament
The stories about Sara can be found in Gen 11.29 EU –23.19 EU . Her name is initially Sarai ( Hebrew שָׂרָי). When God changes the name of her husband Abram to Abraham one year before the birth of Isaac, her name is changed from Sarai to Sarah ( Gen 17.15 EU ); both forms of the name mean "princess".
The main story about Sarah and Abraham ( Gen 17–18 EU ; 21.1–19 EU ) focuses on the topic of the offspring promised by God and the covenant between God and Abraham.
Abraham and Sarah cannot have children at first because she is sterile. Sarah Abraham therefore gives her own slave Hagar to wife so that he can beget children with her - on behalf of Sarah. After Hagar is pregnant, she disregards her mistress and is therefore oppressed by her. Hagar evades the conflict by fleeing into the desert. Her son Ishmael was born there. At God's direction, Hagar returns to Sarah and submits to her after God has promised her son rich offspring ( Gen 16: 5–16 EU ).
After 13 years, God promises Abraham and Sarah a son ( Gen 17: 17–19 EU ), although Sarah is already 90 years old at this point. Shortly afterwards, God reveals the promise again during an encounter between Abraham and three men who are entertained by Abraham. Sara, who secretly overhears the conversation between the men, laughs at the prophecy because, given her age, “it is no longer the way of women” ( Gen 18.11 EU ). So birth is portrayed as biologically impossible. Through this laugh, a direct conversation develops between the guests, Abraham and Sara. The biblical text changes in the identity of the three men and suddenly lets God himself speak, who repeats the promise of birth to Sara again. Sara is frightened and denies having laughed.
In fact, when Sarah was over 90 years old, Sarah gave birth to a son named Isaac . That nameיִצְחָ֥ק( laugh from the Hebrew stem ) is explained in Gen 21.6 EU with the words:
“And Sarah said, God made me laugh; everyone who hears it will laugh at me. "
According to the biblical report, Sara dies at the age of 127 and is buried by her husband Abraham in the land of Canaan near Hebron in the cave of Machpelah ( Gen 23.19 EU ), where he is later buried.
interpretation
According to the Babylonian Talmud ( Meg 14a), Sara is one of the seven prophets known to the Jewish tradition. According to Rashi , she is identical to Jiska , Haran's daughter . That would make her Abraham's niece at the same time. Abraham tells the king of Gerar, Abimelech , that Sarah is his half-sister ( Gen 20.12 EU ). Later ( Lev 18.9 EU ) such connections were expressly forbidden.
Memorial days
- Evangelical: January 20 on the Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod calendar
- Roman Catholic: October 9th (not considered saints or blessed here)
literature
- Rainer Kampling (Ed.): Sara laughs. An archmother and her story . Schöningh, Paderborn et al. 2004. ( digitized version )
Web links
- Anke Mühling: Sarai / Sara. In: Michaela Bauks, Klaus Koenen, Stefan Alkier (Eds.): The Scientific Biblical Lexicon on the Internet (WiBiLex), Stuttgart 2006 ff.