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 Sarah accompanied her husband, Abraham, in all his wanderings from Ur
of the Chaldees to Haran, and then to the land of Canaan. (Genesis
12:5) The Lord instructed Abraham to leave his family and go to a land
where he would start a new nation that would be a blessing to all
families in the earth. He left Ur, but took his father Terah and his
nephew Lot with him.
They traveled to Haran, and Terah died there. Then Abraham took Sarah,
Lot and all their goods and went to Shechem in the land of Canaan
where the Lord appeared to him and confirmed His promise of an heir,
and Abraham worshipped the Lord in that place [Genesis 12:6—8)
There was a famine in Canaan Abraham decided to go to Egypt Lather
than wait for the Lord to provide their needs. [Genesis 6:10) As they
traveled, Abraham became afraid they might be captured and that they
would take Sarah and kill him, so he persuaded Sarah to lie by telling
the Egyptians she was his sister. Even at age 65, Sarah was a very
beautiful woman, and when the princess in the land saw her, they took
her to Pharaoh. Sarah told them she was Abraham’s sister, so they put
her in Pharaoh’s harem and gave gifts of many flocks and slaves to
Abraham.
God sent a plague upon Pharaoh’s household to protect Sarah, and when
Pharaoh learned that Sarah was Abraham’s wife, he rebuked Abraham for
lying and sent him away with his wife, his nephew and all the flocks
and slaves he had given him. One of those slaves was an Egyptian woman
by the name of Hagar who became Sarah’s handmaid.
 Abraham and Lot had many herds, and when their shepherds began arguing
about the use of pasture land, they were forced to separate. Abraham
gave Lot his choice of land, and Lot chose the fertile plain of Jordan
and pitched his tent outside the city of Sodom. (Gen.13:12)
After he and Lot were separated, the Lord told Abraham to look at the
land in all directions and promised to give all of it to him and to
his seed forever. Then Abraham moved his tent to Hebron where he built
an- altar and worshipped the Lord. [Gen.13:14—18)
Sarah knew God had promised Abraham an heir, but after waiting ten
years without bearing a child, she persuaded Abraham to have a child
by her handmaid, Hagar. Abraham agreed to the plan, and Ishmael was
born. (Genesis 16:1-16)
Thirteen years went by without any further word from the Lord, and
then the Lord spoke to Abraham, renewing His promise to give him an
heir. This time Abraham believed God and he received God’s
righteousness as a reward for his faith. (Galatians 3:6 bears out this
principal)
Shortly after that, the Lord and two angels paid a visit to Abraham as
he sat in the doorway of his tent in the heat of the day. He set food
before them, and they asked where Sarah was. Abraham told them she was
inside the tent. Then the Lord told Abraham that Sarah would bear a
son for him the following year.
Sarah was listening from behind the tent flap, and when she heard what
was said, she laughed within herself, thinking it would be impossible
for her to have a child since she was 89 and way past the age of
childbearing.
The Lord asked Abraham, “Why did Sarah laugh? Is anything too hard for
me to do?”
“Abraham replied, “I didn’t hear anyone laugh.”
Sarah became frightened and came out of the tent and said to the Lord,
“I didn’t laugh!” The Lord said, “Oh but you did laugh, because
you think you are too old to have a son. Nothing is impossible for Me
to do.” (Gen.18:15) [this must have been the moment Sarah
believed the Lord’s promise to Abraham in regard to an heir]
After His discussion with Sarah, the Lord told Abraham He brought the
two angels along to destroy Sodom. Abraham feared for the lives of Lot
and his family, so he asked the Lord if He would spare Sodom if
there were fifty believers inside the city. The Lord replied, “If I
find fifty righteous people in Sodom, I will save the city for their sake.
(Gen.18:26)
However, Abraham was very persistent and asked the same question
regarding 45, then 40, then 35 and finally 10 righteous people in
Sodom. The Lord promised He would not destroy the city if he found 10
righteous people there, and then He went away.
Abraham was content, because he assumed that Lot, his wife, his two
unmarried daughters, his three married daughters and their husbands &
were all believers, and therefore Sodom would not be destroyed.
However, the Bible tells us that when the two angels went into Sodom
to warn Lot to leave the city, Lot went to his sons-in-law and urged
them to get out before destruction came, but they laughed and refused
to believe him. The angels forcibly took Lot, his wife and his two
unmarried daughters outside the city and warned them not to look back.
Fire and brimstone began to fall upon Sodom, and as they were fleeing,
Lot’s wife turned around to look back at the ruins, and she became a
pillar of salt (Gen. 19:26)
[in a footnote on Page 668 of Unger’s Bible Dictionary we have the
following explanation of what it meant for Lot’s wife to be turned
into a ‘pillar of salt’. “We are not to suppose that she was actually
turned into salt, but when she turned back, she was killed by the
vapor caused by the fire and sulfur that filled the air, and it formed
a crust on her body, giving it the appearance of a pillar of salt]
The next morning, Abraham got up very early, and when he saw what
resembled smoke from a huge furnace covering all the plain, he became
discouraged. The cities of Sodom, Gomorrah and their neighboring
cities had all been destroyed.
Abraham left the place of blessing and traveled toward Gerar in the
land of the Philistines. On their way, he began to be afraid his life
was in danger, so, just as he had done in Egypt, he asked Sarah to say
she was his sister. (Gen. 20:1,2) Sarah was captured and taken into
the king’s harem, but that night the Lord warned the king in a dream
not to touch Sarah or he would be a dead man. When he found out that
Sarah was Abraham’s wife, he sent them away unharmed. (Genesis chapter
20)
Just as the Lord had promised the year before, Isaac was born of
Sarah. When Isaac was two years old, Abraham gave a great feast in
honor of his son. During the celebration, Sarah saw thirteen-year old
Ishmael laughing and making fun of little Isaac, so she asked Abraham
to send Hagar and Ishmael away. (Genesis 2 1:1—8)
After Hagar and Ishmael were no longer with them, peace reigned in
Abraham’s household for many years, and then Abraham was faced with a
great test of his faith in the Lord when the Lord told him to take Isaac to
the land of Moriah to a place He would show him and offer his son on
an altar as a burnt offering. Of course, Sarah knew nothing about
this, but Abraham got up early the next morning, before Sarah awoke,
and he made preparations for the journey.
Abraham saddled his donkey, took two of his servants and Isaac his
son, cut wood for the burnt offering, and set out for the place God
would take him. After they had traveled three days, Abraham saw the
place for the sacrifice. He told his servants, “Wait here with the
donkey, while the lad and I go up to worship the Lord, and we will
return again to you.” (Gen.22:5)
Abraham laid the wood on Isaac’s shoulders, took the fire and a knife
in hits hand, and they went up into the mountain. Isaac said, “My
father ... where iS the lamb for the sacrifice?.” Abraham said, “My
son God will provide a lamb for Himself.”
When they reached the place for the sacrifice, Abraham built an altar,
placed the wood in order, bound Isaac and laid him on the altar upon
the wood. Abraham stretched forth his hand and raised the knife to
slay his son.
 But the angel of the Lord called to him out of heaven saying, “Abraham
... do not lay your hand upon the lad nor harm him in any way, for now
I know that you truly trust God, since you did not withhold your son,
your only son, from Me.”
Abraham lifted up his eyes and saw a ram caught by the horn in the
heavy brush nearby. He took the ram and offered it for the burnt
offering instead of his son Isaac.
After they returned home, Sarah was told about their adventure, and
they lived happily together for many years before she died at age 127
years.
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