Friday, June 23, 2006

Story of Sarah - III

It so happened that after sometime, there was a famine in Canaan.. And Abram didn't know what to do.. Though he was instructed by God to stay in Canaan, he wondered how he would survive in a land that had famine. So he chose to go to the fertile land Egypt nearby..

And alas, there he had another problem. He saw, how wicked the Egyptian culture was. Whenever anyone sees a beautiful woman, she was taken. If she was already married, her husband was killed and she was taken. Now, Sarai was beautiful in form and it was a test to Abram. He then decided to do something strange. He asked her to save his life by telling everyone that she was his sister. Sarai knew that her life and modesty was in danger but she chose to listen to Abram.. They then tried playing their parts.. till one day they got caught..

From Genesis 12:

Now there was a famine in the land, and Abram went down to Egypt to live there for a while because the famine was severe. As he was about to enter Egypt, he said to his wife Sarai, "I know what a beautiful woman you are. When the Egyptians see you, they will say, 'This is his wife.' Then they will kill me but will let you live. Say you are my sister, so that I will be treated well for your sake and my life will be spared because of you."

When Abram came to Egypt, the Egyptians saw that she was a very beautiful woman. And when Pharaoh's officials saw her, they praised her to Pharaoh, and she was taken into his palace. He treated Abram well for her sake, and Abram acquired sheep and cattle, male and female donkeys, menservants and maidservants, and camels.

But the LORD inflicted serious diseases on Pharaoh and his household because of Abram's wife Sarai. So Pharaoh summoned Abram. "What have you done to me?" he said. "Why didn't you tell me she was your wife? Why did you say, 'She is my sister,' so that I took her to be my wife? Now then, here is your wife. Take her and go!" Then Pharaoh gave orders about Abram to his men, and they sent him on his way, with his wife and everything he had.



In the end, we see that Abram acquired wealth but not without learning a lesson. At times, I wonder what Sarah should have done in this situation... quite tough to decide.

Celia :: 10:18 AM :: 3 Comments:

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Saturday, June 10, 2006

Story of Sarah- Part II

Genesis 12: The LORD had said to Abram, "Leave your country, your people and your father's household and go to the land I will show you. "I will make you into a great nation and I will bless you; I will make your name great, and you will be a blessing.

I will bless those who bless you, and whoever curses you I will curse; and all peoples on earth will be blessed through you." So Abram left, as the LORD had told him; and Lot went with him. Abram was seventy-five years old when he set out from Haran. He took his wife Sarai, his nephew Lot, all the possessions they had accumulated and the people they had acquired in Haran, and they set out for the land of Canaan, and they arrived there.

Its actually evry interesting to explore the history here. Abram's father was a idol maker and Abram was living with him. We see that God coming to Abram one fine day and asking him to leave the country. We do not know how God met him or whether it was a vision or an intuition. Sarah was ten years younger to Abram and Abram was 75 years older then. Yet, we see that Abram obeyed God, 100 percent. He immediately left the place with his wife. And there is no note saying whether Sarah fussed or refused to come. She didn't tell him, "Hey!! I have a career here, Man!! Who the hell do you think you are? You just give me orders and expect me to come?"... No, that didn't happen.


Abram was a good hard working man. Over the years, Sarah had watched her husband and knew his moods, emotions and character. She understood her husband perfectly and knew that she needs to be with her husband till death does them apart. She was 65, that didn't deter her.

How many of the women are like that?

Celia :: 8:22 AM :: 2 Comments:

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Thursday, June 01, 2006

The story of Sarah - Part I

Genesis 11: Terah took his son Abram, his grandson Lot son of Haran, and his daughter-in-law Sarai, the wife of his son Abram, and together they set out from Ur of the Chaldeans to go to Canaan. But when they came to Haran, they settled there.

She is praised as the mother of believers! hailed as one of the most beautiful women who ever lived. Called as Sarai, which means "my princess", she holds a great lot of character which we don't even know about.

Now, who is this Sarai? You would remember that I told about Seth in my earlier post. Seth had children and grand children and so on.. and in that generation came a guy called Abraham. Christians these days regard him as 'father of all believers', jews hail him as 'their father' and muslims hail him as 'Ibrahim'. Sarai was the niece of Abraham and he later married her.

They lived in Canaan (the israel of now) with their father and Abraham's nephew, Loth. Sarai was beautiful yet graceful. She revered her husband and called him her 'master'. She took care of her home and the jewish history says that her house was always hospitably open, she prepared the dough for her house which was miraculously increased and she took care of her husband nephew.

Now all seems rosy, you would say. Abraham had the perfect wife one could wish for.. one whose beauty captivated everyone, one who respected her husband, one who was dutiful and one who was never idle... But there was one problem. Sarai was barren.

And, people looked down on her.. - To be continued.

Celia :: 9:28 AM :: 2 Comments:

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