While Sarah is known to us chiefly as the wife of the pioneer patriarch Abraham, there are sufficient references to her in the Biblical narrative to suggest something of her own character and characteristics. Like her husband, Sarah (or Sarai as she was originally called) came from Ur of the Chaldees, which excavations show to have been a large and thriving but idolatrous city, where the worship of the moon-god was supreme. Why it was that her father-in-law Terah made the momentous decision to migrate to Haran in Mesopotamia, some six hundred miles distant, taking with him not only Abram and Lot, but Sarai also, is not expressly recorded, though it is suggested in Genesis 15:7 that in Abram's case, at least, it was part of a divine plan.
Drastic as this change from city life to that of a desert traveler undoubtedly was, Sarai was soon called upon to undertake a still more adventurous journey. During their residence in Haran, Abram received an unmistakable divine commission to leave his "country," his "kindred," and his "father's house" (Gen. 12:1) and press on into the wild territory far to the southwest. With true pioneer spirit Sarai shared in the obedient faith of her husband, and, taking Lot with them, they eventually reached Canaan.
During a time of severe famine, we find Abram and Sarai traveling down to Egypt, which seldom suffered from drought, thanks to the perennial waters of the Nile. It was doubtless during their residence in Egypt that Sarai procured the services of an Egyptian slave girl named Hagar, who eventually, at the suggestion of her mistress, became the mother of Abram's first child, Ishmael, whom Sarai clearly hoped might in some measure take the place of the son she herself had longed to have. The situation, though of Sarai's own making, was one fraught with difficulties, and ultimately, in response to her mistress' demand, Hagar was forced to escape to the wilderness. Despite this incident, Sarai shared in the blessing which came to Abram; and just as he received the new and symbolic name of Abraham, suggesting that he was to be "father of many nations" (Gen. 17:5), Sarai herself was from henceforth to be called Sarah ("princess"), while she also received a glad promise of motherhood. Such a promise at the age of nearly ninety years was more than Sarah could at first comprehend (Gen. 17:15; 18:12), but in due course it was indeed fulfilled, and she became the mother of Isaac.
