Sarah
So, I read this book because of my secret love for the name Sarah. I'll share with this website something I've never shared before. I've always loved the name, ever since I was a little girl, and actually, when I was younger, I have a distinct memory of sitting in church and thinking about the name Sarah, and how if I ever had a daughter that would be her name, because for some reason I felt that was the only real girl name that existed.
So now that you know the weird backdrop to my unexplainable and erie infatuation with the girl name Sarah, I will tell you about this book.
I love Orson Scott Card's Ender's Game and Ender's Shadow; today, Ender's Game remains a book that I think about when contemplating complex and mushy morality related things. Like, how can it be that somebody with good intentions (Ender) ends up actually causing more death and strife than his evil and greedy brother (who sets up some kind of Earth saving program--it's been a long time since I've read this book). But, intentions over actions has always since messed with me, because sometimes they do not align. And, does this change anything?
Well, Ender's problem remains my own, but this is what got me into looking at some of Orson Scott Card's other books. (Plus, he's got awesome book cover art). So there I am on Amazon, and I learn of a book series by him called The Women of Genesis. Now this in itself is interesting, because we have a MALE author giving his curiosity over to the WOMEN of the bible. Already, women probably had little voice. The back of his book jacket even says this. But, to expand upon what I'm guessing is roughly a 20-50 page story in the Bible, and turning it into an over 300 page novel, is something of a (not to steal the book jacket's words but), it becomes "an act of faith." An act of faith for sure. Because nobody gives women time. Not even women themselves. So here's this man busying himself with women, and very important and biblically historically relevant women. But, here's what I got from his book named Sarah, my favorite childhood girl name, and now the name of a long dead woman who I look up to and want to meet.
Orson Scott Card's Sarah
The book begins with Sarah as a child. She's very young, and living under her father's household. Her mother is not around. I do not remember if it was mentioned whether or not she has died. But the father is an ex-King, who has for some reason or other lost his inherited power. But, his name still bears relevance, and now the son of another king of another land wants to marry his eldest daughter, Quira. Qira is not portrayed as a nice person, even from the beginning. Now--Orson Scott Card admits in his afterword that this figure of Quira as mentioned in the Bible might not actually have been Sarah's sister, but Card says he chose this route because he likes how it allows Sarah to comment on certain things, and also makes things more interesting. Plus, he admits that his interpretation of the Bible, as the "non scholar that he is," is actually sometimes the least biased and also the most feasible (all according to him). But so Quira, she gets married of to Lot, the older brother of the boy and man that Sarah, our main character, is destined and foretold to marry. When Abram, Lot's younger brother, shows up at Sarah's household when she is but a girl, it changes her life forever. She instantly realizes, even in her young age, that this Abram guy is unlike any other human being she has met before, and she realizes that he treats her in a way that is neither demeaning or underestimating. In fact, he is actually taken so much by her that he promises to come back for her in about ten years and marry her. He does exactly this.
Sarah, in the meantime, has to wait. And she does so, but with only the slightest doubt and worry in her mind. You see, when she was born, she was apparently promised to this Woman-God called Asherah, who is in charge of birth and whatnot. But Sarah says screw you to Asherah, because she wants to be with Abram! So she goes through this period of doubt (which actually lasts for quite a while and keeps coming back up all of there life), but she thinks Asherah has cursed her for disregarding her promise, and therefore that is why Sarah is unable to have babies for a very long time.
Who knows, to this day, whether any truth can be held to this. Certainly, though, Asherah proved useful in Sarah's mind when she was confused and contemplating why she could not have babies. If only there was not a feeling of guilt attached to this disability (barreness).
Well, the novel unfolds as Sarah quickly grows older, and is now at the age in which Abram had promised to come get her. Actually, he arrives a few years early, and they happily embark on their life journey together. Of course, the father must have been sad to part with both of his daughters, even as happy as he must've been for them to have married such highly stationed and nice seeming men. But quickly, however, Sarah's life turns to doubt and drought. The lands receive no rain, and so Abram, the shepherd boy that he is, takes them to many places, all of which turn out to be as dry as the last. He tells Sarah that these droughts are usual; that actually, throughout the history of history (he has access to all of the oldest books of human recordings and can read them), he tells Sarah that such droughts are not uncommon, and that actually, humankind has experienced this very thing before. Therefore, he knows it will end, and he has hope. He also does not let it get him down. Meanwhile, Sarah is growing older, and while some of Abram's promises from God include many children that will one day take on many kingdoms, Sarah has yet to have kids. She thinks, relentlessly, that the god of Asherah has cursed her. However, she swears herself to Abrams God, and therefore she knows, in the deepest of her logical heart, that this cannot be the case. She basically dismisses Asherah as a myth. She believes in the same God as Abram.
Enough about Asherah. Let's set her to ashes already. Of that we can be assured of. Good bye Asherah. Anyways, Sarah moves on. She learns to love all possibilities. She tells her husband, Abram, that he should have sex with her handmaid in order to bear a child that can bear him kingdoms. He does it. They (the handmaid and Abram), have a son. His name is Ishmael and he ends up having to leave camp later in his life, unfortunately, because it turns out two sons can be more dangerous than (to) one son.
But I'm getting ahead of myself.
Sarah and Abram are in the desert, and it isn't raining. Everyone in their camp with them, and all the cattle, are suffering more every day due to the lack of rain. But Abram is reassuring. He tells Sarah that they must go to Egypt, although the "why" is escaping me at the moment. But at any rate, they go to Egypt, and when they are arriving, a man comes out to greet them. For some reason (a warning from God heeded), Abram tells this man that he and Sarah are siblings. Brother and sister. This man believes him, and so when he takes (literally tricks Abram and Sarah into separating--turns out it is for a whole year) Abram to the Egyptian King, Sarah is likewise taken to the House of Women. Not a very fun place to be. Especially not for a whole year. Turns out she gets watched like every second. Even when she thinks that she is alone along the beach water, she is being watched. But luckily this is where she meets her handmaiden, Hagar, who happens to join her forces and become Sarah's friend for this year. They share secrets, and make promises to one another. They bond; they survive. A year passes and all Sarah has to occupy herself are her own thoughts, Hagar's company, and the occasional company and conversation of the Woman of the House of Women, some man with a very large name who is basically the second in command for Egypt's King, and then the King himself. You see, it's a tricky situation. The King wants to suit and marry and bear sons with Sarah. He thinks that she is only Abram's sister, but he loves the idea of making her his Priestess. It would be infinitely worse if he knew her true identity. But he's always trying to suit her, during his visits to The House of Women, and, of course, Sarah is usually cold but polite in return.
One day the man with a very large name takes Sarah on a little adventure to an island. When they arrive, a miracle happens. Or a supposed miracle. Everyone on the escapade witnesses a pregnant deer come onto the hill right in front of them, and give birth. This witnessed birth is so miraculous that everyone on the trip (except for Sarah, she knows better), thinks that it is a sign from God that this guy with a long name should actually be the King of Egypt. And so begins the uprise, the usurp from within and underneath.
But Sarah tries to warn the Egyptian King.. Who has done nothing but keep her captive and hostage this whole entire time, and tried to suit and wed and have sex with her, and keep her from her "brother."
But when her warnings are met with almost deaf ears, Sarah basically gives up. She feels there is nothing more she can do to warn the King that his second in command is spreading the word and belief that actually the Gods or God favor HIM over him, which will make people begin to not obey. The King claims to already know of this, but says that he has built an army so strong that, even if there was an uprising, nobody would be able to actually overthrow him. Turns out he is very wrong, and he eventually dies. But this is later. For now, he finally relents in letting Sarah once again see Abram--by now it has been a full year--and when they rejoin, Abram has a little story for the King.
Abram asks him if they are friends. "Of course!" replies the King, actually genuinely. For the King has been having Abram teach him of the ways of Abram's God, because this King of Egypt actually happens to believe that his very bloodline and therefore his whole kingdom's belief systems are based on Abrams' descendants, who were actually the first to found Egypt, and so he is very interested in the extra anciental ways. But he has also been holding Abram captive for a year, without his alleged sister--which is cruel, by the way--and when we find out of his true desires things get even messier. Turns out, when Abram finally exposes that Sarah is his wife and not his sister (which he does keenly under the watchful eye of many soldiers and servants who..seconds before the revealing, witness the King bless the two without knowing the secret that he is about to experience, but the public blessing from the King will act as a protectant). Well, when King finds out, he is angry. Abram tries to soften him away from his anger by explaining that they are still friends, and by exposing to the King that his only pain is coming from his own, selfish, greedy desires. If he could just not want to marry multiple ladies--no matter their stature--in order to found an "ultimate Egypt", then he would not be so pained as to finding out Sarah and Abram's true relationship, nor would he be so angry at Abram for keeping it a secret for so long. After a while, the King admits that Abram is right, and tries to undo his negative feelings. He actually prays to God. And so Sarah and Abram are finally let go, after a year of separation and a year of captivity, and they are brought back out of Egypt and to their own people in the desert. Hagar gets to go with them, Sarah's handmaid, because Sarah had made a promise, and they had become friends.
Finally together, love proven more solid than ever, they embark back out into the world. Abram continues to be a shepherd, and he eventually sends word to his brother Lot who has been living in Sodom (a very corrupt city), that he is freed from Egypt, and for Quira and Lot to come join him out in the wild. Lot obeys, and he tries to bring Quira with him, but she is very stubborn and does not want to go. Only is it when a boy comes with a mule to carry her out to her husband does she go, and it is only because she would be so humiliated in front of all her friends in Sodom if it was found out that her husband left her with nothing but an empty household--no food, no water, not even any of her very own slaves. Plus, he had taken their daughters with him.
So Quira relents, and goes to meet her husband out in the desert. She hates the shepherd's way of life. She thinks that her stature from her father's ex-Kingliship should be enough for her to live a life of the highest everything. She does not realize that she is missing out on what's truly important in life, even though she has almost all of the most coolest people at her fingertips. It is actually sad. How does one feel sorry for someone like this? You can only pity them as much as you might pity ......I can't even think of a good example.
But Quira, when she arrives at camp, does not find her husband fretfully waiting for her like she thinks he should be, and basically her and his relationship is never really good....because of her. Her thinking is mostly negative, even when she has the most of love right in front of her and directed at her. But she begins to cause so much strife and sometimes even disobedience within the entire camp, that finally Sarah is set up to send her back to Sodom. The only sad thing is that Lot must go with her, for appearance's sake, and also for their daughters' sakes. But he is allowed to come back often, at least once a month, to see Abram and Sarah, and the rest of the camp and all of the cattle. It is a sad decision that they must go, but what must be done must be done.
At this point in the story, Sarah and Abram are both receiving words from God. Sarah is learning that it is right for Hagar to bear Abram a son. Abram is slowly learning more and more about everything, things that don't even get mentioned in the book.
He agrees to have a baby with Hagar only on the condition that God tells him this is okay when he prays and asks, and also only if Sarah of course asks the girl Hagar if this would be alright. When Hagar is asked, she at first thinks that she is going to be a sacrifice. Sarah quickly reassures her that this is nonsense, and slowly Hagar happily agrees. But when Hagar becomes pregnant, she becomes a different person. She becomes evil towards Sarah, and poor Sarah is left at the mercy of everybody's preconceptions about what her own emotions must be like at a time like this, and therefore when Hagar starts spreading evil rumors about Sarah's mistreatment and also when Hagar starts putting on a front in front of witnesses that Sarah is mistreating and being cruel to Hagar, people actually believe Hagar. Even Abram.
When one night Abram comes to Sarah's tent, it breaks Sarah's heart, and it broke my heart, as the reader. To hear an otherwise completely loyal and loving husband suddenly get angry at Sarah and accuse her of being mean and jealous, it is really hard. It is hard to read a fight between Sarah and Abram. But it all works out in the end, but during it, it is a good thing Sarah kept her foot holding, because otherwise Abram might never would have known to use his mental strength to its full capacity in order to realize the error of his own thinking. But he does just this, even after some painful words are spread and shared--between the two of them--he finally at last realizes what he must do. Even tho this very night does not end on good terms (for Abram leaves the tent with Sarah knowing that he still doesn't believe her, and even blames her), Abram at least has the unsettlement of mind to, the next day, think of a sly plan of action.
When Sarah has gotten up in the morning and is about to head to her usual spot at the door of her usual tent (which she didn't sleep in the night before because Hagar had taken over that tent as if she were the mistress), Sarah sees that Hagar has indeed taken her place. When Sarah asks if she can sit next to Hagar, Hagar plays the poor innocent pregnant woman and even makes Elizer, who is sitting RIGHT NEXT TO THEM IN HIS FULL CAPACITIES, think that Sarah has somehow wronged Hagar or been cruel. This is just outrageous, and LUCKILY Abram has taken it upon himself to spy on the situation, and see who is in the "right." He indeed deems Sarah to have done nothing wrong, in fact, to have been nice and patient to Hagar! and so he asks Hagar to please come here, at which point he is very upfront and forthright and public with his criticisms of how she could be so mean to his wife Sarah, and would she please stop playing a part so as to diminish Sarah's role within the camp, and even within his own eyes and heart.
Hagar actually gets so upset that she runs into the desert screaming. She does not come back for a full day. When she comes back, it is as if she is a new woman. According to Abram, but not much is shared, she must have met with God in some way while she was out there in the desert alone and hungry and thirsty. Because when she comes back, she is nicer to Sarah, gives her back her tent, and takes back her place as handmaid and actually refers to Sarah as "mistress" once again.
The son is born, and his name is Ishmael. He is a good boy, and everybody loves him. Of course, Sarah has the painful duty of accepting him as....not her own child, but that of her husband's son and handmaid's baby. So she is both very grateful, but there is not a tinge of pain to accompany these feelings of joy.
Nor is the situation without its person who is deliberate in making this tinge of pain as large and out of proportion to others as possible. This person is Hagar, because she still harbors bad feelings. According to Sarah, Sarah thinks that, because Hagar lost everything when she was just a girl, and right in front of her, that because of this the girl will always be seeking survival and to get the upper hand, because that is what she was taught at a young age when she realized that bad things happen.
However, of Hagar's own account, we do not have anything. We see her only through Sarah and Abram's eyes. Of her mind, we truly know nothing. But of her actions, they are described through Sarah's eyes, of whose mind we ARE allowed inside. And so do we need to question Hagar's motives beyond Sarah's descriptions?
Time passes very quickly in this novel. All of the sudden it is years later, and Abram has had an epiphany from God. Sarah is to have a baby. And not just any baby. But a baby that will carry on their name and the word of Abram's God forever. A kingdom, if you will.
Sarah does get pregnant, but not before her name is changed and before everyone in the camp is given the mark of the covenant, which is a promise to and from God.
Sarah's original name was Sarai, which means "Queen." When Abram tells her that it will be changed to Sarah, she is actually a little hurt. Sarah only means "Princess." But when Abram tells her that it is because she is the daughter of God, that makes her feel better; and he himself changes names as well. His goes from Abram to Abraham, which means shepherd or something. I think it means "father of multitudes." Which makes sense given that their son is about to be heir to all of the followers after that. Related, much?
And eventually the son is born, and his name is Isaac. As a little baby, he actually does not get weened off from Sarah until pretty late, like age 3. But apparently this is not unusual, and so one night at the "weening" party, when usually kids are already way weened but this is actually Isaac's first day and so he keeps trying to suck Sarah's tits, he is all in fits. And poor Sarah, for both she and Abraham have reached old ages and she gets very tired, she retreats from the fun party and goes to her tent to be alone for a while. While there, she does sort of shut her eyes and fall asleep. From her sleep, though, she hears noises, and knows that some sort of mischief is going on outside of the tent. At first she thinks that it is drunk lovers making love. She quickly realizes, however, that it is actually a muffled cry for help, and that this cry for help is coming from her own son! She at once assesses, horrified, the situation. There is Ishmael, the eldest son of Abraham, pulling at Isaac's neck with some sort of tie, which is also around little baby Isaac's mouth. Muffled as he is, he is unable to draw in deep breaths, and his cries for help actually end up suffocating him more because his spit is becoming a blocking blob on the fiber that is blocking his ability to draw in breath. He tries to yank away, but Ishmael holds tight and this freaks Sarah out because she thinks that Isaac could have easily just broken his neck. She had voiced this concern to Abraham once before: that she feared that since both she and Abraham were old, that if they were to die, then Hagar would turn against Isaac and somehow see him killed or displaced within the week. And here, not even dead, is Hagar's own son choking little three year old Isaac, and right in front of his sleeping mother's tent! And what's worse, is Sarah realizes that Hagar herself is watching, and is prying Ishmael on. When Sarah sees Hagar's face of glee and menace, her heart flutters. She cannot take this. She scolds the boy Ishmael tersely, at which he tries to give an excuse of trying to not have the boy wake her, and Hagar actually disappears because she knows what has been discovered. Sarah has a servant bring her husband to her.
When he arrives, she tells him what she has seen. At first, Abraham does not really want to hear Sarah out for everything that she has to say and demand. Sarah wants Hagar to take Ishmael to a different place to live at once. Of course, Sarah is talking about Abraham's other son, and this hurts Abraham. He does not want to hear these words from his wife and the mother of his second son, nor does he want his first son to have to be sent away. But when he parts from Sarah, he goes and prays. He prays to his God for advice on what to do. And that God actually tells Abraham to send Ishmael away, because it is to save the boy's very own soul, since to stay would mean possible corruption by Hagar, and possible ill deeds that he wouldn't do otherwise where the temptations were not near, and where the boy's mother was not so close to what she disliked.
And so the boy and his mother were sent away the next day. This comforted Sarah a lot; A: because Abraham had listened to her and taken her words to heart. And B: because the outcome had been in her favor.
Isaace grows up well. But things for Lot and Quria back in Sodom have not been so good. First, Sodom is a city that even God is pent on destroying. Secondly, he destroys it. So when a messenger comes and tells Quira that her husband is in possible danger because people are mad that he went to gather people at the gate, she does not even warn Lot and his visitors of the dangers, and instead, the angry mob arrives at their very front door, with all the threats and weapons that a mob should carry. Somehow Lot is able to become invisible, and they end up leaving them all alone. But he tells Quira to pack her things, only what she would need for a day, and that her and the daughters would all set out in the morning before the sunrise, because by daytime, God would be sending, no, HURTLING great big balls of fire and rock at the city of Sodom, and it and everything within it would be destroyed.
In the morning, Quira is relentless to go. She does not want to. And in fact, she has packed a lot more than just a day's worth of things. She is worried about her reputation if she is found carrying nothing through the city. She heeds none of her husband's warnings. For this, she loses her life. As he has to drag "mommy" through the streets, for the daughters are mad at Lot the whole time for treating their mom in such a way, he insists on doing so in such a manner because he does not want her brat-like behavior to slow them down, and get them killed. But when they are finally to safety, and they all have their lives, Quira does the most unthinkable of things. She goes back into the city of Sodom. Of course, when she gets there, the city is destroyed and her along with it. Were her trunks of jewelry worth it? Well, it makes for a great story of pillars of salt aligning the streets. But would I go back into a burning fire? No.
SO Sodom is destroyed, and most of its inhabitans. Gone are the sins of that city.
When Sarah hears of her sister's death, she is sad. But only because she knows how much that life was wasted. Later, Abraham tells her something. He tells Sarah that Lot says he is glad he married Quira, because in doing so, he at least got to know one good woman in his life. Sarah tried to say that she always knew deep down that Lot cared for Quira. Abraham had to hush her and say that of course, he meant her.
At the end of the book, Isaac and Abraham are going on a journey. It will be a journey for a sacrifice for God. They are bringing along many animals, and Abraham is hesitant to go. He tells Sarah that he would rather not, that something just doesn't feel right. Sarah tells him she doesn't like to be apart from him. Isaac confirms for her that neither does Abraham, and this warms Sarah's heart. She watches as the two of them leave, and Orson Scott Card does not cover, in the book of Sarah, the incident of Isaac on the mount, or of Abraham's sacrifice to God.
But in this book, I got to peek into a woman who's name I really like. And that name is Sarah.
So now that you know the weird backdrop to my unexplainable and erie infatuation with the girl name Sarah, I will tell you about this book.
I love Orson Scott Card's Ender's Game and Ender's Shadow; today, Ender's Game remains a book that I think about when contemplating complex and mushy morality related things. Like, how can it be that somebody with good intentions (Ender) ends up actually causing more death and strife than his evil and greedy brother (who sets up some kind of Earth saving program--it's been a long time since I've read this book). But, intentions over actions has always since messed with me, because sometimes they do not align. And, does this change anything?
Well, Ender's problem remains my own, but this is what got me into looking at some of Orson Scott Card's other books. (Plus, he's got awesome book cover art). So there I am on Amazon, and I learn of a book series by him called The Women of Genesis. Now this in itself is interesting, because we have a MALE author giving his curiosity over to the WOMEN of the bible. Already, women probably had little voice. The back of his book jacket even says this. But, to expand upon what I'm guessing is roughly a 20-50 page story in the Bible, and turning it into an over 300 page novel, is something of a (not to steal the book jacket's words but), it becomes "an act of faith." An act of faith for sure. Because nobody gives women time. Not even women themselves. So here's this man busying himself with women, and very important and biblically historically relevant women. But, here's what I got from his book named Sarah, my favorite childhood girl name, and now the name of a long dead woman who I look up to and want to meet.
Orson Scott Card's Sarah
The book begins with Sarah as a child. She's very young, and living under her father's household. Her mother is not around. I do not remember if it was mentioned whether or not she has died. But the father is an ex-King, who has for some reason or other lost his inherited power. But, his name still bears relevance, and now the son of another king of another land wants to marry his eldest daughter, Quira. Qira is not portrayed as a nice person, even from the beginning. Now--Orson Scott Card admits in his afterword that this figure of Quira as mentioned in the Bible might not actually have been Sarah's sister, but Card says he chose this route because he likes how it allows Sarah to comment on certain things, and also makes things more interesting. Plus, he admits that his interpretation of the Bible, as the "non scholar that he is," is actually sometimes the least biased and also the most feasible (all according to him). But so Quira, she gets married of to Lot, the older brother of the boy and man that Sarah, our main character, is destined and foretold to marry. When Abram, Lot's younger brother, shows up at Sarah's household when she is but a girl, it changes her life forever. She instantly realizes, even in her young age, that this Abram guy is unlike any other human being she has met before, and she realizes that he treats her in a way that is neither demeaning or underestimating. In fact, he is actually taken so much by her that he promises to come back for her in about ten years and marry her. He does exactly this.
Sarah, in the meantime, has to wait. And she does so, but with only the slightest doubt and worry in her mind. You see, when she was born, she was apparently promised to this Woman-God called Asherah, who is in charge of birth and whatnot. But Sarah says screw you to Asherah, because she wants to be with Abram! So she goes through this period of doubt (which actually lasts for quite a while and keeps coming back up all of there life), but she thinks Asherah has cursed her for disregarding her promise, and therefore that is why Sarah is unable to have babies for a very long time.
Who knows, to this day, whether any truth can be held to this. Certainly, though, Asherah proved useful in Sarah's mind when she was confused and contemplating why she could not have babies. If only there was not a feeling of guilt attached to this disability (barreness).
Well, the novel unfolds as Sarah quickly grows older, and is now at the age in which Abram had promised to come get her. Actually, he arrives a few years early, and they happily embark on their life journey together. Of course, the father must have been sad to part with both of his daughters, even as happy as he must've been for them to have married such highly stationed and nice seeming men. But quickly, however, Sarah's life turns to doubt and drought. The lands receive no rain, and so Abram, the shepherd boy that he is, takes them to many places, all of which turn out to be as dry as the last. He tells Sarah that these droughts are usual; that actually, throughout the history of history (he has access to all of the oldest books of human recordings and can read them), he tells Sarah that such droughts are not uncommon, and that actually, humankind has experienced this very thing before. Therefore, he knows it will end, and he has hope. He also does not let it get him down. Meanwhile, Sarah is growing older, and while some of Abram's promises from God include many children that will one day take on many kingdoms, Sarah has yet to have kids. She thinks, relentlessly, that the god of Asherah has cursed her. However, she swears herself to Abrams God, and therefore she knows, in the deepest of her logical heart, that this cannot be the case. She basically dismisses Asherah as a myth. She believes in the same God as Abram.
Enough about Asherah. Let's set her to ashes already. Of that we can be assured of. Good bye Asherah. Anyways, Sarah moves on. She learns to love all possibilities. She tells her husband, Abram, that he should have sex with her handmaid in order to bear a child that can bear him kingdoms. He does it. They (the handmaid and Abram), have a son. His name is Ishmael and he ends up having to leave camp later in his life, unfortunately, because it turns out two sons can be more dangerous than (to) one son.
But I'm getting ahead of myself.
Sarah and Abram are in the desert, and it isn't raining. Everyone in their camp with them, and all the cattle, are suffering more every day due to the lack of rain. But Abram is reassuring. He tells Sarah that they must go to Egypt, although the "why" is escaping me at the moment. But at any rate, they go to Egypt, and when they are arriving, a man comes out to greet them. For some reason (a warning from God heeded), Abram tells this man that he and Sarah are siblings. Brother and sister. This man believes him, and so when he takes (literally tricks Abram and Sarah into separating--turns out it is for a whole year) Abram to the Egyptian King, Sarah is likewise taken to the House of Women. Not a very fun place to be. Especially not for a whole year. Turns out she gets watched like every second. Even when she thinks that she is alone along the beach water, she is being watched. But luckily this is where she meets her handmaiden, Hagar, who happens to join her forces and become Sarah's friend for this year. They share secrets, and make promises to one another. They bond; they survive. A year passes and all Sarah has to occupy herself are her own thoughts, Hagar's company, and the occasional company and conversation of the Woman of the House of Women, some man with a very large name who is basically the second in command for Egypt's King, and then the King himself. You see, it's a tricky situation. The King wants to suit and marry and bear sons with Sarah. He thinks that she is only Abram's sister, but he loves the idea of making her his Priestess. It would be infinitely worse if he knew her true identity. But he's always trying to suit her, during his visits to The House of Women, and, of course, Sarah is usually cold but polite in return.
One day the man with a very large name takes Sarah on a little adventure to an island. When they arrive, a miracle happens. Or a supposed miracle. Everyone on the escapade witnesses a pregnant deer come onto the hill right in front of them, and give birth. This witnessed birth is so miraculous that everyone on the trip (except for Sarah, she knows better), thinks that it is a sign from God that this guy with a long name should actually be the King of Egypt. And so begins the uprise, the usurp from within and underneath.
But Sarah tries to warn the Egyptian King.. Who has done nothing but keep her captive and hostage this whole entire time, and tried to suit and wed and have sex with her, and keep her from her "brother."
But when her warnings are met with almost deaf ears, Sarah basically gives up. She feels there is nothing more she can do to warn the King that his second in command is spreading the word and belief that actually the Gods or God favor HIM over him, which will make people begin to not obey. The King claims to already know of this, but says that he has built an army so strong that, even if there was an uprising, nobody would be able to actually overthrow him. Turns out he is very wrong, and he eventually dies. But this is later. For now, he finally relents in letting Sarah once again see Abram--by now it has been a full year--and when they rejoin, Abram has a little story for the King.
Abram asks him if they are friends. "Of course!" replies the King, actually genuinely. For the King has been having Abram teach him of the ways of Abram's God, because this King of Egypt actually happens to believe that his very bloodline and therefore his whole kingdom's belief systems are based on Abrams' descendants, who were actually the first to found Egypt, and so he is very interested in the extra anciental ways. But he has also been holding Abram captive for a year, without his alleged sister--which is cruel, by the way--and when we find out of his true desires things get even messier. Turns out, when Abram finally exposes that Sarah is his wife and not his sister (which he does keenly under the watchful eye of many soldiers and servants who..seconds before the revealing, witness the King bless the two without knowing the secret that he is about to experience, but the public blessing from the King will act as a protectant). Well, when King finds out, he is angry. Abram tries to soften him away from his anger by explaining that they are still friends, and by exposing to the King that his only pain is coming from his own, selfish, greedy desires. If he could just not want to marry multiple ladies--no matter their stature--in order to found an "ultimate Egypt", then he would not be so pained as to finding out Sarah and Abram's true relationship, nor would he be so angry at Abram for keeping it a secret for so long. After a while, the King admits that Abram is right, and tries to undo his negative feelings. He actually prays to God. And so Sarah and Abram are finally let go, after a year of separation and a year of captivity, and they are brought back out of Egypt and to their own people in the desert. Hagar gets to go with them, Sarah's handmaid, because Sarah had made a promise, and they had become friends.
Finally together, love proven more solid than ever, they embark back out into the world. Abram continues to be a shepherd, and he eventually sends word to his brother Lot who has been living in Sodom (a very corrupt city), that he is freed from Egypt, and for Quira and Lot to come join him out in the wild. Lot obeys, and he tries to bring Quira with him, but she is very stubborn and does not want to go. Only is it when a boy comes with a mule to carry her out to her husband does she go, and it is only because she would be so humiliated in front of all her friends in Sodom if it was found out that her husband left her with nothing but an empty household--no food, no water, not even any of her very own slaves. Plus, he had taken their daughters with him.
So Quira relents, and goes to meet her husband out in the desert. She hates the shepherd's way of life. She thinks that her stature from her father's ex-Kingliship should be enough for her to live a life of the highest everything. She does not realize that she is missing out on what's truly important in life, even though she has almost all of the most coolest people at her fingertips. It is actually sad. How does one feel sorry for someone like this? You can only pity them as much as you might pity ......I can't even think of a good example.
But Quira, when she arrives at camp, does not find her husband fretfully waiting for her like she thinks he should be, and basically her and his relationship is never really good....because of her. Her thinking is mostly negative, even when she has the most of love right in front of her and directed at her. But she begins to cause so much strife and sometimes even disobedience within the entire camp, that finally Sarah is set up to send her back to Sodom. The only sad thing is that Lot must go with her, for appearance's sake, and also for their daughters' sakes. But he is allowed to come back often, at least once a month, to see Abram and Sarah, and the rest of the camp and all of the cattle. It is a sad decision that they must go, but what must be done must be done.
At this point in the story, Sarah and Abram are both receiving words from God. Sarah is learning that it is right for Hagar to bear Abram a son. Abram is slowly learning more and more about everything, things that don't even get mentioned in the book.
He agrees to have a baby with Hagar only on the condition that God tells him this is okay when he prays and asks, and also only if Sarah of course asks the girl Hagar if this would be alright. When Hagar is asked, she at first thinks that she is going to be a sacrifice. Sarah quickly reassures her that this is nonsense, and slowly Hagar happily agrees. But when Hagar becomes pregnant, she becomes a different person. She becomes evil towards Sarah, and poor Sarah is left at the mercy of everybody's preconceptions about what her own emotions must be like at a time like this, and therefore when Hagar starts spreading evil rumors about Sarah's mistreatment and also when Hagar starts putting on a front in front of witnesses that Sarah is mistreating and being cruel to Hagar, people actually believe Hagar. Even Abram.
When one night Abram comes to Sarah's tent, it breaks Sarah's heart, and it broke my heart, as the reader. To hear an otherwise completely loyal and loving husband suddenly get angry at Sarah and accuse her of being mean and jealous, it is really hard. It is hard to read a fight between Sarah and Abram. But it all works out in the end, but during it, it is a good thing Sarah kept her foot holding, because otherwise Abram might never would have known to use his mental strength to its full capacity in order to realize the error of his own thinking. But he does just this, even after some painful words are spread and shared--between the two of them--he finally at last realizes what he must do. Even tho this very night does not end on good terms (for Abram leaves the tent with Sarah knowing that he still doesn't believe her, and even blames her), Abram at least has the unsettlement of mind to, the next day, think of a sly plan of action.
When Sarah has gotten up in the morning and is about to head to her usual spot at the door of her usual tent (which she didn't sleep in the night before because Hagar had taken over that tent as if she were the mistress), Sarah sees that Hagar has indeed taken her place. When Sarah asks if she can sit next to Hagar, Hagar plays the poor innocent pregnant woman and even makes Elizer, who is sitting RIGHT NEXT TO THEM IN HIS FULL CAPACITIES, think that Sarah has somehow wronged Hagar or been cruel. This is just outrageous, and LUCKILY Abram has taken it upon himself to spy on the situation, and see who is in the "right." He indeed deems Sarah to have done nothing wrong, in fact, to have been nice and patient to Hagar! and so he asks Hagar to please come here, at which point he is very upfront and forthright and public with his criticisms of how she could be so mean to his wife Sarah, and would she please stop playing a part so as to diminish Sarah's role within the camp, and even within his own eyes and heart.
Hagar actually gets so upset that she runs into the desert screaming. She does not come back for a full day. When she comes back, it is as if she is a new woman. According to Abram, but not much is shared, she must have met with God in some way while she was out there in the desert alone and hungry and thirsty. Because when she comes back, she is nicer to Sarah, gives her back her tent, and takes back her place as handmaid and actually refers to Sarah as "mistress" once again.
The son is born, and his name is Ishmael. He is a good boy, and everybody loves him. Of course, Sarah has the painful duty of accepting him as....not her own child, but that of her husband's son and handmaid's baby. So she is both very grateful, but there is not a tinge of pain to accompany these feelings of joy.
Nor is the situation without its person who is deliberate in making this tinge of pain as large and out of proportion to others as possible. This person is Hagar, because she still harbors bad feelings. According to Sarah, Sarah thinks that, because Hagar lost everything when she was just a girl, and right in front of her, that because of this the girl will always be seeking survival and to get the upper hand, because that is what she was taught at a young age when she realized that bad things happen.
However, of Hagar's own account, we do not have anything. We see her only through Sarah and Abram's eyes. Of her mind, we truly know nothing. But of her actions, they are described through Sarah's eyes, of whose mind we ARE allowed inside. And so do we need to question Hagar's motives beyond Sarah's descriptions?
Time passes very quickly in this novel. All of the sudden it is years later, and Abram has had an epiphany from God. Sarah is to have a baby. And not just any baby. But a baby that will carry on their name and the word of Abram's God forever. A kingdom, if you will.
Sarah does get pregnant, but not before her name is changed and before everyone in the camp is given the mark of the covenant, which is a promise to and from God.
Sarah's original name was Sarai, which means "Queen." When Abram tells her that it will be changed to Sarah, she is actually a little hurt. Sarah only means "Princess." But when Abram tells her that it is because she is the daughter of God, that makes her feel better; and he himself changes names as well. His goes from Abram to Abraham, which means shepherd or something. I think it means "father of multitudes." Which makes sense given that their son is about to be heir to all of the followers after that. Related, much?
And eventually the son is born, and his name is Isaac. As a little baby, he actually does not get weened off from Sarah until pretty late, like age 3. But apparently this is not unusual, and so one night at the "weening" party, when usually kids are already way weened but this is actually Isaac's first day and so he keeps trying to suck Sarah's tits, he is all in fits. And poor Sarah, for both she and Abraham have reached old ages and she gets very tired, she retreats from the fun party and goes to her tent to be alone for a while. While there, she does sort of shut her eyes and fall asleep. From her sleep, though, she hears noises, and knows that some sort of mischief is going on outside of the tent. At first she thinks that it is drunk lovers making love. She quickly realizes, however, that it is actually a muffled cry for help, and that this cry for help is coming from her own son! She at once assesses, horrified, the situation. There is Ishmael, the eldest son of Abraham, pulling at Isaac's neck with some sort of tie, which is also around little baby Isaac's mouth. Muffled as he is, he is unable to draw in deep breaths, and his cries for help actually end up suffocating him more because his spit is becoming a blocking blob on the fiber that is blocking his ability to draw in breath. He tries to yank away, but Ishmael holds tight and this freaks Sarah out because she thinks that Isaac could have easily just broken his neck. She had voiced this concern to Abraham once before: that she feared that since both she and Abraham were old, that if they were to die, then Hagar would turn against Isaac and somehow see him killed or displaced within the week. And here, not even dead, is Hagar's own son choking little three year old Isaac, and right in front of his sleeping mother's tent! And what's worse, is Sarah realizes that Hagar herself is watching, and is prying Ishmael on. When Sarah sees Hagar's face of glee and menace, her heart flutters. She cannot take this. She scolds the boy Ishmael tersely, at which he tries to give an excuse of trying to not have the boy wake her, and Hagar actually disappears because she knows what has been discovered. Sarah has a servant bring her husband to her.
When he arrives, she tells him what she has seen. At first, Abraham does not really want to hear Sarah out for everything that she has to say and demand. Sarah wants Hagar to take Ishmael to a different place to live at once. Of course, Sarah is talking about Abraham's other son, and this hurts Abraham. He does not want to hear these words from his wife and the mother of his second son, nor does he want his first son to have to be sent away. But when he parts from Sarah, he goes and prays. He prays to his God for advice on what to do. And that God actually tells Abraham to send Ishmael away, because it is to save the boy's very own soul, since to stay would mean possible corruption by Hagar, and possible ill deeds that he wouldn't do otherwise where the temptations were not near, and where the boy's mother was not so close to what she disliked.
And so the boy and his mother were sent away the next day. This comforted Sarah a lot; A: because Abraham had listened to her and taken her words to heart. And B: because the outcome had been in her favor.
Isaace grows up well. But things for Lot and Quria back in Sodom have not been so good. First, Sodom is a city that even God is pent on destroying. Secondly, he destroys it. So when a messenger comes and tells Quira that her husband is in possible danger because people are mad that he went to gather people at the gate, she does not even warn Lot and his visitors of the dangers, and instead, the angry mob arrives at their very front door, with all the threats and weapons that a mob should carry. Somehow Lot is able to become invisible, and they end up leaving them all alone. But he tells Quira to pack her things, only what she would need for a day, and that her and the daughters would all set out in the morning before the sunrise, because by daytime, God would be sending, no, HURTLING great big balls of fire and rock at the city of Sodom, and it and everything within it would be destroyed.
In the morning, Quira is relentless to go. She does not want to. And in fact, she has packed a lot more than just a day's worth of things. She is worried about her reputation if she is found carrying nothing through the city. She heeds none of her husband's warnings. For this, she loses her life. As he has to drag "mommy" through the streets, for the daughters are mad at Lot the whole time for treating their mom in such a way, he insists on doing so in such a manner because he does not want her brat-like behavior to slow them down, and get them killed. But when they are finally to safety, and they all have their lives, Quira does the most unthinkable of things. She goes back into the city of Sodom. Of course, when she gets there, the city is destroyed and her along with it. Were her trunks of jewelry worth it? Well, it makes for a great story of pillars of salt aligning the streets. But would I go back into a burning fire? No.
SO Sodom is destroyed, and most of its inhabitans. Gone are the sins of that city.
When Sarah hears of her sister's death, she is sad. But only because she knows how much that life was wasted. Later, Abraham tells her something. He tells Sarah that Lot says he is glad he married Quira, because in doing so, he at least got to know one good woman in his life. Sarah tried to say that she always knew deep down that Lot cared for Quira. Abraham had to hush her and say that of course, he meant her.
At the end of the book, Isaac and Abraham are going on a journey. It will be a journey for a sacrifice for God. They are bringing along many animals, and Abraham is hesitant to go. He tells Sarah that he would rather not, that something just doesn't feel right. Sarah tells him she doesn't like to be apart from him. Isaac confirms for her that neither does Abraham, and this warms Sarah's heart. She watches as the two of them leave, and Orson Scott Card does not cover, in the book of Sarah, the incident of Isaac on the mount, or of Abraham's sacrifice to God.
But in this book, I got to peek into a woman who's name I really like. And that name is Sarah.