Sarah's Test

We often talk about the terrible sacrifice that Abraham was called upon to make in offering up his son Isaac, and rightfully so.  The Lord seems to have made it the sacrifice par excellence by any human.  He said of the Saints in our day: “Therefore, they must needs be chastened and tried, even as Abraham, who was commanded to offer up his only son” (D&C 101:4).  Abraham’s life was full of trials and sacrifices, with the commandment to offer up Isaac being the most difficult and culmination of a very challenging life.  One of these difficult experiences surely was what happened as he went to Egypt where both he and Sarah had to enter an extremely dangerous situation and make a great sacrifice to follow the Lord’s commandments. 

                When Abraham went down to Egypt to avoid the famine, the Lord gave him a very unique commandment. Abraham recorded, “And it came to pass when I was come near to enter into Egypt, the Lord said unto me: Behold, Sarai, thy wife, is a very fair woman to look upon; Therefore it shall come to pass, when the Egyptians shall see her, they will say—She is his wife; and they will kill you, but they will save her alive; therefore see that ye do on this wise: Let her say unto the Egyptians, she is thy sister, and thy soul shall live” (Abraham 2:22-24).  There’s much I think that’s been said showing that the statement that she was his sister was not really a lie.  Of course it was misleading, though, and the great test of their faith was the fact that calling Sarah his sister would obviously lead Pharaoh and the Egyptians to think that she was unmarried and available for them.  I think the greatest test was Sarah’s.  Abraham said to her: “Therefore say unto them, I pray thee, thou art my sister, that it may be well with me for thy sake, and my soul shall live because of thee” (Abraham 2:25).  This certainly must have seemed very one-sided for Sarah—saying that she was his sister would certainly help to protect Abraham from Pharaoh, but what about her?!  What would protect her from the Egyptians who would threaten to defile her, this unmarried and “very fair” woman?  Would Sarah be forced to marry Pharaoh?    

                We don’t know exactly what happened to Sarah, but I think we have enough clues to know that she was faithful to the dangerous command and that ultimately the Lord protected her.  We read this of what happened after she arrived: “When Abram was come into Egypt, the Egyptians beheld the woman that she was very fair. The princes also of Pharaoh saw her, and commended her before Pharaoh: and the woman was taken into Pharaoh’s house” (Genesis 12:14-15).  So she was forced to go into Pharaoh’s household, presumably in preparation of becoming one of his wives.  This likely meant that she had to leave the presence and protection of Abraham her husband.  Pharaho paid Abraham for her, but then something happened which alerted Pharaoh to the fact that she was really Abraham’s wife.  We read that “the Lord plagued Pharaoh and his house with great plagues because of Sarai Abram’s wife,” and after that Pharaoh complained to Abraham, “Why saidst thou, She is my sister? so I might have taken her to me to wife: now therefore behold thy wife, take her, and go thy way” (Genesis 12:17-19).  It would appear that Pharaoh must have tried to make her his wife, but the Lord protected Sarah and “plagued Pharaoh” because of it.  I believe that ultimately she did not have to marry him and her virtue was protected, but like Abraham who very nearly had sacrificed Isaac, she came as close as she could have come to actually having to go through with a marriage to an Egyptian.  She was a woman of great faith who trusted in the Lord, and ultimately the Lord protected her and Abraham and blessed them greatly for their unconquerable faith in His commands.