Sterile womb and Grave. Sarah’s participation in the promises made to Abraham

Abstract

This article aims to present the relationship between the sterile womb and the sepulchral grave of Sara, as well as the significance of her participation in the ancestral cycle of Abraham and Sarah. Before announcing Sarah’s death in Genesis 23,1-20, the narrator’s voice evokes in the reader’s mind the “life of Sarah” (v. 1) as an invitation to look back and see that his grave. As well as its barren womb, is not a space of death, but a space of re-signification of life and story of generation of the heirs of the promise-covenant. If Sarah’s barren womb was a key element for Israel’s entry into history, her tomb was also, Israel’s gateway into possession of the land of Canaan. She is the first ancestor of Israel to be introduced into the womb of the promised land, thus opening space for the other patriarchs and matriarchs of promise with her to gather (cf. Gen 25,7-11; 35,28-29; 49,29-32; 50,1-14).