Two People Laughed

Two People Laughed, and Only One Got a Question

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When God promised a son, Abraham and Sarah both laughed. Their laughs were very much alike, and God was patient with both of them.

Two laughs. “Then Abraham fell on his face and laughed, and said in his heart, ‘Shall a child be born to a man who is one hundred years old?’” (17:17). And: “Therefore Sarah laughed within herself, saying, ‘After I have grown old, shall I have pleasure, my lord being old also?’” (18:12).

They are alike. They use the same verb in Hebrew — tsachaq, to laugh. Both laughs happen on the inside, in the heart. Both come with the same objection: we are far too old for this. Abraham and Sarah both found God's promise hard to believe.

God answers each one. After Abraham's laugh, God keeps speaking, and right away He promises Isaac by name. After Sarah's laugh, God asks a question: “Why did Sarah laugh…? Is anything too hard for the Lord?” (18:13-14).

God was gracious to both. He kept His promise to both of them. He did not shame Abraham, and He did not punish Sarah. He met each of them where they were and kept pointing them to His promise. God is patient with us too when His promises seem too good to be true.

What Abraham does with his laugh. He does not defend it. He asks for something: “Oh, that Ishmael might live before You!” (17:18). He is a father asking God to count the son he already has. God gives him two answers. No, the covenant runs through Isaac (17:19). And “As for Ishmael, I have heard you. Behold, I have blessed him” (17:20).

What Sarah does with hers. She denies it. “I did not laugh” — and the Bible tells us why: “for she was afraid” (18:15). She was not proud or stubborn. She was afraid. God does not let the denial stand, but He does not punish her for it either. He simply tells her the truth. God wants us to be honest with Him, even when we are afraid.

How the story ends. The baby arrives, and he is called Isaac, which means he laughs. He is named for what they both did when they heard the news. Sarah gets the last word: “God has made me laugh, and all who hear will laugh with me” (21:6). The laugh began as disbelief. God turned it into the baby's name and Sarah's joy.

In 17:17 and 18:12 both Abraham and Sarah laugh at God's promise. Both verses use tsachaq (say: tsah-KHAHK). Both place the laugh inside — wayyomer belibbo, he said in his heart (17:17), and beqirbah, within herself (18:12). And both give the same objection about age. Each of them believed God enough to listen, and each found the promise hard to believe.

God does respond differently. 17:18-21 moves straight from the laugh to Abraham's prayer for Ishmael and to the naming of Isaac. 18:13-15 asks a question: lammah zeh tsachaqah Sarah, why did Sarah laugh. Then comes hayippale me-YHWH davar and a plain answer to her denial. In both cases God answers doubt with His word. To Abraham He gives the name Isaac. To Sarah He gives the question of 18:14. He kept the same promise to both of them and gave them the same son.

The New Testament speaks well of both of them. Romans 4:19-21 says Abraham did not waver at the promise through unbelief, but was strengthened in faith, giving glory to God. Hebrews 11:11 names Sarra among the faithful, because she judged Him faithful who had promised. Both of them were weak in the moment, and both are remembered for faith. That is what grace does. God does not wait for perfect faith before He keeps His word.

In 18:15, wattekhachesh Sarah lemor lo tsachaqti ki yare'ah — Sarah denied it, saying I did not laugh, for she was afraid. God knew her fear. Then comes His reply, lo ki tsachaqt, no, but you did laugh. God corrects her gently and plainly. No penalty is given, no repentance is described, and the promise is not taken back or made conditional.

God settles the matter through a name, across three chapters. Yitschaq (say: yits-KHAHK) comes from the same root. The sequence 17:17, 18:12 and 21:6 moves from laughing at the promise to laughing with joy: tsechoq asah li Elohim, God has made laughter for me, says Sarah at the birth. God takes the doubting laugh and makes it the child's name and then the mother's joy. That is how grace works: God turns our weakness into a story of His faithfulness.

Whenever 17:19 is quoted, 17:20 belongs with it. God refuses Abraham's request to put Ishmael in Isaac's place, and He blesses Ishmael, in back-to-back verses. Being chosen for the covenant line did not mean Ishmael was rejected. Genesis 21:20 and 25:12-18 show God's care for him.

Is Anything Too Hard for the Lord?

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At the center of these chapters is one question, and the rest of the Bible keeps coming back to it: “Is anything too hard for the Lord?” (18:14).

It is a question. God could have said “nothing is too hard for Me.” He asks instead. He asks two people who had just laughed at the very thing He is talking about. A question makes you answer it yourself. That is different from being told.

The word “hard.” The Hebrew word means something out of reach — too wonderful, too amazing, beyond what anyone could do. It comes from the same root as the wonders God did in Egypt. So the question is not whether God finds this tiring. It asks whether anything at all is out of reach for Him.

It has a deadline. The next sentence says: “At the appointed time I will return to you… and Sarah shall have a son” (18:14). This was not just a comforting thought. It was a promise about one baby in one year, and a year later Isaac was born (21:1-2).

Jeremiah says it while his city is falling. Six hundred years later, Jerusalem is under siege and the prophet is in prison. Jeremiah prays: “Ah, Lord God! … There is nothing too hard for You” (32:17). He turns the question into a statement. Then God gives it back to him as a question again: “Behold, I am the Lord, the God of all flesh. Is there anything too hard for Me?” (32:27).

An angel says it to a teenager. Gabriel tells Mary she will have a son. She asks the natural question: how, since this is impossible? The answer is this verse: “For with God nothing will be impossible” (Luke 1:37). These words are very close to the words spoken to Sarah. Both women had sons only God could give, and the same truth stands behind both births.

What this verse does not mean. It does not mean that if you believe hard enough, God will do whatever you ask. Remember who was there when God said it: two people who had just laughed. Neither of them had much faith in that moment, and God kept the promise anyway.

That is the comfort in it. The question is not measuring your faith. It tells you what kind of God made the promise. In this chapter, the promise holds whether the people can believe it or not. That is a good thing, because they could not.

Hayippale me-YHWH davar (18:14), is any word too wonderful for the LORD, is the center of these two chapters.

The verb is a form of pala (say: pah-LAH), a root for what is wonderful, surpassing or out of reach. The noun form, nifla'ot, is the word used for the wonders of the Exodus. So the question is not about how hard God must work. It is about what God is able to do. Davar means both thing and word. Is any thing beyond Him? Is any word of His beyond keeping?

The verse is a question. In Jeremiah 32:17 the prophet says it as a statement — lo yippale mimmekha kol davar. In 32:27 God gives it back to him as a question, worded the same way as Genesis 18:14. The question comes while Jerusalem is under Babylonian siege, just after Jeremiah has been told to buy a field as a sign that God would one day bring His people home.

The Septuagint of Genesis 18:14 reads me adynatei para to theo rhema. Luke 1:37 reads ouk adynatesei para tou theou pan rhema. The shared words — adynate-, para tou theou and rhema — tie the two announcements together. In both stories a birth is announced, someone wonders how it could happen, and this truth is the answer. The God who gave Sarah a son is the God who gave Mary the Son.

Two things keep the verse in its place. First, it is not a promise that God will give us whatever outcome we want. It is spoken to a couple who had laughed. It is tied to one dated promise. And it is about what God is able to do, not about when He chooses to do it. Second, Jeremiah 32 shows the same thing. Right after 32:27, God announces that the city will be given to the Chaldeans. The same chapter that says nothing is too hard for God also announces a disaster. The sentence does not promise the outcomes we would choose. It tells us who is acting.

18:14 turns an open-ended covenant promise into a claim with a date. 21:1-2 reports that it came true, in matching words: ka'asher amar and la-moed asher dibber — as He had said, at the set time of which He had spoken. God's word can be trusted down to the day. Every promise He makes to us in Christ is just as sure (2 Corinthians 1:20).

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Complete all sections to finish!

Read each section and answer the questions correctly.