Voices from the Bible: Monologues for Women
10 - 60 minutes
1 - 12 Females
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SARAH: IN THE LORDS GOOD TIME
Genesis 16: “Now Sarah, Abram ‘s wife, had borne him no children.”
(Sarah stretches. Wraps shawl around tightly.)
SARAH: The Lord came to him at the Oaks of Mamre. Came to him. Didn’t come to me. He was in a hurry to tell. “Sarah,” he shouts, “it was the Lord, He promised that my own son shall be my heir. I’m going to be the father of a son.” And when I said, “And I’m going to be the mother?” there was silence. Then he mumbled, “He didn’t say.” There was some talk of grains of sand and stars in the heavens… but nothing happened.
He never says anything about it, this barrenness of mine. It’s the looks I can’t bear anymore-his eyes into mine, questioning, but I have no answer to give. In the early morning he lays his hand here as if willing a son to come into being. I want to please him so. Sons and daughter, generations upon generations, if only, Lord, you hadn’t promised so much. I feel sometimes that it’s all up to me.
He’s taken to looking up a lot lately. “Counting stars, Abe?” He shakes his head. I rub his neck with pressed oil at night, in the silence. You know, I believe that women are more practical than men. The neck isn’t made to be perpetually turned in an upward direction. If you’re going to get on with things sometimes you just have to get on with them. There’s more than one way to make a son.
Abram wants…has been promised…a son. Sarah, the wife, is barren. Abram looks up day after day. The wife casts about in her practical way. She sees Hagar, the Egyptian, her maid, downcast eyes and–childbearing hips. Agreeable to a fault. A common enough solution to the problem of the wife’s . . .inadequacies. Custom dictates that the maid will substitute for the wife. The male child will be adopted and the line of descendants assured. A practical solution to the problem.
(She circles, talks to Abraham.)
Abe, I’ve found a practical solution to the problem you’ve been having with your neck. Hagar, the Egyptian, is in our tent. She’s waiting…for you, to have our…your son. I’m giving her to you. Don’t say anything, please. I’ve thought about this for a long time now. There’s nothing more to be said. Why do you stare at me like that? I’m the one who’s barren. I’m the one who can’t live up to God’s promise. Well, I’m putting it all right. Hagar is in there. You’d better go because I can’t stand this waiting any longer.
Landmark Christian School, Haines City, FL. 2020
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Play Details
SARAH: IN THE LORDS GOOD TIME
Genesis 16: “Now Sarah, Abram ‘s wife, had borne him no children.”
(Sarah stretches. Wraps shawl around tightly.)
SARAH: The Lord came to him at the Oaks of Mamre. Came to him. Didn’t come to me. He was in a hurry to tell. “Sarah,” he shouts, “it was the Lord, He promised that my own son shall be my heir. I’m going to be the father of a son.” And when I said, “And I’m going to be the mother?” there was silence. Then he mumbled, “He didn’t say.” There was some talk of grains of sand and stars in the heavens… but nothing happened.
He never says anything about it, this barrenness of mine. It’s the looks I can’t bear anymore-his eyes into mine, questioning, but I have no answer to give. In the early morning he lays his hand here as if willing a son to come into being. I want to please him so. Sons and daughter, generations upon generations, if only, Lord, you hadn’t promised so much. I feel sometimes that it’s all up to me.
He’s taken to looking up a lot lately. “Counting stars, Abe?” He shakes his head. I rub his neck with pressed oil at night, in the silence. You know, I believe that women are more practical than men. The neck isn’t made to be perpetually turned in an upward direction. If you’re going to get on with things sometimes you just have to get on with them. There’s more than one way to make a son.
Abram wants…has been promised…a son. Sarah, the wife, is barren. Abram looks up day after day. The wife casts about in her practical way. She sees Hagar, the Egyptian, her maid, downcast eyes and–childbearing hips. Agreeable to a fault. A common enough solution to the problem of the wife’s . . .inadequacies. Custom dictates that the maid will substitute for the wife. The male child will be adopted and the line of descendants assured. A practical solution to the problem.
(She circles, talks to Abraham.)
Abe, I’ve found a practical solution to the problem you’ve been having with your neck. Hagar, the Egyptian, is in our tent. She’s waiting…for you, to have our…your son. I’m giving her to you. Don’t say anything, please. I’ve thought about this for a long time now. There’s nothing more to be said. Why do you stare at me like that? I’m the one who’s barren. I’m the one who can’t live up to God’s promise. Well, I’m putting it all right. Hagar is in there. You’d better go because I can’t stand this waiting any longer.