Barren Women as a Symbol of Hope

• Sarah was barren:
  She grew old and reached the age of ninety, and despair overtook her, to the point that when God promised her a son, she laughed… Yet God gave her Isaac, through whose descendants all the tribes of the earth were blessed.
• Rachel was barren:
  Jacob prayed for her, and God granted her Joseph the righteous, who received a double portion among his brothers and became a symbol of purity, visions, and wise stewardship.
• Hannah was barren:
  She prayed and wept before God and made a vow, and God granted her Samuel the great prophet, who anointed kings with holy oil…
• Elizabeth was barren:
  And God granted her John the Baptist, the greatest born among women…
• All these women were a symbol of great hope in God’s gift, no matter how impossible things may appear naturally…

How beautiful is the song presented by the prophet Isaiah (54):
“Sing, O barren, you who have not borne! Break forth into singing… Enlarge the place of your tent, and let them stretch out the curtains of your dwellings…
For you shall expand to the right and to the left, and your descendants will inherit the nations and make the desolate cities inhabited. Do not fear, for you will not be ashamed… For a mere moment I have forsaken you, but with great mercies I will gather you.”

An article by His Holiness Pope Shenouda III – in El-Keraza Magazine – Year Eight (Issue Forty-Three) 27-10-1977

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