laugh at me.” Such laughter would evidently be prompted by delight and amazement over the birth of the child. Sarah nursed her son for about five years. When Isaac was finally weaned, Abraham spread a big feast. On that occasion Sarah observed Hagar’s son Ishmael, now about nineteen years old, “poking fun” or playing with Isaac in a mocking way. Apparently fearing for the future of her son Isaac, Sarah requested that Abraham dismiss Hagar and her son. Abraham did so, subsequent to his receiving divine approval of this action.—Gen. 21:1-14.

About thirty-two years later Sarah died, at the age of 127 years, and Abraham buried her “in the cave of the field of Machpelah.”—Gen. 23:1, 19, 20.

FIGURES IN A SYMBOLIC DRAMA

In writing to the Galatians, the apostle Paul showed that Abraham’s wife Sarah represented the “Jerusalem above,” the mother of spirit-anointed Christians, the spiritual “seed” of Abraham. Like Sarah, the “Jerusalem above,” God’s symbolic woman, has never been in slavery and, therefore, her children are also free. For an individual to become a free child of the “Jerusalem above,” having “her freedom,” he must be emancipated from the bondage of sin by the Son of God. (Gal. 4:22–5:1 and ftn. on 5:1, NW, 1950 ed.) As Christ Jesus told the natural descendants of Abraham: “Most truly I say to you, Every doer of sin is a slave of sin. Moreover, the slave does not remain in the household forever; the son remains forever. Therefore if the Son sets you free, you will be actually free.”—John 8:34-36; see FREE WOMAN; HAGAR.

SARAPH

(Saʹraph) [burning, serpent].

A descendant of Shelah of the tribe of Judah, one who took a Moabite wife (or wives) for himself. (JB, NW) Perhaps, according to alternate readings, Saraph ruled in (or for) Moab.—1 Chron. 4:21, 22, AS, AT, AV, Mo, Ro, RS.

SARCOPHAGUS

(sar·cophʹa·gus).

This word is derived from the Greek words sarx (flesh) and pha·geinʹ (to eat), thus literally meaning “flesh-eating.” The term comes from the stone coffins of the ancient Greeks, made of a particular limestone believed to consume the flesh of the corpse. Pliny the Roman historian stated that the body would be consumed in forty days.

Materials other than limestone were used, and the term “sarcophagus” applies generally to any coffin made of stone, granite, porphyry or terra-cotta. They were sometimes the size of a casket and at other times in the form of a tomb. Usually highly decorated, they were at one and the same time a coffin and a monument.

Sarcophagi are not mentioned directly as such in the Bible, although some lexicographers suggest the possibility that King Og’s “bier” or bed of iron may have been a sarcophagus of black basalt. The Arabs still call basalt by the name of iron.—Deut. 3:11.

Sarcophagi are to be found among the ancient Greeks, Romans, Etruscans, Phoenicians and Egyptians. The Egyptians used limestone, basalt, marble or granite and the royalty always had coffins made from the more expensive marble. Some seventeen delicately sculptured sarcophagi were found at the site of Sidon in Lebanon in 1887 and are believed to have been from about the fourth century B.C.E., perhaps containing bones of the kings of Sidon.

When Joseph was prepared for burial, according to the custom of the Egyptians he was embalmed and put in a coffin. (Gen. 50:26) The Septuagint Version uses the Greek word so·rosʹ in this text, the word originally denoting a receptacle for containing the bones of the dead; then a coffin; then, the funeral couch or bier on which the Jews bore their dead to burial. This is the Greek term used at Luke 7:14, where it is said that Jesus touched the bier of the widow of Nain’s son.

However, stone sarcophagi such as described previously were not used among the early Jews.

SARDIS

(Sarʹdis).

The ancient capital of Lydia (in western Asia Minor) and a center of the worship of an Asiatic goddess, linked either with Artemis or with Cybele. Situated on the E bank of the Pactolus River (a tributary of the Hermus), Sardis lay about thirty miles (48 kilometers) S of Thyatira and about forty-eight miles (77 kilometers) E of Smyrna. The acropolis of the city occupied an almost inaccessible rocky crag. Although a mountain range limited communication with areas in the S, Sardis commanded the E-W trade route. Its commercial activity and trade, the great fertility of surrounding land and the manufacture of woolen cloth and carpets contributed much toward making Sardis wealthy and important. At one time Sardis may have had a population of about 50,000 persons.

In the sixth century B.C.E., Cyrus the Great defeated the last Lydian king, Croesus, and for over two hundred years thereafter Sardis served as the capital for the western part of the Persian Empire. In 334 B.C.E. the city surrendered without resistance to Alexander the Great. Later it came under the rule of Pergamum and then Rome. A great earthquake nearly leveled Sardis in 17 C.E., but the city was rebuilt with generous aid from Rome.

The Jewish historian Josephus indicates that in the first century B.C.E. there was a large Jewish community in Sardis. (Antiquities of the Jews, Book XIV, chap. X, par. 24) By the latter part of the first century C.E. the Christian congregation that had been established at Sardis needed to “wake up” spiritually. However, there were also persons associated with this congregation who had not ‘defiled their outer garments.’—Rev. 3:1-6.

Prominent ruins at the ancient site of Sardis include those of the temple of Artemis (or Cybele) and a Roman theater and stadium.

SARDIUS

(sarʹdi·us).

A translucent, reddish-brown variety of the mineral chalcedony used as a gemstone. According to Pliny the Elder, it was named after the city of Sardis in Lydia, where it was first introduced to that part of the world. However, it has been suggested that the name originated with the Persian word sered, meaning “yellowish-red,” and accompanied the stone from its source in Persia. Sardius has also been called “sard,” “sardine” and “sardoine.” Its beauty, its toughness, the ease with which it can be engraved and the fact that it can be highly polished made it a most popular stone among artisans. The Hebrews possibly obtained their sardius stones from the Arabian Peninsula. The Assyrians made cylinder seals from sardius and the Egyptians carved the stone into the image of a scarab beetle, which they worshiped as the symbol of immortality. Others used sardius for gemstones and especially for intaglios and cameos.

The sardius is referred to at Revelation 4:3, where the One seated upon his heavenly throne of splendor “is, in appearance, like . . . a precious red-colored stone [or “a sardius,” NW, 1950 ed., ftn.].” “The holy city, New Jerusalem,” is described as having a wall with foundations that “were adorned with every sort of precious stone,” the sixth being sardius.—Rev. 21:2, 19, 20.

SARDONYX

(sarʹdo·nyx).

An ornamental stone that is a variety of agate, a kind of chalcedony. It is an onyx composed of two or more layers of milk-white chalcedony and transparent red sard. However, the contrasting layer is sometimes golden or brown. The red layer showing through the white one appeared much like the color of a fingernail to the Greeks, which was probably why they applied to it the Greek word oʹnyx (meaning “fingernail”), from which the English term “onyx” is derived. Sardonyx is found in various places, including Palestine and Arabia.

Sardonyx was valued in ancient times for engraved jewels, cameos, intaglios, and seal rings. The stone is mentioned once in the Bible, at Revelation 21:2, 19, 20, where the fifth foundation stone of “the holy city, New Jerusalem,” is a sardonyx stone.

SARGON

(Sar’gon) [the king is legitimate, or, the constituted king].

The successor of Shalmaneser V as king of Assyria. Historians refer to him as Sargon II, an earlier king, not of Assyria, but of Babylon, being designated as Sargon I.

Sargon is mentioned by name but once in the Bible record. (Isa. 20:1) In the early part of the past century the Biblical reference to him was often discounted by critics as of no historical value. From 1843 onward, however, archaeological excavations produced the ruins of his palace at Khorsabad and the inscribed records of his royal annals. Though Sargon II is now one of the best known of the Assyrian kings, the picture presented by the ancient records is by no means complete.

There is, for example, considerable uncertainty as to the manner in which Sargon came to the throne and as to his lineage or parentage. Thus, some reference works view him as of common stock and a usurper who took the name of Sargon on assuming kingship. Others present him quite definitely as the son of Tiglath-pileser III and the legal successor to the throne. The diversity of opinion clearly derives from the fragmentary nature of the historical sources and their apparent inconsistency.

The beginning of Sargon’s reign is generally considered to coincide with the fall of Samaria in the sixth year of Judean King Hezekiah’s rule (740 B.C.E.), and Sargon is often credited with having completed the conquest of that city begun by Shalmaneser V. (2 Ki. 18:10) The Bible account of Samaria’s fall at 2 Kings 17:1-6 mentions only Shalmaneser (V) by name. However, while specifically referring to him at the time of his making Hoshea tributary to Assyria, Shalmaneser’s name is not repeated in the succeeding verses, reference simply being made to the “king of Assyria” in the description of the later siege and deportation of the Israelites. In the parallel account in 2 Kings 18:9, Shalmaneser is named as at least having initiated the siege of Samaria, but verse 10 states: “And they got to capture it at the end of three years.” Thus the Bible record does not specify that Shalmaneser completed the capture of Samaria and allows for the possibility of Sargon’s having done so.

As to secular records, the following inscription appears in Sargon’s annals: “At the beginning of my rule, in my first year of reign . . . Samerinai [that is, the people of Samaria] . . . 27,290 . . . who lived therein, I carried away . . . ” Due to the damaged condition of the inscription, it is a matter of conjecture whether Sargon is here claiming to have effected the conquest of Samaria in his first year. In another inscription, in which he summarized a fifteen-year period of rule, he stated: “I besieged and conquered Samaria, led away as booty 27,290 inhabitants of it. I formed from among them a contingent of 50 chariots and made remaining (inhabitants) assume their (social) positions. I installed over them an officer of mine and imposed upon them the tribute of the former king.” While this confirms the fact of the deportation of thousands of Israelites subsequent to the fall of Samaria, yet such summary does not provide a sure means of fixing the events chronologically. Thus we find some reference works suggesting that Sargon may have been a general in the Assyrian army at the time of the conquest and that he thereafter attributed to himself the victory of his predecessor, Shalmaneser V; while others, accepting Sargon’s kingship to have begun prior to Samaria’s fall, present the possibility that he may not even have been present at the conquest, entrusting the fight to the army chiefs instead. Unger’s Bible Dictionary (page 971) comments: “We know from other clear instances that the Assyrian kings were not careful to distinguish their own from the successes of their generals in the field.”

The uncertainty involved is indicated by this comment in the Oxford Bible Atlas (1962, pp. 27, 28): “Sargon’s own records are not consistent, and the claim for the destruction of Samaria in the first year of his reign comes from the final edition of his annals, found in the excavations of his capital city Dur-sharrukin (Khorsabad). It is thought by some scholars that not Sargon but Shalmanezer V, as the biblical text seems to imply (2 Kgs. 17.1-6), conquered Samaria.”

Summing up the matter, French scholar Georges Roux, in his book Ancient Iraq (1964, p. 257), frankly admits: “All we know for certain is that Hoshea, the puppet King of Israel, revolted and that Shalmaneser [V] besieged Samaria for three years; but whether it was he who captured the city or the next king of Assyria [Sargon II] is still a debated question.”

The reign of Sargon was one of continual struggle to maintain imperial domination by Assyria over its subject territories. Following Sargon’s accession to the throne the Babylonians under Merodach-baladan revolted, with the support of Elam. Sargon warred against them at Der but was evidently unable to smash the revolt. It may be noted that here again we have an illustration of the unwisdom of placing great confidence in these secular records, even to the point of equating them in value with the Biblical record. Sargon’s inscriptions show him claiming a complete victory in the above-mentioned battle, yet the “Babylonian Chronicle” states that the Elamites defeated the Assyrians, and a text of Merodach-baladan boasts that he ‘overthrew the Assyrian hosts and smashed their weapons.’ The book Ancient Iraq (p. 258) observes: “Amusing detail: Merodach-Baladan’s inscription was found at Nimrud, where Sargon had taken it from Uruk . . . , replacing it in that city with a clay cylinder bearing his own and, of course, radically different version of the event. This shows that political propaganda and ‘cold war’ methods are not the privilege of our epoch.”

Sargon was more successful against a coalition formed by the kings of Hamath and Damascus and other allies, gaining the victory over them in a battle at Qarqar on the Orontes River. Second Kings 17:24, 30 lists people from Hamath among those whom the “king of Assyria” settled in the cities of Samaria in place of the exiled Israelites.

According to Sargon’s records, in his fifth year he attacked and conquered Carchemish, a city of commercial and military importance on the upper Euphrates River. The standard Assyrian procedure of deportation of the city’s inhabitants and their replacement by foreign elements followed. In Isaiah’s warning concerning the Assyrian menace (Isa. 10:5-11), Carchemish, along with Hamath and other cities, is cited as an example of the crushing power of