And God remembered Sarah as He had said, and God did for Sarah as He had spoken. There is a distinction between the language of “remembering/taking note” [pekidah] and the language of “doing/action” [asiyah], because “remembering” is merely a mental recollection, while “doing” is a concrete action, as it is written And I will make you into a great nation. And it concludes (Genesis Rabbah 39:11) that the term “dibur” [speaking] indicates more affection than the term “amirah” [saying], because “dibur” indicates a clear articulation of matters with precise enunciation, and this corresponds to the language of “doing/action.”

The explanation of this matter is: When Sarah was remembered [for conception], all barren women were remembered along with her, as I explained in Parshat Lech Lecha on the verse and she shall become nations (Genesis 17:16). However, even though they were remembered with her, they were not equal to Sarah, for Sarah’s remembrance is described with language of actual “doing” by the hands of the Holy One, Blessed be He, as it is written (Midrash Tehillim 139:5): The righteous are greater than the works of heaven and earth, for the righteous were created with two hands, meaning actual creation, and with language of “speaking” which indicates endearment, as it is written (Genesis 15:7): And behold, the word of God came to him: This one shall not inherit you, rather one who shall come from your own body, etc. But the other barren women are mentioned only with language of “remembrance” and with language of “saying” which doesn’t contain as much endearment, for in Parshat Lech Lecha it begins with language of “saying,” and there it states (Genesis 17:16): I will bless her and she shall become nations, meaning that she will be of help to all nations as the barren women of the nations of the lands will be remembered with her. This is what is meant by And God remembered et Sarah, as if to say “with Sarah.” The word “et” here serves as “with,” like who came to Egypt with [et] Jacob (Exodus 1:1), meaning that those barren women who were remembered with Sarah were only remembered with language of remembrance and saying. However, And God did for Sarah means for Sarah herself with language of speaking as He had spoken and actual doing. As an analogy: One who doesn’t greatly love their fellow, even though they sometimes remember them, nevertheless doesn’t do as much for them, but for their good friend, they enter into the thick of things and are active on their behalf. And regarding what is written And [Va] God with a vav, our Sages said (Bereishit Rabbah 51:2): “Wherever it says ‘And God’ it refers to Him and His heavenly court.” This supports our Sages’ statement (Rosh Hashanah 11a) that this remembrance occurred on Rosh Hashanah, when the Holy One, Blessed be He, sits in judgment with His entire heavenly court above, which is why we read this portion on Rosh Hashanah.

“For the son of this maidservant shall not inherit.” And [one might ask] just because they expelled him, would he not be able to return to his inheritance after his father’s death? It appears that [Sarah] is speaking about the inheritance of [behavioral] actions, for Sarah saw the son of Hagar the Egyptian, whom she bore to Abraham, mocking through sexual impropriety. This was because he was the son of Hagar the Egyptian who bore him similar to her nature, as all Egyptians are steeped in promiscuity, as it is said and whose issue was like that of horses (Ezekiel 23:20). And their offspring are like them. Therefore, Sarah said to expel him so that Isaac would not learn from his actions. And if you would say, on the contrary, perhaps Isaac would transform him and return him to the right path, to this she said, “I know through prophecy that he will not inherit with my son from the good deeds of his father Abraham,” and therefore the concern remained that Isaac might learn from him. For more on this topic, see later in Parshat Chayei Sarah on the verse and her name was Keturah (Genesis 25:1).