“God has made me laugh”
Then Sarah said, 'God has made me laugh, and everyone who hears of this will laugh with me.' (Genesis 21:6 BSB)
What it sounds like today
A nice sentiment about joy at a baby's birth.
The cultural key
Sarah's words are a wordplay on her son's name. 'Isaac' in Hebrew is Yitzhaq, 'he laughs' or 'he will laugh,' and laughter threads through his whole story. When God first promised the ninety-year-old Sarah a son, she 'laughed to herself' in disbelief (18:12); Abraham too had 'laughed' (17:17). Now, holding the impossible baby, Sarah says 'God has made me laugh', the same root, but the bitter laugh of doubt has become the delighted laugh of fulfillment, and she invites everyone to laugh with her. The child of the promise is named 'Laughter' because he is God's answer to human impossibility, the son no one believed could come. A modern reader hears a warm remark; the first hearers heard the boy's very name (Yitzhaq) echoing in 'made me laugh,' the doubt turned to joy.
Recovered meaning
Sarah puns on Isaac's name, Yitzhaq, 'he laughs': the laughter of her earlier disbelief has become laughter of joy. The child of the impossible promise is literally named 'Laughter.'