Read Genesis 18
Three visitors come to Abraham and Sarah’s tent. Abraham offers them food (hospitality). Sodomites, who are mentioned in the second half of chapter 18, are not hospitable
Mary has a baby miraculously and is visited by three wise men. Sarah is told by three wise men that she will miraculously have a baby.
Where is your wife, Sarah?
Some interpret this detail of the story by assuming that she was inside because women weren't to eat with the men outside the tent.
This explanation does not explain why the stranger (YHWH) would ask. YHWH doesn't mince words.
First, there is no indication in the text or from the contemporary culture that women were segregated from hospitable conversations outside their tents.
Secondly, every time YHWH has asked where someone is up until this point, there has always been an accusation in his intention.
Beyond this, we do not actually know for sure. The interpretation that most satisfies me according to culture, scripture, and the circumstances of the text is that Sarah is menstruating, which would confine her to her tent. If this is so, asking where she is now is notable and important to the conversation. It also sheds a different light on Sarah's laughter, since her menstruating would be a supernatural event. If she is menstruating, it would have only just begun, since she had been preparing food, which wouldn't be allowed for menstruating women. This
If Sarah is menstruating, the miracle necessary to make the promise the strangers are speaking of possible has already happened within her.
Isaac was already named in the last chapter. His name means laughter. In this chapter, Sarah fulfills the name of her unborn son.
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