The rabbis of old, wrestling with this very question, spun a fascinating tale in Bereshit Rabbah 40, a collection of rabbinic interpretations of the Book of Genesis.

The story begins with Abraham arriving in Egypt. But where was Sarah? The text notes that “It was upon Abram’s arrival” implies he was alone. According to the Midrash, he'd hidden her away in a chest, locking it securely. Smart move, right? But at customs, things got tricky. The Egyptians demanded duty.

"Perhaps you are transporting garments?" they asked. Abraham offered to pay. "Perhaps gold? Silk garments? Gems?" Each time, Abraham agreed to pay the required duty. But the customs officials were suspicious. They insisted on seeing what was inside the chest.

And when Abraham finally opened it… well, according to the Midrash, the entire land of Egypt shone with Sarah's radiance. Can you imagine?

Now, this is where it gets really interesting. Rabbi Azariah and Rabbi Yonatan bar Ḥagai, citing Rabbi Yitzchak, suggest that an image of Eve, the first woman, was passed down through the generations as the standard of unsurpassed beauty. Think of it as the ultimate beauty benchmark.

We see this concept elsewhere too. 1 Kings 1:4 describes Avishag, King David's attendant, as "very [ad meod] beautiful." The rabbis cleverly point out that me'od refers to that inherited image of Eve. Avishag approximated Eve’s beauty, but didn't quite reach it. But here, in Genesis 12:14, the text uses me'od in describing Sarah's beauty!

Even more intriguing, the letters of me'od are the same as the letters in Adam. And as we find in Genesis 5:2, "He called their name Adam," referring to both the first man and the first woman! So, according to this interpretation, Sarah's beauty wasn't just remarkable; it was a reflection of the primal, original beauty of creation.

But the story doesn't end there. "Pharaoh’s officials saw her, they praised her to Pharaoh, and the woman was taken to Pharaoh’s house" (Genesis 12:15). The Midrash interprets the phrase "the woman was taken [vatukaḥ] to Pharaoh’s house" as meaning she was continuously increasing in price. People were literally bidding for the privilege of presenting her to the king! "I will give one hundred dinars," one might say. "I will give two hundred!" exclaimed another.

The text sees in this vying for proximity to Sarah an illustration of the way people compete to attend to the righteous in general. And it's not just when they are ascendant, but even when they are, figuratively speaking, in a pit! As demonstrated by Jeremiah 38:13, “They pulled Jeremiah with the ropes and raised [vayaalu] him from the pit,” with people vying to be the ones to extricate him. This desire to honor the righteous extends even to the World to Come, as Isaiah 14:2 suggests, where nations will compete to return the Jewish exiles to their land.

So, what does this all mean? It’s more than just a story about Sarah's incredible beauty. It's about the enduring power of righteousness, the allure of true beauty (both internal and external), and the lengths to which people will go to be in the presence of something truly special. It suggests that true beauty, like that of Sarah and reminiscent of Eve, radiates outward, impacting the world around it and inspiring awe and admiration. And perhaps, just perhaps, it hints at the beauty that lies dormant within each of us, waiting to be awakened.