Genesis 18:11

Gen 18:11 Now Abraham and Sarah [were] old [and] well stricken in age; [and] it ceased to be with Sarah after the manner of women.

Ver. 11. Now Abraham and Sarah were old.] So, when we were altogether "without strength," according to the time of life, "Christ died for the ungodly". {Rom 5:6}

John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Verse 11. It ceased to be with Sarah after the manner of women.] And consequently, naturally speaking, conception could not take place; therefore if she have a son it must be in a supernatural or miraculous way.

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

11. Were old, and well stricken in age Moses inserts this verse to inform us that what the angel was saying, justly appeared improbable to Sarah. For it is contrary to nature that children should be promised to decrepit old men. A doubt, however, may be entertained on this point, respecting Abraham: because men are sometimes endued with strength to have children, even in extreme old age: and especially in that period, such an occurrence was not uncommon. But Moses here speaks comparatively: for since Abraham, during the vigor of his life, had remained with his wife childless; it was scarcely possible for him, now that his body was half dead, to have children; he had indeed begotten Ishmael in his old age, which was contrary to expectation. But that now, twelve years afterwards, it should be possible to become a father, through his aged wife, was scarcely credible. Moses however chiefly insists upon the case of Sarah; because the greatest impediment was with her. It ceased, he says, to be with Sarah after the manner of women. With this expression, he soberly speaks about the monthly stream of the women. At the same moment with this, the possibility of conceiving ceases.

John Calvin's Commentaries (1540-1563) — public domain. Text from the Calvin Translation Society English edition (1840s-50s) via the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (ccel.org). Calvin's coverage is partial (roughly two-thirds of the Bible); uncommented books and verses are honest gaps, never fabricated. The 19th-century editor's footnotes and remarks are omitted so the notes are faithfully Calvin's own voice.

11. well stricken in age] An Old English expression for well-advanced in years: cf. “… his noble queen Well struck in years” (Shakespeare, Rich. III, i. 1). Heb. “entered into days,” LXX προβεβηκότες, Lat. provectae aetatis. Cf. Luk_1:7; Heb_11:11-12.

The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Now Abraham and Sarah were old, and well stricken in age,.... The one being ninety nine years of age, and the other eighty nine; and which is observed to make it the more surprising that they should have a son at such an age; and what follows still makes it more so:

and it ceased to be with Sarah after the manner of women; her monthly visitors had left her, so that she was unfit for conception, and there could be no hope of it in a natural way; though the philosopher (w) intimates, that there are some, that it is possible, may conceive without them.

(w) Aristot. Hist. Animal. l. 7. c. 2.

John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

As to those monthly effluviums peculiar to her sex, which are necessary to conception, compare Gen 31:35.

Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

Now Abraham and Sarah were old and well stricken in age. Literally, gone into days, i.e. into years. This was the first natural impediment to the accomplishment of Jehovah"s premise; the second was peculiar to Sarah. And it ceased to be with Sarah after the manner of women (vide. Lev_15:19, Lev_15:25)

The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

After I am worn-out and my master is old, will I now have this pleasure?

You may want to add "of having a baby." Sarah used this rhetorical question because she did not believe that she could have a child. AT: "I cannot believe that I will experience the joy of having a child. My master is also too old" (See: Rhetorical Question)

my master is old

This means "since my husband is also old."

my master

This is a title of respect that Sarah gave to her husband Abraham.

translationWords

Abraham

Sarah

unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.

‘BA’IM BAYAMIM’ (ADVANCED IN DAYS). In his youthful days a man is called “standing in days,” and they are referred to as “his days” because they belong to him, just as in verse The number of thy days will I fulfill. But when he gets old and has lived longer than most people of his generation, it is said of him that he is ba bayamim, [literally, “came into days”], because it is as if he came into another land, travelling from and arriving in a city each and every day.

IT HAD CEASED TO BE WITH SARAH AFTER THE MANNER OF WOMEN. This is the time of pregnancy, for after menstruation has ceased due to old age, a woman will not become pregnant.

Ramban (Nachmanides) on the Tanakh — English translation: “Commentary on the Torah by Ramban (Nachmanides). Translated and annotated by Charles B. Chavel. New York, Shilo Pub. House, 1971-1976” (CC BY 4.0). Text via Sefaria.

ואברהם, this line has been written only in order to account for the reason of Sarah’s laughter.

באים בימים, this is the standard mode in which the Torah describes people who feel that aging has affected their general physique and imposed limitations on them. What the Torah means is that both Avraham and Sarah had reached the years when other people are subject to the limitations of old age. These are the years when the soul begins to separate from the body.

אורח כנשים, the signal of old age for women, i.e. cessation of their menstrual cycle. The Torah uses a euphemism to describe that phenomenon. Rachel used the same euphemism when she explained to her father Lavan why she could not let him search her camel (Genesis 31,35). During old age, due to the body drying out, the flow of blood stops, i.e. a woman no longer ovulates. Our sages in Ketuvot 10 relate that the volume of such a flow of blood is in direct relation to the number of children a woman is likely to bear. There was a well known family by the name of Dorkaty in those days, whose female members never experienced either menstrual blood, nor the blood associated with the puncturing of the hymen. This is why the family was named Dorkaty, meaning that something was radically wrong. None of the females in that family ever had children, the reason being attributed to this abnormal condition of their not menstruating.

Radak on the Tanakh — English translations: “Sefaria Community Translation” (CC0 1.0 (public-domain dedication)); “Eliyahu Munk, HaChut Hameshulash” (CC BY 4.0); “Rabbi Mike Feuer, Jerusalem Anthology” (CC BY 4.0); and “R. David Kimhi on the first book of Psalms, Translated by R.G. Finch, London, 1919” (public domain). Text via Sefaria.