Genesis 16:3

_AND SARAI ABRAM'S WIFE TOOK HAGAR HER MAID THE EGYPTIAN, AFTER ABRAM HAD DWELT TEN YEARS IN THE LAND OF CANAAN, AND GAVE HER TO HER HUSBAND ABRAM TO BE HIS WIFE._ Sarai ... took Hagar ... and gave her to her husband Abram to be his wife. Wife is here used to describe an inferior, though not degrading relation, in countries where polygamy prevails. In the case of these female slaves, which are the personal property of his lady, being purchased before her marriage, or given as a special present to herself, no one can become the husband's secondary wife without her mistress' consent or permission. This usage seems to have prevailed in patriarchal times; and Hagar, the slave of Sarai, of whom she had the entire right of disposing, was given by her mistress' spontaneous offer, to be the secondary wife of Abram, in the hope of obtaining the long-looked for heir. It was a temporary conversati...

3._And gave her to her husband Abram to be his wife_. Moses states what was the design of Sarai; for neither did she intend to make her house a brothel, nor to be the betrayer of her maid’s chastity, nor a pander for her husband. Yet Hagar is improperly called a wife; because she was brought into another person’s bed, against the law of God. Wherefore, let us know that this connection was so far illicit, as to be something between fornication and marriage. The same thing takes place with all those inventions which are appended to the word of God. For with whatever fair pretext they may be covered, there is an inherent corruption, which degenerates from the purity of the word, and vitiates the whole....

1-3 Sarai, no longer expecting to have children herself, proposed to Abram to take another wife, whose children she might; her slave, whose children would be her property. This was done without asking counsel of the Lord. Unbelief worked, God's almighty power was forgotten. It was a bad example, and a source of manifold uneasiness. In every relation and situation in life there is some cross for us to bear: much of the exercise of faith consists in patiently submitting, in waiting the Lord's time, and using only those means which he appoints for the removal of the cross. Foul temptations may have very fair pretences, and be coloured with that which is very plausible. Fleshly wisdom puts us out of God's way. This would not be the case, if we would ask counsel of God by his word and by prayer, before we attempt that which is doubtful....

Verse Genesis 16:3. _AND SARAI, ABRAM'S WIFE, TOOK HAGAR - AND GAVE HER TO HER_ _HUSBAND - TO BE HIS WIFE._] There are instances of Hindoo women, when barren, consenting to their husbands marrying a second wife for the sake of children; and second marriages on this account, without consent, are very common. - _Ward_...

- The Birth of Ishmael 1. הנר _hāgār_, Hagar, “flight.” Hejrah, the flight of Muhammed. 7. מלאך _mal'ak_ “messenger, angel.” A deputy commissioned to discharge a certain duty for the principal whom he represents. As the most usual task is that of bearing messages, commands, or tidings, he is commonly called a “messenger” ἄγγελος _angelos_). The word is therefore a term of office, and does not further distinguish the office-bearer than as an intelligent being. Hence, a מלאך _mal'ak_ may be a man deputed by a man Genesis 32:3; Job 1:14, or by God...

EXPOSITION GENESIS 16:1 NOW SARAI ABRAM'S WIFE BARE HIM NO CHILDREN (literally, _bare not to him, _notwithstanding the promise; the barrenness of Sarai being introduced as the point of departure for the ensuing narrative, and emphasized as the cause or occasion of the subsequent transaction): AND SHE HAD—literally, _to her _(there was)—AN HANDMAID, AN EGYPTIAN (obtained probably while in the house of Pharaoh (Genesis 12:16)—whose name was HAGAR_—_"_flight_,"_ _from _hagar_, to flee. Cf. Hegirah, the flight of Mahomet. Not her original designation, but given to her afterwards, either because of her flight from Egypt (Ambrose, Wordsworth), or because of her escape

AND SARAI, ABRAM'S WIFE, TOOK HAGAR HER MAID, THE EGYPTIAN,.... Took her by the hand, it is probable, and led her into the apartment where Abram was, and presented her to him; their characters are very exactly described, and the contrast beautifully given, that the affair might be the more remarkable and observable: AFTER ABRAM HAD DWELT TEN YEARS IN THE LAND OF CANAAN; so that he was now eighty five years of age, for he was sventy five when he departed from Haran and came into Canaan, Genesis 12:4; and Sarai, being ten years younger than he, must be sventy five; the Jews from hence have formed a rule or canon; that if a man marries a woman, and she has no children in ten years, he is obliged to marry another h: AND GAVE HER TO HER HUSBAND ABRAM TO BE HIS WIFE; his secondary wife, or concubine; which, though contrary to the first institution of marriage,

HAGAR Hagar is a type of the law "which gendereth to bondage" (Galatians 4:24); (Galatians 4:25)....

CHAPTER 16 ABRAHAM AND HAGAR _ 1. Sarai's suggestion (Genesis 16:1)_ 2. Abram's action (Genesis 16:4) 3. Sarai and Hagar (Genesis 16:5) 4. Hagar in the wilderness (Genesis 16:7) 5. The birth of Ishmael announced (Genesis 16:10) 6. Ishmael born (Genesis 16:15) The fifteenth chapter may be called Abram's faith chapter. The sixteenth is the chapter of unbelief. It was impatience which forced Sarai and Abram to act f

Sarah has no children, so she hits on a plan of which we have other examples (Genesis 30:3; Genesis 30:9). She hands over Hagar to Abraham, that the maid may compensate for the deficiency of her mistress. The maid is the wife's peculiar property, and therefore not, like ordinary slaves, at the master's disposal. Nor, presumably, would Abraham's child by one of his slaves have been a legitimate son. It is through the connexion between mistress and maid that Hagar's child can be reckoned as Sarah's. Hagar succeeds, and shows in her bearing the contempt of an Eastern woman for the barren. Stung by her maid's insolence, Sarah turns upon Abraham and hotly demands redress for a wrong she had herself invited. He meekly abandons the maid, who had now a claim on his protection, to the vindictiveness of his unreasonable wife, w