Genesis 16:4

_AND HE WENT IN UNTO HAGAR, AND SHE CONCEIVED: AND WHEN SHE SAW THAT SHE HAD CONCEIVED, HER MISTRESS WAS DESPISED IN HER EYES._ Her mistress was despised in her eyes. Sarai was the first to reap the bitter fruits of her device. Hagar having the prospect of becoming a mother, gave herself airs which, as her sensitive mistress felt acutely the reproach of her own sterility, banished domestic peace from the tent of Abram....

4._Her mistress was despised in her eyes_. Here Moses relates that the punishment of excessive precipitancy quickly followed. The chief blame, indeed, rested with Sarai; yet because Abram had proved himself too credulous, God chastises both as they deserve. Sarai is grievously and bitterly tried, by the proud contempt of her handmaid; Abram is harassed by unjust complaints; thus we see that both pay the penalty of their levity, and that the contrivance devised by Sarai, and too eagerly embraced by Abram, fails of success. Meanwhile, in Hagar, an instance of ingratitude is set before us; because she, having been treated with singular kindness and honor, begins to hold her mistress in contempt. Since, however, this is an exceedingly common disease of the mind, let the faithful accustom themselves to the endurance of it; if, at any time, a return so unjust be made to them, for their acts of...

4-6 Abram's unhappy marriage to Hagar very soon made a great deal of mischief. We may thank ourselves for the guilt and grief that follow us, when we go out of the way of our duty. See it in this case, Passionate people often quarrel with others, for things of which they themselves must bear the blame. Sarai had given her maid to Abram, yet she cries out, My wrong be upon thee. That is never said wisely, which pride and anger put into our mouths. Those are not always in the right, who are most loud and forward in appealing to God: such rash and bold imprecations commonly speak guilt and a bad cause. Hagar forgot that she herself had first given the provocation, by despising her mistress. Those that suffer for their faults, ought to bear it patiently, 1 Peter 2:20....

- 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 HE WENT IN UNTO HAGAR, AND SHE CONCEIVED,.... The formality of the marriage being over, he enjoyed her as his wife, and she immediately conceived by him: AND WHEN SHE SAW THAT SHE HAD CONCEIVED; when she perceived that she was with child: HER MISTRESS WAS DESPISED IN HER EYES; she thought herself above her, and treated her as her inferior, with contempt, and reproached her for her barrenness, as Peninnah did Hannah, 1 Samuel 1:6; and it was the more ungrateful, as it was at the motion of her mistress that she was given to Abram for wife....

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

Hagar and her Flight into the Desert. (J, P.) 1. _handmaid_ or "maidservant," as in Genesis 12:16. The wife generally had a female slave, who was her own property, and not under the husband's control: see Genesis 29:24; Genesis 29:29; Genesis 30:3-7; Genesis 30:9; Genesis 30:12. _an Egyptian_ It is natural to connect Hagar's Egyptian origin with the sojourn in Egypt mentioned in chap. 12, or with the journeys in the Negeb ...

PART TWENTY-NINE THE STORY OF ABRAHAM: THE SON OF THE BONDWOMAN (Genesis 16:1-16) 1. _The Biblical Account._ 1 Now Sarai, Abram's wife, bare him no children; and she had a handmaid, an Egyptian, whose name was Hagar. 2 And Sarai said unto Abram, Behold now, Jehovah hath restrained me from bearing; go in, I pray thee, unto my handmaid; it may be that I shall obtain children by her. And Abram hearkened to the voice of Sarai. 3 And Sarai, Abram's wife, took Hagar the Egyptian, her handmaid, after Abram had dwelt ten years in the land of Canaan, and gave her to Abram her husband to be his wife. 4 And he went in unto Hagar, and she conceived; and when she saw that she had conceived, her mistress was despised in her eyes. 5 And Sarai said unto Abram, My wrong be upon thee: I gave my handmaid into thy bosom; and when she saw that she had conceived, I was despised in