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Now Sarai Abram’s wife bare him no children: and she had an handmaid, an Egyptian, whose name [was] Hagar.

Now Sarai, Abram’s wife, bare him no children. — God had foretold him of his children’s affliction, and yet gave him no child, but holds him still in suspense. He knows how to commend his favours to us by withholding them, Cito data cito vilescunt ; we account it scarce worth taking, that is not twice worth asking.

A handmaid, an Egyptian. — One of those maids, belike, that were given her in Egypt. Genesis 12:16

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And Sarai said unto Abram, Behold now, the LORD hath restrained me from bearing: I pray thee, go in unto my maid; it may be that I may obtain children by her. And Abram hearkened to the voice of Sarai.

The Lord hath restrained me. — She faults herself, not her husband, as many a cranky dame would have done.

It may be that I may obtain children by her. — Heb., Be builded by her; as God "made the midwives’ houses," that is, gave them children, for their mercy to the poor children,and Exodus 1:21 as he promised to make David a house, 2 Samuel 7:11-12 that is, to give him seed to sit upon his throne. Sarai’s aim was good here, but the means she used naught. She was too hasty; Abram too facile; both to blame, for want of faith, and violation of wedlock. Albeit this might be a sin of ignorance in them, as was also polygamy. God had promised a seed to Abram, but not expressly as yet unto Sarai. Now, by the law, Ainsworth. bondservants’ children were their master’s. Exodus 21:4 And among the heathens, Stratonice, the wife of King Diotarus, being barren, gave secretly her maid Electra unto her husband, by whom she had an heir to the crown. Plutarch.

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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.

After Abram had dwelt ten years. — The Rabbis tell us of a tradition that the Hebrews grounded from hence, that if a woman had no child in the first ten years, she might be held barren, and another wife taken. But this is like one of their ill glosses that marred so many good texts, and refuted by our Saviour the Lawgiver, who best understood his own meaning. Matthew 5:31-32

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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. — Heb., Allevata est, sive elevata est :and so she was beaten with her own rod, and yet complains. Neither is it any wonder; for, "for three things the earth is disquieted," saith Agur, and two of them are, "for an odious woman when she is married, and a handmaid that is heir to her mistress". Proverbs 30:21 ; Proverbs 30:23 Asperius nihil est humili dum surgit in altum . Set a beggar on horseback, and there’s no hoe with him.

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And Sarai said unto Abram, My wrong [be] upon thee: I have given my maid into thy bosom; and when she saw that she had conceived, I was despised in her eyes: the LORD judge between me and thee.

My wrong be upon thee. — The greatest wrong doers are the greatest complainers commonly; as Exodus 2:13-14 guiltiness is ever exceptious and clamorous. Here be verba stomachantis atque imprecantis . Or, as some think rather, verba implorantis vindictam divinam seque consolantis spe defensionis divinae . Take it which way you will, as a passionate person, she "pours out foolishness," Proverbs 15:2 and (besides the false charge she lays upon her husband) takes God’s name in vain. "Fret not thyself to do evil". Psalms 37:8

The Lord judge. — He must not be sent for all in haste, to decide the controversy; who, if he had come, you may soon see which of them would have had the worst of it. The best, we see, have their domestic contentions; some household words will now and then pass between them: we match not with angels, but men and women. Two flints may as soon smite together, and not fire come forth, as two persons meet in marriage and not offences fall out. Publius Rubius Celer was held a happy man among the Romans, that commanded it to be engraven upon his gravestone, that he had lived three and forty years and eight months with C. Eunia, his wife, sine querela , without the least quarrel. Another I have read of, that complained that his coniugium marriage was a continual coniurgium quarrel ; and when he died, gave order it should be written upon his tomb, Heus, Viator, miraculum! hic vir et uxor non litigant ,& c. Legitur id Romae citante Phil. Camerar., cent. i. cap. 51 This to prevent, Alphonsus, king of Arragon, was wont to say, that to procure a quiet life, the husband must be deaf and the wife blind. But they say better that advise to a mutual forbearance, that no offence be given on either side, or, if given, yet not taken. The second blow makes the fray, we say. Be not both incensed together. If Abram were to blame in conniving at Hagar’s contempt of her mistress (as it may be he was somewhat), yet it was his wisdom to bear with Sarai when she was in her passion. Let two fires meet, and it will be hard quenching them. A choleric couple being asked how they agreed so well, the husband made this answer, "When my wife’s fit is on her, I bear with her, as Abram did with Sarai, and when my fit is on me, she bears with me, and so we never chide together, but asunder." Greenham. Those unkind husbands had much to answer for that caused their wives to "cover the Lord’s altar with tears, with weeping and with crying out, so that he regarded not the offering any more". Malachi 2:13 And those wives can never answer it to God that live customarily in the sin of frowardness or rebellion against their husbands. Among all the infirmities noted in any godly woman in the Scriptures, there is no example of any that did so. This of Sarai is but of one only fact: and for that of Zipporah, Exodus 4:26 the error seems to be as much in her judgment as in her affections. Those couples that are ever warbling can neither be at peace within themselves, 1 Corinthians 7:15 nor pray as they should do to God, 1 Peter 3:7 which, if they did often, as Isaac and Rebecca did, they could not disagree. For either praying together would make them leave jarring, or jarring will make them leave praying, which the apostle accounts no small hindrance.

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But Abram said unto Sarai, Behold, thy maid [is] in thy hand; do to her as it pleaseth thee. And when Sarai dealt hardly with her, she fled from her face.

But Abram said to Sarai, Behold, … — Here that of Solomon is verified, "A soft answer pacifieth wrath". Proverbs 15:1 Hard to soft cloth no hurt, as a bullet against a woolsack. Uxoris vitium aut tollendum, aut tollerandum , said Varro, πασα γυνη χολος εστι Gellius. The woman is the weaker, and hath many provocations among children and servants that the man meets not with. This must be considered, and all bitterness abandoned. The heathens, when they sacrificed at their marriage feasts, used to cast the gall of the beast sacrificed out of doors. Plutarch. Proecep. Conjug., Basil. Hexemer., hom. vii. Vipera virus, ob venerationem nuptiarum, evomit , saith St Basil, et tu duritiem animi, tu feritatem, tu crudelitatem ob unionis reverentiam non deponis ? What kin art thou to him, whose name is Wormwood? Revelation 8:11

And when Sarai dealt hardly with her. — Beat her, belike; for "a servant will not be corrected by words," Proverbs 29:19 and then he must have blows, and be "buffeted". 1 Peter 2:20 Not so a wife. M. Aurelius, the emperor, though a heathen, could say to the shame of many bedlams among us: Uxor admonenda persaepe, reprehendenda raro, violentis manibus tractanda nunquam.

She fled. — This was her fault. Ecclesiastes 10:4 But our natures are refractory, and will sooner break than bend, till God subdue them.

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And the angel of the LORD found her by a fountain of water in the wilderness, by the fountain in the way to Shur.

In the way to Shur. — Which lay between Canaan and Egypt. So she was fleeing homewards to her own country. Oh that our afflictions might drive us heavenward!

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And he said, Hagar, Sarai’s maid, whence camest thou? and whither wilt thou go? And she said, I flee from the face of my mistress Sarai.

Hagar, Sarai’s maid. — This was a good item to her, that she was out of her way, because out of her place.

Whence camest thou? and whither wilt thou? — Such is the sweet and secret voice of God’s Spirit, that angelus tutelaris , as I may say, in our hearts, when extravagant, so that we cannot do the evil we would. Galatians 5:17

I flee from the face of my mistress, Sarai. — Who haply had overdone, as we are all apt to do, when we are judges in our own causes and concernments. She should have thought of that of Job, Job 31:15 "Did not he that made me in the womb make" her? and that of Paul, Have not I also "a Master in heaven"? Colossians 4:1 But passion is headlong, and, like heavy bodies down steep hills, once in motion, rest not till they come to the bottom. Look to it, therefore, in corrections especially.

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