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Gen_16:2 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.
Ver. 2. 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 {Exo_1:21} as he promised to make David a house, {2Sa_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, {a} bondservants’ children were their master’s. {Exo_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. {b}
{a} Ainsworth.
{b} Plutarch.