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Commentary Index | Return to PrayerRequest.com | DownloadPaul Kretzmann Commentary - Genesis 16:1 - 16:3
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Hagar Given to Abraham
v. 1. Now Sarai, Abram's wife, bare him no children; and she had an handmaid, an Egyptian, whose name was Hagar.
v. 2. a. And Sarai said unto Abram, Behold now, the Lord hath constrained me from bearing; I pray thee, go in unto my maid; it may be that I may obtain children by her. The fact of Sarai's barrenness had been mentioned at the time of their coming to Canaan, Gen_11:30. It is repeated here for the sake of the emphasis upon the miracle which the Lord wrought in her case. Ten years had now passed by, and yet, in spite of the promise, Gen_15:4, Sarai remained without a child. She therefore be came impatient and suggested to Abram that, since the Lord hindered her from bearing, denied her offspring, her Egyptian slave Hagar might be the one through whom she was to have children, that her family might be built up through the slave. According to the custom of the Orient the children of slaves belonged to the master and mistress, Exo_21:4; 1Ch_2:35.
v. 2. b. And Abram hearkened to the voice of Sarai.
v. 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. Although Abram also should have shown more faith and patience, he consented to the plan of his wife, not for fleshly reasons, but with the earnest desire for offspring, forth at seed which was to be as the stars of the heaven in number.