Bereshis 16:6

6 But Avram said unto Sarai, Hinei, thy shifchah is in thy hand; do to her as it pleaseth thee. And when Sarai dealt harshly with her, she fled from her face.

Bereshis 16:6 Meaning and Commentary

Genesis 16:6

But Abram said unto Sarai
In a meek, mild and gentle manner:

behold, thy maid [is] in thine hand;
though Hagar was Abram's secondary wife he still considers her as Sarai's maid, and as subject to her, and allows her to exercise authority over her; for he still retained the same love and affection for Sarai, his first and lawful wife, and showed the same respect he ever did, and supported her in her honour and dignity:

do to her as it pleaseth thee:
not giving her liberty to take away her life, nor even to use her cruelly, but to deal with her as a mistress might lawfully do with a servant, or however exercise that power which a first wife had over a second: perhaps Abram, in complaisance to Sarai, gave her too large a commission, and left it too much in her power to distress Hagar; and it might have been more correct to have heard both sides, and judged between them, and used his own authority, by reproving and correcting as he saw meet; had she been only Sarai's maid and not his wife, it would have been less exceptionable; however, for peace sake, he gave leave to Sarai to do as she would:

and when Sarai dealt hardly with her;
or afflicted her ^F13, not only with words but with blows, as some think, and unmercifully beat her, and laid hard service upon her she was not able to go through, especially in her circumstances; though it may be she only chastised her in such a manner as a mistress may chastise her maid, since the angel seems to approve of what she did, ( Genesis 16:9 ) ; which her proud spirit not being able to bear,

she fled from her face;
which was set against her, and was full of wrath and fury: she deserted her service, quitted Abram's house though with child by him; unmindful of the various relations she stood in, which should have obliged her to have kept her place, and especially until she had made proper remonstrances of her ill usage, and could have no redress; but, unable to bear the treatment she met with, meditated a flight into her own country, Egypt, for by what follows it appears she steered her course that way; this flight of hers was agreeable to her name, for Hagar in the Arabic language signifies to "flee", hence the flight of Mahomet is called the Hegira.

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FOOTNOTES:

F13 (hynet) "eam affligeret", Tigurine version, Schmidt; "afflixit eam", Fagninus, Montanus, Junius & Tremellius, Piscator; so Ainsworth.

Bereshis 16:6 In-Context

4 And he went in unto Hagar, and she conceived; and when she saw that she had conceived, her gevirah was despised in her eyes.

5 And Sarai said unto Avram, My wrong be upon thee; I have given my shifchah unto thy kheyk; and when she saw that she had conceived, I was despised in her eyes; Hashem judge between me and thee.

6 But Avram said unto Sarai, Hinei, thy shifchah is in thy hand; do to her as it pleaseth thee. And when Sarai dealt harshly with her, she fled from her face.

7 And the Malach Hashem found her by a spring of mayim in the midbar, near the spring on the road to Shur.

8 And he said, Hagar, Sarai’s shifchah, from where camest thou? And where wilt thou go? And she said, I flee from the face of my gevirah Sarai.