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