Genesis 21:10 - Ellicott's Commentary On The Whole Bible

Bondwoman. — Heb., ammâh. This word is rightly translated handmaid in Galatians 4:22, &c., Revised Version. It is rendered maid in Genesis 30:3, and in the plural, maidservants, in Genesis 20:17, where, as we have seen, it means Abimelech’s inferior wives. So also in 1 Samuel 25:41, Abigail professes her willingness to descend from the position of an ammâh to that of a maidservant in David’s honour. The rendering “bondwoman “unduly depresses Hagar’s condition, and with it that of the Jewish Church in the allegory contained in Galatians 4:22-31.