Sarai Abram's wife bare him no children, &c.— Sarai, being now seventy-five years old, and having continued ten years in the land of promise, began to suspect, that she should have no offspring by her husband; and therefore, anxiously desirous of the promised seed, she requests her husband to take her handmaid Hagar (an AEgyptian proselyte, most probably born in their house from AEgyptian parents), that she might have children by her: for, as being born of her handmaid, they would have been her children according to the law of those times, Genesis 30:3. Abram, being no doubt equally desirous of an offspring, complied with his wife's request, and took this secondary wife: which, though contrary to the original institution of marriage and the purity of the Gospel, appears to have been allowed in those times. It is, however, proper to remark, that Abram having continued to the age of eighty-five constant to his wife Sarai, cannot be supposed actuated by any improper desires, but by the single wish to be the father of the promised seed: and as no particular revelation had yet been given him, that Sarai should be the mother of this seed, he might perhaps think that God would fulfil his purpose by means of Hagar, and therefore more readily consented to Sarai's proposal.
Hagar signifies a stranger or sojourner in a strange land. The city of Agar or Petra, the capital of Arabia Petraea, derived its name from her: as did the people anciently called Hagarites or Hagarenes, 1 Chronicles 5:10. Psalms 83:6.
REFLECTIONS.—After ten years more waiting, Sarai was solicitous to have children by any means, and never feared in a servant to find a rival. Observe; 1. The most dangerous temptations come from those who are most dear to us: we dare not deny them. 2. God's gifts are wisely distributed. All have much to be thankful for; but there is always some allay, to keep us from seeking our rest in the creature. 3. How many a rich man would give half his estate for an heir; when the peasant, who lives in a cottage, has children like olive-branches round about his table. 4. Inordinate desires after creature-comforts put us on indirect means of obtaining them. 5. The comfort we seek in such ways, generally comes embittered with gall.