But Abram said unto Sarai, Behold, thy maid [is] in thy hand; do to her as it pleaseth thee. And when Sarai dealt hardly with her, she fled from her face.
Ver. 6. But Abram said to Sarai, Behold, &c.] Here that of Solomon is verified, "A soft answer pacifieth wrath". Pro 15:1 Hard to soft cloth no hurt, as a bullet against a woolsack. Uxoris vitium aut tollendum, aut tollerandum, said Varro, πασα γυνη χολος εστι a The woman is the weaker, and hath many provocations among children and servants that the man meets not with. This must be considered, and all bitterness abandoned. The heathens, when they sacrificed at their marriage feasts, used to cast the gall of the beast sacrificed out of doors. b Vipera virus, ob venerationem nuptiarum, evomit, saith St Basil, et tu duritiem animi, tu feritatem, tu crudelitatem ob unionis reverentiam non deponis ? What kin art thou to him, whose name is Wormwood? Rev 8:11
And when Sarai dealt hardly with her.] Beat her, belike; for "a servant will not be corrected by words," Pro 29:19 and then he must have blows, and be "buffeted". 1Pe 2:20 Not so a wife. M. Aurelius, the emperor, though a heathen, could say to the shame of many bedlams among us: Uxor admonenda persaepe, reprehendenda raro, violentis manibus tractanda nunquam.
She fled.] This was her fault. Ecc 10:4 But our natures are refractory, and will sooner break than bend, till God subdue them.
a Gellius.
b Plutarch. Proecep. Conjug., Basil. Hexemer., hom. vii.