And he said, Hagar, Sarai's maid, whence camest thou? and whither wilt thou go? And she said, I flee from the face of my mistress Sarai.
Hagar, Sarai's maid. This mode of address, indicating a minute acquaintance with her name and history, was designed to impress the fugitive with a full conviction of the supernatural, the divine character of the speaker, and a lively sense of her sin in abandoning the station in which His providence had placed her.