Genesis 16:3 - Printer Friendly

ESV: So, after Abram had lived ten years in the land of Canaan, Sarai, Abram’s wife, took Hagar the Egyptian, her servant, and gave her to Abram her husband as a wife.

NIV: So after Abram had been living in Canaan ten years, Sarai his wife took her Egyptian slave Hagar and gave her to her husband to be his wife.

NASB: And so after Abram had lived ten years in the land of Canaan, Abram’s wife Sarai took Hagar the Egyptian, her slave woman, and gave her to her husband Abram as his wife.

CSB: So Abram's wife, Sarai, took Hagar, her Egyptian slave, and gave her to her husband, Abram, as a wife for him. This happened after Abram had lived in the land of Canaan ten years.

NLT: So Sarai, Abram’s wife, took Hagar the Egyptian servant and gave her to Abram as a wife. (This happened ten years after Abram had settled in the land of Canaan.)

KJV: And Sarai Abram's wife took Hagar her maid the Egyptian, after Abram had dwelt ten years in the land of Canaan, and gave her to her husband Abram to be his wife.

NKJV: Then Sarai, Abram’s wife, took Hagar her maid, the Egyptian, and gave her to her husband Abram to be his wife, after Abram had dwelt ten years in the land of Canaan.

The previous verses described Sarai's plan to "help" God accomplish His promises to Abram. Instead of waiting to see if God would give Abram an heir through Sarai, she would give a servant girl she owned to Abram as a second wife. If the girl became pregnant, per the customs of the day, the baby would belong to Sarai. It's possible that Sarai thought God's intent was to provide a son through someone other than her. It's also possible Sarai simply didn't want to wait any longer for God's fulfillment. Either way, this is a plan born out of desperation. The end results will be unfortunate, but not unexpected (Genesis 16:7–12).

It has been a full decade since the initial promise, and Sarai is still barren. By Abram and Sarai's way of thinking, it is time for them to help God's plan along. They want for themselves what God wants for them; they just don't want to wait for Him to give it to them in the traditional way. So, they don't.

Genesis 16:1–16 demonstrates that God hears and sees and cares, but that He won't be rushed or manipulated into keeping His promises. Sarai and Abram attempt to receive God's promised child through their own scheme. In this case, by marrying Abram to an Egyptian servant girl. The resulting pregnancy, though, leads to harsh conflict and a surprising revelation from the Lord to Hagar. Her son Ishmael will not be the child of the promise, though he will become a great nation, and his people will live in conflict with everyone. Abram and Sarai will continue to wait for the arrival of their own son.

Sarai, tired of waiting for a child, convinces Abram to go to plan B. She gives her Egyptian slave girl to Abram as a wife, with the understanding that any children will belong to Sarai. Once Hagar is pregnant, however, conflict sets in. Sarai deals harshly with Hagar, and she flees alone into the wilderness. The Lord finds her there and commands her to return and submit to Sarai. However, the Lord also reveals that Hagar's son will have an uncountable number of offspring and that they will live in conflict with everyone. Hagar praises God as the one who sees, returns to Abram and Sarai, and Ishmael is soon born.

After formally establishing His covenant promises with Abram in the previous chapter, the Lord still has not given Abram and Sarai a child. Sarai convinces Abram to take her slave girl as a wife in hopes of getting a child that way. Abram agrees. Pregnancy and conflict soon follow. Sarai treats Hagar so harshly that the girl runs off alone into the wilderness. The Lord finds her and commands her to return and submit. He also reveals, however, that Hagar's child Ishmael will become the father of a great people who will live in conflict with everyone.

The book of Genesis establishes fundamental truths about God. Among these are His role as the Creator, His holiness, His hatred of sin, His love for mankind, and His willingness to provide for our redemption. We learn not only where mankind has come from, but why the world is in its present form. The book also presents the establishment of Israel, God's chosen people. Many of the principles given in other parts of Scripture depend on the basic ideas presented here in the book of Genesis. Within the framework of the Bible, Genesis explains the bare-bones history of the universe leading up to the captivity of Israel in Egypt, setting the stage for the book of Exodus.