Genesis 16:3

Genesis 16:3

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.

a. 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.)

b. 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.

c. YLT: And Sarai, Abram's wife, taketh Hagar the Egyptian, her handmaid, at the end of the tenth year of Abram's dwelling in the land of Canaan, and giveth her to Abram her husband, to him for a wife,

d. Amplified Bible: So Sarai, Abram’s wife, took Hagar her Egyptian maid, after Abram had dwelt ten years in the land of Canaan, and gave her to her husband Abram to be his [secondary] wife.

e. Septuagint: So Sara the wife of Abram having taken Agar the Egyptian her handmaid, after Abram had dwelt ten years in the land of Chanaan, gave her to Abram her husband as a wife to him.

f. Stone Edition Chumash: So Sarai, Abram’s wife, took Hagar the Egyptian, her maidservant, after ten years of Abram’s dwelling in the Land of Canaan, a gave her to Abram her husband, to him as a wife.

1. “And Sarai Abram’s wife took Hagar her maid the Egyptian…”

a. Sarai [8297 * Saray] [Strong:  from 8269; dominative; Sarai, the wife of Abraham:--Sarai.]

b. Abram’s [87 * ‘Abram] [Strong: contracted from 48; high father; Abram, the original name of Abraham:--Abram.]

c. wife [802 * ‘ishshah] [Strong: feminine of 376 or 582; irregular plural, nashiym {naw-sheem'}; a woman (used in the same wide sense as 582):--(adulter)ess, each, every, female, X many, + none, one, + together, wife, woman.]

d. took [3947 * laqach] [Strong: a primitive root; to take (in the widest variety of applications):--accept, bring, buy, carry away, drawn, fetch, get, infold, X many, mingle, place, receive(-ing), reserve, seize, send for, take (away, -ing, up), use, win.]

e. Hagar [1904 * Hagar] [Strong: of uncertain (perhaps foreign) derivation; Hagar, the mother of Ishmael:--Hagar.]

f. her maid [8198 * shipchah]] [Strong: feminine from an unused root meaning to spread out (as a family; see 4940); a female slave (as a member of the household):--(bond-, hand-)maid(-en, -servant), wench, bondwoman, womanservant.]

g. the Egyptian [4713 * Mitsriy] [Strong: from 4714; a Mitsrite, or inhabitant of Mitsrajim:--Egyptian, of Egypt.]

2. “…after Abram had dwelt ten years in the land of Canaan…”

a. after [7093 * qets] [Strong: contracted from 7112; an extremity; adverbially (with prepositional prefix) after:--+ after, (utmost) border, end, (in-)finite, X process.]

b. Abram [87 * ‘Abram] [Strong: contracted from 48; high father; Abram, the original name of Abraham:--Abram.]

c. had dwelt [3427 * yashab] [Strong: a primitive root; properly, to sit down (specifically as judge. in ambush, in quiet); by implication, to dwell, to remain; causatively, to settle, to marry:--(make to) abide(-ing), continue, (cause to, make to) dwell(-ing), ease self, endure, establish, X fail, habitation, haunt, (make to) inhabit(-ant), make to keep (house), lurking, X marry(-ing), (bring again to) place, remain, return, seat, set(- tle), (down-)sit(-down, still, -ting down, -ting (place) -uate), take, tarry.]

d. ten [6235 * ‘eser] [Strong: masculine of term aasarah {as-aw-raw'}; from 6737; ten (as an accumulation to the extent of the digits):--ten, (fif-, seven-)teen.]

e. years [8141 * shaneh] [Strong:  from 8138; a year (as a revolution of time):--+ whole age, X long, + old, year(X -ly).]

f. in the land [776 * ‘erets] [Strong: from an unused root probably meaning to be firm; the earth (at large, or partitively a land):--X common, country, earth, field, ground, land, X natins, way, + wilderness, world.]

g. Canaan [3667 * Kna’an] [Strong: from 3665; humiliated; Kenaan, a son a Ham; also the country inhabited by him:--Canaan, merchant, traffick.]

1). This verse gives us a time marker. In Genesis 12:4 the Scripture says Abram was 75 years old when he departed from Haran into Canaan and here it is ten years later, so Abram was 85 years old.

3. “…and gave her to her husband Abram to be his wife.”

a. and gave [5414 * Nathan] [Strong: a primitive root; to give, used with greatest latitude of application (put, make, etc.):--add, apply, appoint, ascribe, assign, X avenge, X be ((healed)), bestow, bring (forth, hither), cast, cause, charge, come, commit, consider, count, + cry, deliver (up), direct, distribute, do, X doubtless, X without fail, fasten, frame, X get, give (forth, over, up), grant, hang (up), X have, X indeed, lay (unto charge, up), (give) leave, lend, let (out), + lie, lift up, make, + O that, occupy, offer, ordain, pay, perform, place, pour, print, X pull , put (forth), recompense, render, requite, restore, send (out), set (forth), shew, shoot forth (up), + sing, + slander, strike, (sub-)mit, suffer, X surely, X take, thrust, trade, turn, utter, + weep, + willingly, + withdraw, + would (to) God, yield.]

b. to her husband [376 * ‘iysh] [Strong: contracted for 582 (or perhaps rather from an unused root meaning to be extant); a man as an individual or a male person; often used as an adjunct to a more definite term (and in such cases frequently not expressed in translation):--also, another, any (man), a certain, + champion, consent, each, every (one), fellow, (foot-, husband-)man, (good-, great, mighty) man, he, high (degree), him (that is), husband, man(-kind), + none, one, people, person, + steward, what (man) soever, whoso(-ever), worthy.]

c. Abram [87 * ‘Abram] [Strong: contracted from 48; high father; Abram, the original name of Abraham:--Abram.]

d. to be his wife [802 * ‘ishshah] [Strong: feminine of 376 or 582; irregular plural, nashiym {naw-sheem’}; a woman (used in the same wide sense as 582):--(dultery)ess, each, every, female, X many, + none, one, + together, wife, woman.]

1). God’s design from the beginning of creation was one man for one woman.

a). Genesis 2:18 And the LORD God said, It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him an help meet for him.

b). Genesis 2:21-24 And the LORD God caused a deep sleep to fall upon Adam and he slept: and he took one of his ribs, and closed up the flesh instead thereof;

2:22 And the rib, which the LORD God had taken from man, made he a woman, and brought her unto the man.

2:23 And Adam said, This is now bone of my bones, and flesh of my flesh: she shall be called Woman, because she was taken out of Man.

2:24 Therefore shall a man leave his father and mother, and shall cleave unto his wife: and they shall be one flesh.

2). Jesus confirmed this in his ministry.

a). Matthew 19:4-6

3). Josephus: “Accordingly Sarai, at God’s command, brought to his [Abrams’s] bed one of her handmaids, a woman of Egyptian descent, in order to obtain children by her.”

a). I totally disagree with this statement by Josephus because it is far from the will and the plan of God for Abram and his descendants, especially in light of the fruit of this action. We all have our “Ishmaels”, but who would have thought that this act would eventually through thousands of years of bitter circumstances be one of the main factors in drawing the world into Armageddon.