Genesis 16:5

And Sarai said to Abram,.... Being affronted with the behaviour of her maid to her, she applies to Abram for the redress of her grievance, judging it, perhaps, below her dignity to enter into an

And Sarai said unto Abram, My wrong be upon thee: I have given my maid into thy bosom; and when she saw that she had conceived, I was despised in her eyes: the LORD judge between me and thee.

i.e. The injury done to me by Hagar, who thus wickedly requites my kindness to her, be upon thee. i.e. is to be imputed to thee; thou art the cause of it, because thou dost not maintain my reputation, and repress her arrogancy. The Lord give forth a righteous sentence between us, and deal with each of us according to our guilt or innocency in this matter. Compare ,15.

Genesis 16:5 And Sarai said unto Abram, My wrong [be] upon thee: I have given my maid into thy bosom; and when she saw that she had conceived, I was despised in her eyes: the LORD judge between me and thee.Ver. 5. My wrong be upon thee.] The greatest wrong doers are the greatest complainers commonly; guiltiness is ever exceptious and clamorous. Here be verba stomachantis atque imprecantis . Or, as some think rather, verba implorantis vindictam divinam seque consolantis spe defensionis divinae . Take it which way you will, as a passionate person, she "pours out foolishness," and (besides the false charge she lays upon her husband) takes God’ s name in vain. "Fret not thyself to do evil". The Lord judge.] He must not be sent for all in haste, to decide the controversy; who, if he had come, you may soon see which of them would have had the worst of it. The best, we see, have their domestic contentions; some household words will now and then pass between them: we match not with angels, but men and women. Two flints may as soon smite together, and not fire come forth, as two persons meet in marriage and not offences fall out. Publius Rubius Celer was held a happy man among the Romans, that commanded it to be engraven upon his gravestone, that he had lived three and forty years and eight months with C. Eunia, his wife, sine querela , without the least quarrel. Another I have read of, that complained that his coniugium marriage was a continual coniurgium quarrel; and when he died, gave order it should be written upon his tomb, Heus, Viator, miraculum! hic vir et uxor non litigant ,& c. This to prevent, Alphonsus, king of Arragon, was wont to say, that to procure a quiet life, the husband must be deaf and the wife blind. But they say better that advise to a mutual forbearance, that no offence be given on either side, or, if given, yet not taken. The second blow makes the fray, we say. Be not both incensed together. If Abram were to blame in conniving at Hagar’ s contempt of her mistress (as it may be he was somewhat), yet it was his wisdom to bear with Sarai when she was in her passion. Let two fires meet, and it will be hard quenching them. A choleric couple being asked how they agreed so well, the husband made this answer, "When my wife’ s fit is on her, I bear with her, as Abram did with Sarai, and when my fit is on me, she bears with me, and so we never chide together, but asunder." Those unkind husbands had much to answer for that caused their wives to "cover the Lord’ s altar with tears, with weeping and with crying out, so that he regarded not the offering any more". And those wives can never answer it to God that live customarily in the sin of frowardness or rebellion against their husbands.

(5) My wrong be upon thee.—That is, May the wrong done to me be avenged upon thee. Sarai’s act had been one of self-denial for Abram’s sake, and now that it has led to her being treated insolently she makes Abram answerable for it.

Verse 5. My wrong be upon thee] This appears to be intended as a reproof to Abram, containing an insinuation that it was his fault that she herself had not been a mother, and that now he carried himself more affectionately towards Hagar than he did to her, in consequence of which conduct the slave became petulant. To remove all suspicion of this kind, Abram delivers up Hagar into her hand, who was certainly under his protection while his concubine or secondary wife; but this right given to him by Sarai he restores, to prevent her jealousy and uneasiness.

5. My wrong] i.e. may the wrong done to me be visited on thee! Sarai’s passionate and unjust complaint is the utterance of jealousy. Abram is not to blame for the step which she herself had recommended in accordance with the custom of the age. The possibility, that in these cases the position of the mistress might be compromised by the insolence of the handmaid, formed the subject of special provision in the Code of Hammurabi. “Branding was the punishment inflicted upon the owner’s handmaid who arrogantly set herself on an equality with her mistress” (§ 146: see S. A. Cook, p. 160). LXX ἀδικοῦμαιἐκσοῦ, Lat. inique agis contra me. judge between me and thee] Cf. Genesis 31:53; 1 Samuel 24:12. The latter passage adds “and the Lord avenge me of thee.” The “judgement” of the Lord may be the source of punishment: see note on Genesis 15:14.

5. My wrong be upon thee — Sarai, stung by feelings of jealousy, and suspecting that Abram’s affections were turned from herself to her handmaid, complains to him of the wrong she suffers.