Genesis 15
DOYLYChap. XVI. ver. 1. — an handmaid, an Egyptian.] Every woman (in Barbary) that is married, has at least one female slave, who is usually a black, to attend her; whilst others have two or more, according to their rank and quality. In like manner we find that Hagar was Sarai’s “handmaid;” that Rebekah, when she was betrothed to Isaac, was attended by “her nurse and her damsels;” that Laban gave to his daughter Leah, when she was married to Jacob, Zilpah “his maid for an handmaid;” and to Rachel, on the like occasion, Bilhab “his handmaid to be her maid.” Dr. Shaw.
Genesis 15:3
- — gave her to her husband &c.] In concubinage, these secondary wives were accounted lawful and true wives, and their issue was reputed legitimate; but they were inferior to the chief wife, having no authority in the family, nor any share in household government: so, if they had been servants in the family, before they became concubines, they continued to be such afterwards, and in the same subjection to their mistresses as before. Stackhouse.
Hagar being Sarai’s bond-slave, her children would be Sarai’s children, according to the custom of those times, chap. xxx. 3; Exod. xxi. 4. Bp. Patrick.
Abram had dwelt ten years in the land of Canaan, and gave her to her husband Abram to be his wife.
Genesis 15:4
- And he went in &c.] As an excuse, in some measure, for Abram, it may be pleaded, that having lived many years without giving occasion to suspect his modesty and continence, he did not in all probability now act from a criminal motive, but from a principle of conjugal affection to Sarai, in compliance with whose solicitations, made from her desire of thus contributing to the accomplishment of God’s promises, he took Hagar to his bed: that having no longer any hope of issue by Sarai, he had recourse to this, as the only way he could devise, whereby to have God’s promise of “an heir, that should be born of himself,” accomplished; and that polygamy, though certainly declared criminal by our Saviour, who has restored matrimony to its primitive institution, may have been at that time, if not allowed, yet tolerated by God, for the hardness of men’s hearts. Stackhouse.
The instances of polygamy, which Scripture records, by no means exhibit inducements to the practice: witness Sarai and Hagar, Leah and Rachel, Hannah and Peninnah. As in ancient times, family feuds imbittered polygamy, we shall find on enquiry, that in modern times also this irregular practice is far from adding any thing to domestic happiness. In Mahometan countries, where polygamy is allowed, what we are able to learn of the domestic life of the husbands, who have several wives, is calculated neither to make their lot enviable, nor to give a favourable opinion of Mahomet’s legislation: their house is a perpetual scene of tumult and contention. Nothing is to be heard but quarrels among the different wives, and complaints made to the husband. The four legal married wives complain, that their slaves are preferred to them; and their slaves, that they are abandoned to the jealousy of their mistresses. Fragments to Calmet, Volney’s Travels.
— her mistress was despised in her eyes.] Fruitfulness was accounted a great blessing and honour in those days. Bp. Patrick.
Genesis 15:7
- And the angel of the Lord] This is the first time that we read of the appearance of an angel: by which some Christians understand the ETERNAL WORD or SON of GOD. It is probable, that it was one of the heavenly ministers. Bp. Patrick.
— in the way to Shur.] She was fleeing into Egypt,
Genesis 15:11
- And when the fowls came down] The birds of prey.
Genesis 15:12
- — an horror of great darkness] An horrible darkness and dread of spirits. That horrors and dread of spirits frequently seized on those who saw visions is evident from Daniel: “I was left alone, and saw this great vision, and there remained no strength in me: for my comeliness was turned in me into corruption, and I retained no strength,” chap. x. 8. The description of this matter in Job is very awful and affecting: “In thoughts from the visions of the night, &c.” chap. iv. 13, &c. Stackhouse.
Genesis 15:13
- And he said unto Abram, &c.] Three things were to befall Abram’s seed: 1st, That they “should be a stranger in a land not their’s;” and they sojourned partly in Canaan, partly in Egypt: 2dly, That they should “serve;” and they did serve the Egyptians: 3dly, That they should be “afflicted;” and so the Israelites were in a great degree, a long time before they came out of Egypt. The time from the birth of Isaac to the deliverance of the Israelites from Egypt was 400 years. Bps. Patrick and Kidder.
Genesis 15:15
- And thou shalt go to thy fathers] Die, and depart to the other world. Bp. Patrick.
It is no small mercy in God, it is no small comfort to us, if either He take us away, before His judgments come; or keep His judgments away, till we be gone. When God had told Abram that “his seed should be a stranger in a land that was not their’s,” meaning Egypt, where they should be kept under and afflicted 400 years, lest the good Patriarch should have been overwhelmed with grief at it, He comforteth him, as with a promise of a glorious deliverance at the last, so with a promise also of prosperity to his own person and for his own time. See also Isaiah xxxix. 8; 2 Kings xxii. 20. Bp. Sanderson.
Genesis 15:16
- But in the fourth generation] The fourth from the descent into Egypt. Thus Caleb, one of those who came into the promised land, was the fourth from Judah, 1 Chron. ii. 4, 5, 9, 18. And Aaron and Moses were the fourth in descent from Levi, Exod. vi. 16, 18, 20. Bp. Kidder.
— the iniquity of the Amorites &c.] Abram now
Genesis 15:17
- — behold a smoking furnace, &c.] By this symbol God designed to represent to Abram, either the future state of his posterity, the “smoking furnace,” signifying Israel’s misery in Egypt, and the “burning lamp” their escape and deliverance: or more probably to notify His own immediate presence. A symbolical representation of His Majesty appeared in great splendour, like a flaming fire, as it afterwards appeared to Moses, (Exod. iii. 2, 6,) and “passed between the pieces” of the beasts that were divided, (ver. 10,) in token that He entered into covenant with Abram and his posterity. Stackhouse, Bp. Patrick.
Genesis 15:18
- — from the river of Egypt] “The river of Egypt,” which is here mentioned, as one of the boundaries of the land promised to the posterity of Abraham, was the river Nile, whose eastern or Pelusiae branch was reckoned the boundary of Egypt, towards the great desert of Shur, which lies between Egypt and Palestine, and which is about 90 miles in breadth. From a comparison of 1 Kings viii. 65, and 2 Chron. vii. 8, with 1 Chron. xiii. 5, it appears that “Sihor” and “the river of Egypt” are the same. And it appears from Jer. ii. 18, that Sihor was the Nile. The Hebrew name “Sihor” signifies “black;” it is an apt epithet of the Nile, bringing down, with its flood, from Abyssinia, a rich, black, loamy sand, which fertilizes the lower Egypt. In the Ethiopian, Egyptian, Greek, and Hindu languages, the Nile is distinguished by appellations, all of which signify “black.”
Sarai giveth Hagar to Abram. Hagar runneth away. Canaanites, and the Girgashites, and the Jebusites. # CHAP. XVI.