So Sarai said to Abram, “Look now, the LORD has prevented me from bearing children. Please go to my maidservant; perhaps I can build a family by her.” And Abram listened to the voice of Sarai.
2. That I may obtain children by her “Si forte aedificer ex ea.” “If perhaps I may be built up by her.” See margin of English version. This is a Hebrew phrase, which signifies to become a mother. Some however, expound the word as simply meaning, to have a son . And certainly בן ( ben ,) which, among the Hebrews, signifies son, corresponds with the verb here used.
We have here the marriage of Abram to Hagar, who was his secondary wife. Herein, though some excuse may be made for him, he cannot be justified, for from the beginning it was not so; and, when it was so, it seems to have proceeded from an irregular desire to build up families for the speedier peopling of the world and the church. Certainly it must not be so now.
Commenting on Genesis 16:1-3
And Sarai said unto Abram, behold now, the Lord hath restrained me from bearing,.... Or, "hath shut me up" (d); that is, her womb, as were the wombs of the house of Abimelech, Gen 20:18; so that she could not conceive and bear children; she now at this age despaired of having children, perceiving very probably that it ceased to be with her after the...