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. 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.
Sarai herself gave her Egyptian maid Hagar to Abram as an additional wife after they had lived ten years in Canaan. Though they believed God had promised Abram a son, they could not believe that aged Sarah would bear him, so they tried by human judgment to bring about the promise in their own time and way instead of waiting in trusting faith for God to fulfill it. In doing so Abram departed from God's order from the beginning of one wife for one man and fell into the common post-Flood custom of plurality of wives, which was sin and contrary to God's will and never sanctioned by Him in a single instance. God had meant the delay to prove Abram's firm faith and reliance on His unlimited power, but Abram failed to endure that test and showed lack of perfect trust. That self-directed effort brought much unhappiness, jealousy and conflict upon Abram and Sarah and lasting harm to his household and future generations through Ishmael and his descendants.
Unbelief Behind the Union
Sarai herself devised the plan and by special entreaty and request gave Hagar her Egyptian maid to Abram to be his wife. Abram and Sarai believed God had promised them a son, yet they could not believe that Sarai in her old age would bear that son. Instead of waiting in confiding faith for God to fulfill His promise in His own time and way, they tried by human judgment to bring it about according to their own ideas and arrangement. It was Sarai's thought that through Hagar the promise could be fulfilled, and in hearkening to her voice they carried out their own plan rather than waiting upon Him.
Abram took Hagar because he distrusted God's power to fulfill the promise through Sarah and thought it might be fulfilled through Hagar's child. For that reason he refused to send Hagar away, holding to her in hope that through her the promised son would come. God had intended the long delay after Abram had dwelt ten years in Canaan to prove Abram's firm faith and reliance upon His promises and unlimited power. But Abram failed to endure that test, showing lack of faith and perfect trust.
That taking of Hagar was an act of distrust, one of the failures by which his faith was kept from being perfect before he faced the later test. His later faithfulness in obeying God's command concerning Isaac made amends and made up for that failure of trust.
Violation of Marriage Order
Genesis 16:3 records Abram taking Hagar as an additional or secondary wife, in departure from God's order established in the beginning when one wife was given to Adam for one man. Though a righteous man, Abram in this fell into the common post-Flood custom of plurality of wives and polygamy, and the act was no less sin for being common and widely accepted. That taking was sin and contrary to God's will, never sanctioned by God in a single instance, because God never designed plurality of wives and knew it would destroy man's happiness. God did not sanction this arrangement for bringing about the promised seed.
The marriage violated the sacredness of marriage, for Sarah was Abram's only true wife and no other person was entitled to share her rights as wife and mother. The rights and happiness of the marriage relation are to be guarded and respected, even at great sacrifice.
Sorrowful Consequences and Warning
The taking of Hagar brought much unhappiness upon both Abraham and Sarah through jealousy, complaints, perplexity and conflict in the home. It was an unhappy marriage that greatly marred Abraham's peace. The rights and happiness of the marriage relation were to be guarded even at great sacrifice, yet this union violated them.
The harm reached beyond the household to future generations. The birth of Ishmael from that marriage brought the righteous seed into contact with ungodly influences. It produced descendants who became a people opposed to God and counteracted His plans, the full consequences of which Abraham did not foresee when he took Hagar.
Such restless effort to arrange the fulfillment of God's promise by human judgment instead of waiting for Him in His own time and way leads to sorrow, misery, anguish and sin.