name of God on any occasion, and strikingly do they show into what diswill shudder at the thought of employ- order and turmoil one ill-advised measing it on a false or frivolous one. 'I ure may plunge a happy well-regulated will sooner believe a plain unprofessing family. Abraham's ill-judged compliman, in his simple words, than ten ance with the rash counsel of his wife thousand common swearers, under the has created an unpleasant state of feelsanction of as many oaths.' Hunter. ing between him and her; it constrains 6. Behold, thy maid is in thine hand; him to connive at her cruel treatment do to her as it pleaseth thee. Heb. of an unhappy woman, who is at least that which is good in as much to be pitied as blamed; and thine eyes. Abraham on this vexing renders the prospect of the promised occasion is meek and gentle. He had seed a heavy affliction instead of a learned that a soft answer turneth blessing. Sarah is betrayed by the away wrath, and therefore refrained eagerness of her spirit first into a culfrom upbraiding his wife, as he might pable expedient; then into unkindness easily and reasonably have done; pre- and undutifulness towards her lord; ferring domestic peace to the vindica- then into irreverence and impiety totion of himself and the placing the wards God; and finally, by an easy blame where it ought to have laid. It transition, into barbarity towards the is doubtful, however, whether he did hapless handmaid whom her own not yield too much in this case; for scheme had brought into a condition though according to the custom of that claimed her utmost compassion those times Hagar was mainly under and kindness. In what deep and acthe control of Sarah, yet being his cumulated woe, then, may one inconsiderate step involve the heedless! lawful wife, she was entitled to protection, and should not have been given And if good and well-intentioned people up to the will of one who manifested, suffer thus severely from one act of imon this occasion, nothing but jealousy, prudence, who but must tremble to think of the fearful consequences of passion, and caprice. But he seems to have been brought into a situation deliberate wickedness! A thousand volwhere he was at a loss what to do; umes written against polygamy would and thus, as Sarah is punished for not lead to a clearer fuller conviction of tempting him, so he also is punished the evils of that practice, than the story with a disordered house for having yielded to the temptation.-¶ Sarai dealt hardly with her. Heb. afflicted her; probably by some kind of personal maltreatment, as the expression in the original is too strong not to imply something more than mere verbal reproaches. The more the incidents are considered, the more under review. 7. The angel of the Lord found her, &c. We here see how seasonably and suitably God interposes to rectify the disorders occasioned by the infirmities of his servants. When we have wearied ourselves with our own devices, and snared ourselves in the works of our own hands, Providence often takes 8 And he said, Hagar, Sarai's said, I flee from the face of my maid, whence camest thou? and mistress Sarai. whither wilt thou go? And she up the case, subdues it to his own wise and gracious purposes, and turns evil into good. Hagar flies from the face of her unkind mistress, but happily for her she cannot flee from God. The interest which Abraham now has in her gives her an interest in the peculiar care and protection of the Almighty-and how kindly this is manifested the sequel will disclosc. An 'angel' is here mentioned for the first time. The word itself is properly a name of office, and not of nature; signifying messenger or legate, one sent or employed upon any business whatever, whether human or divine. The 'angels' mentioned in the sacred volume were sometimes men, as Haggai, Hag. 1. 13, is called the Lord's messenger,' Heb. 'angel of the Lord;' as is also John the Baptist, Mal. 31. Mat. 11. 10. The appellation is given generally to the ministering servants of God, to prophets and holy men acting under divine direction, or in the service of religion. It is also extended in several instances to providential dispensations or to the impersonal agents of the divine will, as plagues, pestilences, famines, &c. A remarkable and prominent usage of the term is to designate him who is here and elsewhere denominated the 'angel of Jehovah,' a title which is evidently appropriated to an uncreated being. More frequently, however, the term is applied to a superior order of beings, of whom our Saviour says, "They are all ministering spirits, sent forth to minister for them who shall be heirs of salvation.' From the silence of the Scriptures respecting the creation of these spiritual intelligences, and from the remarkable language of the following passages, some have inferred that the whole angelic order was in fact composed of the spirits of glorified men. Rev. 22. 8, 'And when I had heard and seen, I fell down to worship before the fect of the angel which showed me those things. Then said he unto me; See thou do it not; for I am thy fellow-servant, and of thy brethren the prophets, and of them which keep the sayings of this book.' Again, Rev. 21. 17, 'And he measured the wall thereof according to the measure of a man, that is, of the angel,' or rather, 'of an angel,' as the article does not occur in the original. In some cases the word is evidently a designation of Christ, who is 'the angel of the covenant,' Mal. 3. 1; the 'angel of God's presence,' Is. 63. 9; and 'the angel in whom the name of the Lord is,' Ex. 23. 20. As the angel here mentioned is called by Hagar 'Lord' (Heb. Jehovah), v. 13, and as he addresses her in a style befitting only the Most High, v. 10, promising to perform what God alone could do, and foretelling what God alone could know, the inference would seem to be inevitable, that it was no other than a divine personage who is here presented to our view.- -¶ In the way to Shur. 'It appears that the term 'wilderness,' or 'desert of Shur,' here and elsewhere denotes the sandy tract to the west of Stony Arabia, extending 150 road miles between Palestine and Egypt, and having the Mediterranean on the north, and the peninsula of Sinai on the south. The common caravan road between Palestine and Egypt still lies through the heart of this desert. It is evident that it was Hagar's intention to return to her own country.' Pict. Bible. 8. And he said, Hagar, Sarai's maid, whence comest thou, &c. That she should thus hear her name familiarly called, and her occupation specified, by an entire stranger, would naturally 9 And the angel of the LORD said unto her, Return to thy mistress, and submit thyself under her hands. q Tit. 2. 9. 1. Pet. 2. 18. r 10 And the angel of the LORD said unto her, I will multiply thy seed exceedingly, that it shall not be numbered for multitude. r ch. 17. 20. & 21. 18. & 25. 12. excite her wonder, and beget the im-in despising her mistress, and by her pression that it was more than a human being who addressed her. Of this she certainly became entirely convinced in the course of the interview. In calling her Sarai's maid instead of Abram's wife, he seems to have aimed tacitly at lowering the self-complacency which had procured her troubles, and to lead her mind back to that humble character which she had formerly sustained. The questions put to her were close, but tender, and such as were fitly addressed to a person fleeing from trouble. The first might be answered, and was answered; but with respect to the last she is silent. 'We know our present grievances, and so can tell whence we came,' much better than our future lot, or whither we go.' In many cases, if the truth were spoken, the answer would be, from bad to worse.' Fuller. 9. Return to thy mistress and submit thyself under her hands. Heb. 1 afflict thyself, or suffer thyself to be afflicted; the same which occurs v. 6, and is thus rendered 'dealt hardly with.' The idea of something like penance is undoubtedly implied. It is the term usually applied to the act of self-abasement by which a penitent sinner humbles himself with prayer, and fasting, and confessions of guilt before his Maker. The Gr. renders it by razevont be thou humbled, and in allusion to this expression, the Apostle says, 1 Pet. 5. 6, Humble yourselves (TanCIVORTE) therefore under the mighty hand of God, that he may lift you up.' The injunction of the angel to Hagar here was to return and submit. The reason was that she had done wrong exposure in endangering the fruit of her womb, and now she must be humbled for it. Hard as this might appear, it was the counsel of wisdom and mercy. A connection with the people of God, with all their faults, is preferable to the best of this world, where God is unknown. If we have done wrong, whatever temptations or provocations we have met with, the only way to peace and happiness is to retrace our footsteps, in repentance and submission. As to the fact of her return, the history leaves us to draw our own conclusions. We may safely suppose that all parties were by this time brought sufficiently to themselves to afford her ample encouragement to return. The solitude and dangers of the wilderness, and the apparition of the angel, awful, though in mercy, would of course greatly have diminished in Hagar's mind the resentment occasioned by her mistress's treatment. With Sarah, on the other hand, the sudden disappearing of her maid; the loss of her services; the just apprehension of the evil which might have befallen a desperate woman in her delicate situation ; regret for her cruel behaviour; together with the soothing effect of time and serious reflection, would no doubt tend to moderate and mollify her spirit, and dispose her to welcome back the returning fugitive. While Abraham, always wise, gentle, and good, would necessarily rejoice in the restored peace of his family, accompanied as it was with a fresh demonstration of the divine tenderness toward's him and his, and with a farther enlargement and extent of the promised blessing. 11 And the angel of the LORD | said unto her, Behold, thou art with child, and shalt bear a son, • and shall call his came Ishmael; because the LORD hath heard thy affliction. 8 ch. 17. 19. Matt. 1. 21. Luke 1. 13, 31. ་ 12 And he will be a wild man; his hand will be against every man, and every man's hand against him; "and he shall dwell in the presence of all his breth ren. t ch. 21. 20. u ch. 25. 18. and promised to him, was intended to n multi-be affirmed of his descendants and fulfilled in them. 11. Shalt bear. Heb. T yoladtht; 10. I will multiply thy seed exceed- a very peculiar word, being composed 12. He will be a wild man. Heb. Kos avoρwños a wild man. Chal. 'Wild ass among men,' i. e, rude, fierce, un cultivated, and impatient of the restraints of civilized life. As remarked in v. 10, the predicted character and fortunes of Ishmael are here identified with those of his posterity. The 'wild man' here mentioned was to be multiplied into a great nation, and if so it must necessarily be into a great nation - of 'wild men ;' and we have only to turn to the page of history to see how apposite this character has been in all ages to the Arab race, the descendants of Ishmael. In allusion to the term here employed it is said of unregenerate men, Job, 11. 12, 'For vain man would be wise, though man be born like the wild ass's colt.' On the contrary of renewed and sanctified men, it is said, Ezek. 36. 38, 'The waste cities shall be filled with flocks of men.' Heb. 'with sheep-men,' i. e. men whose natures are tamed and softened, made gentle and lamb-like. Again, Hos. 13. 15, 'He (Ephraim) hath run wild (Heb. hath assified himself) amidst the braying monsters.' Sir Rob. Ker Porter (Trav. vol. I. p. 459) thus describes one of this species of animals which he met in the mountains of Persia:-' He appeared to me to be about ten or twelve hands high; the skin smooth like a deer's, and of a reddish colour; the belly and hinder parts partaking of a silvery gray; his neck was finer than that of a common ass, being longer, and bending like a stag's, and his legs beautifully slender; the head and ears seemed long in proportion in the gracefulness of their forms, and by them I first recognised that the object of my chase was of the ass tribe. The mane was short and black, as also was a tuft which terminated his tail. The prodigious swiftness and peculiar manner with which he fled across the plain, reminded me of the striking portrait of the animal drawn by the author of the book of Job. I was informed by the mehmandar that he had observed them of ten in the possession of the Arabs, who told him the creature was perfectly untameable.' The passage of Job to which the author refers is ch. 39. 5-8, Who hath sent out the wild ass free? or who hath loosed the bands of the wild ass? Whose house I have made the wilderness, and the barren land his dwellings. He scorneth the multitude of the city, neither regardeth he the crying of the driver. The range of the mountains is his pasture, and he searcheth after every green thing.' By the use of so unusual a phrase in reference to the future seed of Hagar, it was obviously intended to indicate an analogy between the wildness of Ishmael and his descendants, and that of the wild ass (onager); and it is equally curious and surprising to observe how minutely the description in Job applies to the free, wandering, lawless, pastoral, marauding Bedouins, the descent of whose tribes from Ishmael is admitted by the learned, and gloried in by themselves. The manners and customs of these Arab tribes, except in the article of religion, have suffered almost no change during the long period of three thousand years. 'They have occupied the same country, and followed the same mode of life, from the days of their great ancestor, down to the present times, and range the wide extent of burning sands which separate them from all surrounding nations, as rude, and savage, and untractable as the wild ass himself. Claiming the barren plains of Arabia, as the patrimonial domain assigned by God to the founder of their nation, they considered themselves entitled to seize, and appropriate to their own use, whatever they can find there. Impatient of restraint and jealous of their liberty, they form no connection with the neighbouring states; they admit of little or no friendly intercourse, but live in a state of continual hostility with the rest of the world. The tent is their dwelling, and the circular camp their city; the spontaneous produce of the |