Genesis 16:5 Commentary and Bible Study

Now Sarai confesses it; she has done wrong. She is a godly woman; she regrets it. Now she sees it all. So what does she mean here when she appears to blame Abram? ‘My wrong’, she says – my foolishness, my breach of God's order and rule, my compromise – ‘be upon thee.’ She means: ‘This is my wrong; I should never have thought along these lines. Now I see what a disaster it is. It was my mistake, my sin, if you like, my failure to apply faith all the way. But you didn't restrain me; you didn't check me; you didn't help me. You were my husband. You should have stopped me. You should have known what would happen.’ ‘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.’ Abram deserves to be reproved by his wife; he should not have just agreed; he should not have let it go forward. Poor Sarai. She is to blame but he was supposed to be the final judgment in the matter, not just to yield. So yes, she has bought it upon herself, but he has brought it upon her too, and we can fully understand this charge of Sarai’s.I am the sufferer, not you. ‘I have given my maid unto thy bosom’, and I am now despised. ‘The Lord judge between me and thee.’ She means, don't you think you ought to help me out of this somehow? Because you allowed me to do it.’