Matthew Poole and continuators on Genesis 16:6

6. But Abram said unto Sarai, Behold, thy maid is in thine hand : do to her as it pleaseth thee . And when Sarai dealt hardly with her i, she fled from her face .

(i. e.) Subject to thy Power and Authority, as the phrase is taken, Gen. 24. 10. and 39. 4, 6. 8. Num. 31. 49. For though she be my Concubine, yet she is thy inferiour, and therefore if she exalt her self above her measure, I give thee power to exercise thy Authority over her. But whether this was not one of Abram's infirmities to give up his second wife into the hands of the first, may well be questioned.

Use whatsoever power God hath given thee over her: for we must not think that Abram gave her power of Life and Death over her, especially now when she was with child. Therefore here, as often elsewhere, the general words must be limited from the nature of the thing, and from other texts of Scripture, which forbid cruelty even to our servants. 2. Either by imposing labours upon her above her strength, or by grievous stripes which she could not bear.

Contrary to God's Command, Eccles. 10. 4. and to the laws of justice, because both her person and the fruit of her body were not her own, but Abram's right and possession.

Marginal references: Heb. that which is good in thine eyes.; Heb. afflicted her.