Genesis 16:3-4

"And Sarai, Abram's wife, took Hagar, the Egyptian, her handmaid, after Abram had dwelt ten years in the land of Canaan, and gave her to Abram her husband to be his wife. And he went in unto Hagar, and she conceived: and when she saw that she had conceived, her mistress was despised in her eyes."

Sarai and Abram had not counted on such a development as this. They had their weaknesses, but Hagar also had hers. Hagar was then Abram's wife, and although she was not on an equality with Sarai, being in fact her slave, she nevertheless despised her mistress. Thinking that, then, her child would be heir to Abram's fortune, her essential temperament as a slave did not lead her to accept her status and treat Sarai with proper respect. Thus, the tragedy of the arrangement was soon evident. It was impossible for Hagar to be sent away by Sarai, for the laws of that period granted certain rights to slave wives, and Hagar could neither have been sold nor dismissed. The device had appeared to work. Sure enough, Hagar would soon be a mother, but the jealousies and hatreds that entered Abram's household at that point must have been a sore trial for the whole family. Such is ever the result of sin. As Leupold expressed it, "Polygamy is always bound to be the fruitful mother of envy, jealousy, and strife.[2]

A number of authors refer to the Code of Hammurabi in connection with this episode. It "warns expressly, that a slave girl elevated by her mistress should not and could not claim equality."[3]

"To be his wife ..." The Hebrew word rendered "wife" is the same word also rendered "concubine."[4] However, there was a difference, and Hagar certainly enjoyed the status of Abram's wife, however subordinate to Sarai. It was a situation certain to produce friction, hatred, and tragedy.