Genesis 16:1

1. Handmaid A family servant, whose special duty it was to wait upon the mistress of the household . The Sept . has παιδισκη , a young girl, or a young female slave . From her being here called an Egyptian, we infer that Abram obtained her during his sojourn in Egypt, when he received from Pharaoh “menservants and maidservants . ” Genesis 12:16. The name Hagar means flight . So, also, the well-known Arabic word hezrah or hegira, used so commonly in the flight of Mohammed from Mecca . It may have been given to Sarai’s handmaid after her flight from her mistress, and used here proleptically; or it may have been given her on account of her departure out of Egypt.