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Sarai (to Abram): You can see that the Eternal One has still not allowed me to have any children. Why don’t you sleep with my servant girl? Maybe I could use her as a surrogate and have a child through her!

Sarai’s solution to her problem is not unique. Ancient Near Eastern custom allows for these kinds of arrangements.

Abram listened to Sarai and agreed to follow her plan. After they had lived 10 years in Canaan, Abram’s wife Sarai took her servant girl Hagar, the Egyptian, and gave her to her husband Abram as a wife. So Abram slept with Hagar. It was not long before she conceived. But as soon as she knew she was pregnant with Abram’s child, Hagar’s attitude changed and she became haughty toward Sarai.

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