But Abram said unto Sarai, Behold, your maid is in your hand; do to her as it pleases you. And when Sarai dealt harshly with her, she fled from her face.
All Commentaries on Genesis 16:6 Go To Genesis 16
Didymus the Blind
AD 398
There is a kind of maltreatment of the slave girl that we have likened, by anagogy, to the preparatory exercises (progymnasmata): the shadow [Hagar] of things to come [the generative promise] is transcended. For one who is hastening toward perfection no longer needs that which is preparatory. This is why it is quite natural that the slave girl should flee, because what belongs to the introductory level no longer remains when progress and perfection have arrived.
