Genesis 16:2

2. It may be that I may obtain children by her Hebrews, Perhaps I shall be builded from her . The word rendered obtain children is בנה , to build, from which comes the Hebrew word בן , ben, son . Hence to be builded means, to become a house; to beget a family . See Ruth 4:11, note . Sarai’s expedient to obtain offspring was according to an ancient custom still prevalent in the East . Comp . Genesis 30:3. The child of her waiting-maid, thus given to her husband, she might call her own, and her impatient haste to see the word of God fulfilled urges Abram into this unholy measure. Sarai’s zeal, like Eve’s hasty and mistaken expectation of the promised seed, (Genesis 4:1, note,) is a fitting type of the impatience and feverish excitement of New Testament times touching the promised millennial kingdom .