Handmaid, Handmaiden

Female servants. They were familiar members among many households in biblical days. The handmaid cared for the women and children of a family and served as the woman’s personal attendant. She enjoyed the protection of the law (Lv 25:6; Dt 5:14; 15:12–15), and as a free wife’s maid, sometimes became a concubine where there was a childless marriage (Gn 30:3).