What Is Ḥamas?

I've been trying to figure out what the word חמס‎ (ḥamas) means in the Torah. It's a difficult, somewhat obscure term that shows up in very different contexts — contexts that don't, at first glance, seem to connect.

On the one hand, in our parsha, Hashem looks at the world before the Flood and says that "the earth was filled with ḥamas." 

וַיֹּאמֶר אֱלוֹקִים לְנֹחַ קֵץ כָּל־בָּשָׂר בָּא לְפָנַי כִּי־מָלְאָה הָאָרֶץ חָמָס מִפְּנֵיהֶם וְהִנְנִי מַשְׁחִיתָם אֶת־הָאָרֶץ׃

And G-d said unto Noach: "The end of all flesh is come before Me; for the earth is filled with ḥamas through them; and, behold, I will destroy them with the earth."

Bereishis · 6:13

Clearly something negative is happening here. But what, exactly, did Hashem see? What is this "ḥamas" that filled the earth?

Sarah & Hagar

The second appearance is found in the story of Sarah and Hagar.

Sarah cannot have children, so she enters into a surrogate parental relationship with Hagar. She allows Hagar to be with her husband Avraham so that Sarah can (through Hagar), have and raise a child — a child who otherwise would not exist.

Sarah enables this relationship.
She makes it possible.

And the purpose of her doing so is clear: to enable Sarah to build a family and fulfill her role as a mother.

But Hagar uses that very arrangement to belittle Sarah. Perhaps even wanting to reverse it entirely — Hagar the mistress of the house, Sarah subservient to her.

At the very least, Hagar now saw herself as better than Sarah — as Rashi explains:

וַתֵּקַל גְּבִרְתָּהּ בְּעֵינֶיהָ. אָמְרָה שָׂרַי זוֹ אֵין סִתְרָהּ כִּגְלוּיָהּ, מַרְאָה עַצְמָהּ כְּאִלּוּ הִיא צַדֶּקֶת וְאֵינָהּ צַדֶּקֶת, שֶׁלֹּא זָכְתָה לְהֵרָיוֹן כָּל הַשָּׁנִים הַלָּלוּ, וַאֲנִי נִתְעַבַּרְתִּי מִבִּיאָה רִאשׁוֹנָה׃

"Her mistress was lowered in her eyes" — She [Hagar] said: This Sarai — her private self is not like her public face. She presents herself as though she were righteous, but she is not righteous, for she has not merited conception all these years, whereas I conceived from the very first union.

Rashi · Bereishis 16:4

The Malbim takes it one step further — Hagar took this as justification to free herself from servitude, no longer bound to Sarah at all:

וַתֵּקַל גְּבִרְתָּהּ בְּעֵינֶיהָ — כִּי חָשְׁבָה שֶׁאַחַר שֶׁהָרְתָה יָצְאָה מֵרְשׁוּתָהּ, וְגַם נִדְמָה לָהּ שֶׁהִיא צַדֶּקֶת יוֹתֵר מִשָּׂרָה אַחַר שֶׁהָרְתָה תֵּכֶף׃

"Her mistress was lowered in her eyes" — for she [Hagar] reasoned that once she had conceived she had left [Sarah's] authority; and it also seemed to her that she was more righteous than Sarah, since she conceived immediately.

Malbim · Bereishis 16:4

I wonder (as I noted above) if we can take this even further. Perhaps Hagar didn't merely see herself as free and independent, but rather as replacing Sarah altogether. She is now the master — and Sarah is now subservient to her.

It is in this context that our word (חמס‎ — hamas) appears:

וַתֹּאמֶר שָׂרַי אֶל־אַבְרָם חֲמָסִי עָלֶיךָ אָנֹכִי נָתַתִּי שִׁפְחָתִי בְּחֵיקֶךָ וַתֵּרֶא כִּי הָרָתָה וָאֵקַל בְּעֵינֶיהָ יִשְׁפֹּט יקוק בֵּינִי וּבֵינֶיךָ׃

And Sarai said unto Avram: "My ḥamas be upon thee: I gave my handmaid into thy bosom; and when she saw that she had conceived, I was despised in her eyes: Hashem judge between me and thee."

Bereishis · 16:5

In essence, Sarah turns to Avraham and rebukes him.

"You, Avraham, hear and see what is going on. You see how Hagar now relates to me after becoming pregnant.

You see how she belittles me.
Defames me.
Tries to free herself from me.
Perhaps even replace me.

In short, you have seen my hamas (חמס‎) and in response you have said and done nothing!"

Edim Zomemim

The third example is Edim Zomemim. 

Edim Zomemim are false witnesses who lie in court for the explicit purpose of convicting someone of a crime they did not commit.

That might mean using the court to force someone to pay money that they do not owe. Or to administer lashes for a crime they did not commit. Or to even unjustly execute them.

In short, they lie in court in order to convict an innocent man. Today, we would say that he committed perjury. The Torah says he is an "eid hamas" — a ḥamas-witness.

כִּי־יָקוּם עֵד־חָמָס בְּאִישׁ לַעֲנוֹת בּוֹ סָרָה׃

If a ḥamas-witness rise up against any man to bear false witness against him;

Devarim · 19:16

Nothing in Common

At first glance, these three cases share little to nothing in common.

The first case relates to the corruption of society.
The second to a certain form of betrayal.
The third to lying.

And yet the same word — ḥamas — somehow or other relates to all three events.

To corruption.
And betrayal.
And lying.

How?
What is it about the meaning of this one singular word that somehow or other connects these three (seemingly) unrelated events?