I will make my covenant between me and you, and will multiply you exceedingly.”
Abram fell on his face. God talked with him, saying, “As for me, behold, my covenant is with you. You will be the father of a multitude of nations. Your name will no more be called Abram, but your name will be Abraham; for I have made you the father of a multitude of nations. I will make you exceedingly fruitful, and I will make nations of you. Kings will come out of you. I will establish my covenant between me and you and your offspring after you throughout their generations for an everlasting covenant, to be a God to you and to your offspring after you. I will give to you, and to your offspring after you, the land where you are traveling, all the land of Canaan, for an everlasting possession. I will be their God.”
God said to Abraham, “As for you, you will keep my covenant, you and your offspring after you throughout their generations. This is my covenant, which you shall keep, between me and you and your offspring after you. Every male among you shall be circumcised. You shall be circumcised in the flesh of your foreskin. It will be a token of the covenant between me and you. He who is eight days old will be circumcised among you, every male throughout your generations, he who is born in the house, or bought with money from any foreigner who is not of your offspring. He who is born in your house, and he who is bought with your money, must be circumcised. My covenant will be in your flesh for an everlasting covenant. The uncircumcised male who is not circumcised in the flesh of his foreskin, that soul shall be cut off from his people. He has broken my covenant.”
John Calvin 1540 · Public Domain On vv2, 3, 4, 7, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14 2. And I will make my covenant He now…
2. And I will make my covenant He now begins more fully and abundantly to explain what he had before alluded to briefly. We have said that the covenant of God with Abram had two parts. The first was a declaration of gratuitous love; to which was annexed the promise of a happy life. But the other was an exhortation to the sincere endeavor to cultivate uprightness, since God had given, in a single word only, a slight taste of his grace; and then immediately had descended to the design of miscalling; namely, that Abram should be upright. He now subjoins a more ample declaration of his grace, in order that Abram may endeavor more willingly to form his mind and his life, both to reverence towards God, and to the cultivation of uprightness; as if God had said ‘See how kindly I indulge thee: for I do not require integrity from thee simply on account of my authority, which I might justly do; but whereas I owe thee nothing, I condescend graciously to engage in a mutual covenant.’ He does not, however, speak of this as of a new thing: but he recalls the memory of the covenant which he had before made, and now fully confirms and establishes its certainty. For God is not wont to utter new oracles, which may destroy the credit, or obscure the light, or weaken the efficacy of those which preceded; but he continues, as in one perpetual tenor, those promises which he has once given. Wherefore, by these words, he intends nothing else than that the covenant, of which Abram had heard before should be established and ratified: but he expressly introduces that principal point, concerning the multiplication of seed, which he afterwards frequently repeats.
John Calvin's Commentaries (1540-1563) — public domain. Text from the Calvin Translation Society English edition (1840s-50s) via the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (ccel.org). Calvin's coverage is partial (roughly two-thirds of the Bible); uncommented books and verses are honest gaps, never fabricated. The 19th-century editor's footnotes and remarks are omitted so the notes are faithfully Calvin's own voice.
Geneva Bible translators 1599 · Public Domain On vv4, 5, 10, 11, 14 Not only according to the flesh, but of a…
Not only according to the flesh, but of a far greater multitude by faith, Rom. 4:17.
Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain.
John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain On vv2–14 Gen 17:2 And I will make my covenant between…
Gen 17:2 And I will make my covenant between me and thee, and will multiply thee exceedingly.
Ver. 2. And I will make my covenant.] This is now the fifth confirmation of the Covenant; which shows that it is the alpha and omega, the first, second, and third of our salvation; and it is fit we should be well studied in it, and assured of our interest. For as the mercy seat was no larger than the ark, {Exo 25:10-17} so neither is the grace of God than the covenant. And as the ark and mercy seat were never separated; so neither is his mercy from his people.
John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Matthew Poole 1685 · Public Domain On vv2–14 I am come to renew, establish, and enlarge that…
I am come to renew, establish, and enlarge that covenant which I formerly made with thee.
Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Matthew Henry 1710 · Public Domain On vv4, 7 The promise here is introduced with solemnity: "As for…
The promise here is introduced with solemnity: "As for me," says the great God, "behold, behold and admire it, behold and be assured of it, my covenant is with thee;" as before (Gen 17:2), I will make my covenant. Note, The covenant of grace is a covenant of God's own making; this he glories in (as for me), and so may we. Now here,
I. It is promised to Abraham that he should be a father of many nations; that is, 1. That his seed after the flesh should be very numerous, both in Isaac and Ishmael, as well as in the sons of Keturah: something extraordinary is doubtless included in this promise, and we may suppose that the event answered to it, and that there have been, and are, more of the children of men descended from Abraham than from any one man at an equal distance with him from Noah, the common root. 2. That all believers in every age should be looked upon as his spiritual seed, and that he should be called, not only the friend of God, but the father of the faithful. In this sense the apostle directs us to understand this promise, Rom 4:16, Rom 4:17. He is the father of those in every nation that by faith enter into covenant with God, and (as the Jewish writers express it) are gathered under the wings of the divine Majesty.
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II. In token of this his name was changed from Abram, a high father, to Abraham, the father of a multitude. This was, 1. To put an honour upon him. It is spoken of as the glory of the church that she shall be called by a new name, which the mouth of the Lord shall name, Isa 62:2. Princes dignify their favourites by conferring new titles upon them; thus was Abraham dignified by him that is indeed the fountain of honour. All believers have a new name, Rev 2:17. Some think it added to the honour of Abraham's new name that a letter of the name Jehovah was inserted into it, as it was a disgrace to Jeconiah to have the first syllable of his name cut off, because it was the same as the first syllable of the sacred name, Jer 22:28. Believers are named from Christ, Eph 3:15. 2. To encourage and confirm the faith of Abraham. While he was childless perhaps even his own name was sometimes an occasion of grief to him: why should he be called a high father who was not a father at all? But now that God had promised him a numerous issue, and had given him a name which signified so much, that name was his joy. Note, God calls things that are not as though they were. It is the apostle's observation upon this very thing, Rom 4:17. He called Abraham the father of a multitude because he should prove to be so in due time, though as yet he had but one child.
Matthew Henry's Commentary on the Whole Bible (1708–1710) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Gill 1763 · Public Domain On vv2–14 And I will make my covenant between me and…
And I will make my covenant between me and thee,.... The covenant of circumcision, so called from the token of it, which God is said to make or give (e), being his own constitution, and depended on his sovereign will and pleasure, see Act 7:8,
and will multiply thee exceedingly; as he had before promised at several times, and now renews it, lest be should think that Ishmael was the promised seed; for though Hagar's seed is promised to be multiplied, yet here Abram's seed by Sarai is intended, which should be exceeding exceedingly, or in great abundance multiplied; and especially as this may include both his natural seed by her, and his spiritual seed among all nations, who are of the same faith with him, see Gen 12:2.
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(e) "dabo", Pagninus, Montanus, Schmidt.
John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Wesley 1765 · Public Domain On vv3, 4, 5, 7, 8, 10 And Abram fell on his face while God talked…
And Abram fell on his face while God talked with him - Either,
1. As one overcome by the brightness of the Divine glory: Daniel and John did so likewise. Or.
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2. As one ashamed of himself, and blushing to think of the honours done to one so unworthy. He looks upon himself with humility, and upon God with reverence, and, in token of both, falls on his face.
John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.
Adam Clarke 1810 · Public Domain On vv3, 5, 7, 8, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14 Verse 3. And Abram fell on his face] The…
Verse 3. And Abram fell on his face] The eastern method of prostration was thus: the person first went down on his knees, and then lowered his head to his knees, and touched the earth with his forehead. A very painful posture, but significative of great humiliation and reverence.
Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Joseph Benson 1811 · Public Domain On vv3, 4, 5, 7, 8, 10 Gen 17:3. And Abram fell on his face while…
Gen 17:3. And Abram fell on his face while God talked with him — Either, 1st, As one overcome by the brightness of the divine glory; as Daniel and John also were. Or, 2d, As one ashamed of himself, and blushing to think of the honours done to one so unworthy. He looks upon himself with humility, and upon God with reverence; and, in token of both, falls on his face.
Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary 1859 · Public Domain On vv4, 5, 7, 11, 12, 14 I am unchangeable, and faithful to my promises, the…
I am unchangeable, and faithful to my promises, the only God. (Du Hamel) --- Nations. Jews, Saracens or Arabs, Idumeans, and, by faith, of all nations who shall believe in Christ, the King of kings. (Calmet) --- The true Church will never then be reduced to a few unknown believers, as the Donatists and Protestants assert. (Worthington)
George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).
Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown 1871 · Public Domain On vv3, 4, 5, 8, 10 Abram fell on his face--the attitude of profoundest reverence…
Abram fell on his face--the attitude of profoundest reverence assumed by Eastern people. It consists in the prostrate body resting on the hands and knees, with the face bent till the forehead touches the ground. It is an expression of conscious humility and profound reverence.
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
Daniel D. Whedon 1874 · Public Domain On vv2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14 2. I will make my covenant — The formal…
2. I will make my covenant — The formal and symbolical cutting of the covenant was described in chap. xv; here Jehovah gives Abram the sign and seal of the covenant. Accordingly we note that in chap. 15:18, the Hebrew expression is cut (כרת) a covenant; here it is give (נתן) a covenant. “The freedom of the covenant of promise is expressed in this latter phrase. It was a gift from a superior, rather than a bargain between equals; and as it was accompanied by the rite of circumcision, it was typical of the freedom of that covenant made afterwards to Christians, and sealed to them in the sacred rite of baptism.” — Speaker’s Commentary.
Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges 1878 · Public Domain On vv2, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 14 2. And I will make my covenant] See note…
2. And I will make my covenant] See note on Gen_15:9; Gen_15:18. The words of this verse imply no knowledge of the covenant described in chap. 15. The covenant has yet to be made. P’s account of the covenant is different from that of J; and, the two traditions being distinct, there is no allusion here to the previous narrative.
fell on his face] The prostration of humility and reverence, as in Gen_17:17. Cf. Num_14:5.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers 1878 · Public Domain On vv2, 4, 5, 10, 12, 13, 14 (2) I will make my covenant.—In Gen_15:18 the Heb.…
(2) I will make my covenant.—In Gen_15:18 the Heb. word for “make” is cut, and refers to the severing of the victims; here it is “give,” “place,” and implies that it was an act of grace on God’s part (comp. Note on Gen_9:9). Abram had now waited twenty-five years after leaving Ur-Chasdim, and fourteen or fifteen years since the ratification of the solemn covenant between him and Jehovah (Gen_15:17); but the time had at length arrived for the fulfilment of the promise, and in token thereof Abram and Sarai were to change their names, and all the males be brought near to God by a solemn sacrament.
A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Pulpit Commentary 1880 · Public Domain On vv2–14 And I will make my covenant between me and…
And I will make my covenant between me and thee. Literally, I will give (cf. Gen_9:9, Gen_9:11, Gen_9:12) Neither an additional covenant to that described in Genesis 15. (Rosenm nor a different traditional account of the transaction contained in Genesis 15. (Tuch, Bleek), nor the original Elohistic narrative of which that in Genesis 15. was a later imitation (Knobel); but an intimation that the covenant already concluded was about to be carried into execution, and the promise of a son to be more specifically determined as the offspring of Sarai (Keil). And will multiply thee exceedingly. (vide Gen_12:2 Gen_13:16 Gen_15:5)
The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Biblical Illustrator 1887 · Public Domain On vv3, 5, 7, 9 My covenant is with thee, and thou shalt be…
Gen_17:3-8
My covenant is with thee, and thou shalt be a father of many nations
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The second stage of the covenant
Already Jehovah, the Covenant God, had appeared thrice to Abram.
1. Simply to assure him that he should be blessed, and become a blessing Gen_12:7).
2. To give him the promise of a numerous progeny, as the dust of the earth for multitude (Gen_13:16).
3. To repeat this assurance, but now likening the number of his seed to the stars of heaven (Gen_15:5). This third vision was confirmed by a solemn sacrifice. In it God stands clearly out as the contracting party, conveying certain blessings to Abram, and requiring the performance of no distinct conditions on His part. Now the covenant has moved forwards another stage, and Abram is to take his own part in it by receiving the appointed sign--the sign and seal of the righteousness of the faith which he had, yet being uncircumcised (Rom_4:11). This second stage of the covenant was marked--
I. BY MORE DEFINITE AND CIRCUMSTANTIAL PROMISES. This law of progressive revelation has an illustration in the case of Abram. The original promise is renewed, but spread more out into details. Consider these promised blessings--
1. In their natural greatness. Though they have a higher meaning and importance, yet there are aspects of them which belong entirely to this present world.
2. In their spiritual significance. Their ultimate reference is above and beyond the things of time and sense. The sands on the sea shore, and the multitude of the stars, speak to us Christians of the number and extent of the true Church of God.
II. BY A CHANCED NAME. Abram had reached a new stage in his history, and this is indicated by a new name. With God, names are not empty designations, but represent the truth of things. To Abraham it was as a new life to find the promises growing more clear, the gifts of Gods goodness more palpable and evident.
III. BY SPECIAL ENGAGEMENT ON THE PART OF GOD. God is the fountain of the blessing, and the sole proposer of the terms. His covenant is the only foundation of all our hope. We can look for nothing but what is thus assured to us. To believers in covenant, God conveys the riches which are in Christ. They are bound to a life of faith and love, and He engages Himself to impart His fulness,
1. This should excite our gratitude.
2. It should stimulate our faith.
3. It should excite our reverence. (T. H. Leale.)
The ratification of the covenant
I. GODS TREATMENT OF ABRAHAM.
1. His revelation of Himself.
2. He changes the names of the patriarch and his wife.
3. An enlarged promise.
4. The promise of a son to Sarah.
5. Yet Ishmael is remembered for good.
II. ABRAHAMS CONDUCT.
1. He readily entered into the covenant.
2. He instantly submitted to the prescribed rite.
3. He included in the covenant all whom he could influence.
III. APPLICATION. God proposes to enter into covenant with us. He has given His Son as a sacrifice for our sins, and made us the most gracious and abundant promises. Now, we are required to take up the covenant and accept the conditions of it.
1. Look at the covenant on Gods part.
(1) He reveals Himself to us as the Almighty. Think of His greatness and power.
(2) He gives us a new name, He calls us His sons. He changes our nature, and makes us partakers of His own.
(3) He appoints us the sign and seal of baptism and the Lords
Supper, in token of our covenant relation to Him.
(4) He then lays upon us His great and holy command, in keeping of which we shall realize perfect safety and immortal blessedness.
2. Our duty.
(1) We are to walk before God, the Almighty.
(a) Remember His presence.
(b) Seek His guidance and approval in all we do.
(c) Look to Him for protection and reward.
(2) In this way we shall be perfect. Sincere and upright. Happy.
Safe. (The Congregational Pulpit.)
Gods everlasting covenant
I. THIS COVENANT IS THE SHEET ANCHOR OF CHRISTIAN FAITH. No fear of defeat or failure.
II. THIS COVENANT IS A PERPETUAL COVENANT. Everlasting is the period of its duration. It is for all ages, all dispensations, all believers in all the world to the end of time.
III. THIS COVENANT WAS MADE WITH ABRAM AND HIS SEED AFTER HIM. Parents do not make enough of it, or plead it with sufficient faith and persistency.
IV. THIS COVENANT IS GODS EVERLASTING ARM UNDERNEATH THE SAINT. Away, then, with fear. (J. M. Sherwood, D. D.)
Faith in Gods naked word
The more entirely thou canst rely on Gods naked word and promise, the stronger is thy faith; for then thou trustest Him on His own credit, without any bond from another; and this is faith indeed. He that walks without staff or crutch, is stronger than he that needs these to lean on. (W. Gurnall.)
Distrust of Gods promise
The awkwardness of our hearts to suffer comes much from distrust. An unbelieving soul treads upon the promise, as a man upon ice; at first going upon it he is full of fears, lest it should crack. (W. Gurnall.)
God talked with him
I. SATISFACTORY COMMUNION. The Rev. James Owen, of Shrewsbury, being asked, when on his death bed, whether he would have some of his friends sent for to keep him company, replied, My fellowship is with the Father, and with His Son Jesus Christ, and he that is not satisfied with that company doth not deserve it.
II. DEGREES OF COMMUNION. Some value the presence of their Saviour so highly that they cannot bear to be at any remove from Him. Even their work they will bring up, and do it in the light of His countenance, and, while engaged in it, will be seen constantly raising their eyes to Him, as if fearful of losing one beam of His light. Others who, to be sure, would not be content to live out of His presence, are yet less wholly absorbed by it than these, and may be seen, a little farther off, engaged here and there in their various callings, their eyes generally upon their work, but often looking up for the light which they love. A third class, beyond these, but yet within the light-giving rays, includes a double multitude, many of whom are so much engaged in their worldly schemes, that they may be seen standing sideways to Christ, looking mostly the other way, and only now and then turning their faces toward the light. (E. Payson, D. D.)
The Biblical Illustrator, edited by Joseph S. Exell (c. 1880s–1900s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Preacher's Complete Homiletical Commentary 1892 · Public Domain On vv3, 9 Gen_17:3. God talked with him.] “We must notice here…
CRITICAL NOTES.—
Gen_17:3. God talked with him.] “We must notice here the expression Elohim, and the Dabbar (word). God, as the Author of the universe, begins a conversation with Abram, when he should become Abraham the father of a multitude of nations.” (Lange.)
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Gen_17:4. As for Me.] Thus one party to and the originator of the covenant is here made prominent. Father of many nations. Fulfilled in a literal sense. The twelve tribes of Israel, many Arab tribes, the twelve princes of Ishmael, Keturah’s descendants, and the dukes of Edom sprang from him. But St. Paul teaches that this is also to be realised in a spiritual sense (Rom_4:16-17).
Gen_17:5. Abram.… Abraham.] The former name was composed of Ab (father) and ram (high, eminent). The name Abraham is formed by dropping the last letter, and inserting the first syllable of the word hamon (multitude). Abram-hamon is abbreviated into Abraham, the high father of a multitude. Have I made thee.] Heb. Have I given thee—appointed or constituted thee. The word used by St. Paul conveys exactly the same idea (τεθεικα) (Rom_4:17).
Gen_17:6. Kings.] “From him were descended the chief of the twelve tribes of the Hebrews, and after their separation, the kings of Judah as well as the kings of Israel. From him sprang the ancient monarchs of Edom, and the Saracen kings in Arabia, Babylon, and Egypt. If we pass from the literal to the spiritual fulfilment, we find the heavenly Messiah, the King of kings, descending from the same stock, and all true Christians, his seed, by faith ‘Kings and priests unto God’ ” (Rev_1:6). (Bush).
Gen_17:8. The land wherein thou art a stranger.] Heb. The land of thy sojournings, or wanderings.
MAIN HOMILETICS OF THE PARAGRAPH.—Gen_17:3-8
THE SECOND STAGE OF THE COVENANT
Already Jehovah, the Covenant God, had appeared thrice to Abram.
(1) Simply to assure him that he should be blessed, and become a blessing (ch. Gen_12:7).
(2) To give him the promise of a numerous progeny, as the dust of the earth for multitude (ch. Gen_13:16).
(3) To repeat this assurance, but now likening the number of his seed to the stars of heaven (ch. Gen_15:5). This third vision was confirmed by a solemn sacrifice. In it God stands clearly out as the contracting party, conveying certain blessings to Abram, and requiring the performance of no distinct conditions on his part. Now the Covenant has moved forwards another stage, and Abram is to take his own part in it by receiving the appointed sign—“the sign and seal of the righteousness of the faith which he had, yet being uncircumcised.” (Rom_4:11.) This second stage of the Covenant was marked—
I. By more definite and circumstantial promises. In the revelation of God’s will to mankind we can trace a gradual progress. Promises and prophecies, at first vague and mysterious, are succeeded by others which are clearer and more minute in their contents. As time moves on, the Divine purpose becomes more definitely revealed. Such were the prophecies concerning Christ, until the fulness of time was come. This law of progressive revelation has an illustration in the case of Abram. The original promise is renewed, but spread more out into details. Consider these promised blessings—
1. In their natural greatness. Though they have a higher meaning and importance, yet there are aspects of them which belong entirely to this present world. They speak of a numerous seed, of Abram as the fountain of the inextinguishable life of countless generations. They speak of him as the progenitor of kings and great nations, so that there was spread before him the vision of great lawgivers, and statesmen, and warriors, and all that belongs to the idea of a great civilisation. His seed would be great and distinguished, cared for in an especial manner by God, living under the immediate eye of Providence, and made to fill a prominent place in the history of mankind. Their continuance was assured by an unfailing covenant, by which God bound Himself to preserve them. They are the only nation of mankind whose history is written on the awful scroll of prophecy. Hence they still persist throughout human history—a remarkable evidence of the truth and stability of God’s word.
2. In their spiritual significance. Considering that it was God who made these promises, and in behalf of men who were destined to live for ever, they cannot be restricted to this present life, but look towards a higher and a spiritual world. Their ultimate reference is above and beyond the things of time and sense. The numerous seed represents a wider family, the children of Abram’s faith who are to be blessed with him. The sands on the sea-shore, and the multitude of the stars, speak to us Christians of the number and extent of the true Church of God. That, too, is possessed of an indestructible life—an energy which will remain unhurt by the wrongs of time. The spiritual privileges of the Church are secured by covenant. The true King of men—the rightful Monarch of human souls, has sprung from Abram, and He has gathered around Him a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a peculiar people. There is only one institution now in the world whose continued existence is assured, and that is the family of God named after the Lord Jesus Christ (Eph_3:14-15). Thus the life of Abram, speading and continuing through history, is a figure of the life of the Church of God. Also, the promise of the land to Abram for an everlasting possession points to a more glorious inheritance—the heavenly Canaan. In some way or other, Abram was to inherit the land; for so the grant runs, “I will give unto thee, and unto thy seed after thee, the land wherein thou art a stranger, all the land of Canaan for an everlasting possession” (Gen_17:8). Thus Abram himself had a vested right in this inheritance—a condition which was never fulfilled in this world, and which can only be satisfied by an inheritance incorruptible, undefiled, and that fadeth not away. God leads His people from the earthly to the heavenly, and through many disappointments He conducts them to some real and permanent good. The blessing in its highest form may for a while be hidden from them, but in the end it is revealed, and their souls are satisfied. Again: this second stage of the Covenant was marked—
II. By a changed name. Abram had reached a new stage in his history, and this is indicated by a new name. So the name Jacob was changed to that of “Israel,” which signifies Prevailer, in remembrance of his triumphant wrestling with the Angel of the Covenant, and as a gracious assurance of his future successes in prayer. The name Cephas was changed to that of Peter, to indicate that a stage of firm and unshaken faith had been reached. The sons of Zebedee were called Boanerges, to signify their new-born zeal and the earnest work which they were to do. With God, names are not empty designations, but represent the truth of things. They are the outward signs of reality. They are a form which encloses a substance. God gives a new name with a new nature. To Abraham it was as a new life to find the promises growing more clear, the gifts of God’s goodness more palpable and evident. His importance in the external history of nations, his spiritual connection with the Church in all ages, the deathless energy of the example of his life, all combined to make this time, as it were, a resurrection into a new state. All things had become new. Abraham’s faith had prevailed, and a new name was given to him as it shall be given to all who have overcome. This second stage in the Covenant was also marked,
III. By special engagements on the part of God. A covenant implies two parties, and among men takes the form of a bargain, or agreement, with conditions imposed. But with God it becomes a covenant of grace, which is virtually a command, founded upon God’s promises, and the advances of His love. “As for Me, behold, My covenant is with thee” (Gen_17:4). God is the fountain of the blessing, and the sole proposer of the terms. His covenant is the only foundation of all our hope. We can look for nothing but what is thus assured to us. God first engages Himself to us, and then we become bound to engage ourselves to Him. To believers in covenant, God conveys the riches which are in Christ. They are bound to a life of faith and love, and He engages Himself to impart His fulness.
1. This should excite our gratitude. As creatures, and especially as sinful creatures, we are not in a position to dictate to God or to lay any claims on His bounty. We, therefore, receive all as the gift of His grace, and the uppermost feeling in our hearts should be gratitude. When the Most High binds Himself down for our sakes, we can only adore His goodness with a thankful heart.
2. It should stimulate our faith. Every fresh blessing received is a confirmation of our past faith and an additional reason why we should trust for the future. Thus a long-tried faith, and a faith encouraged by fulfilled hopes, becomes to us as the certainties of knowledge. “I know whom I have believed.” As God’s engagements to bless come home more and more to our life and experience, a new impulse should be given to our faith in Him for all that is to come.
3. It should excite our reverence. When Jehovah appeared to announce His Covenant blessings, Abram “fell on his face” (Gen_17:3). He was oppressed with the sense of God’s Sovereign Majesty. The sublime Object of our worship appears in the greatness and freeness of His blessings. Such good and perfect gifts can only come from the Father of Lights. Profound reverence should be the posture of our souls when God appears, for reverence is the life of all religion and that habit of soul which prepares it for that heavenly state where one Supreme Will alone is loved and obeyed. The worship of reverence and praise is eternal. To be brought to the feet of God in humble adoration, and in the bliss of His presence, is our highest glory.
SUGGESTIVE COMMENTS ON THE VERSES
Gen_17:3. Like Abraham, we must learn to fall upon our faces before God as a preparation for receiving His promised blessings.
The first effect of a Divine manifestation is to overcome us, and thus an awe and silence are produced by which we are fitted to hear what God will say.
There is no playing in phrases or disputing about God when once He appears. All speculation and controversy are hushed, and we feel the greatness of His power and majesty.
This is the lowliest form of reverence, in which the worshipper leans on his knees and elbows, and his forehead approaches the ground. Prostration is still customary in the East. Abram has attained to loftier notions of God. God talked with him. Jehovah, El Shaddai, is here called God. The Supreme appears as the Author of existence, the Irresistible and Everlasting, in this stage of the Covenant relation.—(Murphy.)
God’s revelation of Himself is made to reverent minds.
It was fit that he should fall on his face, now that God talked with him. Such a posture of body befits us at the hearing of the word, as may best express our reverence, and further our attention. Balak is bid to rise up to hear Balaam’s parable. (Num_23:18.) Eglon, though a fat unwieldy man, riseth up from his seat to hear God’s message from Ehud. (Jdg_3:20.) The people in Nehemiah “stood up” (ch. Gen_8:5) to hear the law read and expounded. Constantine the Great would not be entreated to sit down or be covered at a sermon; no more would our Edward VI., whose custom was also to take notes of what he heard. The Thessalonians are commended for this, that they heard Paul’s preaching “as the word of God, and not of man.” (1Th_2:13.) Had Samuel thought it had been God that called to him (and not Eli), he would not have slept, but fallen on his face before the Lord, as Abram here, who was no novice, but knew well that though God loves to be acquainted with men in the walks of their obedience, yet He takes state upon Him in His ordinances, and will be trembled at in His word and judgments.—(Trapp.)
The speech of God to man makes up the substance of the Bible. We can know the nature of physical bodies by knowing their properties and relations, but we can only know the nature of a person when he speaks. He thus declares himself. Hence the necessity for revelation if we are to know anything of God.
Where did holy men of old get those sublime ideas of God and human duty and destiny—ideas which never could have arisen in the mind uninformed from a Divine source? The only answer is, that God talked with them.
Gen_17:4. The greatness of the Being from whom the Covenant proceeded imparted to it a surpassing value, grandeur, and excellence.
The assurance of God’s Covenant mercies console us after long trials, and revive our faith and devotion.
God might have formed gracious designs towards us, and yet have us ignorant of them. But He has revealed to us His gracious purpose in Christ Jesus. He hastens to console us, as He did to Abram, by telling us that His Covenant is with us and for our advantage. Our hope’s foundation lies in the word of God.
The living personality of the Divine Being lights up the pages of the Bible, and imparts the potency of life to its truths.
The living energy of the faith of this primitive and model believer pervades all history. Abraham, according to St. Paul, is “heir of the world.” All nations which have any future before them profess that same faith (though with added light) which was held by this first Father of the Church. To Abraham and his seed we Christians are indebted for all the religious privileges we enjoy.
Thus emphatically is the promise confirmed to Abraham; and the assurance is peculiarly well timed, and well fitted to sustain and revive his spiritual faith. What does he see before him? Not a long line of earthly monarchs, and a great variety of earthly communities, all tracing their natural descent from him as their common ancestor, but a great multitude which no man can number, of all nations and kindreds, and peoples, and tongues, gathered into one in Christ; all justified like Himself, by faith, and all rejoicing to be called His children, and to be blessed as such along with Him. The patriarch had indeed many sons after the flesh, for his second spouse bore him a numerous offspring, and of these sons many various nations sprung, over whom renowned kings reigned. But it was not such a patriarchal honour that Abraham chiefly valued. Himself a partaker of the righteousness that is by faith, he longed for a more illustrious distinction, and sought a more congenial family to arise and call him father. He saw the day of Christ afar off, and in Christ he saw the exceeding increase and fruitfulness of the great household of faith, the countless host of the elect, gathered into one out of all nations, united in the same holy faith and fellowship with himself; and finally, nations themselves and their kings converted to the knowledge of the Saviour in whom he believed, and so becoming His children indeed. What a prospect, to revive, to elevate, and to ennoble the patriarch; to break every worldly and carnal spell; to make the eye of his spiritual faith beam keen, and the pulse of his spiritual life beat warm, and high, and strong!—(Candlish).
This Covenant was not made with many nations, but with one man. They were to trace their natural and spiritual greatness to him: Thus it was intended that the world should grow familiar with the great principle upon which our salvation rests—redemption through One, even Christ. Not by laws of progress, or political systems, or philosophies, are mankind to be delivered, but by the Son of God, who has brought salvation.
Gen_17:5. It has been said that all our science consists ultimately in giving right names to things. God, who knows all, can give names which correspond to realities.
“God calleth those things which be not as though they were,” i.e., He called or denominated Abraham the father of a multitude, because he should finally become so, though now he had but one child, and he not the child of promise.—(Bush.)
A new name—
1. Is fitted for those who have new hopes and a clearer view of their inheritance. Abraham had now his hope turned in a new and unlooked-for direction. His inheritance in the future was more clearly marked out; the whole scene standing vividly before him, so as to affect his soul with the sense of new pleasures.
2. Is a stimulus to fulfil the high destiny signified by the changed name. That name would ever remind the patriarch of God’s calling and purpose.
By the exposition given of this promise in the New Testament (Rom_4:16-17), we are directed to understand it not only of those who sprang from Abraham’s body, though these were many nations; but also of all that should be of “the faith of Abraham.” It went to make him the Father of the Church of God in all future ages; or, as the Apostle calls him, “the heir of the world.” In this view he is the father of many, even of “a multitude of nations.” All that the Christian world enjoys, or ever will enjoy, it is indebted for it to Abraham and his seed. A high honour this, to be the Father of the Faithful, the stock from which the Messiah should spring, and on which the Church of God should grow. It was this honour that Esau despised, when he sold his birthright; and here lay the profaneness of that act, which involved a contempt of the most sacred of all objects—the Messiah, and His everlasting kingdom!—(Fuller.)
God has no relations to time (as we count it) and speaks of the future as here, and present before Him. We may well, therefore, trust His word against all appearances to the contrary.
The high father becomes the father of a multitude; thus God enlarges the portion of those who trust in Him.
Gen_17:6. God’s Providence ordains the sources of nations, and controls their destinies.
Nations and kings. Thus the history of mankind is to stand connected with political order.
The true king of men was to arise from the seed of Abraham. All kings shall fall down before Him.
God, in His Providence, ordered nations to arise with kings over them, with their laws and usages of government, in order that He might prepare mankind for the idea of a holy nation, presided over by the true priest-king.
The spiritual is founded on the natural, and is the goal of it. Abraham’s high distinction is that he is the spiritual father of a vast spiritual progeny, having a Divinely established order, and under one Supreme sovereignty.
Nations, though they may exist for ages, at length share the mortality of their founders. Kings reign for a few brief years, and then pass away. But the nation of true believers and their kingship are perpetual, for they belong to that realm of the Messiah which for ever lasts.
There was this sense existing in men’s hearts, showing itself in their acts, that the relations between man and man rest on something out of sight, that they are spiritual relations, not those of force, or fraud, or convenience—that men do not huddle together as cattle to keep themselves warm, nor band together as wild beasts, that they may hunt in company; that law is not the result of so much self-will which each man might have kept, yet for certain advantageous considerations throws into a common stock, but that rather there is a law of laws, anterior to and constituting the ground of each positive enactment. If men had any sense of this divine order, which they did not themselves constitute, but into which they entered—which to accept was good, which to deny and fight against was evil—if they did thus believe, in the words of the father of Roman philosophy, nos ad justitiam esse natos, then we have implicitly here an acknowledgment of, and a yearning after, the kingdom of God. They who believed this, believed in “the City which hath foundations,” in that only one which can have everlasting foundations, for it is the only one whose foundations are laid in perfect righteousness and perfect truth—the city “whose builder and maker is God”—the same that Abraham looked for, and because he looked for would take no portion in the cities of confusion round him, but dwelling in tents witnessed against them, and declared plainly that he sought a country—the city of which we already are made free, and which it was given to the latest seer of the New Covenant, ere the Book was sealed, to behold in the spirit coming down in its final glory from Heaven (Rev_21:2.)—(Trench).
Gen_17:7. The Abrahamic Covenant includes the seed of the parent along with himself. “Now to Abraham and his seed were the promises made.” The great chief personage contemplated in the seed is Jesus (Gal_3:16). But the seed does also include all who are in Christ (Gal_3:9). This household feature of the Covenant is perpetual. It was from the beginning the plan of God to propagate His Church by means of a pious posterity; and in His Covenant provision, He is pleased to compass in His arms of love not only the parent, but the infant children also. This was definitely fixed by the very terms of the Covenant, and in the very form of the Covenant seal. And it has thus always been a feature of the Church. And it comes down to us under the New Testament dispensation: “And if ye be Christ’s, then are ye Abraham’s seed and heirs according to the promise. For the promise is unto you, and to your children” (Gal_3:29; Act_2:39). The seed of Abram according to the flesh—the Jewish people—has great promises as a people (Romans 4).—(Jacobus.)
The great blessings of God’s Covenant were not intended to terminate in those who first received them, but to flow down though the generations of mankind. God gives as one who inherits all time.
Children may be partakers of God’s Covenant, though they are unconscious of its nature and blessings.
There were blessings of the Covenant which were intended to be partial and to endure only for a time, but in their higher meaning and intent they are eternal. God hath willed it that His greatest gifts to those who love Him shall be enjoyed for ever (Heb_13:20).
God’s gifts are kingly.
1. In their greatness. For He is Lord and possessor of all. He gives not according to our narrow, niggardly notions, but according to His fulness.
2. In their duration. He is King for ever, and therefore can bestow eternal good.
God is in covenant with every child of grace. Let witnesses be called. First, let Abraham appear. He was born in sin,—prone to evil,—the child of wrath, laden with iniquity, just as we are. But his evidence asserts that God thus communed with him, “I will establish My Covenant between thee, and thy seed after thee.” Let David next be heard. By natural descent he was as we are. But his truthful gratitude exclaims, “He hath made with me an everlasting Covenant, ordered in all things, and sure.” Thus far the point is clear. God covenants with man. But perhaps some trembling believer may doubt whether such grace extends beyond the favoured elders in the household of faith. Mercy speeds to give the reply. The Covenant is established with Abraham, and his seed after him (Gal_3:29). If you are Christ’s, you are a Covenant-child of God. In His majesty, God says, “I the Lord have called thee in righteousness, and will hold thy hand, and will keep thee, and give thee for a Covenant to the people.” We are here bade to gaze on Jesus, as Himself the Covenant. And such He is: for it has no being, no continuance, no power but in Him. He is its essence, its reality, its fulness, its all. It is founded, erected, concluded in Him. No Christ, no Covenant. Receive Him, and it is yours in all its truth and riches. Reject Him, and you perish, because you have not the shadow of a plea. He is the Covenant, because, as Jehovah’s fellow. He designs it, and wills it, and orders it, and frames it, and accepts it. He is the Covenant, because, as God-man, He takes it into His own hand, and works out its every condition.—(Archdeacon Law: “Christ in All.”)
The Covenant with Abraham’s Children by faith.
1. Christ is the messenger of it (Mal_3:1). He tells us that it is made, and informs us of its contents; by His word—His servants—His sealing ordinances.
2. Christ is the Surety of it (Heb_7:22). He engages to carry out its provisions, and by His Spirit to work in His people the fruits of righteousness.
3. Christ is the Mediator of it (Heb_12:24). He touches God and man, and they become one in Him. He is the Mediator by means of death (Heb_9:15). Thus it was sealed with His blood.
To be a God unto thee. Thus all God’s promises to His people, which seem to point to merely limited and temporal good, have their fruition in glory; we have only that one name for that happiness which is dealt out according to the full measures of the Divine riches.
What God is and what he has belongs to the whole generation of faithful believers.
All the privileges of the Covenant of mercy, its richest joys and most glorious hopes, are summed up in this assurance. He that comes within its scope, as does every believer, can desire nothing more to make him happy. It is as if He had said, “Whatever I am or have, or purpose in a way of grace to do, all that I will be to thee and to thy seed, all that shall be employed for thy protection, consolation, and salvation.”—(Bush.)
The force of language can no further go to express the bliss of God’s chosen; for what good can there be which is not in God? Therefore, blessed are they whose God is Jehovah (Psa_144:15).
Gen_17:8. The temporal and the spiritual are here brought together. The land of promise is made sure to the heir of promise for a perpetual possession, and God engages to be their God. The phrase “perpetual possession” has here two elements of meaning: first, that the possession in its coming form of a certain land shall last as long as the co-existing relations of things are continued; and, secondly, that the said possession, in all the variety of its ever grander phases, will last absolutely for ever. Each form will be perfectly adequate to each stage of a progressive humanity. But in all its forms, and at every stage, it will be their chief glory that God is their God.—(Murphy.)
They who possess God can never want any good thing. The blessings which are suited to them in this life last as long as they require them, while those which are specially suited to the habits and requirements of their spiritual nature last for ever.
God’s promises are fulfilled to believers in their lower sense, so that they might be prepared for their enjoyment in a higher. The land of Canaan was thus a type of heaven, that blessed country which shall be cleared of all enemies, and shall be the portion of God’s people for ever. They were once “strangers” to it, for it was not theirs by the inheritance of birth, but it has been given to them as the inheritance of faith—as the grant of grace, and not as coming of natural right.
The two expressions, “I will be a God unto thee,” and “I will be their God,” represent religion considered in two ways.
1. As personal. The soul comes face to face with the personal God. And God gives Himself entirely to the individual believer as if there were no other being besides that soul which He loves. He is not imperfect, as we are who can only bestow but a little of our thought and feeling upon others; for it is a necessity of His nature that He should love with all the directness and intensity of His being.
2. As the character of a corporate body. While we rejoice in the intimate and full relation in which God stands to our individual souls, we must not be unmindful of the spiritual interests of others—of the Church of God considered as a corporate body. God’s word teaches believers to give due regard both to public and to private interests. The infinite resources of God secure the perpetual bliss of the heavenly Canaan.
Abraham most certainly saw in this promise the hope of an inheritance with God, to be reached by a resurrection from the dead; an inheritance incorruptible, undefiled, and that fadeth not away. Compared with this—to be for ever possessed by himself, and by all like-minded with himself—how poor the prospect of the occupation of Canaan for a few brief centuries, by a nation—all born of him, it is true, but, alas, not all partakers of that faith by which alone he was justified, and by which alone he or they could be saved. That, assuredly, was not the hope of Abraham’s calling. No. He had lived by the power of the world to come, he rejoiced in hope of the glory to be revealed, and in this renewal of the Covenant he had his eye directed to no earthly prize but to heaven itself, and to God as constituting the blessedness of heaven—or, in a word, to the full enjoyment of God as his own and his children’s portion for ever. (Candlish.)
As the call of Abraham was the first Divine act towards the formation of a Church, so in this renewed Covenant God revives the long-tried faith of His servant by opening up a wide and glorious prospect before him.
1. Countless multitudes of believing children.
2. Their unity in Him who is the true seed. Thus they are bound together into one sovereignty—a holy nation, a people for God’s possession.
3. The intimate relation in which God stands to this true seed, and to all who are one with Him.
4. The glorious hope of an eternal inheritance, which they are to reach through the resurrection from the dead.
When Abraham was promised that his seed were to inherit the land, and that God was to be theirs for a perpetual possession, the thoughts of the patriarch would naturally be cast upon the future. He would feel that God was not granting to him blessings which vanish with life, but those which endure for ever. Thus would he be weaned from the world, and learn to fix the eye of his faith upon the larger prospect of the heavenly country.
The Preacher's Complete Homiletical Commentary (gen. ed. Joseph S. Exell; Funk & Wagnalls, c. 1892) — public domain (pre-1929). A full-Bible homiletical/sermon-outline anthology covering 65 of 66 books (2 John is absent from the source module). Text from a community e-Sword module.
Alexander MacLaren 1905 · Public Domain On v2 Gen 17:1 - Gen 17:9.
Genesis
WAITING FAITH REWARDED AND STRENGTHENED BY NEW REVELATIONS
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Gen 17:1 - Gen 17:9.
Abram was seventy-five years old when he left Haran. He was ninety-nine when God appeared to him, as recorded in this chapter. There had been three divine communications in these twenty-five years-one at Bethel on entering the land, one after the hiving off of Lot, and one after the battle with the Eastern kings. The last-named vision had taken place before Ishmael’s birth, and therefore more than thirteen years prior to the date of the lesson.
We are apt to think of Abraham’s life as being crowded with supernatural revelations. We forget the foreshortening necessary in so brief a sketch of so long a career, which brings distant points close together. Revelations were really but thinly sown in Abram’s life. For something over thirteen years he had been left to walk by faith, and, no doubt, had felt the pressure of things seen, silently pushing the unseen out of his life.
Especially would this be the case as Ishmael grew up, and his father’s heart began to cling to him. The promise was beginning to grow dimmer, as years passed without the birth of the promised heir. As Gen 17:18 of this chapter shows, Abram’s thoughts were turning to Ishmael as a possible substitute. His wavering confidence was steadied and quickened by this new revelation. We, too, are often tempted to think that, in the highest matters, ‘a bird in the hand is worth two in the bush,’ and to wish that God would be content with our Ishmaels, which satisfy us, and would not withdraw us from possessed good, to make us live by hope of good unseen. We need to reflect on this vision when we are thus tempted.
1. Note the revelation of God’s character, and of our consequent duty, which preceded the repetition of the covenant. ‘I am the Almighty God.’ The aspect of the divine nature, made prominent in each revelation of Himself, stands in close connection with the circumstances or mental state of the recipient. So when God appeared to Abram after the slaughter of the kings, He revealed Himself as ‘thy Shield’ with reference to the danger of renewed attack from the formidable powers which He had bearded and beaten. In the present case the stress is laid on God’s omnipotence, which points to doubts whispering in Abram’s heart, by reason of God’s delay in fulfilling His word, and of his own advancing years and failing strength. Paul brings out the meaning of the revelation when he glorifies the faith which it kindled anew in Abram, ‘being fully assured that, what He had promised, He was able also to perform’ {Rom 4:21}. Whenever our ‘faith has fallen asleep’ and we are ready to let go our hold of God’s ideal and settle down on the low levels of the actual, or to be somewhat ashamed of our aspirations after what seems so slow of realisation, or to elevate prudent calculations of probability above the daring enthusiasms of Christian hope, the ancient word, that breathed itself into Abram’s hushed heart, should speak new vigour into ours. ‘I am the Almighty God-take My power into all thy calculations, and reckon certainties with it for the chief factor. The one impossibility is that any word of Mine should fail. The one imprudence is to doubt My word.’
What follows in regard to our duty from that revelation? ‘Walk before Me, and be thou perfect.’ Enoch walked with God; that is, his whole active life was passed in communion with Him. The idea conveyed by ‘walking before God’ is not precisely the same. It is rather that of an active life, spent in continual consciousness of being ‘naked and opened before the eyes of Him to whom we have to give account.’ That thrilling consciousness will not paralyse nor terrify, if we feel that we are not only ‘ever in the great Task-Master’s eye,’ but that God’s omniscience is all-knowing love, and is brought closer to our hearts and clothed in gracious tenderness in Christ whose ‘eyes were as a flame of fire,’ but whose love is more ardent still, who knows us altogether, and pities and loves as perfectly as He knows.
What sort of life will spring from the double realisation of God’s almightiness, and of our being ever before Him? ‘Be thou perfect.’ Nothing short of immaculate conformity with His will can satisfy His gaze. His desire for us should be our aim and desire for ourselves. The standard of aspiration and effort cannot be lowered to meet weakness. This is nobility of life-to aim at the unattainable, and to be ever approximating towards our aim. It is more blessed to be smitten with the longing to win the unwon than to stagnate in ignoble contentment with partial attainments. Better to climb, with faces turned upwards to the inaccessible peak, than to lie at ease in the fat valleys! It is the salt of life to have our aims set fixedly towards ideal perfection, and to say, ‘I count not myself to have apprehended: but . . .I press toward the mark.’ Toward that mark is better than to any lower. Our moral perfection is, as it were, the reflection in humanity of the divine almightiness.
The wide landscape may be mirrored in an inch of glass. Infinity may be, in some manner, presented in miniature in finite natures. Our power cannot represent God’s omnipotence, but our moral perfection may, especially since that omnipotence is pledged to make us perfect if we will walk before Him.
2. Note the sign of the renewed covenant. Compliance with these injunctions is clearly laid down as the human condition of the divine fulfilment of it. ‘Be thou perfect’ comes first; ‘My covenant is with thee’ follows. There was contingency recognised from the beginning. If Israel broke the covenant, God was not unfaithful if He should not adhere to it. But the present point is that a new confirmation is given before the terms are repeated. The main purpose, then, of this revelation, did not lie in that repetition, but in the seal given to Abram by the change of name.
Another sign was also given, which had a wider reference. The change of name was God’s seal to His part. Circumcision was the seal of the other party, by which Abram, his family, and afterwards the nation, took on themselves the obligations of the compact.
The name bestowed is taken to mean ‘Father of a Multitude.’ It was the condensation into a word, of the divine promise. What a trial of Abram’s faith it was to bid him take a name which would sound in men’s ears liker irony than promise! He, close on a hundred years old, with but one child, who was known not to be the heir, to be called the father of many! How often Canaanites and his own household would smile as they used it! What a piece of senile presumption it would seem to them! How often Abram himself would be tempted to think his new name a farce rather than a sign! But he took it humbly from God, and he wore it, whether it brought ridicule from others or assurance in his own heart. It takes some courage for any of us to call ourselves by names which rest on God’s promise and seem to have little vindication in present facts. The world is fond of laughing at ‘saints,’ but Christians should familiarise themselves with the lofty designations which God gives His children, and see in them not only a summons to life corresponding, but a pledge and prophecy of the final possession of all which these imply. God calls ‘things that are not, as though they were’; and it is wisdom, faith, and humility-not presumption-which accepts the names as omens of what shall one day be.
The substance of the covenant is mainly identical with previous revelations. The land is to belong to Abram’s seed. That seed is to be very numerous. But there is new emphasis placed on God’s relation to Abram’s descendants. God promises to be ‘a God unto thee, and to thy seed after thee,’ and, again, ‘I will be their God’ {Gen 17:7 - Gen 17:8}. That article of the old covenant is repeated in the new {Jer 31:33}, with the addition, ‘And they shall be My people,’ which is really involved in it. We do not read later more spiritual ideas into the words, when we find in them here, at the very beginning of Hebrew monotheism, an insight into the deep truth of the reciprocal possession of God by us, and of us by God. What a glimpse into the depths of that divine heart is given, when we see that we are His possession, precious to Him above all the riches of earth and the magnificences of heaven! What a lesson as to the inmost blessedness of religion, when we learn that it takes God for its very own, and is rich in possessing Him, whatever else may be owned or lacking!
To possess God is only possible on condition of yielding ourselves to Him. When we give ourselves up, in heart, mind, and will, to be His, He is ours. When we cease to be our own, we get God for ours. The self-centred man is poor; he neither owns himself nor anything besides, in any deep sense. When we lose ourselves in God, we find ourselves, and being content to have nothing, and not even to be our own masters or owners, we possess ourselves more truly than ever, and have God for our portion, and in Him ‘all things are ours.’
Alexander MacLaren, Expositions of Holy Scripture (1904–1910) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
C. I. Scofield 1917 · Public Domain On v5 Abram Or, high father.
Abram Or, high father.
Abraham Or, father of many nations.
The Scofield Reference Bible (1917 edition), notes by C. I. Scofield — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Paul E. Kretzmann 1924 · Public Domain On v9 Circumcision Instituted
Circumcision Instituted
v. 9. And God said unto Abraham, Thou shalt keep My covenant, therefore, thou and thy seed after thee in their generations. The promise of goodness and mercy on the part of God imposes an obligation on man to keep the provisions of His covenant.
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v. 10. This is My covenant, which ye shall keep between Me and you and thy seed after thee: Every man child among you shall be circumcised. So circumcision, the operation by which the foreskin of the flesh is removed, is not a mere hygienic measure, but a religious rite, a part of God’s covenant, a sacrament of His mercy.
v. 11. And ye shall circumcise the flesh of your foreskin; and it shall be a token of the covenant betwixt Me and you.
v. 12. And he that is eight days old shall be circumcised among you, every man child in your generations, he that is born in the house, or bought with money of any stranger, which is not of thy seed.
v. 13. He that is born in thy house, and he that in bought with thy money, must needs be circumcised; and My covenant shall be in your flesh for an everlasting covenant.
v. 14. And the uncircumcised man child whose flesh of his foreskin is not circumcised, that soul shall be cut oft from his people; he hath broken My covenant. Thus circumcision was a sacrament, a means of grace, in the Old Testament, a rite through which the Lord transmitted the blessings of His covenant to the children of Abraham. Its provisions were simple, the act itself being plainly indicated, the purpose being the sign of the covenant, the time being eight days, or the eighth day after birth, the extent making it include not only male children, but also slaves, both those born in the master’s home and those bought elsewhere, and the inviolability of the act being such as to cause every male that had not submitted to this provision of the covenant to be cutoff by an act of divine judgment or by an early death. The significance of the sacrament consisted in this, that the descendants of Abraham were to circumcise the foreskin of their hearts, be a holy people unto the Lord, Deu 10:16. But above all, circumcision was the seal of the righteousness of faith, Rom 4:11, and a type of Holy Baptism, the corresponding sacrament of the New Testament. Through the water of Baptism, as an external sign, the righteousness of God, the forgiveness of sins, is sealed unto us.
Paul E. Kretzmann, Popular Commentary of the Bible (1921–1924) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
unfoldingWord translationNotes 2017 · CC BY-SA 4.0 On vv3, 7, 9, 12 Abram bowed low with his face to the ground
Abram bowed low with his face to the ground
"Abram threw himself face down on the ground" or "Abraham immediately lay down with his face to the ground." He did this to show that he respected God and would obey him.
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As for me
God used this phrase to introduce what he would do for Abram as part of his covenant with Abram.
behold, my covenant is with you
The word "behold" here says that what comes next is certain: "my covenant is certainly with you."
the father of a multitude of nations
"the father of a great number of nations" or "the one after whom many nations name themselves"
Abraham
Translators may add the following footnote: The name "Abram" means "exalted father" and the name "Abraham" sounds like "father of a multitude."
I will make you exceedingly fruitful
"I will cause you to have very many descendants"
I will make nations of you
"I will cause your descendants to become nations"
kings will descend from you
"among your descendants there will be kings" or "some of your descendants will be kings"
translationWords
bow
covenant
nation
ancestor
nation
king
unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.
Tyndale Open Study Notes 2022 · CC BY-SA 4.0 On vv4, 6, 7, 9, 14 17:4-5 God guaranteed his promise by changing Abram’s name.…
17:4-5 God guaranteed his promise by changing Abram’s name. Abram referred to his noble lineage, as Terah was the “exalted father” (11:27). His new name, Abraham (Hebrew ’ab hamon) was a wordplay on the promise of his own progeny (see also John 8:31-59; Rom 4:16-17; Gal 3:7, 15-19, 29). Whenever the new name was used, he and his household would remember that a multitude of nations would issue from him.
Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.