Gen 17:1–8 When Abram was ninety-nine years old, Yahweh appeared to Abram, and said to him, “I am God Almighty: conduct yourself under my oversight and be blameless. 2 And I will make my covenant between me and you, and will make you exceedingly numerous.” 3 Then Abram fell on his face; and God said to him, 4 “As for me, this is my covenant with you: You shall be the ancestor of a multitude of nations. 5 No longer shall your name be Abram, but your name shall be Abraham; for I have made you the ancestor of a multitude of nations. 6 I will make you exceedingly fruitful; and I will make nations of you, and kings shall come from you. 7 I will establish my covenant between me and you, and your offspring after you throughout their generations, for an everlasting covenant, to be God to you and to your offspring after you. 8 And I will give to you, and to your offspring after you, the land where you are now an alien, all the land of Canaan, for a perpetual holding; and I will be their God.”
One day, when Abram was now ninety-nine years old, God appeared to him and announced his intention to fulfill his previous promises and even to expand upon them. Already he had promised Abram in chapter 15 that he would give him descendants as numerous as the stars in the night sky (15:5), and Abram had believed this promise (15:6). He had further promised that after those descendants had spent four hundred years as oppressed slaves in a foreign land (Egypt), they would be delivered, would return to Canaan, and take possession of it as their own land (15:12–21). Here, in 17:8, he reaffirms the promise of the land. Now he adds that through Hagar and Sarai he would become the ancestor of a multitude of nations (vv. 4, 6), not just Israel and Judah, but nations descended from his son Ishmael and his grandson (Jacob's son) Esau as well. And because nations will descend from him, there will be kings among his descendants: kings of Israel and Judah, and kings of the nations and tribes of Arabia.
To commemorate this destiny, God changed Abram's name to Abraham, which in Hebrew sounds like the words "father of a multitude."
As gratifying as the birth of Ishmael must have been to old Abram, there were stormy days ahead for him and his two wives, Sarai and Hagar, days that would rupture the carefully laid plan of Abram and Sarai to use Hagar to fulfill God's promise of an offspring that would become as numerous as the stars in the sky.
Furthermore, God had in mind the formalizing of his promises to Abram, in order to make them legally binding upon himself. He would now draw up a covenant (Hebrew בְּרִית bĕrît, vv. 4 and 7), a legally binding contract between himself and this man whom he had chosen. And this covenant would not be for a predetermined and limited period of time: it would be open-ended, without any termination, an "everlasting" covenant (v. 7).
Gen 17:9–14 God said to Abraham, “As for you, you shall keep my covenant, you and your offspring after you throughout their generations. 10 This is my covenant, which you shall keep, between me and you and your offspring after you: Every male among you shall be circumcised. 11 You shall circumcise the flesh of your foreskins, and it shall be a sign of the covenant between me and you. 12 Throughout your generations every male among you shall be circumcised when he is eight days old, including the slave born in your house and the one bought with your money from any foreigner who is not of your offspring. 13 Both the slave born in your house and the one bought with your money must be circumcised. So shall my covenant be in your flesh an everlasting covenant. 14 Any uncircumcised male who is not circumcised in the flesh of his foreskin shall be cut off from his people; he has broken my covenant.”
True, there is no hint of a written document, as most contracts in the ancient world were formalized. But oral contracts were also known in those days, attested by witnesses. God, whose very word is his bond, needed no human witness other than Abram himself. But there was to be something tangible to attest to this commitment on both sides of the arrangement: it was "written" (as it were) in Abram's own flesh and the flesh of all his male descendants. It was circumcision. In later times, Moses would insist that this covenant "written" in the foreskins of Abram's male descendants was actually to be written in their hearts. He would write: "Moreover, Yahweh your God will circumcise your heart and the heart of your descendants, so that you will love Yahweh your God with all your heart and with all your soul, in order that you may live" (Deut. 30:6).
It is implied, therefore, that no Israelite could claim to stand within this covenant unless he was circumcised in both in his foreskin and his heart, by true repentance and a commitment to live by faith, as Abram had done. Not just Abram, but all his descendants must do what Yahweh instructed Abram to do: "conduct yourself under my oversight and be blameless" (v. 1). The word rendered "blameless" (Hebrew תָמִֽים tāmîm) did not mean "sinless(ly)," since no one but Jesus ever lived a completely sinless life. The Hebrew word implies total commitment: whole-hearted living with and for God. As in the words of Moses cited above: "so that you will love Yahweh your God with all your heart and with all your soul." It meant a life of faith-driven commitment to God in righteous behavior and prompt repentance of occasional sins.
Gen 17:15 God said to Abraham, “As for Sarah your wife, you shall not call her Sarai, but Sarah shall be her name. 16 I will bless her, and moreover I will give you a son by her. I will bless her, and she shall give rise to nations; kings of peoples shall come from her.” 17 Then Abraham fell on his face and laughed, and said to himself, “Can a child be born to a man who is a hundred years old? Can Sarah, who is ninety years old, bear a child?” 18 And Abraham said to God, “O that Ishmael might live in your sight!” 19 God said, “No, but your wife Sarah shall bear you a son, and you shall name him Isaac. I will establish my covenant with him as an everlasting covenant for his offspring after him. 20 As for Ishmael, I have heard you; I will bless him and make him fruitful and exceedingly numerous; he shall be the father of twelve princes, and I will make him a great nation. 21 But my covenant I will establish with Isaac, whom Sarah shall bear to you at this season next year.” 22 And when he had finished talking with him, God went up from Abraham.
But God's promises were not just for Abraham: they were also for Sarai, whose name God now also changes: from Sarai (which sounded like a word meaning "like a princess") to Sarah (which does mean "princess" or even "queen"). As the "queen mother", as it were, will now come the descendants spoken of in the preceding lines, among them kings. Abraham finds this laughable, since in another year, when the pregnancy would reach term, he would be 100 years old and Sarah 90, unheard of ages for child-bearing, since the birth of Noah's grandson Arpachshad, whom Noah's son Shem sired when he was 100 years old, two years after the universal flood (Gen 11:10). Instead, Abraham pleads that God fulfill the promises through Ishmael (who is the ancestor of all the Arabian peoples). But God refused, and insisted that the promised descendants to bring worldwide blessing would be Sarah's, and not Hagar's. Many centuries later Saint Paul made much of the Hagar–Sarah opposition in determining just who the children of promise are (Gal 4:21–31).
Gen 17:23 Then Abraham took his son Ishmael and all the slaves born in his house or bought with his money, every male among the men of Abraham’s house, and he circumcised the flesh of their foreskins that very day, as God had said to him. 24 Abraham was ninety-nine years old when he was circumcised in the flesh of his foreskin. 25 And his son Ishmael was thirteen years old when he was circumcised in the flesh of his foreskin. 26 That very day Abraham and his son Ishmael were circumcised; 27 and all the men of his house, slaves born in the house and those bought with money from a foreigner, were circumcised with him.
Scripture is not just about God's promises and commands: it is also about recording the proper responses of people who believe. So this chapter concludes with a record of Abraham doing exactly as he was told. What a model he provides for us today! He pled with God to do things his way. But once God said, "No," and repeated just what he intended, Abraham gave up his resistance and pleading and simply followed orders. God expects us to have wishes of our own. He does not object to our bringing these requests to him in prayer. He delights in the interchange with us. Often our wishes coincide perfectly with his own plans. But once he makes it clear to us that his plan is different from ours—usually by our meditating on the words of Scripture intended for us—we should delight to simply follow those instructions, knowing that if God wishes it, it will be best for us after all is said and done.
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