Chapter Seventeen

God renews His covenant with Abraham

Genesis 17:1. Abraham was ninety-nine years old, “Why did God delay for so long?” asks Saint John Chrysostom and immediately answers: so that we might know not only the patience and great virtue of the righteous one, but also the boundless omnipotence of God. When already nature had become exhausted and became incapable of childbearing, because Abraham’s body had withered and dried from age, — then only, fully revealing the entire virtue of the righteous one and manifesting His power, God fulfills His promises” (Homily 39, p. 426). and the Lord appeared to Abraham and said to him: I am God Almighty; In the Hebrew text — “El-Shaddai.” This is a new divine name, which in the Old Testament designated God of the covenant and revelation, that is, Jehovah, from the side of His almighty creative-providential power (shaddad — to be strong, mighty) or the stable strength and faithfulness of His promises (Gen 28:3; Exod 6:3). walk before Me and be blameless; The meaning and significance of these moral commandments are known to us from the examples of their fulfillment by two great early righteous ones — Enoch (Gen 5:24) and Noah (Gen 6:9).

In token of this He changes the names of Abram and Sarai.

Genesis 17:2. and I will establish My covenant between Me and you, and I will greatly, greatly multiply you. Or, as one can translate more closely to the Hebrew text: “and I will grant My covenant,” that is, I will grant the fulfillment of that very covenant which I was pleased to conclude with you once (chapter 15; the speech, obviously, is about the main point of this covenant — about the birth of Isaac and the descent from him of numerous offspring, about which is said further).

Genesis 17:3. And Abraham fell upon his face. This is an expression of deep humility, joyful gratitude, and trusting submission before the inscrutable judgments of divine Providence (Gen 17:17; Num 16:22; Lev 9:24; Ruth 2:10).

Genesis 17:4. Behold, My covenant is with you: Repeating His covenant with Abraham, God now sets forth its conditions and obligations more distinctly for each of the two contracting parties, being pleased to begin with Himself (“Behold, My covenant is with you”). you shall be the father of many nations, God promises Abraham that he will become not only the father of a numerous Jewish people, but also of a whole series of other nations, such as the Ishmaelites, Edomites and Agarites, and also the “father of all believers,” both circumcised and uncircumcised, but united with him by faith in the Lord Jesus Christ (Gen 12:2; Rom 4:11-12).

Genesis 17:5. and you shall no longer be called Abram, but your name shall be Abraham, for I will make you the father of many nations; In accordance with the custom of the ancient eastern rulers, who renamed the servants they raised up (Gen 41:45; Dan 1:7, etc.), and God, raising Abram up to a covenant with Himself, gives him a new name, which furthermore has the closest relation to the content of the very promise. The former name: “Abram,” which means “exalted father,” is changed to a new one: “Abraham” (properly Abrāhām), which means “father of multitude,” understood as — multitude of promised descendants.

Genesis 17:6. and I will make you exceedingly, exceedingly fruitful, and I will make nations of you, and kings shall come forth from you; Repeating in stronger expressions the thought already expressed repeatedly (Gen 17:4), God makes an addition to it, pointing to the birth of kings from Abraham’s descendants, under which most closely, of course, are understood the Judean and Israelite kings, and then — a whole series of rulers of other tribes descended from him.

Genesis 17:7. and I will establish My covenant between Me and you and your descendants after you in their generations, an everlasting covenant, to be God to you and your descendants after you; The word “age” in biblical usage has its own, more narrow, meaning than the usual; it points to the completion or end of a known period, after which a new “age” is to open, that is, a new period to begin (Heb 1:3). In this case, “eternality” of the covenant means its continuation until the end of the period of the Old Testament Church and until the advent of New Testament times; with regard to the latter, it has absolute significance, under the condition of corresponding changes (Matt 28:20; 1 Cor 15:28).

Genesis 17:8. and I will give to you and your descendants after you the land of your sojournings, all the land of Canaan, for an everlasting possession; and I will be their God. A solemn concluding promise, which ends the series of God’s obligations under the covenant. The eternality of the possession of Palestine has likewise a conditional character, extending to the end of the separate and independent existence of the Hebrew state.

Genesis 17:9. And God said to Abraham: As for you, you shall keep My covenant, you and your descendants after you in their generations. From here begins the exposition of the obligations of the covenant on the part of the other contracting party — Abraham and his descendants (Gen 17:9-14).

Establishment of circumcision as the sign of the covenant

Genesis 17:10–11. This is My covenant, which you shall keep, between Me and you and your descendants after you: Every male among you shall be circumcised; circumcise the foreskin of your flesh: and this shall be the sign of the covenant between Me and you. The whole substance of these requirements was reduced to one main one — to the observance of circumcision, which in an external symbolic action enclosed the essence of this covenant. From the external side, circumcision, first of all, was that shedding of blood which was considered an important guarantee of the strength of such unions among men as well. Then, from the very connection of facts and the purpose of its establishment, circumcision was to serve as a constant and most, so to speak, palpable reminder of that covenant with God into which once the father of believers entered, and in his person, all his descendants (Gen 17:11). Finally, circumcision was the sign of the covenant also in the sense that it was an external distinguishing mark of belonging to the chosen people and of entering the Old Testament Church. Even more important was the ideological, internal significance of circumcision; although from this side, very probably, it was not fully understood in all its power for a long time, being revealed only later, partly by the prophets and especially by the Apostle Paul (Lev 26:41; Deut 10:16; Isa 52:1; Jer 4:4; Ezek 44:7-9; Acts 7:51; Rom 3:1; Phil 3:3; Col 2:11-12, etc.). In this respect, circumcision, consisting in the cutting off of the foreskin of the reproductive organ, symbolized the cutting off of fleshly lusts and unclean desires, or, as the Bible expressively calls it, — the “circumcision of the heart” (Deut 10:16; Rom 2:29, etc.). Secondly, by introducing a certain sanctification into the very source of procreation and depicting the putting off of the “sinful body of flesh” (Col 2:11), circumcision, on the one hand, pointed to the hereditary sinfulness in which we are all conceived and born (Ps 50:7), on the other, mysteriously foreshadowed the New Testament baptism, which washes away this hereditary, ancestral corruption (Col 2:11-12). Thirdly, in application to the subject of the promise, that is, to offspring, circumcision had the meaning that it pointed as it were to the elimination or weakening of all natural means of its fulfillment and thereby more clearly revealed the special action of divine grace in the fulfillment of these promises. Finally, this last ground of meaning received special force in relation to the chief “Seed” of Abraham, that is, to the divine Person of the Lord Jesus Christ, who was to be born of the Holy Spirit and Mary the Virgin, that is, with the elimination of any male participation. Hence, Metropolitan Philaret could rightly call circumcision: “the negative expression of the concept of the Seed of the woman.”

Genesis 17:12. At eight days old shall every male among you in your generations be circumcised; Consequently, circumcision was performed a week after birth, and this was observed so strictly that circumcision was performed even when it necessitated breaking the rest of the Sabbath day (John 7:22-23). every male child born in your house and every male slave bought with your money — if he is not of your seed. By this, among other things, circumcision among the Jews differed from circumcision among the Egyptians and other ancient peoples, where it was practiced also with respect to women.

Genesis 17:13. He who is born in your house and he who is bought with your money must be circumcised; and My covenant shall be in your flesh as an everlasting covenant. Concerning those born in Abraham’s house, that is, the lower slaves and household members, we already know from the earlier narrative (Gen 14:14); but, obviously, after that slaves bought for money appeared as well. Both those and the other are considered equally as belonging to Abraham’s house, and therefore together with him participate in the covenant. The access to this covenant for sons of former gentiles figuratively signifies the entrance into the New Testament Church of all peoples and conditions.

Genesis 17:14. And an uncircumcised male, who does not circumcise the foreskin of his flesh, that person shall be cut off from his people, because he has broken My covenant. “Shall be cut off” — in the Hebrew text expressed by a term meaning “shall be cut,” which gives the idea not so much of destruction or death, as of separation from Israelite society, expulsion from it, and a kind of religious-civil death (Exod 12:15; Lev 7:20-21; Num 9:13).

Genesis 17:15–16. And God said to Abraham: As for Sarai your wife, you shall not call her name Sarai, but Sarah shall be her name; I will bless her, and I will give you a son by her; I will bless her so that she shall be the mother of nations; kings of peoples shall come from her. For the same reasons as before with Abraham (Gen 17:5), God is now pleased to give a new name, or more precisely, to rename the old one, to his wife as well. Her former name was literally from the Hebrew sounding “Sarai” and meant “my lady”; now she is given the name “Sarah,” which means “lady” in general, that is, not of Abraham and his house only, but of all the multitude of tribes and kings that are to descend from her, as is evident from the context.

Genesis 17:17. Then Abraham fell on his face and laughed, and said to himself, “Shall a child be born to a man who is a hundred years old? Shall Sarah, who is ninety years old, bear a child? “As a sign of reverence and gratitude to God, who spoke the promise, Abraham falls before Him. The words, which were in Abraham’s mind at that moment, express not that doubt about the truth of God’s promise arose in his soul, but rather joyful amazement at the greatness of the promise: from joy that has overflowed his soul. He cannot believe his own ears, hearing from God the assurance of the birth of a son to him and to his wife in such an age, when both of them are already dead to childbearing” (Bishop Vissarion) (Rom 4:19).

Genesis 17:18. And Abraham said to God, “O that Ishmael might live before You! Not daring, in his modesty, to believe the full measure of his happiness, Abraham is content to accept less — namely, not to expect a new son, but to transfer all these promises and hopes to Ishmael, who already existed. “Both of us have received sufficient comfort when Ishmael was born,” comments the thought of Abraham Saint John Chrysostom: let this son, given to us by You, live before You; and we shall have sufficient solace, and his life will comfort our old age” (Homily 40).

The promise of the birth of Isaac

Genesis 17:19. God said, “No, but Sarah your wife shall bear you a son, and you shall name him Isaac; Repeating His promise to Abraham about the birth of a son to him, the Lord now speaks even more clearly and definitively that the promised son will be his own son and the son of his ninety-year-old wife Sarah, and for the first time He determined the name of this son — “Isaac,” and two verses below He indicated the very time of his birth, saying that it would occur exactly one year from the given prophecy (Gen 17:21). The name “Isaac” from the Hebrew language means “laughter, or joy” (properly this is the form of the future — “he shall laugh, he shall rejoice”) and, obviously, in itself carried the indication of the joy of his aged parents upon his birth, a joy which was expressed, among other things, in their laughter (Gen 17:17). Nothing else, except this very thing, did the Savior have in mind when He said of Abraham that he “was glad to see My day; and he saw and was glad” (John 8:56).

Genesis 17:20. And as for Ishmael, I have heard you; I will bless him and make him fruitful and multiply him exceedingly; he shall be the father of twelve princes, and I will make him a great nation. The first part of this phrase in the Hebrew text has the appearance of a repetition of one and the same thing, for the name “Ishmael” means — “God hears.” This son of Abraham according to the flesh is likewise given divine blessing and the goods that accompany it, great multiplication: as if in correspondence with the twelve tribes of Israel, he is promised the descent of twelve princes, that is, chieftains of tribes, or sheikhs (Gen 25:12-16). But, by the just remark of Metropolitan Philaret, “the blessing of Isaac and that of Ishmael differ from each other as do gracious, spiritual, eternal promises, and natural, temporal gifts.”

Genesis 17:21. But I will establish My covenant with Isaac, whom Sarah shall bear to you at this season next year. That is, not with all the descendants of Abraham — although they all were circumcised — but only with that which was to descend from Isaac, as the son of promise and faith.

Genesis 17:22. And God finished speaking with Abraham, and went up from him. These words speak of the cessation of the theophany and the disappearance of the vision of Jehovah.

Circumcision of Abraham and Ishmael

Genesis 17:23. Then Abraham took his son Ishmael and all the slaves born in his house or bought with his money, every male in the household, and he circumcised the flesh of their foreskins that very day, as God had said to him. A remark of the chronicler, bearing witness to the quick and unwavering execution by Abraham of the divine command; this remark, in turn, testifies to the strength of obedience and fervor of faith of the patriarch, which know no delay and difficulty (Jas 2:22-24). Whether this rather painful rite existed anywhere before this time (e.g., among the Egyptians, to which rationalists especially love to point) or whether it is only first introduced here by God — it is difficult to decide definitively; one thing only is certain, that it did not exist among the Hebrews at that moment, and that it arose among them with a completely special character, sharply distinguishing it both in appearance and even more in spirit from similar religious-customary rites practiced among other ancient peoples.

Genesis 17:24. Abraham was ninety-nine years old when he was circumcised in the flesh of his foreskin. Noting this most important event in Abraham’s life, the sacred historian, by custom, also indicates its chronological date, which is all the more instructive in that it testifies to the outstanding strength of faith of the patriarch if he decided, in such deep old age, to undergo this painful and dangerous operation.

Genesis 17:25. And his son Ishmael was thirteen years old when he was circumcised in the flesh of his foreskin. A living memorial to this is preserved among the Arabs — descendants of Ishmael and other Muslim peoples — the custom of circumcising boys upon reaching the age of thirteen.

Genesis 17:26–27. That very day Abraham and his son Ishmael were circumcised; and all the men of his house, those born in the house and those bought with money from a foreigner, were circumcised with him. The concluding verses represent a repetition of what was said above — a device quite common in the Bible in those cases where the speech is about some especially important matter.