Genesis 17

AND when Abram was ninety years old and nine, the LORD appeared to Abram, and said unto him, I am the Almighty God Who can do all that I have promised, or shall promise to thee, and whatsoever pleaseth me: and therefore do thou firmly believe all my words., walk before me As becomes one in the presence of thy Lord, and Judge, and Rewarder, being careful to please and obey me in all things, and depending upon me for thy well-doing, and well-being. See the same phrase, Gen. 48. 15. 1 King. 8. 25. Psal. 116. 9., and be thou perfect (i. e.) sincere, universal, and constant in thy belief of my promises and obedience to my commands. See Gen. 6. 9..

And I will make my covenant between me and thee I am come to renew, establish, and enlarge that covenant which I formerly made with thee., and will multiply thee exceedingly.

And Abram fell on his face Partly in self-abasement, and an humble sense of his own undeservedness of such favours; and partly in reverence and worship to God, and a thankful acknowledgment of his marvellous kindess. Compare Levit. 9. 24. Ezek. 43. 3., and God talked with him, saying,

As for me, behold my covenant is with thee; and thou shalt be a father of many nations Both literally, or after the Flesh, of the Israelites, Ismaelites, Edomites, &c. and spiritually, of all Believers of all Nations, to whom Abram has in some sort the place of a Father, Rom. 4. 12, 17. Not only as he was the great example and teacher of that faith by which they are all saved (as the instructers of others are called their Fathers, both in Scripture, as Gen. 4. 20, 21. and in profane Authors) but as he was made by God the head of the Covenant, by, or through whom the Covenant-right was conveyed to all his natural seed, and afterwards to the spiritual seed, all Gentile-Believers..

Neither shall thy name any more be called Abram, but thy name shall be Abraham (i. e.) The Father of a multitude, Ham in the Hebrew being put for Hamon, which signifies a multitude, by a figure called Apocope, which is usual in proper names.: for a father of many nations have I made thee.

And I will make thee exceeding fruitful, and I will make nations of thee, and Kings shall come out of thee So did the Kings of Israel and Iudah, of Edom, of the Saracens, and the Messias, who is King of Kings, and Lord of Lords..

And I will establish my covenant between me and thee, and thy seed after thee in their Generations, for an everlasting covenant, to be a God unto thee (i. e.) Whatsoever I am or have all that shall be thine and shall be employed for thy protection, consolation and Salvation. This phrase contains in it the confluence of all blessings, Temporal, Spiritual, and Eternal. See Levit. 26. 12. Psal. 33. 12. and 144. 15. Ier. 31. 33., and to thy seed after thee.

And I will give unto thee, and to thy seed Unto thee not in thy own person, but in thy Seed. See Gen. 13. 15, 17. after thee, the land wherein thou art a stranger, all the land of Canaan, for an everlasting possession Upon condition of their obedience to God, as is oft expressed: Wherein seeing they so notoriously failed, it is no wonder if they possessed it but a little while, as the Prophet complains, Isa. 63. 18.; and I will be their God.

And God said unto Abraham, Thou shalt keep my covenant therefore, thou The agreement is mutual: My part was expressed before, now follows thy part, and the condition to which my promise and blessing is annexed., and thy Seed after thee in their Generations.

This is my covenant Circumcision is here called the Covenant by an usual Metonymy, because it is the condition, sign and seal, of the Covenant, the pledge of Gods promise and mans duty. And upon the same grounds the cup i. e. the Wine, is called the New Testament in Christs blood, Luke 22. 20. Or, which is all one, Christs Blood in the New Testament, Matth. 26. 28. which ye shall keep between me and you, and thy Seed after thee: every man-child It is evident that Women as well as Men were comprehended in this Covenant, from Gen. 34. 14. Exod. 12. 3, 4. Ioel 2. 15, 16. Yet Circumcision is given only to the Males, partly because it could not, at least not conveniently, be administred to Females: partly because man is the principal cause of the propagation of Children, and consequently of the propagation of that original corruption which cleaves to them; partly to signifie that all persons begotten by man should be polluted by sin, though not all conceived by a Woman, as Christ was: And partly because Man is the Head of the Woman and of the Family, upon whom all their concerns are devolved, and from whom the distinction of Families and People comes. among you shall be circumcised.

And ye shall circumcise the flesh of your fore-skin (i. e.) By an usual Hypallage, the fore-skin of your flesh: And the word Flesh is here put for the Genital part, as it is Levit. 15. 2, 19. Ezek, 16. 26. and 23, 20. and elsewhere. This part God singled out for this Ordinance, because it is and was a great instrument both in the commission of actual sins and in the propagation of original sin, and therefore it was very proper to apply to it the seal of Gods gracious Covenant for the remission of sins past, and the extirpation of sin for the future.; and it shall be a token of the covenant (i. e.) A sign, evidence and assurance, both of the blessing promised by that God who appointed this Ordinance, and of mans obligation to the duties required, which is signifyed by his acceptance of and submission to this Ordinance. And here we have the nature and definition of a Sacrament, viz. that it is a figure or token of Gods Covenant. betwixt me and you.

And he that is eight days old Not before that time, because of the Childs weakness and imperfection, and impurity too, Exod. 22. 30. Levit. 12. 3. for which reason also Beasts were not to be offered to God before the eigth day, Exodus 22. 30., shall be circumcised among you: every man-child in your generations Successively until the Messias come who shall circumcise your hearts, and change this Ordinance for another., he that is born in the house, or bought with money of any stranger These were of two sorts, 1. Children, who being entirely his possession, and having not understanding to discern, nor will to choose or refuse, were to be circumcised. 2. Grown persons, who were not to be compelled to be circumcised, but if they refused it, were not to be permitted to dwell in his Family, lest they should infect others, but were to be sold to strangers, as the Hebrew Doctors teach. But as for Abrahams Servants here, they were thoroughly instructed in Religion, Gen. 18. 19. and doubtless did willingly embrace it and submit to this Sacrament., which is not of thy seed.

He that is born in thy house, and he that is bought with thy Money, must needs be Circumcised: And my Covenant shall be in your Flesh, for an Everlasting Covenant So it was and is properly in regard of the thing signified to all true Beleivers; and for the sign it is so called because it was to endure through all Generations till the coming of the Messias: The word Olam here and elsewhere rendred everlasting or for ever being oft used to express not only simple eternity, but any long continuance for many ages, yea sometimes for a mans Life. See Exod. 21. 6. Deut. 15. 17. 1 King. 9. 3..

And the uncircumcised man-child, Or, rather, And as for the uncircumcised man-child. So the nominative is put absolutely, as is frequent in the Hebrew Tongue. whose Flesh of his fore-skin is not circumcised Or, Who shall not circumcise the Flesh of his fore-skin: For the Hebrew verb may be rendred actively: Which seems best here; because the punishment seems more justly to belong to the Parent, who was guilty of this neglect, than to the Child, who was not capable of this precept, and therefore not guilty of the violation of it. And this may further appear from Exod. 4. 24, 25. where God seeks to kill, not the Child, but the Father, Moses, for this sin. And the Flesh of the Childs Foreskin is rightly called the Flesh of his, i. e. The Parents Foreskin, because the Child is a part and the possession of his Parent. So that this threatning concerns only grown persons, and of them only such as shall willfully and unnecessarily neglect this duty: For otherwise it was neglected by the Israelites for forty years together in the Wilderness, Ios. 5. 7. without any token of Gods displeasure for it., that soul shall be cut of from his People This phrase denotes either 1. An exclusion from fellowship with Gods People, and from all the promises, priviledges and blessings belonging to them either in this Life or that to come. Or rather 2. An untimely and violent death, as may be gathered from Exod. 31. 14. to be inflicted by the Magistrate, to whom God committed the execution of this, as well as other Laws, and in case of his neglect and default, or the secrecy of the fact, by the extraordinary hand of God, who sometimes ascribes this act to himself, as Levit. 17. 10. and 20. 6.: He has broken my Covenant That sacred bond which tyed him and me together, and by his neglect and contempt of the condition required on his part, he has forfeited the blessing promised on my part..

And God said unto Abraham, as for Sarai thy Wife, thou shalt not call her Name Sarai, but Sarah Sarai signifies my Lady or my Princess, which confines her dominion to one Family, but Sarah signifies either a Lady or Princess simply and absolutely without restriction, or, the Princess of a multitude, the Hebrew letter he being taken out of Hamon, and added to her Name, as it was to Abrams Name. shall her Name be.

And I will bless her, and give thee a Son also of her: Yea, I will bless her, and she shall be a mother of Nations: Kings of people shall be of her.

Then Abraham fell upon his face, and laughed Through admiration and holy rejoycing at so great a blessing, not through unbelief, as Sarah did Gen. 18. 12. 13. as appears from Rom. 4. 19, 20. And though the outward act was the same in both, yet God discerned their differing dispositions and intentions therein. and said in his heart, shall a Child be born unto him that is an hundred years old, and shall Sarah that is ninety years old bear?

And Abraham said unto God, O that Ishmael might live before thee Grant, O Lord, that the giving of one Son may not be joyned with the taking away of another, that Ishmael may faithfully serve thee, and may have a share in thy favour, and gracious Covenant. For this seems to be the meaning of this phrase of living before God or in Gods presence, by comparing a parallel phrase, of walking before God, ver. 1. and elsewhere, and an opposite phrase, from thy face shall I be hid, Gen. 4. 14.!

And God said, Sarah thy Wife shall bear thee a Son indeed, and thou shalt call his name Isaac Which signifies laughter, not from Sarahs laughter which as yet had not happened, but from Abrams past laughter, ver. 17. and future joy in his Son., and I will establish my Covenant with him, for an Everlasting Covenant, and with his seed after him.

And as for Ishmael, I have heard thee To wit, in part, or so far as is here expressed; and probably, as to the chief blessing of the Covenant, to wit, the forgiveness of his sins and eternal Life, as the Hebrew Doctors and some others collect from Gen. 25. 17. and from other considerations., behold, I have blessed him, and will make him fruitful, and will multiply him exceedingly: twelve princes shall he beget, and I will make him a great nation.

But my covenant will I establish with Isaac The Covenant of the promised Seed to come out of his Loins, and of Life and Salvation to accrue to himself and to his posterity by virtue of that Seed: In comparison whereof God speaks slightly of all the Temporal blessings conferred upon Ishmael, though in themselves they were great and glorious. By which it may sufficiently appear that Abrahams Faith whereby he is said to be justified Rom. 4. Had a farther reach in it than to his own immediate Child, even to the Messias, whose Day therefore Abraham is said to have seen, Ioh. 8. 56. whom Sarah shall bear unto thee, at this set time, in the next year.

And he left of talking with him, and God went up To Heaven in a visible manner, as it seems he conversed with him in some visible shape. Compare Gen. 35. 13. Iudg. 13. 20. from Abraham.

And Abraham took Ishmael his Son, and all that were born in his house, and all that were bought with his money, every male among the men of Abrahams house, and circumcised the flesh of their fore-skin Partly by his own hand, and partly by the help of others, whom he by Divine instinct called to, and directed in that work. in the self-same day In which God appeared to him and gave the command. So he made hast and delayed not to execute Gods command. And his Servants also yielded a ready and chearful obedience to this severe and painful precept, being moved thereunto by Abrahams example and soveraign Authority, by Gods powerful presence some way or other manifested to them, and by the prospect and hope of Gods blessing to accompany and follow his own Ordinance., as God had said unto him.

And Abraham was ninety years old and nine, when he was circumcised in the flesh of his fore-skin.

And Ishmael his son was thirteen years old, when he was circumcised in the flesh of his foreskin.

In the self-same day was Abraham circumcised, and Ishmael his son.

And all the men of his house, born in the house, and bought with money of the stranger, were circumcised with him.