Genesi 17:10 Commento

This chapter contains articles of agreement covenanted and concluded upon between the great Jehovah, the Father of mercies, on the one part, and pious Abram, the father of the faithful, on the other part. Abram is therefore called "the friend of God," not only because he was the man of his counsel, but because he was the man of his covenant; both these secrets were with him. Mention was made of this covenant (Gen 15:18), but here it is particularly drawn up, and put into the form of a covenant, that Abram might have strong consolation. Here are, I. The circumstances of the making of this covenant, the time and manner (Gen 17:1), and the posture Abram was in (Gen 17:3). II. The covenant itself. In the general scope of it (Gen 17:1). And, afterwards, in the particular instances. 1. That he should be the father of many nations (Gen 17:4, Gen 17:6), and, in token of this, his name was changed (Gen 17:5). 2. That God would be a God to him and his seed, and would give them the land of Canaan (Gen 17:7, Gen 17:8). And the seal of this part of the covenant was circumcision (Gen 17:9-14). 3. That he should have a son by Sarai, and, in token thereof, her name was changed (Gen 17:15, Gen 17:16). This promise Abram received (Gen 17:17). And his request for Ishmael (Gen 17:18) was answered, abundantly to his satisfaction (Gen 17:19-22). III. The circumcision of Abram and his family, according to God's appointment (Gen 17:23, etc.).

INTRODUCTION TO GENESIS 17 This chapter treats of a covenant made with Abram, sometimes called the covenant of circumcision, the time when God appeared to him, and promised to make it, and did, Gen 17:1; the particulars of it, both with respect to himself, whose name was now changed, and to his posterity, Gen 17:4; the token of it, circumcision, the time of its performance, and the persons obliged to it, Gen 17:9; the change of Sarai's name, and a promise made that she should have a son, to the great surprise of Abraham, Gen 17:15; a prayer of his for Ishmael, and the answer to it, with a confirmation of Sarah's having a son, whose name should be called Isaac, and the establishment of the covenant with him, Gen 17:18; and the chapter is closed with an account of the circumcision of Abraham, and all his family of the male sort, agreeably to the command of God, Gen 17:23.

This is my covenant,.... The token of it, for the promise itself was given before, which is more properly the covenant; circumcision is so called in an improper sense, being only the sign of it: which ye shall keep between me and you, and thy seed after thee; which was to be observed by Abraham, and the males in his house then with him, as Ishmael, and those that were born in his house, or bought with his money, and by his posterity in succeeding ages, and it is what follows: every man child among you shall be circumcised; this was the first institution of circumcision, and it was an institution of God, and not of man. Indeed Herodotus says (m), that"the Colchi, Egyptians, and Ethiopians only of all men circumcised from the beginning; and the Phoenicians and Syrians, which are in Palestine, learnt it of the Egyptians, as they themselves confess.''So Diodorus Siculus (n) speaks of circumcision as an Egyptian rite, and says there are some who make the nation of the Colchi, and of the Jews, to come from the Egyptians: hence he observes, that with these nations there is an ancient tradition to circumcise their newborn infants, which rite was derived from the Egyptians: but as the original of the Jewish nation is mistaken, so likewise the original this rite. And they may as well be thought to be mistaken in the one as in the other. Those in Palestine that were circumcised were the Jews only, as Josephus (o) observes; but they did not learn this rite from the Egyptians, nor do they ever confess it, but on the contrary suggest, that the Egyptians learnt it from them in the times of Joseph; for their principal lexicographer says (p), the Egyptians were circumcised in the times of Joseph, and when Joseph died they drew over the foreskin of the flesh. The Colchi indeed, who were a colony of the Egyptians, might learn it from them; and so the Ethiopians, who were their neighbours likewise, and agreed with them in many things. Artapanus (q), an Heathen writer, says, indeed, that the Ethiopians, though enemies, had such a regard for Moses, that they learned from him the rite of circumcision; and not only they, but all the priests, that is, in Egypt; and indeed the Egyptian priests only, and not the people, were circumcised. It is not very difficult to account for it, how other nations besides the Jews should receive circumcision, which was first enjoined Abraham and his seed; the Ishmaelites had it from Ishmael the son of Abraham; from them the old Arabs; from the Arabs, the Saracens; and from the Saracens, the Turks to this day: other Arabian nations, as the Midianites, and others, had it from the sons of Abraham by Keturah; and perhaps the Egyptians and Ethiopians from them, if the former had it not from the Israelites; and the Edomites had it from Edom or Esau, the son of Isaac, the son of Abraham; so that all originally had it from Abraham, and he by a divine command. It is not so much to be wondered at, that Herodotus and Diodorus Siculus, men either imposed upon by the Egyptian priests, as the former, or wrote in favour of that nation, as the latter, and wholly ignorant of divine revelation, should assert what they have done; but that Christian writers, who have the advantage of divine revelation, and have read the history of the Bible, such as Marsham, Spencer, and Le Clerc, should incline to the same sentiment, is amazing; and especially when our blessed Lord has expressly said in Joh 7:22, that circumcision is "of the fathers", Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, first given to them, and practised by them. Even Theodotus (s), an Heathen writer, agrees with this sacred testimony of Moses, when speaking of the circumcision of Shechem, in the times of Jacob, he traces this rite to its original, and observes, that when Abraham was brought out of his own country, he was ordered "from heaven" to circumcise every man in his house. It may indeed seem strange how it should obtain in the islands of the West Indies, as in Jucatana, Sancta Crux, and others, where the Spaniards found in the beginning of the sixteenth century those isles inhabited by idolaters, who were circumcised (t). (m) Euterpe sive, l. 2. c. 104. (n) Bibliothec. l. 4. p. 24. & l. 3. p. 165. (o) Contr Apion. l. 1. c. 22. (p) Raal Aruch in Rad. fol. 91. 1. (q) Apud Euseb. Evangel Praepar. l. 9. c. 27. p. 433. (s) Apud Euseb. ut supra, (Evangel Praepar. l. 9.) c. 22. p. 428. (t) Vid. P. Martyr. Decad. 3. lib. 10. & de Insul. Ind. Occident.

God said again to Abraham: And you shall therefore 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; and you shall circumcise the flesh of your foreskin, and it shall be a sign of the covenant between me and you. The Lord, in His kind provision, first established the covenant of His grace with the blessed Abraham and his offspring; and then He requires of them the covenant of obedience: so that the labor of striving might be less terrifying when the reward of perpetual remuneration is heard first. Therefore, the foreskin of the flesh is commanded to be circumcised, as a sign of the covenant between God and men, so that by this sign the faithful of that time might be reminded to cleanse themselves from all pollution of flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God; but also by a higher mystery, that carnal circumcision was done as a sign of the covenant between God and Abraham's offspring, because it was given as a sign of that covenant of which it was said above to Abraham: In you all the families of the earth shall be blessed; which no faithful person doubts pertains to the grace of the new testament. Therefore, in the sign of this covenant, no faithful person doubts that Abraham and his offspring were circumcised in the flesh of their foreskin, so that it might be typologically prefigured that one would be born from his seed who would cleanse his chosen ones from all stain of sins, and grant them perpetual blessing; to the sacrament of which cleansing aptly corresponds what follows:

In the ninety-ninth year of Abram's life God again appears to him, announces his name as God Almighty, and commands him to walk perfectly before him, Gen 17:1; proposes to renew the covenant, Gen 17:2. Abram's prostration, Gen 17:3. The covenant specified, Gen 17:4. Abram's name changed to Abraham, and the reason given, Gen 17:5. The privileges of the covenant enumerated, Gen 17:6-8. The conditions of the covenant to be observed, not only by Abraham, but all his posterity, Gen 17:9. Circumcision appointed as a sign or token of the covenant, Gen 17:10, Gen 17:11. The age at which and the persons on whom this was to be performed, Gen 17:12, Gen 17:13. The danger of neglecting this rite, Gen 17:14. Sarai's name changed to Sarah, and a particular promise made to her, Gen 17:15, Gen 17:16. Abraham's joy at the prospect of the performance of a matter which, in the course of nature, was impossible, Gen 17:17. His request for the preservation and prosperity of Ishmael, Gen 17:18. The birth and blessedness of Isaac foretold, Gen 17:19. Great prosperity promised to Ishmael, Gen 17:20. But the covenant to be established not in his, but in Isaac's posterity, Gen 17:21. Abraham, Ishmael and all the males in the family circumcised, Gen 17:23-27

Every man - child - shall be circumcised - Those who wish to invalidate the evidence of the Divine origin of the Mosaic law, roundly assert that the Israelites received the rite of circumcision from the Egyptians. Their apostle in this business is Herodotus, who, lib. ii., p. 116, Edit. Steph. 1592, says: "The Colchians, Egyptians, and Ethiopians, are the only nations in the world who have used circumcision απ' αρχης, from the remotest period; and the Phoenicians and Syrians who inhabit Palestine acknowledge they received this from the Egyptians." Herodotus cannot mean Jews by Phoenicians and Syrians; if he does he is incorrect, for no Jew ever did or ever could acknowledge this, with the history of Abraham in his hand. If Herodotus had written before the days of Abraham, or at least before the sojourning of the children of Israel in Egypt, and informed us that circumcision had been practiced among them απ' αρχης, from the beginning, there would then exist a possibility that the Israelites while sojourning among them had learned and adopted this rite. But when we know that Herodotus flourished only 484 years before the Christian era, and that Jacob and his family sojourned in Egypt more than 1800 years before Christ, and that all the descendants of Abraham most conscientiously observed circumcision, and do so to this day, then the presumption is that the Egyptians received it from the Israelites, but that it was impossible the latter could have received it from the former, as they had practiced it so long before their ancestors had sojourned in Egypt.

RENEWAL OF THE COVENANT. (Gen. 17:1-27) Abram . . . ninety years old and nine--thirteen years after the birth of Ishmael [Gen 16:16]. During that interval he had enjoyed the comforts of communion with God but had been favored with no special revelation as formerly, probably on account of his hasty and blameable marriage with Hagar. the Lord appeared--some visible manifestation of the divine presence, probably the Shekinah or radiant glory of overpowering effulgence. I am the Almighty God--the name by which He made Himself known to the patriarchs (Exo 6:3), designed to convey the sense of "all-sufficient" (Psa 16:5-6; Psa 73:25). walk . . . and . . . perfect--upright, or sincere (Psa 51:6) in heart, speech, and behavior.

Every man child among you shall be circumcised--This was the sign in the Old Testament Church as baptism is in the New, and hence the covenant is called "covenant of circumcision" (Act 7:8; Rom 4:11). The terms of the covenant were these: on the one hand Abraham and his seed were to observe the right of circumcision; and on the other, God promised, in the event of such observance, to give them Canaan for a perpetual possession, to be a God to him and his posterity, and that in him and his seed all nations should be blessed.

The covenant had been made with Abram for at least fourteen years, and yet Abram remained without any visible sign of its accomplishment, and was merely pointed in faith to the inviolable character of the promise of God. Jehovah now appeared to Him again, when he was ninety-nine years old, twenty-four years after his migration, and thirteen after the birth of Ishmael, to give effect to the covenant and prepare for its execution. Having come down to Abram in a visible form (Gen 17:22), He said to him, "I am El Shaddai (almighty God): walk before Me and be blameless." At the establishment of the covenant, God had manifested Himself to him as Jehovah (Gen 15:7); here Jehovah describes Himself as El Shaddai, God the Mighty One. שׁדּי: from שׁדד to be strong, with the substantive termination ai, like חגּי the festal, ישׁישׁי the old man, סיני the thorn-grown, etc. This name is not to be regarded as identical with Elohim, that is to say, with God as Creator and Preserver of the world, although in simple narrative Elohim is used for El Shaddai, which is only employed in the more elevated and solemn style of writing. It belonged to the sphere of salvation, forming one element in the manifestation of Jehovah, and describing Jehovah, the covenant God, as possessing the power to realize His promises, even when the order of nature presented no prospect of their fulfilment, and the powers of nature were insufficient to secure it. The name which Jehovah thus gave to Himself was to be a pledge, that in spite of "his own body now dead," and "the deadness of Sarah's womb" (Rom 4:19), God could and would give him the promised innumerable posterity. On the other hand, God required this of Abram, "Walk before Me (cf. Gen 5:22) and be blameless" (Gen 6:9). "Just as righteousness received in faith was necessary for the establishment of the covenant, so a blameless walk before God was required for the maintenance and confirmation of the covenant." This introduction is followed by a more definite account of the new revelation; first of the promise involved in the new name of God (Gen 17:2-8), and then of the obligation imposed upon Abram (Gen 17:9-14). "I will give My covenant," says the Almighty, "between Me and thee, and multiply thee exceedingly." בּרית נתן signifies, not to make a covenant, but to give, to put, i.e., to realize, to set in operation the things promised in the covenant - equivalent to setting up the covenant (cf. Gen 17:7 and Gen 9:12 with Gen 9:9). This promise Abram appropriated to himself by falling upon his face in worship, upon which God still further expounded the nature of the covenant about to be executed.