Continuing a Bible study of Abraham:
(Genesis 17:1) And when Abram was ninety-nine years old, the LORD appeared to Abram and said to him, "I am the Almighty God; walk before Me and you be perfect. (2) And I will make My covenant between Me and you, and will multiply you exceedingly."
Thirteen years have passed since Hagar gave birth to Ishmael. Abram is now 99 years old and Sarai would be 89. The Lord reiterates His promise to Abram, but note the covenant is mutual. Abram is to walk before the Lord, upright and blameless, and the Lord will multiply Abram exceedingly.
(3) And Abram fell on his face, and God talked with him, saying, (4) "As for Me, behold, My covenant is with you, and you will be a father of many nations."
Abram fell on his face before the Lord, in total reverence or perhaps overcome by the divine glory of His Lord, and God assured Abram of His covenant with him and told him he would indeed be a father of many nations. In the first verse God told Abram to walk before Him and He will make His covenant with him. In verses 3 and 4, Abram fell on his face before the Lord indicating his willingness to follow Him, actually probably to continue following Him, and God confirmed the covenant.
(5) "No more will your name be called Abram, but your name shall be Abraham; for I have made you a father of many nations."
"Abram" meant "high or exalted father". God declared that Abram's name should now be "Abraham", meaning "father of a multitude".
(6) "And I will make you exceedingly fruitful, and I will make nations of you, and kings will come out of you. (7) And I will establish My covenant between Me and you and your seed after you in their generations, for an everlasting covenant, to be a God to you and to your descendants after you. (8) And I will give to you and to your seed after you, the land in which you are a stranger, all the land of Canaan, for an everlasting possession; and I will be their God."
Among Abraham's descendants will be many nations and kings. The covenant is not only established with Abraham, but also with his descendants after him. It is an everlasting covenant. God will give them all the land of Canaan for an everlasting possession, and He will be their God. However, from verse 1, Abraham's (and therefore his descendants') part in the covenant was to follow God, and that is why there were times when they did not actually possess the land. When they were disobedient, they were carried captive from it, but when they returned to their Lord, they would return to the land to possess it. I cannot help but think about this everlasting covenant when I read and hear about all the fighting over Israel's borders. Many people would choose to ignore this promise of God, even some self-proclaimed Christians. They would say the covenant was spiritual and that it changed with the death of Christ. However, the more I study, the more I see that the God portrayed in the Old Testament never changed. Never was it stated in scripture that all God had said in the Old Testament didn't matter now; He just gave us a way to be forgiven when we didn't measure up to His standards:
(God said) "For I am the LORD, I do not change"... - Malachi 3:6a
(Jesus said) "Do not think that I came to destroy the Law or the Prophets. I did not come to destroy but to fulfill. For verily I say to you, till heaven and earth pass away, one jot or one tittle will by no means pass from the law till all is fulfilled." - Matthew 5:17-18
Just because we are forgiven and have mercy and grace, it does not give us a pass and allow us to ignore all that God said:
"What then? Shall we sin because we are not under law but under grace? God forbid. Do you not know that to whom you yield yourselves servants to obey, you are that one's servants whom you obey, whether of sin unto death, or of obedience unto righteousness?" - Romans 6:15-16
(9) And God said to Abraham: "You shall keep My covenant therefore, you and your seed after you, in their generations. (10) This is My covenant which you shall keep, between Me and you and your seed after you; every male child among you shall be circumcised; (11) And you will circumcise the flesh of your foreskin; and it will be a token of the covenant between Me and you."
Abraham's and his descendants' sign that they intended to honor their covenant with God is that every male child be circumcised. Quoting Dr. John Gill, "...this was the first institution of circumcision, and it was an institution of God, and not of man." Apparently, some historians have claimed that the Egyptians were the first to circumcise, but from everything I have read from Biblical scholars, there is no evidence of it before the Egyptians learned it from the Jews in the time of Joseph.
(12) "And he who is eight days old will be circumcised among you, every male child in your generations, he who is born in the house or bought with money from any stranger who is not of your seed. (13) He who is born in your house and he who is bought with your money must be circumcised, and My covenant will be in your flesh for an everlasting covenant."
The reason they were to be circumcised on the eighth day will be learned later in scripture when the Levitical laws are detailed. Leviticus 12:2-3 says, "...If a woman has conceived, and borne a male child, then she shall be
unclean seven days; as in the days of her customary impurity she shall
be unclean. And on the eighth day the flesh of his foreskin shall be circumcised."
Dr. John Gill points out something very interesting about the servants who were to be circumcised among Abraham and his descendants. Babies born in the household were to be circumcised on the eighth day and babies and children older than eight days were to be circumcised when they were purchased and brought into the household. However, grown servants were given a choice. They did not have to be circumcised and forced to accept the true religion of Almighty God. If the servant was unwilling to submit to circumcision, the owner could keep him for up to a year, at which time the servant must be circumcised or be sent back "to the heathens". I love that even among Old Testament slaves, there was still freedom of choice. God has never forced Himself on anyone! We have always been free to choose between life or death!
(14) "And the uncircumcised male child whose flesh of his foreskin is not circumcised, that soul shall be cut off from his people; he has broken My covenant."
Any who chose not to be circumcised were cut off from his people, and therefore God's blessings, because that was a sign he had broken the covenant with God. Obviously an 8-day old child could not be held responsible for such a decision. Dr. John Gill again wrote a more detailed explanation of the law: "...if a father does not circumcise his son, the sanhedrim are bound to circumcise him; and if they do not circumcise him, he is obliged when he is grown up to circumcise himself; and if he does not circumcise himself, he is guilty of cutting off."
(15) And God said to Abraham, "As for Sarai your wife, you shall not call her name Sarai, but Sarah shall be her name. (16) And I will bless her and also give you a son of her; yes, I will bless her, and she shall be a mother of nations; kings of people shall be of her."
Sarai meant "princess", thought of as "my princess", but Sarah had a stronger meaning of a princess, noblewoman, or even queen of a multitude. Incredibly, at 89 years of age, God tells Abraham that Sarah will bear a son, and as Abraham will be a father of many nations, Sarah will be a mother of nations.
(17) Then Abraham fell on his face and laughed, and said in his heart, "Shall a child be born to him who is a hundred years old? And shall Sarah, who is ninety years old, bear?"
Verse 1 states that Abraham is 99 years old at this time, so either he is rounding up or he is indicating the age at which he will actually have the child. When Abraham laughed, it was from joy! There was no scorn or disbelief at the prophecy. Abraham fell on his face out of reverence for his Lord and possibly from overjoyed amazement of what had just been told to him. We are told in Romans 4:19-22 of this account, and Abraham was said to have never wavered in his faith in the Lord to achieve what He had promised, so we know with assurance that Abraham was not laughing disrespectfully here.
(18) And Abraham said to God, "Oh, that Ishmael might live before You!"
In his joy over this news, the father Abraham remembers his other son and hopes that he, too, may live before the Lord in worship and share in His blessings.
(19) And God said, "Sarah your wife shall bear you a son indeed, and you shall call his name Isaac; and I will establish My covenant with him for an everlasting covenant, and with his descendants after him. (20) And as for Ishmael, I have heard you. Behold, I have blessed him, and will make him fruitful, and will multiply him exceedingly; he shall beget twelve princes, and I will make him a great nation. (21) But My covenant I will establish with Isaac, whom Sarah will bear to you at this set time next year."
God reiterates that Sarah will bear Abraham a son and it is through Isaac that the covenant will be established. By the way, Isaac means "laughter". Additionally, God indicates that He has heard Abraham's desire and will bless Ishmael and will make a great nation of him, too. Twelve princes will be named later, true to this prophecy, and the nation that stems from Ishmael is the Arab nation. It is very interesting to note that there will be twelve Arab princes as there will likewise be twelve patriarchs of the Jewish nation. Bishop Newton wrote of the Arab tribes descended from Ishmael:
"It was somewhat wonderful, and not to be foreseen by human sagacity, that a man’s whole posterity should so nearly resemble him, and retain the same inclinations, the same habits, and the same customs, throughout all ages! These are the only people besides the Jews who have subsisted as a distinct people from the beginning, and in some respects they very much resemble each other 1. The Arabs, as well as the Jews, are descended from Abraham, and both boast of their descent from the father of the faithful. 2. The Arabs, as well as the Jews, are circumcised, and both profess to have derived this ceremony from Abraham. 3. The Arabs, as well as the Jews, had originally twelve patriarchs, who were their princes or governors. 4. The Arabs, as well as the Jews, marry among themselves, and in their own tribes. 5. The Arabs, as well as the Jews, are singular in several of their customs, and are standing monuments to all ages of the exactness of the Divine predictions, and of the veracity of Scripture history. We may with more confidence believe the particulars related of Abraham and Ishmael when we see them verified in their posterity at this day. This is having, as it were, ocular demonstration for our faith.”
In addition, I can't help but think about the tension between the Arabs and the Jews to this day, that started with Sarah's impatience with the fulfillment of God's promise.
(22) And He finished talking with him, and God went up from Abraham.
God "went up" from Abraham! It sounds as if God Himself, in whatever
form He chose in which to talk to Abraham, ascended to heaven in his presence. This was no earthly messenger who talked with Abraham!
(23) And Abraham took Ishmael his son, and all who were born in his house and all who were bought with his money, every male among the men of Abraham's house, and circumcised the flesh of their foreskins that very same day, as God had said to him.
Abraham immediately complied with his part of the covenant and circumcised all the males in his household, beginning with his son, Ishmael. The scripture states that all were circumcised, so not one servant rejected this excruciatingly painful rite, as we have previously read was their right to do. Obviously, they must have been convinced by Abraham that God Himself ordained it.
(24) And Abraham was ninety-nine years old when he was circumcised in the flesh of his foreskin. (25) And Ishmael his son was thirteen years old when he was circumcised in the flesh of his foreskin.
Because Ishmael was circumcised at 13, so began the Arab tradition of circumcising their males at that age.
(26) That very same day Abraham was circumcised, and Ishmael his son; (27) And all the men of his house, born in the house, and bought with money from a stranger, were circumcised with him.
God's covenant with Abraham and his descendants was confirmed by Him, and Abraham immediately confirmed his part with the physical sign of circumcision. Circumcision was just a sign that they intended to follow God. Salvation and life are in the Lord Himself; circumcision was to be an everlasting sign in their flesh of their promise to follow God and of His great covenant with them.
No comments:
Post a Comment