The Abrahamic Covenant
The covenant confirmed
At ninety-nine years of age, fourteen years after the covenant had been made, God again appeared to Abram, and said, “I am Almighty God; walk before Me and be blameless. And I will make My covenant between Me and you, and will multiply you exceedingly.” (Gen. 17:1-3) Here is the first time in the Bible that the name “El Shaddai” (God Almighty or God All-sufficient) is used. ‘El’ is God, singular. It signifies strong or first, and identifies Him as the first great cause. The etymology of ‘Shaddai’ is less clear. Two aspects seem to have preference. One, that it is the combination of two elements, ‘Sha’ (the one who) and ‘dai’ (is sufficient). This is sometimes preferred because ‘shad’ means breast, and can refer to the God who feeds and nourishes. He is the God who is all sufficient. Alternatively, it may come from ‘shadad’ which refers to His power and might. The translators usually adopt this meaning and translate ‘El Shaddai’ with the title ‘God Almighty’. Either way, it is a name that describes the covenant God, as possessing the power to fulfill His promise, even when nature itself is powerless to secure it. The Name by which the Lord introduced Himself was to bring assurance to Abram that though he was past age for fathering a child, and Sarai was barren, nevertheless an innumerable posterity would be his. With this in mind the Lord encouraged Abram to pursue a walk before Him that would be blameless.
The revelation of Abram’s new Name was followed immediately by the declaration that the time had come for the fulfillment of the covenant. “And I will make My covenant between Me and you, and will multiply you exceedingly.” (Gen. 17:2) This does not signify a new covenant but the beginning of the execution of the previously agreed contract. God set in motion that which was needed for the implementation of His pledge. Abram was overwhelmed and prostrated himself before the Lord. The Lord continued, “As for Me, behold, My covenant is with you, and you shall be a father of many nations. No longer shall your name be called Abram, but your name shall be Abraham; for I have made you a father of many nations. I will make you exceedingly fruitful; and I will make nations of you, and kings shall come from you.” (Gen. 17:4-6)
“As for me”, that is, on My part,
(1) “I will establish My covenant between Me and you and your descendants after you in their generations, for an everlasting covenant, to be God to you and your descendants after you”. (Gen. 17:7) The eternal God established an eternal covenant with Abram and his posterity. God is pleased to be known as the God of Abraham. (Gen.26.24; 28.13; Exod.3.6; 3.15, 16; 4.5; cf. Gen.31.42; 31.53; 1 Kings 18.36; 1 Chron.29.18; 2 Chron.30.6; Ps.47.9; Matt.22.32; Mark 12.26; Luke 20.37; Acts 3.13; Acts 7.32) He is the God of Abraham and the God of Israel. “I will be their God”. (v.8)
(2) “You shall be a father of many nations”. This covenant gets better and better. Not simply the father of “a great nation”, but now “a father of many nations”. Abram was to be the ancestor of nations and kings. (v.6) To a man whose body was dead, (Rom.4:19) God said he would be “exceedingly fruitful”. God had said to Adam, “Be fruitful and multiply; fill the earth”. (Gen 1:28) Alas, in Adam all die, but in Abram’s seed all live.(1 Cor.15:22)
(3) “Also I give to you and your descendants after you the land in which you are a stranger, all the land of Canaan, as an everlasting possession; and I will be their God.” (Gen. 17:8) The land to which he had been led was given to him and his descendents, for an “everlasting possession” repeating the truth that the Abrahamic covenant is eternal. The “I give” indicates it is unconditional.
Moreover, the extent of the covenant relationship between Abram and the Lord was to be fully advertised to all peoples because it would forever be incorporated into his name, which God changed from Abram (high father) into Abraham (father of a multitude). Under God, he was to be a father of many nations.
To come under the Abrahamic covenant each individual Jewish male had to be circumcised. (Gen.17:10-14) Moreover, the covenant was to come through a son of promise. “And God said unto Abraham, As for Sarai thy wife, thou shalt not call her name Sarai, but Sarah 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” (Gen. 17:15,16) At this Abram, now Abraham, laughed. He was one hundred years old, and Sarah was ninety. “Not that he either ridiculed the promise of God, or treated it as a fable, or rejected it altogether; but, as often happens when things occur which are least expected, partly lifted up with joy, partly carried out of himself with wonder, he burst out into laughter”.(Calvin) “The promise was so immensely great, that he sank in adoration to the ground, and so immensely paradoxical, that he could not help laughing” (Delitzsch). At this point Abraham reminded the Omniscient that he had already taken steps to help the Omnipotent fulfill His promise. He had a son, Ishmael. The Lord declared that Ishmael would become a great nation, but the covenant would be through the son that Sarah would bear, named Isaac. Embracing fully the covenant, Abraham had all the males in his household circumcised.
Leaving no stone unturned, God visited Abraham, who was now in full covenant relationship with Him, having been circumcised along with his household. The Lord (so identified in Gen.18.13) along with two angels, called on Abraham and Sarah to strengthen Sarah’s faith for the birth of a son. The three, in human form, shared a meal with Abraham during which they asked for Sarah. She, standing within earshot, was permitted to overhear the conversation in which the Lord unveiled the timetable for the birth of Isaac. Within a year, Sarah would be a mother. Sarah laughed and was reproved. Nevertheless, her faith was strengthened, and the Scriptures record, “By faith Sarah herself also received strength to conceive seed, and she bore a child when she was past the age, because she judged Him faithful who had promised”. (Heb. 11:11) Behold, the grace of God, in that He paid her a personal visit to encourage her faith in Him. He asked, “Is anything too hard for the Lord?” and promised, “At the appointed time I will return to you, according to the time of life, and Sarah shall have a son.” (Gen. 18:14) So Sarah had a boy just as the Lord had said, when Abraham was a hundred years old. They called him Isaac (a play on the word ‘laughter’)
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