Genesis
17:1-7, 15-16
When Abram was ninety-nine years old, the Lord appeared to Abram, and said to him,
“I am God Almighty; walk before me, and be blameless. 2 And I will
make my covenant between me and you, and will make you exceedingly numerous.” 3
Then Abram fell on his face; and God said to him, 4 “As for
me, this is my covenant with you: You shall be the ancestor of a multitude of
nations. 5 No longer shall your name be Abram, but your name shall
be Abraham; for I have made you the ancestor of a multitude of nations. 6 I
will make you exceedingly fruitful; and I will make nations of you, and kings
shall come from you. 7 I will establish my covenant between me and
you, and your offspring after you throughout their generations, for an
everlasting covenant, to be God to you and to your offspring after you.
15 God said to
Abraham, “As for Sarai your wife, you shall not call her Sarai, but Sarah shall
be her name. 16 I will bless her, and moreover I will give you a son
by her. I will bless her, and she shall give rise to nations; kings of peoples
shall come from her.”
Genesis 17:1-7, 15-16, part of a segment that embraces 1-27, most scholars will tell us, is the P version of the covenant with Abraham and circumcision. J has a parallel account in Chapter 15. One can see the interest of the priestly writer in genealogy in these verses. The covenant is God centered. We can see that the priestly account is aware of the difference between the faith of the Patriarchs and the later belief in Yahweh. 1When Abram was ninety-nine years old, the Lord (Yahweh) appeared to Abram. Such an appearance to the Patriarchs provides Christian theologians with an analogy to the appearance of the risen Christ to the disciples. The depiction of divine communication throughout the OT makes it clear that the numinous character of revelation does not lend itself to easy categorization into one of our five senses. The same word of the Lord may be both auditory and visionary at the same time. The covenant begins, as many covenants in the ancient Near East begin, with the announcement of the identity of the granter of the covenant. The Lord said to him, “I am God Almighty (El Shaddai). This name for the divine name is ancient, preserved in the priestly tradition. Rarely does it occur outside the Torah, other than Job. The meaning could be “God of the Mountains.” We find the title in Genesis 28:3-4; 35:11; 43:14; 48:3-4; Ezekiel 10:5; and Exodus 6:2-3. In Revelation 11:17, "God Almighty" comes from the Greek o qeoV o pantokratwr -- The All-Powerful God. The Latin Vulgate translates it Deus omnipotens, from which we get our word "omnipotent." Shaddai also appears without 'El, as in Psalm 91:1-2 (four divine names appear); Ruth 1:20-21; Ezekiel 1:24; Joel 1:15; and often in Job. The English is the traditional translation of Hebrew 'el shaddai, a divine name especially prominent in the Priestly stratum of the Pentateuch (Genesis 28:3; 35:11; 43:14; 48:3; Exodus 6:3). The meaning of the second element is uncertain, having a relationship to an Akkadian word for "mountain." Several divine names compounded of the El- prefix are found in the Abraham cycle: El-elyon ("God Most High"), 14:18; El-roi ("God of Seeing"), 16:1; El-olam ("Everlasting God"), 21:33; and, outside the Abraham cycle, El-Bethel ("God of Bethel"), Genesis 35:7; and El-berith ("God of the Covenant"), Judges 9:46. According to the Priestly theologian, the form found here was the name of the God of Israel known to the patriarchs. The personal name of the deity of Israel, Yahweh, waited for the moment when Moses received the revelation at the fiery bush (Exodus 6:2-3). The Lord tells Abram to walk before me (Hithpael of halak). It suggests to "walk ever (or continually) before me." The same form of the same verb describes the "strolling" of God in the Garden of Eden in Genesis 3:8. In Abram's case, a metaphoric use of the verb has characterized his wandering life with this deity (12:6, 10, 20; 13:1, 18; 14:14, 16).). Such walking is to be blameless (tamim). Its root sense is "to be complete or finished or whole." It can refer to an entire day (Joshua 10:13), year (Leviticus 25:30) or Sabbath (Leviticus 23:15). This sense of having nothing essential lacking, rather than a forensic or juridical pronouncement of innocence, is to characterize the life of Abram. Thus, unlike the covenant in Chapter 15 from J, this covenant has a moral component. Next, in verses 2-3a, El Shaddai announces the covenant, while the author does not state a completion to the ceremony. 2 And I will make my covenant between me and you, and will make you exceedingly numerous.” Covenant has a root meaning of "bond or fetter," indicating a type of binding relationship which, in general, "signifies a relationship based on commitment, which includes both promises and obligations, and which has the quality of reliability and durability." The Old Testament relates numerous covenants. One was between Abraham and Abimelech (Genesis 21:25-32). Another covenant was between Ahab and Ben-hadad (I Kings 20:34). Yet another was the covenant between David and the elders of Israel (I Chronicles 11:3). Of course, none is more important than the covenant between Abraham and his God. From that single covenant, three of the most populous and venerable religions, Judaism, Christianity, and Islam, comprising some 3.5 billion people' trace their identity. Theologically, three covenants dominate the literature of the OT. One is the covenant with Abra(ha)m in this passage. A second is the covenant with the Israelites mediated through Moses at Sinai (Exodus 20). A third is the covenant with David and the royal dynasty he founded (II Samuel 7 and Psalm 78:67-72). The first and third are grace and favor covenants, that is, they are a type of everlasting covenant (berit `olam) that depends entirely on the faithfulness of the deity. The Mosaic covenant, on the other hand, was conditional and could be (and frequently was) disrupted by the faithlessness of the Israelites (Exodus 19:5; Leviticus 26:15; Deuteronomy 31:16). The covenant with Abra(ha)m, although containing a sign and a stipulation, was not conditional on either for its efficacy. At this point in classical Hittite treaty formulas (which many scholars believe may have influenced the covenant language in the OT), the granter of the treaty would ordinarily list the attributes or accomplishments which justify the granting of the treaty to the less powerful party; there is no such elaboration of divine attributes or activities here. We can see that God in the Bible is in covenantal relation that maintains the freedom of God. One cannot locate God to a predictable place or posture. As an analogy, if two partners dance, they stay on the dance floor with each other if they are serious. They will have many postures and locations, but the constant is that they take each other seriously on the dance floor. The history of covenant in the Bible is like a dance in that way. 3Then Abram fell on his face. In verse 3b-6, only the priestly writer records this change of name. As God said to him, 4 “As for me, this is my covenant with you: You shall be the ancestor of a multitude of nations. 5 No longer shall your name be Abram, but your name shall be Abraham; for I have made you the ancestor of a multitude of nations. 6 I will make you exceedingly fruitful; and I will make nations of you, and kings shall come from you. In verse 7-8, in the theology of the priestly author, the covenant is more than land, for it includes a relation to God. 7 I will establish my covenant between me and you, and your offspring after you throughout their generations, for an everlasting covenant, to be God to you and to your offspring after you. Our temptation is to do what seems right for the moment. Expediency is the way we live. Henry Ward Beecher said, "Expedients are for the hour; principles for the ages." Rarely do we look for the deeper principles upon which we base our relationships. We do what is right for this moment. In our society, we do not speak much about covenants; we speak about contracts. When we make a contract with a person, we say, "I will fulfill my part as long as you fulfill yours. When you do not live up to your promises, I no longer have to live up to mine." People break contracts because the partners are unwilling or unable to be faithful to their terms. God did not make a contract with us. God made a covenant with us. God wants our relationships in marriage, parenting, friendship, and community to reflect that covenant. In verses 15-16, a segment that extends to verse 22, the promise becomes more concrete. 15 God said to Abraham, “As for Sarai your wife, you shall not call her Sarai, but Sarah shall be her name. 16 I will bless her, and moreover I will give you a son by her. I will bless her, and she shall give rise to nations; kings of peoples shall come from her.”
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