God’s covenant with Abraham
Genesis 17. This chapter contains the second great covenant between God and humans after the one with Noah. At least in the P source. In Genesis 15 there is another covenant with Abram that covers the same ground really, except that this one is more elaborate and emphatic, and adds a sign. According to the Notes the source of the covenant in Genesis 15 is unknown. The covenants with Abram only covers his household and descendants however. The one with Noah was applicable to all humankind.
God appears to Abram, identifying himself as “God Almighty” – El Shaddai in the original. God’s Hebrew name means “God, the Mountain One”, says the Study Bible. (One holy mountain would be Sinai.) This probably refers to God’s dwelling place on a holy mountain. This time the covenant is conditional. Abram is told to “walk before me, and be blameless”.
You shall be the father of a multitude of nations. 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. I will make you exceedingly fruitful; and I will make nations of you, and kings shall come from you. I will establish my covenant between me and you, and your offspring after you throughout the generations, for an everlasting covenant, to be God to you and to your offspring after you. And I will give to you, and your offspring after you, the land where you are now an alien, all the land of Canaan, for a perpetual holding; and I will be their God.
“Abraham” is, according to the Notes, a kind of pun. It refers both to the Hebrew for “father” (ab) and the word for “multitude” (haman). The kings and nations he will be father of include Israel, Ishmael and Edom.
The sign of the covenant is that all males will be circumcised, whether free man or slave, at 8 days old. Failure to do so will cut the person off from the people, because he will have broken the covenant.
Sarai’s name changes as well, to Sarah. It still means “princess”. When God says that Sarah will be blessed and have a son by him Abraham laughs, because he is 99 and she 90. He does not seem to give much credence to God’s announcement, because he says “O, that Ishmael might live in your site”. God in turn does not seem to mind Abraham’s laughter or lack of faith in this instance. He grants Ishmael (who is 13) many offspring, and informs Abraham that this son will be the father to 12 princes, and be a great nation too. But the covenant is established with his son by Sarah, whom he is to call Isaac (”he laughed”). on the other hand the Hebrews will now have have a patriarch whose name forever recalls his father’s incredulous laughing response to an announcement by his God.
And so Abraham immediately sets about having all males in the household – including himself, Ishmael, and all the slaves – circumcised. Today this covenant is still in effect between God and his people, at least if you are Jewish, and therefore this is one of the most momentous chapters in the Bible.
Point to ponder:
It is noteworthy that the covenant is contingent on Abraham’s good behaviour, not his descendants’. Considering what they will get up to this is a Good Thing. At least I assume that Go’d directive includes Abraham only. His descendants will commit all the sins under the sun – the covenant would not have lasted very long if contingent on everyone’s piety and blamelessness.
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