Genesis 17: 1 – 27
Cut away the flesh
17 When Abram was ninety-nine years old, the LORD appeared to Abram and said to him, “I am Almighty God; walk before Me and be blameless. 2 And I will make My covenant between Me and you, and will multiply you exceedingly.” 3 Then Abram fell on his face, and God talked with him, saying: 4 “As for Me, behold, My covenant is with you, and you shall be a father of many nations. 5 No longer shall your name be called Abram, but your name shall be Abraham; for I have made you a father of many nations. 6 I will make you exceedingly fruitful; and I will make nations of you, and kings shall come from you. 7 And 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. 8 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.” 9 And God said to Abraham: “As for you, you shall keep My covenant, you and your descendants after you throughout their generations. 10 This is My covenant which you shall keep, between Me and you and your descendants after you: Every male child among you shall be circumcised; 11 and you shall be circumcised in the flesh of your foreskins, and it shall be a sign of the covenant between Me and you. 12 He who is eight days old among you shall be circumcised, every male child in your generations, he who is born in your house or bought with money from any foreigner who is not your descendant. 13 He who is born in your house and he who is bought with your money must be circumcised, and My covenant shall be in your flesh for an everlasting covenant. 14 And the uncircumcised male child, who is not circumcised in the flesh of his foreskin, that person shall be cut off from his people; he has broken My covenant.” 15 Then 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 by her; then I will bless her, and she shall be a mother of nations; kings of peoples shall be from her.” 17 Then Abraham fell on his face and laughed, and said in his heart, “Shall a child be born to a man who is one hundred years old? And shall Sarah, who is ninety years old, bear a child?” 18 And Abraham said to God, “Oh, that Ishmael might live before You!” 19 Then God said: “No, Sarah your wife shall bear you a son, and you shall call his name Isaac; 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 shall bear to you at this set time next year.” 22 Then He finished talking with him, and God went up from Abraham. 23 So Abraham took Ishmael his son, 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. 24 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. 26 That very same day Abraham was circumcised, and his son Ishmael; 27 and all the men of his house, born in the house or bought with money from a foreigner, were circumcised with him.
If you have been with us in our study of the book of Genesis we have learned about the interaction of a man named Abram and The Lord Most High. In our last study we have witnessed Abram giving in to the pressure from his wife to help God out. Sarai his wife was barren. Even though God Almighty had promised them a son to them it seemed that He wasn’t going to deliver on His promise. So they felt that maybe they could get their son by the use of a surrogate.
So today we are going to see a chapter of God’s requirement for His covenant. It involved circumcision. Ouch! You might be thinking as to why would our Holy God impose this upon the Israelites?
As believers in our Holy Lord God we like Abram sometimes feel we are ready to face any challenge. We have salvation tucked under our arm and a Bible to boot and in a way say, "look out Satan ’cause here I come!" Then we set out to do "great things for God" and end up falling flat on our faces.
So what happens? We try to do things in the spirit, while still acting in and relying on the flesh. Is this not the same thing we see our brother Abram doing?
Abram faces the same thing as he brings his family to different grazing areas for his livestock and then faces his first adversary: Egypt. His second obstacle in which he failed was to go along with his wife’s suggestion of not waiting for the Lord to act. Before God can use Him, He has to cut off from Abram his flesh that is his dependence on anything that the world suggests.
Remember Abram’s heroic battle to save his nephew Lot. When God moves, the enemy cowers. It wasn’t Abram and His group that scared the kings of the land, it was what our Holy God did for them. Our enemy is not afraid of you, he is afraid of what God can do through you. But we need to realize that although the enemy, the flesh, and the world put up a good looking front, inside they cower with fear. It helps to know that when you face them on the battlefield of your life.
Circumcision was a sign, a mark that someone belonged to Yahweh.
Colossians 2:11-12 says this to us, “In him also you were circumcised with a circumcision made without hands, by putting off the body of the flesh, by the circumcision of Christ, 12 having been buried with him in baptism , in which you were also raised with him through faith in the powerful working of God, who raised him from the dead.”
For us as we seek to live the victorious Christian life as we hear God’s call, obey His voice and step forward, wanting His victory, and even as we know that our enemies cower when they think of what God can do - we too must become weak that He becomes strong - and that happens as we put away the flesh.
The biggest enemy of the victorious Christian life is the flesh. The flesh, that old nature, will drag us down and drag us away. It drags us down in that sin and the world will hold us back from obeying God and being transformed by Him into a useful vessel.
Galatians 5:16-24 teaches us, “But I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh. 17 For the desires of the flesh are against the Spirit, and the desires of the Spirit are against the flesh, for these are opposed to each other, to keep you from doing the things you want to do. 18 But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law. 19 Now the works of the flesh are evident: sexual immorality, impurity, sensuality, 20 idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousy, fits of anger, rivalries, dissensions, divisions, 21 envy, drunkenness, orgies, and things like these. I warn you, as I warned you before, that those who do such things will not inherit the kingdom of God. 22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law. 24 And those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires.”
So the first principal our Holy God wants us to know is two-fold:
1) Crucify the flesh - consider it dead
2) walk in the Spirit - enjoying sweet fellowship with God all the time. Our Precious and Holy Lord as we will see as we go through the verses in this chapter will develop this understanding in His servant by giving him a firsthand experience.
17 When Abram was ninety-nine years old, the LORD appeared to Abram and said to him, “I am Almighty God; walk before Me and be blameless. 2 And I will make My covenant between Me and you, and will multiply you exceedingly.”
Again the number is significant. It indicates that the miracle heir will be born when Abram is ‘one hundred’, in other words at God’s perfect timing.
Our Lord God identifies Himself as ‘I am El Shaddai’ - ‘God Almighty’ - the One Who is ‘competent’ to perform what He promises. Previously God’s covenant has been with His chosen people as YHWH. But now He will make a covenant that includes other peoples and other nations. To them therefore He is El Shaddai, ‘God Almighty’. Previously every covenant has been from ‘YHWH’, and very personal, now YHWH reveals Himself as not just Lord of one nation but of many nations.
We learned in our past studies in the book of Genesis that Enoch and Noah walked with God. Here we see our Holy Lord direct Abram to do likewise - ‘Walk before me and be perfect ’. Now Abram can only walk before God as God watches over him. So being ‘perfect’ means walking within the covenant stipulations, fulfilling all God’s requirements, being a faithful follower.
Abram is already a man of the covenant. But the birth of Ishmael indicates the necessity for a wider and broader covenant. Abram has failed in faith and pre-empted God. Now God calls him back to obedience and will establish a wider covenant which will include Ishmael and his promised seed as our Holy Master informs Him anew that ‘I will make my covenant with you ’. Of course, while Ishmael is with the family YHWH watches over him. But once he leaves he will come under the provenance of God as El, -- El Roi , the God Who Sees.
Here the impression given is that it is Abram’s obedience that will result in the blessing. But we must not forget that the blessing has already been guaranteed in response to Abram’s faith (15.6). Thus we have the perfect example of the fact that God’s covenant is made with us as a gift of grace in response to faith, but that as a result obedience is expected through which the blessing will be received. Genuine faith will always produce obedience (‘works’).
3 Then Abram fell on his face, and God talked with him, saying: 4 “As for Me, behold, My covenant is with you, and you shall be a father of many nations.
The presence of Yahweh is so real and awe-inspiring that Abram ‘falls on his face’.
5 No longer shall your name be called Abram, but your name shall be Abraham; for I have made you a father of many nations. 6 I will make you exceedingly fruitful; and I will make nations of you, and kings shall come from you.
The change of name indicates a new beginning. Now the thought is of more than one nation. The name ‘Abram’ is found in many contemporary ancient texts meaning ‘my father is exalted’. The name ‘Ab-raham’ is also similarly found and may mean ‘father of a multitude’.
Now it is more than one nation that will come out of Abram and his seed, and the added promise is made of ‘kings’, rulers of peoples, re-emphasizing the extension of the promise to many people.
7 And 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.
Here God makes explicit what has previously been implicit, that the covenant is with, and includes, all generations of his seed to come. It is a covenant that will never cease. God will never cease to be their God as long as they respond to the covenant. The covenant is permanent and ‘everlasting’.
8 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.”
At present he and his family are dwellers in the land, but much of the land is owned by others. They are sojourners; they merely have ‘temporary residence rights’. But one day his descendants will own and possess the land in the name of Almighty God Who can do whatever He will. There may be a hint here that Abraham has been becoming concerned about the fact that his reception of the land has seemed to be delayed. This stresses that God has not overlooked him. And He will be God to them. His sovereign power will be exerted on their behalf and He will rule over them receiving their homage and worship.
9 And God said to Abraham: “As for you, you shall keep My covenant, you and your descendants after you throughout their generations. 10 This is My covenant which you shall keep, between Me and you and your descendants after you: Every male child among you shall be circumcised; 11 and you shall be circumcised in the flesh of your foreskins, and it shall be a sign of the covenant between Me and you.
In chapter 15 a sign was given to Abram in the form of a covenant ceremony where the blood of animals was shed to seal the covenant. Here that is replaced by the shedding of blood in person in each one who would enter the covenant. By being specifically circumcised with a view to membership in the covenant community they showed their response to God’s covenant with His people and their commitment to the God of the covenant by the shedding of blood.
We note here that the respective positions are made clear. It is God Who ‘establishes’ the covenant (verse 7). It is Abraham who ‘keeps’ it (verses 9-10). Circumcision is not the making of a covenant but the response to a covenant already established by God.
The rite, which was restricted to males, was to be carried out on the eighth day after birth (verse 12) although any male who was uncircumcised and who wished to join the covenant community at any age was also required to be circumcised whether slave or free
Circumcision would also become the symbol of the need for a purified heart. Just as ritual circumcision was the outward sign of entry into the covenant, so ‘spiritual circumcision’ signified a genuine commitment of the heart to God’s covenant and obedience to His commands. Without the latter the former was meaningless.
12 He who is eight days old among you shall be circumcised, every male child in your generations, he who is born in your house or bought with money from any foreigner who is not your descendant. 13 He who is born in your house and he who is bought with your money must be circumcised, and My covenant shall be in your flesh for an everlasting covenant. 14 And the uncircumcised male child, who is not circumcised in the flesh of his foreskin, that person shall be cut off from his people; he has broken My covenant.”
To share in the benefits of God’s covenant circumcision is now required. It becomes the symbol of response to and commitment to the covenant. It applies to all, both slave and free. This is confirmation that even the lowest of the low in the family were seen as within God’s covenant and therefore as His people. Refusal would mean excommunication or worse, but this is an emphasis on the totality of the requirement rather than being given as a practical alternative. It is not really facing people with a choice. The one who refused would be revealing himself as deliberately rebelling or refusing God as Lord over them.
15 Then God said to Abraham, “As for Sarai your wife, you shall not call her name Sarai, but Sarah shall be her name.
The new name again stresses a new beginning in a new situation. Sarah is to share in Abraham’s honor and her position as the producer of the chosen line is emphasized. She is given a new dignity and brought directly into the covenant, receiving a personal blessing. She is now God’s appointed princess.
16 And I will bless her and also give you a son by her; then I will bless her, and she shall be a mother of nations; kings of peoples shall be from her.”
God declares that Sarah is to have a natural son in spite of her age, and that she too will have nations and kings who will look back to her as their source.
17 Then Abraham fell on his face and laughed, and said in his heart, “Shall a child be born to a man who is one hundred years old? And shall Sarah, who is ninety years old, bear a child?”
Amazing with all this personal interaction of our Holy Father God with Abraham’s amazingly we see that his faith falters. He is clearly possessed with a mixture of emotions. At the words he expressly renews his attitude of obedient submission, he ‘falls on his face’ (verse 3). But he laughs. The laughter may well be in his heart as are the words. The context shows that it means he is incredulous. Whoever heard of such a thing?
18 And Abraham said to God, “Oh, that Ishmael might live before You!”
In addition to laughing at the possibility of and old woman who is pass the age of child bearing we also see that Abraham actually sees God as being mistaken. ‘Oh that Ishmael might live before you”. We cannot avoid the suggestion here that Abraham himself has understandably lost hope. He does not want to have to wait any longer. He tells God that he is willing to accept Ishmael as the fulfillment of God’s promise. How often we are willing to accept second best because the best seems impossible.
19 Then God said: “No, Sarah your wife shall bear you a son, and you shall call his name Isaac; 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 shall bear to you at this set time next year.”
I am quite thankful that our God Is longsuffering and that He understands Abraham’s doubts and confirms exactly what He has promised. Sarah will genuinely have a child of her own. The name ‘laughter’ unquestionably has in mind the fact that Abraham laughed in his heart, but it also has in mind the joy that the child will bring, not only to Abraham and Sarah but to the world. His skeptical laughter will be turned into so great a joyous laughter that in the end the first laughter is forgotten.
It is now made clear that the basic covenant for the chosen line is with Isaac. But this will withhold nothing from Ishmael. He too is part of the wider covenant and will produce a nation and be the father of rulers. Indeed he will parallel Isaac. Twelve rulers will descend from him.
22 Then He finished talking with him, and God went up from Abraham.
The order in the second phrase suggests that the first phrase means it was God Who left off talking with Abraham. The covenant was complete. Its various ramifications had been explained.
23 So Abraham took Ishmael his son, 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 obeyed immediately. No doubt he gathered the men together and explained the wonderful visitation he had experienced and described the terms of the covenant, and then the ceremony would take place as a dedication to the God of the covenant. It is an indication of his absolute authority that all appear to have agreed without anyone refusing. Circumcision was not a very pleasant experience for an adult male. But it would certainly bring home the seriousness of the covenant. However, what matters is that the demands were fulfilled. Then the covenant would be put into writing, along with its historical background, and the following final verses are the confirmation of the fulfillment of the demands of the covenant.
24 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. 26 That very same day Abraham was circumcised, and his son Ishmael; 27 and all the men of his house, born in the house or bought with money from a foreigner, were circumcised with him.
Ishmael is mentioned separately as one named in the covenant. His age shows that he is at the beginning of manhood in Israelite terms and thus old enough to participate in a covenant meaningfully.
