Genesis 17 · The Lantern

Abraham to Father Many Nations

And 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 whole.

Since in many places of the divine Scriptures we read that God speaks to human beings, and because of this the Jews indeed, but also some of our own people, have thought that God is to be understood as though a man—that is, as marked out with human limbs and bodily form—while the philosophers, on the other hand, look down upon these things as fabulous and shaped after the liken…

After the tenth year he took Ishmael, his child by the maidservant, and considered that the promises had been fulfilled for him in the child. The patriarch was, you remember, the text tells us, eighty-six years old when Ishmael was born. The loving God, however, exercised the virtue of the just man for a still further period of thirteen years.

After he had turned ninety-nine years old, the Lord appeared to him and said, "I am the Almighty God; walk before me and be perfect.

And I will set my covenant between me and you, and I will multiply you exceedingly.”

And Abram fell on his face, and God spoke with him:

“As for me — look, my covenant is with you, and you shall be father of a multitude of nations.

How could it be shown from the testimony of the prophets, already received among the Gentiles in the New Testament, that the promise which God made to Abraham has been fulfilled through the coming of Christ? — It is written in the prophet Isaiah: “My house shall be called a house of prayer for all nations” (Isa. 56:7).

And God said to him: I am, and my covenant is with you. For what is it for the Lord to say: I am, if not to clearly declare the state of his eternity, in which he is always the same? About which the Psalm also says: But you are the same (Psalm 102:28). This place harmonizes with the Gospel where the Lord said to the Jews: Before Abraham was, I am (John 8:58).

Conjugal chastity accords with the written law by reason of the divine promise: because the Lord promised to Abraham, Genesis 17: You shall be the father of many nations; and I will make you increase most exceedingly, and I will establish you among nations, and kings shall come forth from you.

And your name shall no longer be called Abram; your name shall be Abraham, for I have made you father of a multitude of nations.

For the promise, that he should be the heir of the world, was not to Abraham, or to his seed, through the law, but through the righteousness of faith. For if they which are of the law be heirs, faith is made void, and the promise made of none effect: Because the law worketh wrath: for where no law is, there is no transgression.

Verse 7. "And the overseer of the eunuchs imposed names upon them, calling Daniel Belteshazzar (Balthasar), and Hananiah Shadrach, and Mishael Meshach, and Azariah Abednego." It was not only the overseer or master of the eunuchs (as others have rendered it, the "chief-eunuch") who changed the names of saints, but also Pharaoh called Joseph in Egypt Somtonphanec (Genesis 41:45),…

And you will be the father of many nations, and your name will no longer be called Abram, but you will be called Abraham, because I have made you the father of many nations.

And I will make you exceedingly fruitful, and I will make you into nations, and kings shall come out of you.

And I will establish my covenant between me and you, and your seed after you through their generations, as an everlasting covenant: to be God to you, and to your seed after you.

And I will give to you, and to your seed after you, the land of your sojournings — all the land of Canaan — as an everlasting possession; and I will be their God.”

The Covenant of Circumcision

And God said to Abraham, “And you — you shall keep my covenant, you and your seed after you through their generations.

This is my covenant that you shall keep, between me and you and your seed after you: every male among you shall be circumcised.

And you shall be circumcised in the flesh of your foreskin, and it shall be a sign of the covenant between me and you.

Therefore, since we have come to these passages, I wish to inquire whether the almighty God, who holds the dominion of heaven and earth, in willing to set a covenant with a holy man, placed the sum of so great a matter in this, that the foreskin of his flesh and of the offspring to come from him should be circumcised.

Abraham is ordered to circumcise himself when he is about to receive the inheritance of a true progeny. Is it not evident that "circumcision of the flesh" is the precept of chastity, that one should remove the passions of the flesh and curb the desires that unbridled lust renders indomitable?

In what sense is the covenant eternal? One interpretation is that it is eternal according to the One promising, for the things of God are not time conditioned. But relative to us eternal things become time conditioned. Another interpretation is that even when the covenant with Israel was abolished, it was maintained for us, and we are God's [people] in place of them.

And at eight days old, every male among you shall be circumcised, through your generations — born in the house, or bought with silver from any foreigner who is not of your seed.

WHY WAS IT COMMANDED THAT CIRCUMCISION TAKE PLACE ON THE EIGHTH DAY? — It was therefore commanded that circumcision be performed on the eighth day from birth because, according to the number and cycle of the seven days, that day is again found to be the first, as it were, after the sabbath, so that it is no longer regarded as the eighth, but as the first.

And because he is called to what is perfect, Abraham receives the oracle that summons to perfection. "Circumcise," it says, "every male of yours and circumcise your flesh"; but perfect circumcision is the spiritual one.

A child of eight days shall be circumcised among you. For on the eighth day, that is, after the Sabbath, the Lord rose from the dead, in whose passion and resurrection we are baptized, absolved from the oldness of faults, as if we are renewed by spiritual circumcision; the Apostle explaining and saying: For as many of us as were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into His…

The one born in your house and the one bought with your silver must surely be circumcised. And my covenant shall be in your flesh as an everlasting covenant.

And an uncircumcised male, who is not circumcised in the flesh of his foreskin — that soul shall be cut off from his people. He has broken my covenant.”

Nothing done unwittingly is declared punishable by the law, since the law makes allowance even for one who claims to have committed unintentional homicide. Why then is the eight-day-old infant who is uncircumcised menaced as though subject to the penalty of death? Some say that this is to be applied, by way of interpretation, to the parents.

See the Lord's wisdom in knowing how inobservant future generations are likely to be, and so, as though putting a bit in their mouths, he gave them this sign of circumcision, curbing their unrestrained urges in case they should mingle with other peoples.

A male whose foreskin's flesh has not been circumcised, that soul will be cut off from his people: because he has broken my covenant.

And God said to Abraham, “Sarai your wife — you shall not call her name Sarai, for Sarah is her name.

And I will bless her, and I will also give you a son from her. And I will bless her, and she shall become nations; kings of peoples shall come from her.”

And Abraham fell on his face and laughed, and said in his heart, “Shall a child be born to a man a hundred years old? And shall Sarah — shall a woman ninety years old give birth?”

Now Abraham was not guilty of any doubt by his laughter, for he showed his love toward Ishmael in what he said. He had clung to this hope for twenty-five years. Abraham had manifested his faith in every vision that had come to him. However great his contest with barrenness became, he manifested the victory of his faith.

(Verse 17.) And Abraham fell upon his face and laughed. And he said in his heart, Shall a child be born unto him that is an hundred years old? and shall Sarah, that is ninety years old, bear? And after a little while: And thou shalt call his name Isaac. Different opinions, but there is one etymology why he is called Isaac. For Isaac is interpreted as laughter.

Abraham fell on his face, and laughed, saying in his heart: "Shall a child be born to a man who is a hundred years old, and will Sarah, who is ninety years old, bear a child?" The laughter of Abraham is the exultation of one rejoicing, not the mockery of one disbelieving: those words which he said in his heart are not those of one doubting, but of one admiring; as testified als…

And Abraham said to God, “If only Ishmael might live before you!”

And God said, “No — Sarah your wife shall bear you a son, and you shall call his name Isaac. And I will establish my covenant with him as an everlasting covenant, for his seed after him.

And for Ishmael, I have heard you: look, I have blessed him, and I will make him fruitful and multiply him exceedingly. Twelve princes he shall father, and I will make him into a great nation.

But my covenant I will establish with Isaac, whom Sarah shall bear to you at this appointed time next year.”

And he finished speaking with him, and God went up from Abraham.

And Abraham took Ishmael his son, and all born in his house, and all bought with his silver — every male among the men of Abraham’s house — and circumcised the flesh of their foreskin on this very day, as God had spoken with him.

And Abraham was ninety-nine years old when he was circumcised in the flesh of his foreskin.

And Ishmael his son was thirteen years old when he was circumcised in the flesh of his foreskin.

On this very day Abraham was circumcised, and Ishmael his son,

and all the men of his house — born in the house, or bought with silver from a foreigner — were circumcised with him.

Genesis17

Abraham to Father Many Nations

The Covenant of Circumcision