Genesis 17 · The Lantern

When Abram was nynetye yere olde and ix. the LORde apeared to hym sayenge: I am the almyghtie God: walke before me ad be vncorrupte.

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 wyll make my bonde betwene the and me and wyll multiplye the excedyngly.

And Abra fell on his face. And God talked moreover with hym saynge:

I am beholde my testamet is with the that thou shalt be a father of many natios.

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).

The promise of a bodily posterity was made to Abraham, for it is written: "So shall your posterity be." The promise of a spiritual posterity was also made to him, for through faith he was to be the father of a multitude. The flesh of Abraham gave forth offspring and was thus multiplied.

Therfore shalt thou no more be called Abram but thy name shalbe Abraham: for a father of many nations haue I made the

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 multiplye the excedyngly and wyll make nations of the: yee and kynges shall sprynge out of the.

Moreover I will make my bonde betwene me and the and thy seed after the in their tymes to be an everlastynge testament So that I wyll be God vnto the and to thy seed after the.

And I will geue vnto the ad to thy seed after the the lande where in thou arte a straunger: Euen all the lande of Canaan for an everlastynge possession and wil be their God.

And God sayde vnto Abraha: Se thou kepe my testamente both thou and thy seed after the in their tymes:

This is my testamente which ye shall kepe betwene me and you and thy seed after the that ye circucyse all youre men childern ye shall circumcyse

the foreskynne of youre flesh ad it shal be a token of the bond betwixte me and you.

But I shall seem to be caught by my own evidences. For by this testimony of the prophet the Jew straightway constrains me and says: behold, the prophet designates both circumcisions, of flesh and of heart; there is no room left for allegory, where both kinds of circumcision are required.

I know that this part of the text is disturbing to many. Indeed, if circumcision is a good thing, it should be maintained today as well. If it is useless, it never should have been mandated in the first place, particularly not by divine precept.

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 euery manchilde when it is viij. dayes olde shal be circucysed amonge you in youre generations and all servauntes also borne at home or boughte with money though they be straungers and not of thy 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 seruaunte borne in thy housse ad he also that is bought with money must needes be circumcysed that my testament may be in youre flesh for an everlastinge bonde.

Yf there be any vncircuncysed manchilde that hath not the forskynne of his flesh cutt of his soule shall perish from his people: because he hath broke my testamet

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 sayde vnto Abraham. Sarai thy wyfe shall nomore be called Sarai: but Sara shall hir name be.

For I will blesse her and geue the a sonne of her and will blesse her: so that people ye and kynges of people shall springe of her.

And Abraham fell vpon his face ad laughte and sayd in his harte: shall a childe be borne vnto hym that is an hundred yere olde ad shall Sara that is nynetie yere olde bere?

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 Abraha sayde vnto God. O that Ismaell myghte lyve in thy syghte.

The sayde God: na Sara thy wife shall bere the a sonne ad thou shalt call his name Isaac. And I will make my bonde with him that it shall be an everlastynge bonde vnto his seed after him.

And as concernynge Ismaell also I haue herde thy request: loo I will blesse him and encrease him and multiplye him excedyingly. Twelve prynces shall be begete and I will make a great nation of him.

But my bonde will I make with Isaac which Sara shall bere vnto the: even this tyme twelue moneth.

And God left of talkynge with him and departed vp from Abraham.

And Abraham toke Ismaell his sonne and all the servauntes borne in his housse and all that was bought with money as many as were menchildren amonge the me of Abrahas housse and circumcysed the foreskynne of their flesh even the selfe same daye as God had sayde vnto him.

Abraham was nynetie yere olde and.ix. when he cutt of the foreskynne of his flesh.

And Ismaell his sonne was.xiij. yere olde when the foreskynne of hys flesh was circumcysed.

The selfe same daye was Abraha circucised and Ismael his sonne.

And all the men in his housse whether they were borne in his housse or bought wyth money (though they were straungers) were circumcysed with him.

Genesis17