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Matthew Henry’s Complete Commentary
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Matthew Henry |
G E N E S I S
CHAP. XVII.
This chapter contains articles of agreement covenanted and concluded
upon between the great Jehovah, the Father of mercies,
on the one part, and pious Abram, the father of the faithful, on
the other part. Abram is therefore called “the friend of God,”
not only because he was the man of his counsel, but because he
was the man of his covenant; both these secrets were with him.
Mention was made of this covenant
(ch. xv. 18),
but here it is
particularly drawn up, and put into the form of a covenant, that
Abram might have strong consolation. Here are,
I. The circumstances
of the making of this covenant, the time and manner
(ver. 1),
and the posture Abram was in,
II. The covenant
itself. In the general scope of it,
And, afterwards,
in the particular instances.
1. That he should be the father of
many nations
(ver. 4, 6),
and, in token of this, his name was
changed,
2. That God would be a God to him and his
seed, and would give them the land of Canaan,
And the seal of this part of the covenant was circumcision,
3. That he should have a son by Sarai, and, in token thereof,
her name was changed,
This promise Abram received,
And his request for Ishmael,
(ver. 18)
was answered,
abundantly to his satisfaction,
III. The
circumcision of Abram and his family, according to God’s appointment,
&c.
| The Covenant with Abraham Renewed. | B. C. 1898. |
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1 And when Abram was ninety
years old and nine, the LORD
appeared to Abram, and said unto
him, I am the Almighty God; walk
before me, and be thou perfect.
2 And I will make my covenant between
me and thee, and will multiply
thee exceedingly.
3 And Abram fell
on his face: and God talked with
him, saying,
Here is,
I. The time when God made Abram
this gracious visit: When he was ninety-nine
years old, full thirteen years after the birth of
Ishmael.
1. So long, it should seem, God’s
extraordinary appearances to Abram were
intermitted; and all the communion he had
with God was only in the usual was of ordinances
and providences. Note, There are
some special comforts which are not the
daily bread, no, not of the best saints, but
they are favoured with them now and then.
On this side heaven they have convenient
food, but not a continual feast.
2. So long
the promise of Isaac was deferred.
(1.) Perhaps
to correct Abram’s over-hasty marrying
of Hagar. Note, The comforts we sinfully
anticipate are justly delayed.
(2.) That
Abram and Sarai being so far stricken in age
God’s power, in this matter, might be the
more magnified, and their faith the more
tried. See
Deut. xxxii. 36; John xi. 6, 15.
(3.) That a child so long waited for might be
an Isaac, a son indeed,
Isa. liv. 1.
II. The way in which God made this covenant
with him: The Lord appeared to Abram,
in the shechinah, some visible display of God’s
immediate glorious presence with him. Note,
God first makes himself known to us, and
gives us a sight of him by faith, and then
takes us into his covenant.
III. The posture Abram put himself into
upon this occasion: He fell on his face while
God talked with him,
v. 3.
1. As one overcome
by the brightness of the divine glory,
and unable to bear the sight of it, though he
had seen it several times before. Daniel and
John did likewise, though they were also acquainted
with the visions of the Almighty,
Dan. viii. 17; x. 9, 15; Rev. i. 17.
Or,
2. As one ashamed of himself, and blushing to
think of the honours done to one so unworthy.
He looks upon himself with humility,
and upon God with reverence, and, in
token of both, falls on his face, putting himself
into a posture of adoration. Note,
(1.) God graciously condescends to talk with
those whom he takes into covenant and
communion with himself. He talks with
them by his word,
Prov. vi. 22.
He talks
with them by his Spirit,
John xiv. 26.
This honour have all his saints.
(2.) Those that
are admitted into fellowship with God are,
and must be, very humble and very reverent
in their approaches to him. If we say we
have fellowship with him, and the familiarity
breeds contempt, we deceive ourselves.
(3.) Those that would receive comfort from God
must set themselves to give glory to God
and to worship at his footstool.
IV. The general scope and summary of
the covenant laid down as the foundation on
which all the rest was built; it is no other
than the covenant of grace still made with
all believers in Jesus Christ,
v. 1.
Observe here,
1. What we may expect to find God to us:
I am the Almighty God. By this name he
chose to make himself known to Abram
rather than by his name Jehovah,
Exod. vi. 3.
He used it to Jacob,
ch. xxviii. 3; xliii. 14; xlviii. 3.
It is the name of God that is
mostly used throughout the book of Job,
at least in the discourses of that book.
After Moses, Jehovah is more frequently
used, and this, El-shaddai, very rarely; it
bespeaks the almighty power of God, either,
(1.) As an avenger, from
sdh he laid
waste, so some; and they think God took
this title from the destruction of the old
world. This is countenanced by
and
Or, (2.) As a benefactor s for
asr who, and dy sufficient. He is a God
that is enough; or, as our old English translation
reads it here very significantly, I am
God all-sufficient. Note, The God with whom
we have to do is a God that is enough.
[1.] He is enough in himself; he is self-sufficient;
he has every thing, and he needs not any
thing.
[2.] He is enough to us, if we be in
covenant with him: we have all in him, and
we have enough in him, enough to satisfy
our most enlarged desires, enough to supply
the defect of every thing else, and to secure
to us a happiness for our immortal souls.
See
2. What God requires that we should be
to him. The covenant is mutual: Walk
before me, and be thou perfect, that is, upright
and sincere; for herein the covenant of grace
is well-ordered that sincerity is our gospel
perfection. Observe,
(1.) That to be religious
is to walk before God in our integrity;
it is to set God always before us, and to
think, and speak, and act, in every thing, as
those that are always under his eye. It is
to have a constant regard to his word as our
rule and to his glory as our end in all our
actions, and to be continually in his fear. It
is to be inward with him, in all the duties of
religious worship, for in them particularly we
walk before God
and to be
entire for him, in all holy conversation. I
know no religion but sincerity.
(2.) That
upright walking with God is the condition of
our interest in his all-sufficiency. If we neglect
him, or dissemble with him, we forfeit
the benefit and comfort of our relation to
him.
(3.) A continual regard to God’s all-sufficiency
will have a great influence upon
our upright walking with him.
4 As for me, behold, my covenant
is with thee, and thou shalt be a father
of many nations.
5 Neither
shall thy name any more be called
Abram, but thy name shall be Abraham;
for a father of many nations
have I made thee.
6 And I will
make thee exceeding fruitful, and I
will make nations of thee, and kings
shall come out of thee.
The promise here is introduced with solemnity:
“As for me,” says the great God,
“behold, behold and admire it, behold and
be assured of it, my covenant is with thee;”
as before
(v. 2),
I will make my covenant.
Note, The covenant of grace is a covenant
of God’s own making; this he glories in
(as for me), and so may we. Now here,
I. It is promised to Abraham that he
should be a father of many nations; that is,
1. That his seed after the flesh should be
very numerous, both in Isaac and Ishmael,
as well as in the sons of Keturah: something
extraordinary is doubtless included in
this promise, and we may suppose that the
event answered to it, and that there have
been, and are, more of the children of men
descended from Abraham than from any one
man at an equal distance with him from
Noah, the common root.
2. That all believers
in every age should be looked upon
as his spiritual seed, and that he should be
called, not only the friend of God, but the
father of the faithful. In this sense the
apostle directs us to understand this promise,
He is the father of
those in every nation that by faith enter into
covenant with God, and (as the Jewish
writers express it) are gathered under the
wings of the divine Majesty.
II. In token of this his name was changed
from Abram, a high father, to Abraham, the
father of a multitude. This was,
1. To put
an honour upon him. It is spoken of as the
glory of the church that she shall be called
by a new name, which the mouth of the Lord
shall name,
Isa. lxii. 2.
Princes dignify their
favourites by conferring new titles upon
them; thus was Abraham dignified by him
that is indeed the fountain of honour. All
believers have a new name,
Some think it added to the honour of Abraham’s
new name that a letter of the name
Jehovah was inserted into it, as it was a disgrace
to Jeconiah to have the first syllable of
his name cut off, because it was the same
as the first syllable of the sacred name,
Believers are named from
Christ,
2. To encourage and
confirm the faith of Abraham. While he
was childless perhaps even his own name
was sometimes an occasion of grief to him:
why should he be called a high father who
was not a father at all? But now that God
had promised him a numerous issue, and had
given him a name which signified so much,
that name was his joy. Note, God calls things
that are not as though they were. It is the
apostle’s observation upon this very thing,
He called Abraham the father
of a multitude because he should prove to be
so in due time, though as yet he had but one
child.
7 And I will establish my covenant
between me and thee and thy seed
after thee in their generations for an
everlasting covenant, to be a God
unto thee, and to thy seed after thee.
8 And I will give unto thee, and to
thy seed after thee, the land wherein
thou art a stranger, all the land of
Canaan, for an everlasting possession;
and I will be their God.
9 And God
said unto Abraham, Thou shalt keep
my covenant therefore, thou, and thy
seed after thee in their generations.
10 This is my covenant, which ye
shall keep, between me and you and
thy seed after thee; Every man child
among you shall be circumcised.
11 And ye shall circumcise the flesh of
your foreskin; and it shall be a token
of the covenant betwixt me and you.
12 And he that is eight days old
shall be circumcised among you, every
man child in your generations, he
that is born in the house, or bought
with money of any stranger,
which is not of thy seed.
13 He that is
born in thy house, and he that is
bought with thy money, must needs
be circumcised: and my covenant
shall be in your flesh for an everlasting
covenant.
14 And the uncircumcised
man child whose flesh of
his foreskin is not circumcised, that
soul shall be cut off from his people;
he hath broken my covenant.
Here is,
I. The continuance of the covenant,
intimated in three things:–
1. It is
established; not to be altered nor revoked.
It is fixed, it is ratified, it is made as firm as
the divine power and truth can make it.
2. It is entailed; it is a covenant, not with
Abraham only (then it would die with him),
but with his seed after him, not only his
seed after the flesh, but his spiritual seed.
3. It is everlasting in the evangelical sense
and meaning of it. The covenant of grace
is everlasting. It is from everlasting in the counsels
of it, and to everlasting in the consequences
of it; and the external administration
of it is transmitted with the seal of it
to the seed of believers, and the internal administration
of it by the Spirit of Christ’s
seed in every age.
II. The contents of the covenant: it is a
covenant of promises, exceedingly great and
precious promises. Here are two which
indeed are all-sufficient:–
1. That God
would be their God,
All the privileges
of the covenant, all its joys and all its
hopes, are summed up in this. A man needs
desire no more than this to make him happy.
What God is himself, that he will be to his
people: his wisdom theirs, to guide and counsel
them; his power theirs, to protect and
support them; his goodness theirs, to supply
and comfort them. What faithful worshippers
can expect from the God they serve believers
shall find in God as theirs. This is
enough, yet not all.
2. That Canaan should
be their everlasting possession,
v. 8.
God had before promised this land to Abraham
and his seed,
But here, where it
is promised for an everlasting possession,
surely it must be looked upon as a type of
heaven’s happiness, that everlasting rest
which remains for the people of God,
This is that better country to which
Abraham had an eye, and the grant of which
was that which answered to the vast extent
and compass of that promise, that God
would be to them a God; so that, if God had
not prepared and designed this, he would
have been ashamed to be called their God,
As the land of Canaan was secured
to the seed of Abraham according to
the flesh, so heaven is secured to all his
spiritual seed, by a covenant, and for a possession,
truly everlasting. The offer of this
eternal life is made in the word, and confirmed
by the sacraments, to all that are
under the external administration of the
covenant; and the earnest of it is given to
all believers,
Canaan is here said
to be the land wherein Abraham was a
stranger; and the heavenly Canaan is a land
to which we are strangers, for it does not yet
appear what we shall be.
III. The token of the covenant, and that
is circumcision, for the sake of which the covenant
is itself called the covenant of circumcision,
Acts vii. 8.
It is here said to be the
covenant which Abraham and his seed must
keep, as a copy or counterpart,
It is called a sign and seal
(Rom. iv. 11),
for it was,
1. A confirmation to Abraham and
his seed of those promises which were God’s
part of the covenant, assuring them that they
should be fulfilled, that in due time Canaan
would be theirs: and the continuance of
this ordinance, after Canaan was theirs, intimates
that these promises looked further
to another Canaan, which they must still be
in expectation of. See
2. An obligation upon Abraham and his seed to
that duty which was their part of the covenant;
not only to the duty of accepting the
covenant and consenting to it, and putting
away the corruption of the flesh (which were
more immediately and primarily signified by
circumcision), but, in general, to the observance
of all God’s commands, as they
should at any time hereafter be intimated
and made known to them; for circumcision
made men debtors to do the whole law,
Gal. v. 3.
Those who will have God to be to
them a God must consent and resolve to be
to him a people. Now,
(1.) Circumcision
was a bloody ordinance; for all things by
the law were purged with blood,
See
But, the blood of Christ
being shed, all bloody ordinances are now
abolished; circumcision therefore gives way
to baptism.
(2.) It was peculiar to the males,
though the women were also included in
the covenant, for the man is the head of the
woman. In our kingdom, the oath of allegiance
is required only from men. Some
think that the blood of the males only was
shed in circumcision because respect was
had in it to Jesus Christ and his blood.
(3.) It was the flesh of the foreskin that
was to be cut off, because it is by ordinary
generation that sin is propagated, and with an
eye to the promised seed, who was to
come from the loins of Abraham. Christ
having not yet offered himself to us, God
would have man to enter into covenant
by the offering of some part of his own body,
and no part could be better spared. It is a
secret part of the body; for the true circumcision
is that of the heart: this honour God
put upon an uncomely part,
(4.) The ordinance was to be administered
to children when they were eight days
old, and not sooner, that they might gather
some strength, to be able to undergo the
pain of it, and that at least one sabbath
might pass over them.
(5.) The children
of the strangers, of whom the master of the
family was the true domestic owner, were to
be circumcised
(v. 12, 13),
which looked favourably
upon the Gentiles, who should in
due time be brought into the family of Abraham,
by faith. See
(6.) The
religious observance of this institution was
required under a very severe penalty,
The contempt of circumcision was a contempt
of the covenant; if the parents did
not circumcise their children, it was at their
peril, as in the case of Moses,
With respect to those that were not
circumcised in their infancy, if, when they
grew up, they did not themselves come under
this ordinance, God would surely reckon
with them. If they cut not off the flesh of
their foreskin, God would cut them off from
their people. It is a dangerous thing to
make light of divine institutions, and to live
in the neglect of them.
15 And God said unto Abraham,
As for Sarai thy wife, thou shalt
not call her name Sarai, but Sarah shall
her name be.
16 And I will bless
her, and give thee a son also of her:
yea, I will bless her, and she shall be
a mother of nations; kings of people
shall be of her.
17 Then Abraham fell
upon his face, and laughed, and
said in his heart, Shall a child be
born unto him that is a hundred
years old? and shall Sarah, that is
ninety years old, bear?
18 And
Abraham said unto God, O that Ishmael
might live before thee!
19 And
God said, Sarah thy wife shall bear
thee a son indeed; and thou shalt
call his name Isaac: and I will establish
my covenant with him for an
everlasting covenant, and with his
seed after him.
20 And as for Ishmael,
I have heard thee: Behold, I
have blessed him, and will make him
fruitful, and will multiply him exceedingly;
twelve princes shall he beget,
and I will make him a great nation.
21 But my covenant will I
establish with Isaac, which Sarah shall
bear unto thee at this set time in the
next year.
22 And he left off talking
with him, and God went up from
Abraham.
Here is,
I. The promise made to Abraham
of a son by Sarai, that son in whom the
promise made to him should be fulfilled,
that he should be the father of many nations;
for she also shall be a mother of nations, and
kings of people shall be of her,
v. 16.
Note,
1. God reveals the purposes of his good-will
to his people by degrees. God had told
Abraham long before that he should have a
son, but never till now that he should have
a son by Sarai.
2. The blessing of the
Lord makes fruitful, and adds no sorrow
with it, no such sorrow as was in Hagar’s
case. “I will bless her with the blessing of
fruitfulness, and then thou shalt have a son
of her.”
3. Civil government and order are
a great blessing to the church. It is promised,
not only that people, but kings of
people, should be of her; not a headless rout,
but a well-modelled well-governed society.
II. The ratification of this promise was
the change of Sarai’s name into Sarah
(v. 15),
the same letter being added to her name
that was to Abraham’s, and for the same reasons.
Sarai signifies my princess, as if her
honour were confined to one family only.
Sarah signifies a princess–namely, of multitudes,
or signifying that from her should
come the Messiah the prince, even the prince
of the kings of the earth.
III. Abraham’s joyful, thankful, entertainment
of this gracious promise,
Upon this occasion he expressed,
1. Great
humility: He fell on his face. Note, The
more honours and favours God confers upon
us the lower we should be in our own eyes,
and the more reverent and submissive before
God.
2. Great joy: He laughed. It
was a laughter of delight, not of distrust.
Note, Even the promises of a holy God, as
well as his performances, are the joys of
holy souls; there is the joy of faith as well
as the joy of fruition. Now it was that Abraham
rejoiced to see Christ’s day. Now he
saw it and was glad
for, as
he saw heaven in the promise of Canaan, so
he saw Christ in the promise of Isaac.
3. Great admiration: Shall a child be born to
him that is a hundred years old? He does
not here speak of it as at all doubtful (for
we are sure that he staggered not at the promise,
Rom. iv. 20),
but as very wonderful
and that which could not be effected but by
the almighty power of God, and as very kind,
and a favour which was the more affecting
and obliging for this, that it was extremely
surprising,
IV. Abraham’s prayer for Ishmael: O
that Ishmael might live before thee!
v. 18.
This he speaks, not as desiring that Ishmael
might be preferred before the son he
should have by Sarah; but, dreading lest he
should be abandoned and forsaken of God,
he puts up this petition on his behalf. Now
that God is talking with him he thinks he
has a very fair opportunity to speak a good
word for Ishmael, and he will not let it slip.
Note,
1. Though we ought not to prescribe
to God, yet he gives us leave, in prayer, to
be humbly free with him, and particular in
making known our requests,
Whatever is the matter of our care and fear
should be spread before God in prayer.
2. It is the duty of parents to pray for their
children, for all their children, as Job, who
offered burnt offerings according to the number
of them all,
Abraham would
not have it thought that, when God promised
him a son by Sarah, which he so
much desired, then his son by Hagar was
forgotten; no, still he bears him upon his
heart, and shows a concern for him. The
prospect of further favours must not make us
unmindful of former favours.
3. The great
thing we should desire of God for our children
is that they may live before him, that
is, that they may be kept in covenant with
him, and may have grace to walk before him in
their uprightness. Spiritual blessings are the
best blessings, and those for which we should
be most earnest with God, both for ourselves
and others. Those live well that live before God.
V. God’s answer to his prayer; and it is
an answer of peace. Abraham could not say
that he sought God’s face in vain.
1. Common blessings are secured to Ishmael
(v. 20):
As for Ishmael, whom thou art
in so much care about, I have heard thee;
he shall find favour for thy sake; I have
blessed him, that is, I have many blessings in
store for him.
(1.) His posterity shall be
numerous: I will multiply him exceedingly,
more than his neighbours. This is the fruit
of the blessing, as that,
(2.) They
shall be considerable: Twelve princes shall
he beget. We may charitably hope that
spiritual blessings also were bestowed upon
him, though the visible church was not
brought out of his loins and the covenant
was not lodged in his family. Note, Great
plenty of outward good things is often given
to those children of godly parents who are
born after the flesh, for their parents’ sake.
2. Covenant blessings are reserved for
Isaac, and appropriated to him,
If Abraham, in his prayer for Ishmael, meant
that he would have the covenant made with
him, and the promised seed to come from
him, then God did not answer him in the
letter, but in that which was equivalent, nay,
which was every way better.
(1.) God repeats
to him the promise of a son by Sarah:
She shall bear thee a son indeed. Note, Even
true believers need to have God’s promises
doubled and repeated to them, that they may
have strong consolation,
Again, Children of the promise are children indeed.
(2.) He names that child–calls him Isaac,
laughter, because Abraham rejoiced in spirit
when this son was promised him. Note, If
God’s promises be our joy, his mercies promised
shall in due time be our exceeding joy.
Christ will be laughter to those that look for
him; those that now rejoice in hope shall
shortly rejoice in having that which they
hope for: this is laughter that is not mad.
(3.) He entails the covenant upon that child:
I will establish my covenant with him. Note,
God takes whom he pleases into covenant
with himself, according to the good pleasure
of his will. See
Thus was
the covenant settled between God and Abraham,
with its several limitations and remainders,
and then the conference ended: God
left off talking with him, and the vision disappeared,
God went up from Abraham. Note,
Our communion with God here is broken
and interrupted; in heaven it will be a
continual and everlasting feast.
| Circumcision of Abraham, &c. | B. C. 1898. |
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23 And Abraham took Ishmael his
son, and all that were born in his
house, and all that were bought with
his money, every male among the
men of Abraham’s house; and circumcised
the flesh of their foreskin
in the selfsame day, as God had said
unto him.
24 And Abraham was
ninety years old and nine, 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 In the selfsame day was
Abraham circumcised, and Ishmael
his son.
27 And all the men of his
house, born in the house, and bought
with money of the stranger, were circumcised
with him.
We have here Abraham’s obedience to the
law of circumcision. He himself and all his
family were circumcised, so receiving the
token of the covenant and distinguishing
themselves from other families, that had no
part nor lot in the matter.
1. It was an implicit
obedience: He did as God had said to
him, and did not ask why or wherefore.
God’s will was not only a law to him, but a
reason; he did it because God told him.
2. It was a speedy obedience: In the self-same
day,
v. 23, 26.
Sincere obedience is not
dilatory,
While the command
is yet sounding in our ears, and the sense of
duty is fresh, it is good to apply ourselves to
it immediately, lest we deceive ourselves by
putting it off to a more convenient season.
3. It was a universal obedience: He did not
circumcise his family and excuse himself,
but set them an example; nor did he take
the comfort of the seal of the covenant to
himself only, but desired that all his might
share with him in it. This is a good example
to masters of families; they and their
houses must serve the Lord. Though God’s
covenant was not established with Ishmael,
yet he was circumcised; for children of believing
parents, as such, have a right to the
privileges of the visible church, and the seals
of the covenant, whatever they may prove
afterwards. Ishmael is blessed, and therefore
circumcised.
4. Abraham did this
though much might be objected against it.
Though circumcision was painful,–though
to grown men it was shameful,–though,
while they were sore and unfit for action,
their enemies might take advantage against
them, as Simeon and Levi did against the
Shechemites,–though Abraham was ninety-nine
years old, and had been justified and
accepted of God long since,–though so
strange a thing done religiously might be
turned to his reproach by the Canaanite and
the Perizzite that dwelt then in the land,–yet
God’s command was sufficient to answer
these and a thousand such objections: what
God requires we must do, not conferring
with flesh and blood.
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