And God said unto Abraham, thou shalt keep my covenant therefore ,.... Observe the sign or token of it, circumcision, in the manner after related: thou, and thy seed after thee, in their generations ; in successive ages until the Messiah come, the end of the law for righteousness. read more
Verse 9 9.Thou shalt keep my covenant As formerly, covenants were not only committed to public records, but were also wont to be engraven in brass, or sculptured on stones, in order that the memory of them might be more fully recorded, and more highly celebrated; so in the present instance, God inscribes his covenant in the flesh of Abraham. For circumcision was as a solemn memorial of that adoption, by which the family of Abraham had been elected to be the peculiar people of God. The pious had... read more
And God said unto Abraham, Thou —literally, and thou, the other party to the covenant, the antithesis to I ( Genesis 17:4 )— shalt keep my covenant —literally, my covenant thou shalt keep — therefore, thou, and thy seed after thee in their generations. read more
- The Sealing of the Covenant1. שׁדי shaday, Shaddai, “Irresistible, able to destroy, and by inference to make, Almighty.” שׁדד shādad “be strong, destroy.” This name is found six times in Genesis, and thirty-one times in Job.5. אברהם 'abrâhām, Abraham, from אברם 'abrām “high-father,” and הם hām the radical part of המין hāmôn a “multitude,” is obtained by a euphonic abbreviation אברהם 'abrâhām, “father of a multitude.” The root רהם rhm is a variation of רום rvm; affording, however, a... read more
The covenant sealed (17:1-27)As Abram and Sarai grew older, God told them again that he would be faithful to his promises. He revealed himself to them in a new name of power (God Almighty) and gave them each new names (Abraham and Sarah) to emphasize that he would make them parents of a multitude (17:1-6,15-16). The Almighty had made a covenant to be God to Abraham and his descendants, and he would give them Canaan to be their homeland (7-8).To reassure Abraham that he would keep his covenant... read more
thy seed. Still practiced by Ishmaelites and others. Noncircumcision was the "reproach" of Egypt (Joshua 5:9 ). read more
"And God said unto Abraham, And as for thee, thou shalt keep my covenant, thou, and thy seed after thee throughout their generations. This is my covenant, which ye shall keep, between me and you and thy seed after thee: every male among you shall be circumcised.""And as for thee ..." This reaches back to Genesis 17:4, where God stated his part of the covenant. Here he began to recount the obligations that pertained to Abraham and his posterity."Every male among you ... shall be circumcised ..."... read more
Genesis 17:9. God said unto Abraham, &c.— Having declared what he would himself perform, the Lord goes on to signify what he expected from Abraham, and to appoint a sign or token of his covenant with him. Thou shalt keep my covenant, i.e.. observe and fulfil thy part of it: and this is my covenant, i.e.. the token of the covenant betwixt me and you, Genesis 17:11. Every man-child shall be circumcised: a ceremony, which appears, as plain as words can make it, to have been now first... read more
God wanted Abraham to circumcise his male servants as well as his children. The reason was that the Abrahamic Covenant would affect all who had a relationship with Abraham. Consequently they needed to bear the sign of that covenant. The person who refused circumcision was "cut off" from his people (Genesis 17:14) because by refusing it he was repudiating God’s promises to Abraham."This expression undoubtedly involves a wordplay on cut. He that is not himself cut (i.e., circumcised) will be cut... read more
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Matthew Henry's Complete Commentary - Genesis 17:7-14
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... read more