From: Genesis 17:1, 9-10, 15-22
The Renewal of the Covenant: Abram’s Name is Changed
[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 co-
venant, which you shall keep, between me and you and your descendants after
you: Every male among you shall be circumcised.
Abahram Will Have a Son by Sarah
*********************************************************************************************
Commentary:
17:1-27. If previously, in chapter 15, the text stressed the way the promise was
linked to God’s covenant with Abraham, it now shows the duties it placed on the
patriarchs and their descendants — to be holy, to acknowledge the one true God
and to practise the rite of circumcision. The covenant, as we have seen, had its
origin in an initiative on God’s part, but it also commits man. In Abraham’s case
this commitment involves in accepting circumcision as a commandment from
God to himself and his descendants.
17:1. “El-Shaddai†is the name the patriarchs often gave to God (cf 28:3; 35:11;
43:14; 48:3; 49:25), because the name “Yahweh†had not yet been revealed (cf.
Ex 3:13-14). Following the earliest Greek version (the Septuagint) it is usually
translated as “God Almighty†(which is the RSV practice), although it could also
mean ‘‘God of the mountains’’ or “God of abundance†. By recording the names
the patriarchs used when referring to God or invoking him, the Bible is, on the
one hand, identifying the God the patriarchs worshipped with Yahweh, the God
of the Sinai Covenant; and on the other hand, it is showing the way God reveals
himself gradually over the course of time.
God asks Abraham to live in his presence and to be perfect. The two things are
closely connected: “This is the only way to avoid falling.’’ Clement of Alexandria
points out: “being conscious that God is always at our side†(”Paedagogus,” 3,
33, 3). This is the first time in the Bible that God tells a human being to be per-
fect, “blameless†. This call, here addressed to Abraham, will be extended by
Jesus to all mankind (cf. Mt 5:48).
17:5. Abraham is the first person in biblical history to have his name changed by
God. By doing this God is conferring a new personality and a new mission, as
can be seen from the meaning of his new name, ‘‘father of a multitude of nations’’.
This name, therefore, is linked to the promise attached to the Covenant; from
now on, the entire personality of the patriarch stems from the Covenant and is
subservient to it. Abraham is the “father of the Covenant†; in the light of New Tes-
tament revelation St Paul will interpret this new name of Abraham as having a
connexion with Gentiles converted to Christianity (cf. Rom 4:17). This name,
“father of a multitude of nations” becomes, therefore, a prophetic announcement
of the fact that the non-Jewish world will in due course become part of the people
of the New Covenant, the Church.
17:10-14. Circumcision, which consists in a circular cutting of part of the foreskin,
may originally have been a sexual and marriage initiation rite of a type widespread
in the ancient Near East. Reasons of hygiene may have played a part in its use.
The people of Israel regarded it as a divine commandment involved in the Cove-
nant, and as a distinguishing mark to show membership of the people of God. It
is easy to see why Christian tradition regards circumcision as prefiguring Bap-
tism. “Jesus ‘circumcision’, on the eighth day after his birth (cf. Lk 2:21), is the
sign of his incorporation into Abraham’s descendants, into the people of the co-
venant. It is the sign of his submission to the Law (cf. Gal 4:4) and his deputa-
tion to Israel’s worship, in which he will participate throughout his life. This sign
prefigures that ‘circumcision of Christ’ which is Baptism (Col 2:11-13)” “(Cate-
chism of the Catholic Church, 527)”. In the new economy of salvation that sign
would no longer serve any purpose: ‘For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision
nor uncircumcision is of any avail, but faith working through love” (Gal 5:6).
17:15-22. The carrying into effect of God’s plan (cf. the promise in chap. 15) is
going to exceed Abraham’s expectations. True, he already does have a son, lsh-
mael, by the slave-girl Hagar according to the customs of the time, that is, in ac-
cord with human laws and recourses. But it is not through this son that God is
going to keep his promise, but through a son to be born of Sarah, and whose
birth will clearly reveal the power of God.
Sarah, Abraham’s wife, is also going to have a direct involvement in the way the
promise is fulfilled. And so she too is going to be given a new name, to show the
new personality she acquires by sharing directly in God’s designs through her
motherhood. This is what Abraham is now told.
Abraham ‘s laugh (as also Sarah’s in the next chapter: cf. 18:12-14) conveys the
astonishment the announcement causes (it seems unbelievable); it is also con-
nected with the name of the child who will he born — Isaac (cf. the note on 21: 1-
7). However, Abraham keeps on thinking in terms of the son he already has, lsh-
mael. He too will be the recipient of divine blessings: he will become the father of
a great nation, the lshmaelites, or Arabs. But the patriarch is now asked for a
new act of faith in God despite the fact that they are both old, to expect Sarah to
give birth to a son, who will be the protagonist in the Covenant, just like his father.
God’s actions, in effect, surpass man’s expectations.
*********************************************************************************************
Source: “The Navarre Bible: Text and Commentaries”. Biblical text from the
Revised Standard Version and New Vulgate. Commentaries by members of
the Faculty of Theology, University of Navarre, Spain.
Published by Four Courts Press, Kill Lane, Blackrock, Co. Dublin, Ireland, and
by Scepter Publishers in the United States.
Liturgical Colour: Green.
| First reading |
|---|
| Genesis 17:1,9-10,15-22 © |
| Responsorial Psalm |
|---|
| Psalm 127(128):1-5 © |
| Gospel Acclamation | Ps144:13 |
|---|
| Or | Mt8:17 |
|---|
| Gospel | Matthew 8:1-4 © |
|---|