From: Genesis 15:1-6; 21:1-3
God’s Covenant with Abram
The Birth and Circumcision of Isaac
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Commentary:
15:1-21. God rewards Abraham for his generosity towards Mechizedek and for
his renouncing of the riches offered him by the king of Sodom. He appears to
him in a vision and promises his help, many descendants and the land of Ca-
naan. Here all that is required of Abraham is that he believe in the promise that
God himself, through a rite of covenant, undertakes to fulfill. This passage em-
phasizes the gravity of God’s promise and speaks of the faithfulness of God,
who will keep his word.
15:2-3. Abraham does not understand how God can keep the promise he made
to him in Haran (cf. chap. 12). The fact that he has no children is a severe test
of his faith; and anything else God may give him means little by comparison.
This is the first time Abraham speaks to God, and their conversation shows the
deep intimacy between them. He makes his concerns known to God: because
Lot has left him and Abraham has no son of his own, he needs to appoint an
heir who will take over leadership of the clan in return for serving Abraham in his
lifetime. This is the first friendly dialogue the Bible records between God and a
man since the dialogue God had with Adam in paradise (cf. 3:9-1.2). It is a con-
versation between friends and the first example, therefore, of a prayer of friend-
ship and filiation, for to pray is to speak to God.
“Of Damascus”: this is the translation most frequently given for a word which is
very unclear (the original text is unrecoverably corrupt). It does not seem to mean
that Eliezer was a native of Damascus, for he was a slave or servant born in Abra-
ham’s house (v. 3); therefore, it must be some other sort of title whose meaning
escapes us.
15:4-6. Once more Abraham is asked to make an act of faith in the word of God,
and he does so. This pleases God and is reckoned righteous. This makes Abra-
ham the father of all those who believe in God and his saving word.
In the light of this passage St Paul sees Abraham as the model of how a person
becomes righteous in God’s eyes—through faith in his word, the definitive word
being the announcement that God saves us through the death and resurrection
of Jesus. In this way, Abraham not only becomes the father of the Jewish people
according to the flesh, but also the father of those who without being Jews have
become members of the new people of God through faith in Jesus: “We say that
faith was reckoned to Abraham as righteousness. How then was it reckoned to
him? Was it before or after he was circumcised? It was not after, but before he
was circumcised. He received circumcision as a sign or seal of the righteous-
ness which he had by faith while he was still uncircumcised. The purpose was
to make him the father of all who believe without being circumcised and who thus
have righteousness reckoned to them, and likewise the father of the circumcised
who are not merely circumcised but also follow the example of the faith which
our father Abraham had before he was circumcised” (Rom 4:9-12).
Abraham’s faith revealed itself in his obedience to God when he left his homeland
(cf. 12:4), and later on when he was ready to sacrifice his son (cf 22:1-4). This is
the aspect of Abraham’s obedience which is given special emphasis in the Letter
of St James, inviting Christians to prove the genuineness of their faith with obe-
dience to God and good works: “Was not Abraham our father justified by works,
when he offered his son Isaac upon the altar? You see that faith was active along
with his works, and faith was completed by works, and scripture was fulfilled
which says, ‘Abraham believed God, and it was reckoned to him as righteous-
ness’; and he was called the friend of God” (Jas 2:21-23).
21:1-7. The promise recounted in 15:18 and 17:19-21 now begins to be fulfilled,
The patriarch’s age serves to show the special intervention by God in the birth of
Isaac; as does the etymological explanation of the child’s name, “she began to
laugh”, which is now interpreted as “God has made laughter for me”, that is, has
made me happy (cf. 18:15). And Abraham’s obedience is very clear: he strictly
fulfills the commandment of circumcision.
This is perhaps the most joyful moment in the patriarch’s life: up to now it has
been very much marked by trials and tribulations. With the birth of Isaac Abra-
ham’s trust in God grows, as can be seen now by his prompt obedience to his
Law. The Lord is strengthening the patriarch for the final test which he will make
him undergo later. This event in Abraham’s life helps us to see that in moments
of darkness in the course of our life we need to put our trust in God: “The time
has come to cry to him, Remember, Lord, the promises you made, filling me
with hope; they console me in my nothingness and fill my life with strength (Ps
119:49-50). Our Lord wants us to rely on him for everything: it is now glaringly
evident to us that without him we can do nothing (cf. Jn 15:5), whereas with him
we can do all things (cf. Phil 4:13). We confirm our decision to walk always in
his presence (cf. Ps 119:168)” (St. J. Escriva, “Friends of God”, 305).
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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.