Глава 17

God renews His covenant with Abram Gen.17:1. Abram was ninety-nine years old, “Why did God delay so long? - St. John Chrysostom asks the question and immediately answers it: so that we recognize not only the patience and great virtue of the righteous, but also the boundless omnipotence of God. When nature has already become exhausted and has become incapable of childbearing, because Abram’s body has withered and withered from old age, only then, fully revealing all the virtues of the righteous and revealing His power, does God fulfill His promises” (Demon 39, 426 pp.). and the Lord appeared to Abram and said to him: I am God Almighty; In the Hebrew text - "El-Shaddai". This is a new divine name, which in the Old Testament denoted the God of covenant and revelation, i.e. Jehovah, from His omnipotent creative and providential power (schadad - to be strong, strong) or the stable strength and faithfulness of His promises (Gen. 28:3, 35:11; Exod. 6:3). walk before Me and be blameless; The meaning and significance of these moral commandments are known to us from the examples of their implementation by two great early righteous men, Enoch (Gen. 5:24) and Noah (Gen. 6:9). As a sign of this, He changes the names of Abram and Sarah. Gen.17:2. And I will establish My covenant between Me and you, and I will greatly, greatly multiply you. Or, as can be translated closer to the Hebrew text: “and I give My covenant,” i.e. I grant the fulfillment of the very covenant that I once deigned to conclude with you (chapter 15; we are obviously talking about the main point of this covenant - the birth of Isaac and the origin of numerous descendants from him, which is discussed further.) Gen.17:3. And Abram fell on his face. This is an expression of deep humility, joyful gratitude and trusting admiration for the inscrutable destinies of divine Providence (Gen. 17:17, 24:52; Num. 16:22; Lev. 9:24; Ruth. 2:10). Gen.17:4. I am my covenant with you: Repeating His covenant with Abram, God now sets out its terms and obligations more separately for each of the two contracting parties, deigning to begin with Himself (“I am my covenant”). you will be the father of many nations, God promises Abram that he will become not only the father of a large Jewish people, but also a number of other nations, such as the Ishmaelites, Edomites and Hagarites, as well as “the father of all who believe,” both circumcised and uncircumcised, but united with him by faith in the Lord Jesus Christ (Gen. 12:2, 13:16, 15:5; Rom. 4:11–12, 9:7–8). Gen.17:5. and you shall no longer be called Abram, but your name shall be Abraham, for I will make you the father of many nations; According to the custom of the ancient eastern rulers, who renamed the servants they elevated (Gen. 41:45; Dan. 1:7, etc.), God, elevating Abram to a covenant with Himself, gives him a new name, which, moreover, is closely related to the content of the promise itself. The former name: “Abram”, which means “high father”, changes into a new one: “Abraham” (actually Abraham), which means “father of many”, of course - the many descendants promised to him. Gen.17:6. and I will make you very, very fruitful, and I will make nations of you, and kings will come from you; Repeating in stronger terms a thought already repeatedly expressed (Gen. 17:4), God also makes an addition to it, pointing out the origin of the kings from the descendants of Abraham, which most closely, of course, means the kings of Judah and Israel, and then a whole series of rulers of other tribes descended from him. Gen.17:7. And I will establish My covenant between Me and you and between your descendants after you throughout their generations, an everlasting covenant, that I will be the God of yours and of your descendants after you; The word “age” in biblical use has its own, narrower than usual, meaning; it indicates the completion or end of a certain period, after which a new “age” has to open, i.e. a new age will begin (Heb. 1:3). In this case, the “eternity” of the covenant means its continuation until the end of the period of the Old Testament church and until the onset of New Testament times; in relation to these latter, it has absolute meaning, subject to appropriate changes (Matt. 28:20; 1 Cor. 15:28). Gen.17:8. And I will give to you and to your descendants after you the land in which you wander, all the land of Canaan, for an everlasting possession; and I will be their God. A solemn final promise that ends a series of covenant obligations on God's part. The eternity of possession of Palestine is also conditional in nature, extending until the end of the separate and independent existence of the Jewish state. Gen.17:9. And God said to Abraham: You shall keep My covenant, you and your descendants after you throughout their generations. From here begins the presentation of the obligations of the covenant from the other contracting party - from Abraham and his descendants (Gen. 17:9-14). The establishment of circumcision as a sign of the covenant Gen. 17:10–11. This is My covenant, which you shall keep between Me and between you and among your descendants after you [in their generations]: that all your males shall be circumcised; circumcise your foreskin: and this will be a sign of the covenant between Me and you. The whole essence of these requirements boiled down to one basic thing - the observance of circumcision, which contained the essence of this covenant in an external symbolic action. From its external side, circumcision, first of all, was the shedding of blood, which was considered an important guarantee of the strength of such unions among people. Then, by the very connection of facts and the purpose of its establishment, circumcision was supposed to serve as a constant and most, so to speak, tangible reminder of that covenant with God, which the father of the believers once entered into, and in his person all his descendants (Gen. 17:11). Finally, circumcision was a sign of the covenant in the sense that it was an external distinctive sign of belonging to God's chosen people and entry into the Old Testament church. Even more important was the ideological, internal meaning of circumcision; although from this side it, in all likelihood, was not recognized in all its power for a long time, being revealed only later, partly by the prophets and mainly by the Apostle Paul (Lev. 26:41; Deut. 10:16, 30:6; Is. 52:1; Jer. 4:4, 9:25; Ezek. 44:7-9; Acts 7:51; Rom. 3:1, 4:11; Phil. 3:3; Col. 2:11–12. In this regard, circumcision, which consisted of cutting off the foreskin of the reproductive organ, symbolized the cutting off of carnal lusts and unclean desires, or, as the Bible expressively calls it, “circumcision of the heart” (Deut. 10:16; Rom. 2:29, etc.). Secondly, introducing some sanctification into the very source of childbearing and depicting the putting off of the “sinful body of the flesh” (Col. 2:11), circumcision, on the one hand, pointed to the hereditary sinfulness in which we are all conceived and born (Ps. 51:7), on the other, mysteriously foreshadowed the New Testament baptism, washing away this hereditary, ancestral corruption (Col. 2:11–12). Thirdly, in application to the subject of the promise, i.e. to posterity, circumcision had the meaning that it indicated, as it were, the elimination or weakening of all natural means of its implementation and thereby more obviously revealed the special action of divine grace in the fulfillment of these promises. Finally, the significance of this last foundation received special force in relation to the main “Seed” of Abraham, i.e. to the divine face of the Lord Jesus Christ, who had to be born of the Holy Spirit and the Virgin Mary, i.e. with the elimination of all male participation. Hence, Metropolitan. Filaret could rightfully call circumcision: “a negative expression of the concept of the Seed of a woman.” Gen.17:12. Eight days from birth let him be circumcised throughout your generations. Consequently, circumcision was performed a week after birth, and this was observed so strictly that even the rest of the Sabbath was broken for the sake of circumcision (John 7:22–23). every male child born in the house and bought with money from a foreigner who is not of your seed. In this, by the way, circumcision among the Jews differs from circumcision among the Egyptians and other ancient peoples, where it was also practiced among women. Gen.17:13. He who is born in your house and bought with your money shall certainly be circumcised, and My covenant shall be an everlasting covenant upon your body. About those born in the house of Abraham, i.e. lower servants and household members, we already know from the earlier narrative (Gen. 14:14); but, obviously, after this he also had slaves bought for silver. Both are considered to equally belong to the house of Abraham, and therefore take part in the covenant with him. The access into this covenant of the sons of former foreigners symbolically marks the entry into the New Testament Church of all peoples and conditions. Gen.17:14. But the uncircumcised male who does not circumcise his foreskin [on the eighth day], that soul shall be cut off from among his people, for he has broken My covenant. “He will be destroyed” - in the Hebrew text it is expressed by a term meaning “let him be cut off,” which gives the idea not so much of extermination or death, but of separation from Israeli society, expulsion from it and a kind of religious-civil death (Ex. 12:15, 19; Lev. 7:20–21, 25, 23:29; Num. 9:13, 15:30). Gen. 17:15–16. And God said to Abraham: Do not call your wife Sarah, but let her name be Sarah; I will bless her and give you a son by her; I will bless her, and nations will come from her, and kings of nations will come from her. For the same reasons as before to Abraham (Gen. 17:5), God now deigns to give a new name, or, more precisely, to rename the old one, to his wife. Her former name literally sounded from Hebrew: “Sarai” and meant “my lady”; now she is given the name: “Sarah”, which means “lady” in general, i.e. not only Abraham and his house, but also the whole multitude of tribes and kings who came from her, as can be seen from the context. Gen.17:17. And Abraham fell on his face and laughed, and said to himself, “Shall a son be born to a hundred years old?” and Sarah, ninety years old, will she really give birth? “As a sign of reverence and gratitude to God, who spoke the promise, Abraham prostrates himself before Him. The words that Abraham had in his mind at the same time express not that doubt arose in his soul about the truth of God’s promise, but joyful amazement at the greatness of the promise: from the joy that filled his soul. He doesn’t believe himself, his own ears, hearing the assurance from God about the birth of a son from him and from his wife at such an age when both of them were already dead to childbearing” (Bishop Vissarion) (Rom. 4:19). Gen.17:18. And Abraham said to God: Oh, that Ishmael were alive before You! Not daring, in his modesty, to believe in the fullness of his happiness, Abraham is ready to be content with less - namely, not to wait for a new son, but to transfer all these promises and hopes to the already existing Ishmael. “We both received sufficient consolation when Ishmael was born,” St. John Chrysostom comments on the thought of Abraham: may this son, given to us from You, be alive before You; and we will have sufficient consolation, and his life will comfort our old age” (Demon 40). The Promise of the Birth of Isaac Gen.17:19. God said to [Abraham], “It is Sarah your wife who will bear you a son, and you will call his name Isaac; Repeating His promise to Abraham about the birth of a son, the Lord this time says even more clearly and definitely that the son of the promise will be his own son and his ninety-year-old wife Sarah, and for the first time determined the name of this son - “Isaac”, and two verses below indicated the very time of his birth, saying that it will happen exactly one year after this prediction (Gen. 17:21). The name “Isaac” from the Hebrew language means “laughter, or joy” (in fact, this is a form of futurum - “he will laugh, rejoice”) and, obviously, in itself bore an indication of the joy of his elderly parents regarding his birth, joy, which, by the way, was expressed in the laughter of both of them (Gen. 17:17, 18:12). This is precisely what the Savior himself meant when he said of Abraham that he “rejoiced to see My day; and he saw and rejoiced” (John 8:56). Gen.17:20. And concerning Ishmael I have heard thee: Behold, I will bless him, and will make him great, and will multiply him greatly, greatly; twelve princes will be born from him; and I will make him into a great nation. The first half of this phrase in the Hebrew text appears to be a repetition of the same thing, for the name “Ishmael” means “God hears.” This son of Abraham according to the flesh is taught in the same way the divine blessing and the accompanying benefits of great multiplication: as if in correspondence with the twelve tribes of Israel, he is promised the origin of twelve princes, i.e. tribal leaders, or sheikhs (Gen. 25:12–16). But, according to the fair remark of M. Philaret, “the blessing of Isaac and Izmailovo differ from each other, like promises of grace, spiritual, eternal and natural, temporary gifts.” Gen.17:21. But I will establish My covenant with Isaac, whom Sarah will bear to you at this very time next year. Those. not with all the descendants of Abraham, although they were all circumcised, but only with those who were to come from Isaac, as the son of promise and faith. Gen.17:22. And God stopped speaking to Abraham and ascended from him. This humanoid form speaks of the cessation of theophany. Circumcision of Abraham and Ishmael Gen.17:23. And Abraham took Ishmael his son, and all those born in his house, and all those bought with his money, even all the males of the house of Abraham; and he circumcised their foreskin on that very day, as God had spoken to him. The writer’s remark, testifying to Abraham’s quick and steady fulfillment of the divine command, itself, in turn, speaks of the power of obedience and ardor of the patriarch’s faith, which knows no delay or difficulty (James 2:22–24). Whether this rather painful ritual existed anywhere before this time (for example, among the Egyptians, which rationalists especially like to refer to) or whether it was just introduced here by God for the first time is difficult to decide definitively; one thing is certain that the Jews did not have it at the moment, and that it arose among them with a completely special character, sharply distinguishing it, both in appearance and even more in spirit, from similar religious and everyday rituals practiced by other peoples of antiquity. Gen.17:24. Abraham was ninety-nine years old when his foreskin was circumcised. Noting this most important event in the life of Abraham, the sacred historian, according to custom, also indicates its chronological date, which is all the more instructive because it testifies to the outstanding strength of the patriarch’s faith, if at such a deep old age he decided to perform this painful and dangerous operation on himself. Gen.17:25. And Ishmael his son was thirteen years old when his foreskin was circumcised. A living monument to this is the custom preserved among the Arabs - the descendants of Ishmael and other Mohammedan peoples - of circumcising boys upon reaching the age of thirteen. Gen. 17:26–27. On the same day Abraham and Ishmael his son were circumcised, and with him all the males of his house were circumcised, those born in the house and those bought with money from foreigners. The concluding verses are a repetition of the above, a device quite common in the Bible when some particularly important matter is being discussed. You might be interested in: