Trusting El Shaddai’s timing

When Abram was ninety-nine years old, the Lord appeared to him and said, “I am God Almighty; walk before me faithfully and be blameless. Then I will make my covenant between you and me and will greatly increase your numbers.” This is the first mention of God as God Almighty (Hebrew: El Shaddai). God reveals himself in this way in the context of telling Abram to walk before him and be blameless. The word means “almighty” or “most powerful.” It would make sense then that one would want to walk and be guiltless before one with the most power, or in God’s case, all power. In the greater context, though, God reveals this aspect of his character as he is about to tell Abram that he will indeed not only have a child, but he will become the father of many nations. As we have seen in previous chapters, God has had trouble out of Abram and Sarai regarding this promise. First, Abram wanted to give everything to his servant Eliezer because he was walking in unbelief. Then Sarai had the bright idea to let Abram sleep with her slave Hagar to produce a child. Now God is revealing himself as the most powerful God in a way that lets Abram know that there is nothing he cannot do. Is there anything you believe God cannot or will not do? He is El Shaddai, God Almighty!

Abram fell facedown, and God said to him, “As for me, this is my covenant with you: You will be the father of many nations. No longer will you be called Abram; your name will be Abraham, for I have made you a father of many nations. I will make you very fruitful; I will make nations of you, and kings will come from you. I will establish my covenant as an everlasting covenant between you and me and your descendants after you for the generations to come, to be your God and the God of your descendants after you. The whole land of Canaan, where you now reside as a foreigner, I will give as an everlasting possession to you and your descendants after you. I will be their God.” The word “nations” is used four times in Genesis 17. God has much to say about those, so it is a good idea to pay attention whenever you see that word. Remember that back in Genesis 12:2, God told Abram:

“I will make you into a great nation,

and I will bless you;

I will make your name great,

and you will be a blessing.”

Now, God is telling him that he will not just make him into a nation, but nations. Why the difference? The word “nation” is usually used to describe Gentiles but can also refer to the Israelites. I think the plural noun is used here as opposed to the singular because it was God’s perfect will to make a great nation of him. But, after Abram and Sarai’s disobedience, God changed that to “nations.” Make no mistake, God’s covenant people are still the Israelites through the line of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. But God extended a blessing to Abraham’s descendants through Ishmael even though he was not chosen because he was still a descendant of Abraham. In God’s graciousness, he decided to bless one’s descendants who were born entirely outside of his will even though the promise would still be exclusively through Isaac.

Then God said to Abraham, “As for you, you must keep my covenant, you and your descendants after you for the generations to come.” As I have said many times before, that shows how this would be an eternal, unconditional covenant. God said, “This is my covenant with you and your descendants after you. The covenant you are to keep: Every male among you shall be circumcised. You are to undergo circumcision, and it will be the sign of the covenant between you and me. For the generations to come, every male among you who is eight days old must be circumcised, including those born in your household or bought with money from a foreigner — those who are not your offspring. Whether born in your household or bought with your money, they must be circumcised. My covenant in your flesh is to be an everlasting covenant. Any uncircumcised male, who has not been circumcised in the flesh, will be cut off from his people; he has broken my covenant.” “Circumcision” is a powerful word in the Bible because of its relationship to Abraham’s descendants’ promise. Circumcision is when the foreskin that covers the head of the penis is cut off. This was the sign of the covenant between God and the Israelites. What better way to demonstrate how serious you are about walking in covenant with God than by having the most sensitive, private part of the male anatomy altered, although not in a way that would prohibit its usefulness in fulfilling God’s command to multiply? And this was something every male had to do, no exemptions. God doesn’t lower his standards for anyone. Circumcision was to the Old Covenant what baptism is to the New Covenant. Just as it was Abraham’s faith that made him righteous, so it is in the New Covenant. Circumcision did not make the people right with God; their faith did. Circumcision was just the outward symbol of that inward reality. In the same way, baptism does not make people right with God; our faith does. Baptism is just the outward symbol of our new, inward reality. And from that day forward, every male born among them would have to be circumcised at eight days old. Similarly, although baptism is a symbol, it is an important one. It is the next step of obedience to Christ. So it should be done soon after one’s conversion. Any uncircumcised male would be cut off from his people, just as any unregenerate sinner who dies in their sins will be cut off from their people and God for eternity because they have broken the terms of the New Covenant.

God also said to Abraham, “As for Sarai, your wife, you are no longer to call her Sarai; her name will be Sarah.” I have seen it written that Sarai and Sarah both mean “princess”; the spelling change may reflect the dialect between Ur and Canaan. Yet when I look up the Hebrew meanings, “Sarai” means “Princess” and “Sarah” means “Noblewoman.” Perhaps both of these are correct. Regardless God continued, “I will bless her and will surely give you a son by her. I will bless her so that she will be the mother of nations; kings of peoples will come from her.” This is similar to the promise God gave to Abraham.

Abraham fell facedown; he laughed and said to himself, “Will a son be born to a man a hundred years old? Will Sarah bear a child at the age of ninety?” And Abraham said to God, “If only Ishmael might live under your blessing!” Abraham laughs in disbelief, again, at what God has promised. He continues to limit himself by leaning on his own understanding rather than trusting in the Lord with all of his heart.

Then God said, “Yes, but your wife Sarah will bear you a son, and you will call him Isaac (Laughter). I will establish my covenant with him as an everlasting covenant for his descendants after him. And as for Ishmael, I have heard you: I will surely bless him; I will make him fruitful and will greatly increase his numbers. He will be the father of twelve rulers, and I will make him into a great nation. But my covenant I will establish with Isaac, whom Sarah will bear to you by this time next year.” When he had finished speaking with Abraham, God went up from him. God does not dispute with Abraham that Ishmael would live under his blessing. Indeed, the Arabs that have descended from Ishmael do live under a blessing, but not the blessing God promised to Isaac. Isaac got his name because of Abraham’s response to God’s promise of a son in his old age. The everlasting covenant is through the Abraham/Isaac line, not the Abraham/Ishmael line. But it bears repeating again that it doesn’t mean Ishmael wouldn’t receiving a blessing. He would be the father of rulers made into a populous ethnic group, the Arabs. Indeed, this has come to pass. The evidence of both promises to the Jews and Arabs is seen to this very day.

On that very day, Abraham took his son Ishmael and all those born in his household or bought with his money, every male in his home, and circumcised them, as God told him. Abraham was ninety-nine years old when he was circumcised. His son Ishmael was thirteen; Abraham and his son Ishmael were both circumcised on that very day. And every male in Abraham’s household, including those born in his home or bought from a foreigner, was circumcised with him. 13 years elapsed between Genesis 16 and 17. Abraham was 86 when Ishmael was born. He was 99 when he was given the instructions about circumcision. 24 years had passed between Genesis 12 and 17 because Abram was 75 when he left Haran. One year elapsed between the promise of Isaac through Sarah and when Isaac arrived at birth. It is important to remember that when we read the Bible, it is easy to fall into the trap of thinking that all of these events happened rapidly because of how fast we read them. But in reality, though these events can be read quickly, they took up a good portion of the people’s lives that were involved. Keep this in mind if you get impatient about God’s promises. Though he may seem slow when we read the Bible, he really isn’t because he hasn’t changed. We need to change our perspective to match what the Bible actually says. 2 Peter 3:8 reminds us that the Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness. One of the many lessons to be learned from Abraham and Sarah’s lives is that it is not wise to try to rush God or jump in front of his timing. That can have consequences that last forever.