Genesis Vol 3.pdf - College Press

17:l-27 GENESIS
quires clear promises of God upon which to build such
faith. For faith must have a foundation. Here these
promises, covering the essentials of numerous posterity and
possession of the land, and involving by implication the
Messianic features found in v. 12, now specify Sarai as the
mother who is to bear the son, and also establish a covenant
sign. Immediately before the birth of the son of promise
these distinct features are, of course, most in place. Aside
from this, to have all these promises featured as parts of
the covenant seals everything for the faith of Abram which
is now under necessity of hoping and believing against all
hope.”
“God’s making a covenant here, and in many other
places, denotes the enlargement, renewal, establishment, or
confirmation of it. It cannot be imagined that, in various
instances in which this phrase is used, He had not respect
to His former declarations of the same kind as still in
force.” (SIBG, 239). (Psa. 105:8-10, Gen. lj:18, Exo.
34:lO-27, 1 Ki. 8:9, Jer. 31:33, Hos. 2:18, Gen. 6:18,
Exo. 6:4, Lev. 27:9, Deut. 8:11-20, Ezek. 16:60, 62, etc.)
It should be noted that this is God’s covenant with Abra-
ham in the wider seme, that is, it included Abraham’s pos-
terity (“thee and thy seed after thee,” v. 7). V. 4--“the
father of a multitude of nations.” This was fulfilled to
the letter. Abraham was the progenitor of the Ishmaelites,
the Israelites, the Midianites, the Edomites, and their kings
(v. 20; Num., ch. 31, Gen., ch. 36, Matt., ch. 1) but
chiefly Christ and His spiritual subjects (Gal. 3 :23-29;
Psa. 45:16; Rev. 17:14, 1:6, 11:15, 15:3; 1 Pet. 2:9, etc.).
Isaac and his Israelite descendants were properly the natwal
seed with whom this covenant was established, v, 21. By
it, God in Chaist, became to the Israelites in general, the
n and assumed them for His peculiar
, Deut. 1412, Eph. 1:11), bestowed on
them the land of Canaan as His land, in the enjoyment of
which they tasted His goodness, and had access to contem-
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