Genesis Vol 3.pdf - College Press

THE OLD COVENANT 17:1-27
The Child of *Proinise. Sarah, not having mentioned
hitherto in any of the divine promises, is now explicitly
taken into the covenant, and accordingly receives a new
name. (Cf. Gen. 32127-28, Isa. 62:2, Rev. 3:12). In view
of the fact that she is to be the mother of the covenant-
heir, her name will no longer be Sarai, but Sarah (prin-
cess) ; that is; whereas formerly she was Abraham’s prin-
cess only, she is now to be recognized as princess generally,
especially as princess to the Lord. Moreover, it is now
expressly announced for the first time that the Child of
Promise-the promised seed-was to be Sarah’s child; that
he should be born “at this set time in the next year”; that
his name should be Isaac (“laughter”). (Cf. 16:11 on
naming prior to birth). V. 16--“A mother of izatioizs
she shall be; kings of Peoples shall be of her.” This promise
did not include the Ishmaelites or the sons of Keturah
(25: 1-4) : they were not born of Sarah. The Israelites
descended from her, but were only one nation. Hence
this promise must mean that the posterity of Abraham
embraced his spiritual posterity also, i.e., all peoples who
are “grafted” into the seed of Abraham (Gal. 3:26-29;
Rom. 4:11, 12, 16, 17; 11:15-24), Aptly she was named
Sarah: she was to bear the child of promise, to become a
mother of peoples, and a mother of kings. History testi-
fies, of course, that all the parts of this divine promise were
literally fulfilled.
Abraham’s Laughter, v. 7. Interpretations of the
patriarch’s response to this announcement of the identity
of the Child of Promise are varied. For example, Skinner
(ICCG, 295) “Abraham’s demeanor is a strange mixture of
reverence and incredulity.” Cornfeld ( AtD, 67) : “God
was not conceived as impersonal in patriarchal times, and
if we are to understand properly the biblical texts, we must
develop a feeling for a social phenomenon of the times,
the closeness of men to gods, and of the Hebrews to God.
In our society a man who claims to have divine visitors is
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