It is I behold, my covenant is with thee, and thou shalt be a father of a multitude of nations.
Abram is ninety-nine, his body past hope of children, and he has just tried to make God's promise good by his own effort. Now God speaks, and the first thing He says about the covenant is not what Abram must do but where it rests — with Him.
God calls it "my covenant," and that "my" sets the tone for the whole chapter. One writer counts how often God takes the weight of the promise on Himself:
You will have noticed that at least ten times in this chapter God says, "I will." That stands in sharp contrast to the "you shall" repeated in the law. It is beautiful to see how God commits Himself to work out all He has set His heart on. He says, "I will set my covenant between Me and you." So He sets up a definite bond between Himself and Abram, in order to carry out His purpose.
The list of what God takes on is long, and it comes with no conditions attached:
God reveals Himself — He appeared to him — as the Almighty God. A covenant between God and him, to multiply him... father of many nations — and kings — a God to him and his seed after him — the land and their God. All this for ever, without condition, and his name changed for the covenant.
The timing of this word matters. God waits until every natural possibility has run out:
Chapter 16 is a kind of side note. Abram has a promise, and now tries to make it good on his own, apart from God. But once Abram is set aside — his body now dead at ninety-nine years old — God reveals Himself. He says: I am going to give you many descendants, and you must circumcise them, and so on. That is, now that you are viewed as dead, I can do something with you.
Up to this point God had promised Abram a land and a line of descendants. A "multitude of nations" — "many nations" in older translations — opens something far larger:
Now we have the wide extent of the earthly purposes of God beginning to unfold before us, even as far as the whole earth, and Abram was concerned in all... Not a word of this had been breathed before. That he should have a line to succeed him, one that should inherit the land and have it for ever: such was the utmost already granted... But here all is of another order and measure — beneficence according to the grace and purposes of God.
God does more than announce the promise. He stamps it on the man's own name:
So Abram, "great father," becomes Abraham, "father of a multitude." The change comes by adding a single letter in the Hebrew, "he," the fifth letter of the Hebrew alphabet. Number five speaks, as we know, of God with man. How truly does God with man change the lonely individual into the father of a multitude.
From that day he carries a name for something that had not yet happened:
To confirm this covenant God changed Abram's name to Abraham, meaning "Father of a multitude." From this point on Scripture uses the new name, even though the promise wrapped up in that name had not yet come true. So God pledged Himself to bring it to pass in His own way.
The promise came by faith and not by law, and that makes the door it opens wide:
As faith is opposed to works, so grace is opposed to law. The grace of God who gave the promise opens the door of faith — the only door, and a wide one — to Gentiles no less than to Jews... grace goes out to the Gentile no less than to the Jew, who could hardly limit Abraham's fatherhood of "many nations" to his own people.
One writer follows the promise on to Christ:
Now this promise was to Abraham's Seed, that is, to Christ, as we learn from the letter to the Galatians. Is not the Lord Jesus Christ Himself also the Father of the many nations? A time is coming when He will be shown in this character, and will gather His households around Him like flocks of sheep.
- Source. God calls it "my covenant" — His own undertaking. In this chapter He says "I will" at least ten times, against the law's "you shall."
- Condition. God gives the blessings "for ever, without condition"; nothing in them waits on Abram's strength.
- Timing. God speaks only once Abram is "viewed as dead" at ninety-nine, so that the fruitfulness belongs to God alone.
- Name. A single Hebrew letter turns "great father" into "father of a multitude" — a name given before any child arrived, because God had pledged Himself to make it true.
- Reach. A "multitude of nations" cannot shrink to one people. The door swings open to Gentile as well as Jew, and the promise points on to Christ, the Seed.
And thy name shall no more be called Abram, but thy name shall be Abraham; for a father of a multitude of nations have I made thee.
Abram is ninety-nine and still has no child by Sarai. God speaks to him and gives him a name that describes a family he does not yet have. That change raises three questions. Why does God take the right to rename a man? Why now? And how far does "a multitude of nations" reach?
The whole change is one letter in Hebrew:
So Abram, "great father," becomes Abraham, "father of a multitude." The change comes from adding one letter in Hebrew: "he," the fifth letter of the Hebrew alphabet. The number five speaks, as we know, of God with man. How truly does God with man change the lonely individual into the father of a multitude.
The old name described the man; the new one describes the family growing out of him.
The name Abram means "great, or high, father," showing what he himself was as head of the family of faith. But Abraham points us to the greatness of the family he heads. The name means "father of a multitude" — not only of people, but of nations. In giving this name God is showing the vast results of the principle of faith and of promise. Nothing is so fruitful as faith. It is "exceedingly fruitful." It is the only principle that brings forth anything for God, because it counts on His power alone.
God Himself does the naming here.
There is another element here, a common one in Scripture: God's giving a name to Abram and to Sarai also. It signifies the title of direct authority, and entering into relationship on this ground. So Adam, so Pharaoh, so Nebuchadnezzar. Here, God having revealed His own name, gives one to Abram in connection with Himself. From then on He is the God of Abraham, revealing Abraham's place.
Other renamings in the Bible follow the same rule.
The changing of a name always implied that the one whose name was changed was subject to the one who changed it (see Gen. 17:5-15; Gen. 32:28; Gen. 35:10; Gen. 41:45; Dan. 1:7; Dan. 5:12).
The new name arrives at the exact point where Abram can do nothing about it.
Chapter 16 is a kind of parenthesis. Abram has a promise, and now tries to make it come true without God. But then Abram is set aside. His body is dead at ninety-nine years old. God reveals Himself and says: I am going to give you many descendants, and you must circumcise them, and so on. That is, now that you are viewed as dead, I can do something with you.
God gave the name before there was any child to show for it.
Abram then receives the promise of descendants. God changes his name to Abraham — "father of a great multitude" — and as yet he had no children at all! But God's promise is better than anyone else's performance. The promise has two sides. His children were to be like the stars — the heavenly family, those who inherit his faith, as Rom. 4:16 shows, and that includes every believer. And they were to be like the sand on the sea shore — the earthly descendants.
This promise goes far beyond anything Abram had heard before.
Now the wide extent of God's purposes for the earth begins to unfold before us. It reaches as far as the whole earth, and Abram had a part in all of it… No word of this had been spoken before. Until now God had granted only this much: a line to succeed him, one that would inherit the land and have it for ever.
Paul reaches back to this sentence. He uses it to explain how people outside Israel come into the blessing.
Verse 16 states the result for Gentiles who believe the gospel. The promise is of faith, so that it might be by grace. In that way it stands sure to all the seed of Abraham to whom God gave the promise. It is sure not only to the seed under the law, but to all who had the faith of Abraham. He is the father of us all before God, as it is written: "I have made you the father of a multitude of nations."
- Named by God. Giving a name is a title of authority and of relationship; the one renamed belongs to the One who renamed him.
- Named when dead. Abram's own strength was gone first. Then came the promise of a multitude — "now that you are viewed as dead, I can do something with you."
- Named for a family. Abram spoke of the man. Abraham speaks of the multitude he heads. Faith bears fruit because it counts on God's power alone.
- Named before proof. He carried the name "father of a multitude" while childless. God's promise is better than anyone else's performance.
- Named for the nations. Paul quotes this verse to show the promise reaching every believer — stars in heaven, sand on the shore, Abraham "the father of us all."
And I will make thee exceedingly fruitful, and I will make nations of thee, and kings shall come out of thee.
God speaks to a man of ninety-nine whose only son was born to a slave woman, and promises him nations and kings. How could that come true, and who are these nations and royal lines?
God has just given him a new name. One writer sets the two names side by side and shows how unlikely the promise looked:
His name is therefore changed from Abram to Abraham. The first means "great father," the second "father of a multitude." God adds, "I will make you exceedingly fruitful." At the time this seemed most unlikely. Abraham was 99 years old, and his only possible means of further fruit was Ishmael, the son of a slave woman. But God had other things in mind.
The change of name is not decoration. It shifts attention from the man to the family he heads:
The name Abram means "great, or high, father." It shows what he was in himself, as head of the family of faith. But Abraham points us to the greatness of the family he heads, for it means "father of a multitude" — not only of people, but of nations. In giving this name God is showing the vast results of the principle of faith and of promise. Nothing is so fruitful as the principle of faith. It is "exceedingly fruitful," because it is the only principle that brings forth anything for God, since it counts on His power alone.
The chapter opens with God naming Himself as the Almighty. That name is what makes verse 6 believable:
Surely these are promises which almighty grace alone could utter, almighty power alone fulfil.
God also chose His moment. He waited until Abraham could contribute nothing:
But "when he was about a hundred years old," and Abraham's body "was now dead," God can come in again. He makes a simple, grand announcement that Abraham's faith had never yet grasped: "I am the Almighty God, walk before me, and be blameless." For a dead Abraham, an Almighty God alone would do. Abraham could not help God to raise the dead.
Earlier promises spoke of one line and one land. Verse 6 opens something far bigger, and Abraham never asked for it:
Abram was to have a child and be the father "of many nations." So the circle is clearly made far wider, and all in pure grace. Abram has not asked a word, and he does not seek any pledge or token.
The same writer notes that the promise grows in time as well as in reach:
So Abraham's hopes are not only opened up into a far greater sphere. The time is also unlimited.
The promise of kings was not a figure of speech. One writer points to a scene centuries later, on the hill where Abraham and his son had stood:
Centuries have passed. Look at the splendid scene on that lonely hill in the land of Moriah, where Abraham and his son once stood. "Kings shall come from you," God said to Abraham — and now Solomon, his direct descendant, is dedicating a glorious temple.
Abraham's fatherhood reaches further than his own family. One writer sets him beside Adam, the first man:
Abraham stands as the Adam of blessing to those who come after him, just as Adam stood as the head of responsibility. Abraham is the father of us all before God. Adam never was that. Adam was the father of us all driven out from God. Of course, with Abraham this is now spiritual and in Christ.
The promises to Abraham are not all of one kind. One writer separates two of them:
In one of the promises to Abraham, the seed named is Christ Himself. In the other it is a countless multitude. To this countless seed God promised permanent possession of a definite area of land, together with national supremacy in the earth.
- Dead first. God waited until Abraham's body was past hope, so that human strength could take no credit for the promise.
- Named next. "Great father" became "father of a multitude" — the new name points away from the man and toward the family God would build.
- Fruitful then. Faith counts on God's power alone, and that is the one principle Scripture calls exceedingly fruitful.
- Widened after. One land and one line grew into nations and kings, unasked for, all of grace, and unlimited in time.
- Reaching now. Kings came from him in history. Through Christ he is father of all who believe. And the land promised to his countless seed stays permanently theirs.
And I will establish my covenant between me and thee, and thy seed after thee in their generations, for an everlasting covenant, to be a God to thee, and to thy seed after thee.
God appears to Abram as the Almighty and sets out the terms of His covenant. It runs on through the generations, and it never ends. Three questions follow. Who is the "offspring"? What does it mean for God to be God to someone? And does any of it depend on Abraham?
The horizon opens wide here. And the word "everlasting" fixes how long it all lasts.
A far greater sphere now opens out for the hopes of Abraham. And the time is unlimited too. It is an "everlasting covenant, to be God to you and to your offspring after you." God had not forgotten the lesser gift while greater things were in view — "all the land of Canaan, for an everlasting possession, and I will be their God."
Notice which word never appears in this chapter. God binds Himself; Abraham is not asked to guarantee anything.
"I will" is the phrase that marks this covenant. It begins with "I will make My covenant" and ends with "I will be their God." The little word "if" stands out only by being missing, for it was a covenant with no condition on Abram's part. He had tried to get offspring by natural means through Hagar. But God meant to multiply him greatly, to make him a father of many nations, to secure the land of promise for his offspring, and to be their God in a special way.
Two things move together in this chapter: a widening circle, and a closer tie.
There were two things in the way in which God revealed Himself in chapter 17. First, grace spreads out to the Gentiles: "You shall be the father of a multitude of nations." For if He is the Almighty God, He could not be shut up, if we may say so, in Israel. The second thing is, I will be God "to you and to your offspring after you." That is, closer communion, a direct relationship with God Himself.
When God attaches His name to a man's name, that title carries weight, and it commits Him.
When God is called the God of someone, it shows a close tie between that person and God, whose name is now joined to his own. It shows a relationship based on what God is to the one whose name He has taken. And it implies a purpose to bless and honour in keeping with that relationship. This purpose must stand. God cannot be unfaithful.
"Your offspring after you" is not one simple idea. The promise of countless descendants stands apart from the promise about one Seed.
The promises of a very large offspring are separate... The reasoning in Galatians is that Christ alone is the seed meant in chapter 22, when it speaks of the nations of the world. And if we are in Christ, we are then the offspring of Abraham.
Israel later took the land under a different covenant, one that hung on their obedience. Did that settle the promise made to Abraham?
When the Israelites entered the land, it was not on the ground of this covenant, but of another covenant. Under that one, their hold on the land no longer rested on God's unconditional promise. It hung on their own obedience. This was not a fulfilment of God's covenant with Abraham. As we shall see, God does not treat it as one. He keeps His covenant with the fathers carefully in reserve, even while He clearly foretells that the nation will fail and be scattered under the later covenant made at Mount Sinai.
Long after Abraham died, God still called Himself the God of Abraham. That title says something about Abraham himself.
If Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob had ceased to exist, could God still have taken their names to describe Himself to Israel? He might have said, I am He who was with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, when they existed... He is not the God of the dead, but of the living. But this truth went further. Abraham was dead: his soul and body were separated. He was living for God, yet he was not what God meant him to be as his God... He was to be complete, and so raised from the dead. God's name showed His relationship with those who were gone for the moment. That proved the resurrection.
- Everlasting — no time limit, and no narrow border. The circle widens to many nations, and the term runs on for ever.
- Unconditional — the chapter is full of "I will" and holds no "if". What God promises rests on His faithfulness, not on Abraham's record.
- God Himself — the heart of the promise is a relationship: God ties His own name to a man, and that tie commits Him to bless.
- Offspring — the promise reaches countless descendants, and, as Galatians shows, one Seed, Christ. Those in Christ count as Abraham's offspring.
- Unbreakable — the conditional covenant at Sinai never cancelled this one. Death cannot cancel it either, for God is not the God of the dead.
And I give to thee, and to thy seed after thee, the land of thy sojourning, all the land of Canaan, for an everlasting possession; and I will be a God to them.
Genesis 17 is a chain of promises to Abraham, and verse 8 hands him a whole country. He owned no part of it. The verse joins two gifts: a land held for ever, and God Himself as their God.
The promises of this chapter pile one on another. None of them asks Abraham for anything first. One writer counts how often God binds Himself:
These, then, are some of the blessings of the everlasting covenant that God makes with Abraham. The covenant shows God's settled purpose to bless. Seven times in this message God says, "I will." Now Abraham learns that God looks for an answer in the believer's life to His own grace. Abraham is to walk before God and be perfect.
The walk God asks for comes after the gift; it does not buy it. Some readers treat the spiritual promises as firm and the earthly ones as negotiable. One writer answers that the two stand or fall together:
Here are "the promises made to the fathers," and to Israel, "beloved for the fathers' sakes." God made them to Abraham without any condition, whether they are spiritual or earthly. If you say that the spiritual promises are without condition, by the same reasoning the temporal ones are. God's promise to Abraham, "To you will I give this land," is as certain as the promises He has made in favour of us Gentiles.
The verse names the land by the one thing Abraham was in it — a stranger. He never took possession. When his wife died, he buried her in that land, and commentators read the burial as an act of faith in this promise:
God had revealed Himself to Abraham as the Almighty, and as the God of resurrection. He had assured him that the land where he was a stranger — all the land of Canaan — was his for an everlasting possession. All was his by promise, though not yet in possession. In the faith of God's promise he was careful to lay the body of Sarah to rest in the Promised Land.
Staying a stranger was not a delay in the blessing. It was the setting for it, and God gave him a new name to mark the covenant:
All this for ever, without condition, and his name changed for the covenant. Here, being a pilgrim, and continuing so, God is not ashamed to be called, and to lay the basis of being called, his God.
Israel later lived in Canaan. Israel also lost it. One writer says that spell in the land cannot be what "everlasting" meant:
Finally, God gave the land to the seed of Abraham "for ever," or as it is put elsewhere, "for an everlasting possession." Israel's possession of Canaan was certainly not like that. But has the Lord forgotten His promise? Or are we to assume that the promise was not meant for Israel? Far from it. … "He has remembered His covenant for ever, the word which He commanded to a thousand generations; the covenant He made with Abraham" (Ps. 105:8-11). So Israel's possession, held on terms and for a time, is not the fulfilment of the covenant with the fathers.
The promise names Abraham himself, not only his descendants. He died owning none of it, so the promise must reach past his death:
The promise of God to Abraham could not be fulfilled if there were no first resurrection. Stephen tells us Abraham was a stranger, with no inheritance in it — not so much as to set his foot on. Suppose Abraham were not raised from among the dead until the heavens and the earth flee away, and he had to stand before the great white throne. Then God would have broken His word to Abraham, and that is impossible.
The verse does not end with land. It ends with a relationship, and one writer calls that the greater gift:
The sphere now opened out for Abraham's hopes is far greater, and the time also is unlimited. It is an "everlasting covenant, to be a God to you and to your seed after you." … God had not forgotten the lesser gift in presence of greater things — "all the land of Canaan, for an everlasting possession, and I will be their God."
- Gift, not deal. Seven times God says "I will" in this chapter; nothing in verse 8 waits on Abraham's performance.
- Gift held by faith. The verse names the land by his own status in it — a stranger. It was all his by promise while none of it was his in fact.
- Gift not yet spent. Israel held Canaan on terms and lost it. So the everlasting possession still lies ahead.
- Gift beyond the grave. Abraham died without a foot of it. So he must be raised from the dead to receive it himself.
- Gift behind every gift. The land is the lesser half of the verse; the greater is God's own word that He will be their God.