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Chapter XI.

ABRAM’S FAITH AND ELECTION— COVENANT OF CIRCUMCISION—VISIT OF THREE ANGELS.

[Gen. 17 — 18.]

AFTER these things the word of the Lord came to Abram in a vision, saying: “Fear not^[1], I am thy protector^[2], and thy reward exceeding great.”^[3] On a certain night, Abram was called by a voice from heaven which said: “Look up to the heaven and number the stars, if thou canst. So shall thy seed be.” Abram believed, and his faith justified him before God. Again, in the 99th year of his age, the Lord appeared to Abram and said to him: “I am the Almighty God. Walk before Me^[4] and be perfect^[5]. Neither shall thy name be called any more Abram [a high father], but Abraham [father of a multitude], because I have made thee a father of many nations. I will establish my covenant between thee and Me. And this is my covenant which you shall observe between me and you and thy seed after thee: All the male kind of you shall be circumcised. ^[6] Sarai [my princess], thy wife, shall be called Sara [princess], and she shall bear thee a son whose name thou shalt call Isaac.”

Again when Abraham was one day, about noon, sitting at the door of his tent in the vale of Mambre, he saw three men ap-

↑ Fear not. Abram feared that the kings whom he had defeated would revenge themselves on him.
↑ Protector. I will take care of thee under all circumstances.
↑ Exceeding great. I will give Myself to thee by the eternal vision, as a reward. God promised Himself to be Abram’s reward, because he had refused to take any earthly one for what he had done. The possession and contemplation of God is the highest of all rewards.
↑ Walk before me. Have Me always before thine eyes, and remember that I am always with thee.
↑ Perfect, i. e. do only that which is right in My sight : lead a holy life in My presence.
↑ Circumcised. All male infants of eight days old among their own children, as well as all servants bought for household service (Gen. 17, 12) had to be circumcised. The covenant of God was to be (marked) in the flesh, and the soul of the male not so marked was to be destroyed out of his people. Circumcision, then, was instituted by God as a religious rite and as a sacred sign (Sacrament) of admission among the people of God. According to its deeper meaning, it pointed backward to our fallen nature and vitiated origin of life, and forward to the spiritual circumcision of the heart and the new birth through Jesus Christ.

[1] Fear not. Abram feared that the kings whom he had defeated would revenge themselves on him.

[2] Protector. I will take care of thee under all circumstances.

[3] Exceeding great. I will give Myself to thee by the eternal vision, as a reward. God promised Himself to be Abram’s reward, because he had refused to take any earthly one for what he had done. The possession and contemplation of God is the highest of all rewards.

[4] Walk before me. Have Me always before thine eyes, and remember that I am always with thee.

[5] Perfect, i. e. do only that which is right in My sight : lead a holy life in My presence.

[6] Circumcised. All male infants of eight days old among their own children, as well as all servants bought for household service (Gen. 17, 12) had to be circumcised. The covenant of God was to be (marked) in the flesh, and the soul of the male not so marked was to be destroyed out of his people. Circumcision, then, was instituted by God as a religious rite and as a sacred sign (Sacrament) of admission among the people of God. According to its deeper meaning, it pointed backward to our fallen nature and vitiated origin of life, and forward to the spiritual circumcision of the heart and the new birth through Jesus Christ.

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