Genesis 17:1-2

"And when Abram was ninety years old and nine, Jehovah appeared to Abram and said unto him, I am God Almighty; walk before me, and be thou perfect. And I will make my covenant between me and thee, and will multiply thee exceedingly."

"Ninety years old and nine ..." Abram's reference to himself as being a hundred years old (Genesis 17:17) allowed for the passage of time before the child was born.

"Jehovah said, I am God Almighty ..." No redactor said this, God said it; and the denial of this passage on the basis that it was inserted by a revision or an interpolation is merely arrogant unbelief.

Simpson identified "God Almighty, here ([~'El] [~Shadday]), as probably the name of a Canaanite deity"![4] Notice the use in such denials of words such as probably, possibly, evidently, etc. This is an unintentional confession that no proof whatever sustains the allegation.

"God Almighty ..." Scholars agree that the exact meaning of [~'El] [~Shadday], from which these words are derived, is "uncertain";[5] but "The Almighty" is the best translation available. The same name for God is used six times in Genesis, and thirty-one times in Job.[6] Keil has an excellent explanation of the meaning:

"It belonged to the sphere of salvation, forming one element in the manifestation of Jehovah, the covenant God, as possessing the power to realize His promises, even when the order of nature presented no prospect of their fulfillment, and the powers of nature were insufficient to secure it."[7]

Here we have another indication, there being literally scores of others in the Bible, that the various names used for God in Scripture have definite and specific theological implications, and that the various names are no adequate means whatever of identifying alleged previous sources of Genesis. In this passage, God uses two names for Himself.

"Walk before me, and be thou perfect ..." We find it very difficult to accept the reiteration by so many scholars that "perfect" as used in the Bible refers to maturity, completeness, or wholeness, rather than actual perfection, the great impediment to such acceptance being the Saviour's use of the expression in Matthew 5:48; "Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father in heaven is perfect." That usage certainly rules out any subordinate or secondary meaning. Only absolute and unalloyed perfection shall enter heaven, and that has been evident from this passage here to the end of the N.T. To be sure, man, unaided, is unable to achieve any such thing, but he must TRY, and, for those who love and serve God, he has made available that perfection "in Christ Jesus our Lord." The saints of the O.T. as well as those of the N.T. shall at last enjoy and receive the benefits of that perfection "in Him" (Colossians 1:28,29).

"These are the conditions required by God in connection with the covenant."[8] Two things are demanded here: "A God-conscience life of the best type, and the other is faithful observance of all duties."[9] Any notion that the Abrahamic covenant was unconditional is forbidden by this. It was precisely for the purpose of informing Abram and his descendants of their part of the covenant, and of the absolute necessity of their abiding by the terms of it that this recapitulation and elaboration of the covenant (Genesis 15) was given.