Genesis 17:1 - Exposition

And when Abram was ninety years old and nine —consequently an interval of thirteen years had elapsed since the birth of Ishmael; the long delay on the part of God being probably designed as chastisement for Abram's second nuptials (Calvin), and at least corresponding with Abram's undue haste (Lange)— the Lord appeared to Abram— lest he should regard Ishmael's birth as a complete fulfillment of the promise (Menochius), and be satisfied with Hagar's child as the expected seed (Calvin)— and said to him, I am the Almighty God — El Shaddai , found six times in Genesis and thirty-one times in Job, composed of El , God, and Shaddai ; not a nomen compositum (from שֶׁ = אֲשֶׁר and דַּי ) signifying qui sufficiens est (Aquinas, Symmachus, Theodoret, Saadias, Maimonides, Calvin), but either a pluralis excellentiae ; from the singular שַׁר , powerful—root שֱׁדַד , to be strong (Gesenius, Rosenmüller, Wordsworth), or a singular from the same root with the substantive termination יַ , as in הַגַּי , the festal, יְשִׁישַׁי , the old man, סִינַי , the thorn-grown (Keil, Oehler, Lange); descriptive of God as revealing himself violently in his might, hence correctly rendered παντοκράτωρ by the LXX . in Job (Oehler); distinguishing Jehovah, the God of salvation, from Elohim, the God who creates nature so that it is and supports it that it may stand, as " the God who compels nature to do what is contrary to itself, and subdues it to bow and minister to grace" (Delitzsch); characterizing 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" (Keil); perhaps, like Elohim and Adonai, one of the world-wide titles of the Most High since it was known to Balaam ( Numbers 24:4 , Numbers 24:16 ), and is constantly used in Job ('Speaker's Commentary'). Said in Exodus 6:2 , Exodus 6:3 to have been the name by which God was known to the patriarchs, it is regarded by the partitionists as characteristic of the Elohist (Tuch, Blcek, Colenso, Davidson, Ewald), and accordingly to that writer the present chapter is assigned, and the Jehovah of this verse expiated as an alteration of the original Elohist's narrative; but the πρῶτον ψεῦδος of this criticism lurks in the identification of El-Shaddai with Elohim, whereas it is not Elohim, but Jehovah, who reveals himself as E1 Shaddai not alone in the Pentateuch, but in the historical and prophetical books as well (cf. Ruth 1:20 , Ruth 1:21 ; vide Keil's Introduction, pt. § 2; div. 1. § 25). Walk before me . Literally, set thyself to walk, as inch . Exodus 13:17 , in my presence, as if conscious of my inspection and solicitous of my approval; not behind me, as if sensible of shortcomings, and desirous to elude observation. The phrase intimates a less exalted piety than the corresponding phrase used of Enoch ( Genesis 5:24 ) and Noah ( Genesis 6:9 ). And be thou perfect . Tamim, ἄμεμπτοις ( LXX .), used of Noah in Genesis 6:9 , and rendered τέλειος ( LXX .), while perhaps retrospectively glancing at Abram's sin in marrying Hagar, indicates that absolute standard of moral attainment, viz; completeness of being in respect of purity, which the supreme Lawgiver sets before his intelligent creatures (cf. Matthew 5:8 ).