seekeroftruth
Well-Known Member
Genesis 17:1 When Abram was ninety-nine years old, the Lord appeared to him and said, “I am God Almighty; walk before me faithfully and be blameless. 2 Then I will make my covenant between me and you and will greatly increase your numbers.”
3 Abram fell facedown, and God said to him, 4 “As for me, this is my covenant with you: You will be the father of many nations. 5 No longer will you be called Abram; your name will be Abraham, for I have made you a father of many nations. 6 I will make you very fruitful; I will make nations of you, and kings will come from you. 7 I will establish my covenant as an everlasting covenant between me and you and your descendants after you for the generations to come, to be your God and the God of your descendants after you. 8 The whole land of Canaan, where you now reside as a foreigner, I will give as an everlasting possession to you and your descendants after you; and I will be their God.”
9 Then God said to Abraham, “As for you, you must keep my covenant, you and your descendants after you for the generations to come. 10 This is my covenant with you and your descendants after you, the covenant you are to keep: Every male among you shall be circumcised. 11 You are to undergo circumcision, and it will be the sign of the covenant between me and you. 12 For the generations to come every male among you who is eight days old must be circumcised, including those born in your household or bought with money from a foreigner—those who are not your offspring. 13 Whether born in your household or bought with your money, they must be circumcised. My covenant in your flesh is to be an everlasting covenant. 14 Any uncircumcised male, who has not been circumcised in the flesh, will be cut off from his people; he has broken my covenant.”
15 God also said to Abraham, “As for Sarai your wife, you are no longer to call her Sarai; her name will be Sarah. 16 I will bless her and will surely give you a son by her. I will bless her so that she will be the mother of nations; kings of peoples will come from her.”
17 Abraham fell facedown; he laughed and said to himself, “Will a son be born to a man a hundred years old? Will Sarah bear a child at the age of ninety?” 18 And Abraham said to God, “If only Ishmael might live under your blessing!”
19 Then God said, “Yes, but your wife Sarah will bear you a son, and you will call him Isaac. I will establish my covenant with him as an everlasting covenant for his descendants after him. 20 And as for Ishmael, I have heard you: I will surely bless him; I will make him fruitful and will greatly increase his numbers. He will be the father of twelve rulers, and I will make him into a great nation. 21 But my covenant I will establish with Isaac, whom Sarah will bear to you by this time next year.” 22 When he had finished speaking with Abraham, God went up from him.
23 On that very day Abraham took his son Ishmael and all those born in his household or bought with his money, every male in his household, and circumcised them, as God told him. 24 Abraham was ninety-nine years old when he was circumcised, 25 and his son Ishmael was thirteen; 26 Abraham and his son Ishmael were both circumcised on that very day. 27 And every male in Abraham’s household, including those born in his household or bought from a foreigner, was circumcised with him.
Well, Bing won't pull up the commentary for me. Seems AI wants to run the show. Poop.... that means I gotta figure it out.... like a good little Baptist.One thing stands out for me.... Sarai will not be Sarai any more... She's going to be Sarah. She'll lose the i and gain an h. Abram will get a ha.
Sarai won't be all about the I anymore and Abram will get a ha! Coincidence???? Ironic????
Check out verse 18. In today's language, I would guess Abraham is saying "but what about Ishmael?". God is saying "Too bad, huh!"
Hubby bought some blueberry muffin mix the other day. The blueberries were in a little tin, they were to be rinsed, drained and set aside while the batter came together... and then added at the end. Well.... I've messed up those instructions before... if you dump the can of blueberries into the mix... it's soggy and the batter becomes this blue-grey mess. It's just not all that appetizing. BUT if I follow the directions and put the blueberries in at the right time, rinsed and drained.... The blueberry muffins turned out fabulous.
Sarai and Abram must not have followed the instructions.... Hagar and Ishmael will pay for that flop.
If Abram had just waited.... if Sarah had not thrown Hagar at Abram.... then there would not have been any lamentation. Ishmael would have never been dropped into the mix. Remember, we read yesterday that Ishmael was going to be a fighter.... ready to snap at anyone at any time. He would be the father of the Arabs and they would never settle down and love Israel. Right?
So now... there is the circumcision. Talk about a faithful act... Abraham had to take a sharp knife to himself, his son, and all of the males inventoried in his possessions. We haven't gotten to the sacrificing of Isaac yet.... Isaac hasn't been born yet. Abraham is going to cut every thingy on his property.
What would you do if your boss came at you with a sharp knife and said... "time to get right"?
First Eve just had to entice Adam with a shiny red apple. Sarai gave Hagar to Abram. So far, women have helped a couple men into a mess that affected the human history. Men have just gone along for the ride. After all, Eve was the first and Sarai was absolutely gorgeous.... how could the men fight that? Sarai told Abram it would be ok if he slept with Hagar... and look how that turned out.
And now... Abraham is slicing the thingy of every male on the property. I wonder... did he have to say "trust me"?
Abraham was called to slice all the thingys!
