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 unto thee, and to thy seed after thee.
7. for an everlasting covenant ] Cf. 13, 19. LXX . The relationship is to be one transcending the limits of time. The covenant is to be “established,” cf. Gen 6:18, Gen 9:9. The idea is slightly different from that of the covenant being “made,” Gen 15:18. There the phrase refers back to the solemnity of ancient binding institutions; here it points forward to the permanence of a new and enduring relationship. God undertakes to be the God of Abraham and of his descendants. He will take care of them as His own, and they on their side will obey and serve Him as His people. Cf. Exo 6:7; Deu 26:17.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
Gen 17:7-8
I will establish My covenant between Me and thee, and thy seed after thee
The faithful Covenanter
The communion and fellowship of man with God, was first founded on a covenant of works made with Adam in Paradise.
But this fellowship being placed in mans own freedom, and having so weak a foundation, he lost both himself and it, so that now by the first covenant of works, Adam and all his posterity are under a curse; for we cannot fulfil the law that requireth personal obedience, perfect obedience, and exact obedience. He that continueth not in all is cursed Gal 3:10). Now after this fall, mans hapiness was to recover again his communion and fellowship with God; and therefore we must have a new covenant before we can have life and comfort. God must enter into new conditions with us before we can have any communion with Him. There are four periods of time of renewing this covenant: first, from Adam to Abraham; and in those first times of the world, those that were under the covenant were called the sons and daughters of God, the children of the promise, and the covenant of grace was called a promise of the blessed seed. Secondly, from Abraham to Moses; and then it was called a covenant, and they the children of the covenant. I will establish My covenant. A covenant is more than a promise, and a more solemn thing, because there be ceremonies. The third period of renewing the covenant of grace was from Moses to Christ; and then it was more clear, when as to the covenant made with Abraham, who was sealed with the sacrament of circumcision, the sacrament of the paschal lamb was added, and all the sacrifices Levitical; and then it was called a testament. That differeth a little from a covenant; for a testament is established by blood, it is established by death. So was that; but it was only with the blood and death of cattle sacrificed as a type. But now, from Christs time to the end of the world, the covenant of grace is most clear of all; and it is now usually called the New Testament, being established by the death of Christ Himself; and it differs from a covenant in these respects: First, A testament indeed is a covenant, and something more. It is a covenant sealed by death. Secondly, A testament bequeathed good things merely of love. It giveth gifts freely. A covenant is something to be done. But to come to that which I specially intend. The words, as I said before, contain the renewing of this blessed and gracious agreement between God and man to Abraham, the father of the faithful. I will establish My covenant between me and thee, and thy seed after thee, in their generations, for an everlasting covenant, to be thy God, and the God of thy seed after thee. The words, you see, contain a covenant; and here are all things–all the articles and circumstances that agree to any covenant whatsoever. Here are the parties, both that make the covenant and that are covenanted with. Here is the substance of the covenant, and the qualities of the covenant, and the condition of the covenant. The party making the covenant is God, I will be thy God. God is the party covenanting. God indeed is both the party covenanting and the substance of the covenant: I will be a God to thee. They fall both together in one. The parties covenanted with, are Abraham and his seed–his seed by promise. The substance of the covenant is, I will be a God to thee and thy seed after thee. The qualities of the covenant are–
1. It is a sure covenant: I will establish My covenant.
2. It is an everlasting covenant: I will establish My covenant for an everlasting covenant.
3. It is a peculiar covenant: I will establish My covenant between Me and thee and thy seed; that is, only between Me and thee, and thy seed; not with the refuse of the world, but only with thy seed by promise; only believers, whether Jews or Gentiles.
4. It is a most free covenant. It was made to Abraham, whom God called out of Ur of the Chaldees, out of an idolatrous nation, out of an idolatrous family; even as it was at the first most freely made to Adam in Paradise, when he was in a most desperate estate. So here it was freely made to good Abraham:
(1) The love of God was free to him when He called him, being an idolater; and then it was freely renewed afterward, when he was good, as we shall see anon.
5. It is a covenant consisting most of spiritual things. It is a spiritual covenant. I mean especially promising spiritual favours, although the other things, as appendices of the main, are likewise meant. And then, lastly, you have the condition of the covenant; and that, though it is not expressed, yet it is implied. I will be thy God, and the God of thy seed. Therefore thou shalt take Me for thy God, carry thyself to Me as thy God, etc. I will be thy God. This is the covenant in the Messiah; but first, what is it to be a God? I answer, To be a God, take it in the general, is to give being to the creature that had no being of itself, and to protect and preserve the creature in its being: in a word, to be a creator; for providence is the perpetuity and continuance of creation. This is to be a God. What is, then, to be thy God? I will be thy God. I answer, To be a God in a more peculiar manner, is to be a God in covenant; that is, not only to be a God to preserve and continue this being of ours in a civil life, but it is to be a God in a higher relation to us; to be a God in a reference to an eternal, supernatural estate in heaven; to be a God here in grace, and hereafter in glory; and thus God is a God in a gracious covenant, only by Jesus Christ, and to those that believe in Him. I will be thy God: that is, I will be thy God in Christ, to give thee a better being than this world can afford; to free thee from the cursed estate thou art in by nature; to deliver thee from all ill, spiritually and eternally: especially to bestow on thee all good, spiritually and eternally; especially as we have it in the words of the covenant (Gen 15:1), I will be thy shield and thy exceeding great reward; a shield to keep off all ill, and a reward for all good. So in Psa 84:9, God will be a sun and a shield, etc. a sun for all sweet comfort and good, and a shield in regard of defence from ill; a sun and a shield till we come to the possession of eternal happiness. Well, to come to the trials. But let me first add this to the former: whomsoever God is a God to, it is known specially by spiritual and eternal favours. A man cannot know certainly that God is his God by outward and common things that castaways may have; for a castaway may have Ishmaels blessing and Esaus portion, blessings of the left hand, common graces. To know undoubtedly, therefore, that God is our God, must be by peculiar matters; for those whose God God is are a peculiar people, a holy nation, severed from others. First of all, then, know what the Spirit of God saith to thy soul; for they that are Gods have His Spirit, to reveal to their spirits the secret and hidden love of God. But if the voice of the Spirit be silent in regard of testimony, go to the work of the Spirit; but go to the peculiar work of the Spirit. Let us, then, come to the trial by our carrying ourselves to God. Can we say with David, Whom have I in heaven but Thee? or What is there in earth in comparison with Thee? (Psa 73:25.) When the conscience can tell us that we make God our treasure and our portion above all earthly things, then we make him our God.
2. Examine what affections we have to God: for it is affection that makes a Christian. Single out some few that We are most offending in.
(1) As, first, for fear, it may shame us all. Indeed, a Christian upon his best resolution is better. But the ordinary carriage of men is, they fear men more than God; they fear everything more than Him that they should fear above all.
(2) And so for joy and delight: we make God our God when we joy in Him above all things in the world; when we make Him our boast all the day long, as it is Psa 44:8; when we make Him our glory, as He is called our glory in Jer 2:11. God is our glory if He be our God.
(3) Again, If God be our God, we will trust in Him, rely and depend upon Him above all things; for whatsoever our trust is most in, that is our god. Now if our conscience tell us that we trust most in God, more than in wealth or friends, and will not to displease God please any man, it is a sign that we have made God our God, because we trust in Him.
(4) Again, If we make God our God, we may know it by our obedience, especially by the obedience of the inward man. But to proceed, and to come to some few familiar signs more that will try us, though these may try us, in the intercourse that is between God and us.
(a) Whosoever hath God for their God, they have the Spirit of supplication and prayer, to cry unto God, to run unto Him, especially in extremity. All Gods children have the spirit of adoption to cry, Abba, Father!
(b) Again, We may know that God is our God by this, by our separating from all others, in ourselves and out of ourselves.
(c) In a word, to name no more trials but this, whosoever God is a God to, there will be a transforming unto God, a transforming unto Christ, in whom God is our God. Having now thus unfolded terms, let us see what we may draw from thence for our use and comfort.
1. First, then, if by these trials we find that God be not, or have not been, our God, alas! let us never rest till we make it good that God is our God.
2. But, secondly, when we have found God to be our God, then make this use of it, a use of resolution. Is God my God? then I will resolve to please Him, though all creatures be against me.
3. Again, If God be our God, then let this stop all base and covetous desires after earthly things.
4. Again, If so be we know this for a truth, that God is our God, then let it be a use of exhortation to stir us up to keep, and maintain, and cherish acquaintance and familiarity with Him; as it is in Job 22:21.
5. Lastly, If by these comfortable signs we find God to be our God, then here is a spring of comfort opened to a Christian. If God be mine, then all that He hath is mine; He is my Father; He is my Husband; He is my Rock; His goodness, His wisdom, His providence, His mercy, whatsoever He hath is mine. I will establish My covenant between Me and thee, and thy seed after thee, etc. I come now to the qualities of this covenant; and before I speak in particular of them, I beseech you observe one thing (which I will but touch, to make an entrance to that which follows), from the manner of setting down the covenant; it is not here set down as it is in other places of Scripture; I will be thy God, and thou shalt be My people; but here is only the first part, the main of the covenant of grace recited, I will be thy God. Why doth He not say, too, Thou shalt take Me for thy God? Because where the first is, He ever works the second; our part depends upon His. It is therefore–to come to the first quality–called a free covenant. It cometh from God merely of grace. Again, secondly, it is a sure, a certain covenant. I will establish My covenant. But in whom is it established? how cometh it to be sure? It is established in Christ, the Mediator of the covenant, in the Messiah; for in thy seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed (Gen 12:3). That is the fundamental promise. And as it is a sure covenant, so, thirdly, it is an everlasting covenant. I will make an everlasting covenant with thee. God is everlasting, Christ is everlasting, the graces of the Spirit are everlasting. When we are dead, He will be a God unto us, as it is said, I am the God of Abraham, of Isaac, and of Jacob, their God when they were dead. He is the God of our dust, of our dead bodies. He will raise them up, for they are bodies in covenant with Him. Again, it is a peculiar covenant. God is in covenant only with those that answer Him, that take Him for their God, that are a peculiar people. It is not glorying in the flesh; but there must be somewhat wrought that is peculiar before we can be assured we are of Abrahams seed, and in covenant with God. And we may know that we are Gods peculiar by some peculiar thing that we can do. What peculiar thing canst thou do? To speak a little of that by the way. Thou lovest and art kind; but, saith Christ, what peculiar thing canst thou do? A heathen man may be kind and loving, but canst thou overcome revenge? Canst thou spare and do good to thine enemies? Canst thou trust in God when all means fail? What is the power of the Spirit in thee? Doth it triumph in thee over thy natural corruption? Canst thou do as Abraham did? He left all at Gods command; canst thou do that if need should be? Canst thou leave children, and wife, and life, and all at Gods command? Canst thou sacrifice Isaac as he did? Canst thou more trust in the promise of God than in the dearest thing in the world, yea, than in thy own feeling of grace? (R. Sibbes, D. D.)
The covenant as made with believers
I. THAT THE COVENANT OF GRACE IS MADE WITH THE SAINTS, AND THEY ARE ALL FEDERATES THEREIN, WILL APPEAR BY THESE ARGUMENTS.
1. From the type of the first Adam, for he is made the type of Him that was to come. Thus as the first covenant was made with the first Adam and all his posterity, so the second covenant is made with the second Adam and all His posterity also.
2. We read of a covenant made with persons and people, and promised unto them as special mercies, a covenant made with Abraham and Isaac, a covenant made with David: The Lord has made with me an everlasting covenant in all things ordered and sure (2Sa 23:5).
3. It will appear from the promises of the second covenant, though it is true, that they are all yea and amen in Him, yet are they properly and formally made unto us, either the first promises of grace or else of reward unto grace. Promises of grace are, He will give His Spirit, and will give repentance, He will heal our backslidings, etc., and We have an unction from the Holy One, etc.
4. The covenant of grace is a covenant in the hand of a Mediator, and confirmed by the death of the Testator; it is not only a covenant, but it is a testament.
5. The sacraments are seals of the covenant of grace.
6. There is a double oath to confirm this covenant, there is an oath made by God the Father to Christ, and there is an oath also made to us; there is an oath made unto Christ, and therefore He is said to be made a priest by a covenant oath (Psa 110:4), and the oath to us: Who are heirs of promise, that by two immutable things, in which it was impossible for God to lie (Heb 6:17-18).
II. THE REASONS WHY IT WAS NECESSARY THAT THE COVENANT OF GRACE SHOULD BE MADE WITH ALL THE FAITHFUL AND NOT WITH CHRIST ONLY AS THEIR HEAD.
1. To answer those great ends why God will deal with man in a covenant way.
(1) The Lord will enter into covenant that He may declare His glory, not only in a way of goodness, but in a way of faithfulness. In the creation, the Lord did show forth much power and wisdom, and in the law much holiness; but there was no way to manifest His faithfulness, but by covenant: The Lord hath chosen you above all people, that you might know that He is the Lord the faithful God Mic 7:20).
(2) The Lords intention was to honour man also; and it is one of the greatest and highest dignities that the Lord hath put upon His people, to bind them unto Himself for a name and a glory; and Deu 26:18-19) the Lord did avouch them to be His people, to make them high above all people; and therefore the staff of beauty mentioned in Zec 11:10 is the covenant between God and His people.
(3) That the Lord might bind men unto Him more firmly in a way of obedience, and that the obedience might be made the more sweet. Man was bound unto God by a bond of creation; and from whom he has his being, unto Him did he owe his service; but the Lord will bind him unto Him with a further cord and bond of stipulation; the one was natural and necessary, and the other voluntary.
(4) That the people of God might exercise faith in their prayers, putting these bonds in suit that the Lord hath made over unto them, when they look upon themselves as sons of Abraham, heirs of promise, and children of the covenant, etc., and thereby they come with a great deal the more boldness before the throne of grace, as David, Let the thing Thou hast spoken concerning thy servant and his house be established forever (1Ch 17:23-24).
2. There is a covenant made with the saints also, that they may see that they are as strictly bound to obedience in their own persons under the second covenant, as they were under the first covenant; and that the doctrine of the gospel though it be a doctrine of liberty, yet is not a doctrine of licentiousness.
3. That the saints also may stand in awe of the threats of God under the second covenant. (W. Strong, D. D.)
The covenant renewed
I. WHY SHOULD IT BE NEEDFUL FOR MEN TO RENEW THEIR COVENANT SO OFTEN?
1. Because of the unbelief of our spirits, and from the infirmity of our faith: for the confirmation of our faith in the mercy and grace of the covenant.
2. To manifest the sincerity of our hearts, that though we fail in the duty of it, yet our hearts still stand to it, we delight in the Law according to our inward man; though we fall every day, yet says a soul in covenant with God, I love to think of renewing the engagement that is between God and me; as a loving and tender wife loves often to renew her engagement to her husband, and to have it much in her mind.
3. By reason of the falseness of our hearts; there is so much treachery of spirit, that we are not easily kept within bounds, our purposes are easily broken, and men draw back from the Lord by reason of the falseness of their hearts, and the treachery that is in them: How weak is thy heart Eze 16:30).
4. They renew their covenant, that by often repeating and renewing it, it may be set on upon their spirits the more, and lay the greater engagement upon them.
5. By reason of the forgetfulness of the heart; there is nothing that the ungodliness of a mans heart is more prone to than to forget his engagement unto God, and therefore was that strict charge laid upon them Deu 4:23).
6. By reason of the ignorance and blindness of the mind of man, we have need to be remembered of our covenant, and to renew it often; we are all narrow-mouthed vessels, and receive all things from God but by drops, and light comes in upon us but by degrees in several beams, and a man looks often upon it before he can understand it; and therefore the Lord gives unto us line upon line, and precept upon precept (Isa 28:10).
II. HOW IS THIS WORK TO BE DONE AND WHAT IS IT FOR A MAN TO RENEW HIS COVENANT.
1. He that will renew his covenant with God must be deeply sensible of the breach of covenant, and of the unfaithfulness of his heart therein.
2. It must be with a resolution of heart to break all our covenants; men are said to make a covenant with death and hell (Isa 28:15).
3. A man must know the terms and read over the articles of the covenant anew; for no wise man will set his hand to an obligation, of which he is not well acquainted with the condition.
4. It must be with a free and full consent of heart, for the covenant in the renewing of it must be as voluntary as it was in the making of it; to make fair promises while men are under the rod, as many do in sickness, they promise to lead new lives, but yet return to their old ways.
5. A man must be willing to bind himself in the highest way unto obedience thereunto. When the people did make a covenant, they did stand up to the covenant, and said, Amen, Amen.
6. It must be with an earnest desire to God for grace to keep it, and an acknowledgment of our weakness and inability to perform any one of the duties of the covenant.
III. WHAT ARE THE TIMES AND SEASONS THAT THE PEOPLE OF GOD HAVE SPECIALLY OBSERVED IN RENEWING OF THEIR COVENANT WITH THE LORD?
1. When a man hath eminently fallen into any great sin, or hath relapsed into former sins that were repented of, and that we have humbled our souls for, and if being washed, we have again defiled ourselves, and turned again to folly, then is a season in which the Lord calls you to renew your covenant.
2. In time of public humiliation, when men would divert and turn away judgment either from a nation or a person, then is the time for them to renew their covenant, and this was the ground of the covenant that Hezekiah made (2Ch 29:8).
3. In a time of public reformation, when the foundations have been destroyed, and all things out of course, and a great deal of difficulty appears, and even impossibility in carrying on the work; yet the people of God, looking upon it as a duty, have set upon it with full resolution and purpose of heart, and have covenanted to go through with the work, notwithstanding all opposition.
4. As a testimony of a mans thankfulness for any great mercy or special deliverance, or as an argument of faith that a man is to use unto God, when he doth pray for and expect from God any special mercy.
5. When a man finds his heart bent to backsliding, and he is unsteady and unstable in any good way.
6. When a man doth receive the sacraments, any of the seals of the covenant, it is his duty to renew the covenant, as often as we set to the seal anew, we shall read over the obligation anew.
IV. NOW THE FRUIT AND BENEFITS THAT THE PEOPLE OF GOD HAVE FOUND BY THE RENEWING OF THEIR COVENANT ARE MANY.
1. It hath been a testimony to them of the truth of their repentance Mat 3:8).
2. It is the foundation of consolation (2Ch 15:14-15); in the time of Asa the king of Judah they swore with a loud voice, with trumpets and cornets, and all Judah rejoiced at the oath, for they had sworn with all their hearts.
3. It is a means to establish and stay the heart, which is in itself exceeding fickle and uncertain.
4. It is a special means joined with fasting and prayer to prevail with God for mercy, when a man is willing as well to engage himself to duty, as he is to expect mercy from the Lord, They sought the Lord with their whole desire, and He was found of them, and the Lord gave them rest round about (2Ch 15:1-19).
5. It cloth not only establish the heart, but make it better; as the will becomes good at first by willing what is good, so it is then best when it most strongly wills what is best. Now when doth the will more strongly will what is best, than when it doth most firmly renew its covenant with God, its best good? So many grains as there are of a determined will in adhering to God, according to the terms of the covenant, so many grains there are of saving grace.
6. The frequent renewing of our covenant with God is that which fortifies the heart against temptations.
7. Such as oft renew their covenant with God have a great advantage for the strengthening their union with Christ.
8. The principal part of the souls communion and walking with God as a friend consists in this renewing its covenant with God.
9. The frequent renewing of our covenant with God is the most sovereign means to prevent or recover the soul out of any course of backsliding. (W. Strong, D. D.)
To thy seed after thee
Why the Lord will take children into their parents covenant, and not take in the parents alone, and leave their children in the condition in which they were by nature
The grounds of it are these: To show the extent of the grace of the second covenant; the Lord hath not dealt with men as He did with the angels, He did make a particular covenant with every particular angel, but He doth not so with men. He has always delighted to take in man into a covenant made with parents for them, that men might see that grace prevented them, and that they were engaged unto God, and His promise was out of grace entailed unto them as a birthright; and, therefore, as in the first covenant, God takes in Adam and all his posterity, and the second covenant is made with the second Adam and all His posterity; so, that there may be a resemblance hereof kept in the world, He hath taken in the children into their parents covenant, that they may see grace extend beyond their persons, even to their posterity.
I. THAT IT IS A. SPECIAL PRIVILEGE FOR PARENTS AND CHILDREN, THAT THEY ARE TAKEN INTO THEIR PARENTS COVENANT, will appear by these arguments and demonstrations.
1. It will aggravate their sin if they abuse it; therefore it is a mercy and a privilege in itself: for what is not a mercy and a privilege in itself, that cannot add to a mans sin and judgment. Now, as it is in riches and honours, and all the blessings in this life, they will be unto a man judgments if they are abused; therefore, they are blessings in themselves, blessings in the thing, though a snare to the man; so this very argument that is brought to prove that they are no blessings, and give no benefit, doth clearly prove that the thing itself is a privilege and a blessing.
2. For a child to be disinherited and cast out his fathers covenant is a very great judgment, and the sorest of all outward afflictions that can befall a man; as we see it in Cain, Thou hast cast me out from the face of the earth, and from Thy face I shall be hid.
3. It is promised as a special blessing for the visible Church of God to continue in any mans posterity; and therefore we are to look upon it so Gen 4:25); it was so in Seth, God hath appointed me another seed instead of Abel whom Cain slew; and so it was promised to Shem, that the church of God should be in his posterity continued, and that in due time the Lord should enlarge Japhet to dwell also in the tents of Shem.
4. It is the greatest wrath that God doth pour out upon men in this life, to cast them out of external church privileges.
II. BUT WHAT ARE THOSE PRIVILEGES AND THOSE PARTICULAR BENEFITS THAT COME UPON A PERSON AND HIS POSTERITY THEREBY?
1. Many of them shall be saved, elected, and converted to God; for the Lord doth take the number of His elect out of the loins of His own, the Church of the firstborn whose names are written in heaven is hid in the visible Church here as wheat in a heap of chaff.
2. It is the only ground of hope that parents have for the salvation of their children dying in their infancy.
3. There is no ordinary way of salvation, but it is amongst them that are taken into covenant, salvation is of the Jews: there was in an ordinary way salvation to be had nowhere else, and therefore, by being taken into the outward privileges of the Church, a man is brought into the ordinary way of salvation.
4. It is a special honour to be the vineyard of the Lord, the garden of the Lord hedged in from the rest of the world.
5. By this you have special privileges: Jerusalem is the valley of Vision, and Jeshuron the seeing people; it is Ariel, the altar of the Lord, chiefly to them are committed the oracles of God, which they are to keep and to transmit unto posterity; it is a depositum laid up and concredited to them: In Judah is God known, His name is great in Israel; He hath not dealt so with other nations; they are a people near unto Him, and the Lord hath promised that He will give them His special presence: I will dwell in the midst of them; Christ walks in the middle of the golden candlesticks, though He be in glory.
6. By coming under the outward privileges of this covenant, they have very glorious operations, mighty works upon them that other men have never experience of; and all this, even in them that perish; and they have this as a fruit of their external interest; for (Hos 6:5) there is hewing and slaying, there is sowing and planting, when the rest of the common fields lie untilled, and there are great gifts bestowed, such as the Lord cloth not bestow on any other sort of people in the world; for the great gifts that come from Christ as ascended are upon the visible Church of God; yea the thorns and briars in the Church have the rain and influences, great and many common works of the Spirit raising and elevating and improving nature, the least of which works and motions is more worth than the world, it is so in the things, though it prove at last a curse to the man.
7. They by this means come under the care of the Church.
8. They attain many temporal blessings, and are delivered from many temporal afflictions thereby; Ishmael had many outward blessings by Abrahams covenant; the external blessings of the covenant are made good to them; God will not destroy Jerusalem, and the judgment came not upon King Hezekiah, for David My servants sake, and, I will not rend it from Rehoboam, because I will not put out the light of Israel.
III. WHY WILL THE LORD HAVE THE COVENANT RUN BY WAY OF ENTAIL, IN REFERENCE TO THE OUTWARD PRIVILEGES OF IT, AND NOT IN REFERENCE TO THE INWARD GRACES OF IT? The covenant that was made with Adam was to convey the one as well as the other, and the image that he had received he was to convey to his posterity, and the promise of life spiritual, and life eternal, was made unto his posterity in case of his obedience, as well as unto himself; and therefore, as all died in him, so all should have lived in him. So that by the first covenant Adam might have conveyed not only outward privileges, but inward graces also; and whereas now by reason of the fall, all mankind do convey death to their children, but not life.
1. The Lord will not have the graces of the covenant entailed from parents unto posterity.
(1) Because the curse of the first covenant is now become ex traduce, by propagation, and all the posterity of Adam do now as naturally convey the curse, by reason of the broken covenant, as Adam should have conveyed life and blessing, if he had stood in his integrity; and therefore whatever the immediate parents be, Adams sin comes alike unto all whether they be godly or wicked; and the child of a godly parent is as truly and as deeply guilty of the sin of Adam in his birth, as the child of the most wicked man that is, that is an entail left upon all mankind that can never be cut off, while there is a man born upon earth.
2. Because under the second covenant it is the election of God that takes place, and puts all the difference between men and men, between whom in themselves there is no difference.
3. Because since the fall the Lord has appointed another way to convey life unto His people, and that is not by generation from the first Adam, but by regeneration from a second Adam; and therefore, the Lord will surely honour His own way, and He will not; convey the grace of the covenant from parents unto their posterity, but from Him only who is the second Adam. (W. Strong, D. D.)
Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell
Verse 7. An everlasting covenant] berith olam. See Clarke on Ge 13:15. Here the word olam is taken in its own proper meaning, as the words immediately following prove – to be a God unto thee, and thy seed after thee; for as the soul is to endure for ever, so it shall eternally stand in need of the supporting power and energy of God; and as the reign of the Gospel dispensation shall be as long as sun and moon endure, and its consequences eternal, so must the covenant be on which these are founded.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
i.e. Whatsoever I am or have, all that shall be thine, and shall be employed for thy protection, consolation, and salvation. This phrase contains in it the confluence of all blessing, temporal, spiritual, and eternal. See Lev 26:12; Psa 33:12; 144:15; Jer 31:33.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
And I will establish my covenant between me and thee,…. Not only renew it, but confirm it by the following token of circumcision:
and thy seed after thee, in their generation; such blessings in it as belonged to his natural seed, as such he confirmed to them, to be enjoyed by them in successive ages; and such as belonged to his spiritual seed, to them also, as they should be raised up in future times in one place and another:
for an everlasting covenant; to his natural seed, as long as they should continue in the true worship of God; and in their own land; or until the Messiah came, in whom the covenant of circumcision had its accomplishment, and was at an end; and to all his spiritual seed, with respect to the spiritual blessings of it, which are everlasting, and are never taken away, or become void;
to be a God unto thee, and to thy seed after thee; to his natural seed, as the God of nature and providence, communicating the good things of life unto them; protecting, preserving, and continuing them in the land he gave them, and in the possessive of all the good things in it, so long as they were obedient to him as their King and their God; and to his spiritual seed, as the God of all grace, supplying them with grace here, and bestowing upon them glory hereafter.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
7 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 unto thee, and to thy seed after thee. 8 And I will give unto thee, and to thy seed after thee, the land wherein thou art a stranger, all the land of Canaan, for an everlasting possession; and I will be their God. 9 And God said unto Abraham, Thou shalt keep my covenant therefore, thou, and thy seed after thee in their generations. 10 This is my covenant, which ye shall keep, between me and you and thy seed after thee; Every man child among you shall be circumcised. 11 And ye shall circumcise the flesh of your foreskin; and it shall be a token of the covenant betwixt me and you. 12 And he that is eight days old shall be circumcised among you, every man child in your generations, he that is born in the house, or bought with money of any stranger, which is not of thy seed. 13 He that is born in thy house, and he that is bought with thy money, must needs be circumcised: and my covenant shall be in your flesh for an everlasting covenant. 14 And the uncircumcised man child whose flesh of his foreskin is not circumcised, that soul shall be cut off from his people; he hath broken my covenant.
Here is, I. The continuance of the covenant, intimated in three things:– 1. It is established; not to be altered nor revoked. It is fixed, it is ratified, it is made as firm as the divine power and truth can make it. 2. It is entailed; it is a covenant, not with Abraham only (then it would die with him), but with his seed after him, not only his seed after the flesh, but his spiritual seed. 3. It is everlasting in the evangelical sense and meaning of it. The covenant of grace is everlasting. It is from everlasting in the counsels of it, and to everlasting in the consequences of it; and the external administration of it is transmitted with the seal of it to the seed of believers, and the internal administration of it by the Spirit of Christ’s seed in every age.
II. The contents of the covenant: it is a covenant of promises, exceedingly great and precious promises. Here are two which indeed are all-sufficient:– 1. That God would be their God, Gen 17:7; Gen 17:8. All the privileges of the covenant, all its joys and all its hopes, are summed up in this. A man needs desire no more than this to make him happy. What God is himself, that he will be to his people: his wisdom theirs, to guide and counsel them; his power theirs, to protect and support them; his goodness theirs, to supply and comfort them. What faithful worshippers can expect from the God they serve believers shall find in God as theirs. This is enough, yet not all. 2. That Canaan should be their everlasting possession, v. 8. God had before promised this land to Abraham and his seed, ch. xv. 18. But here, where it is promised for an everlasting possession, surely it must be looked upon as a type of heaven’s happiness, that everlasting rest which remains for the people of God, Heb. iv. 9. This is that better country to which Abraham had an eye, and the grant of which was that which answered to the vast extent and compass of that promise, that God would be to them a God; so that, if God had not prepared and designed this, he would have been ashamed to be called their God, Heb. xi. 16. As the land of Canaan was secured to the seed of Abraham according to the flesh, so heaven is secured to all his spiritual seed, by a covenant, and for a possession, truly everlasting. The offer of this eternal life is made in the word, and confirmed by the sacraments, to all that are under the external administration of the covenant; and the earnest of it is given to all believers, Eph. i. 14. Canaan is here said to be the land wherein Abraham was a stranger; and the heavenly Canaan is a land to which we are strangers, for it does not yet appear what we shall be.
III. The token of the covenant, and that is circumcision, for the sake of which the covenant is itself called the covenant of circumcision, Acts vii. 8. It is here said to be the covenant which Abraham and his seed must keep, as a copy or counterpart, Gen 17:9; Gen 17:10. It is called a sign and seal (Rom. iv. 11), for it was, 1. A confirmation to Abraham and his seed of those promises which were God’s part of the covenant, assuring them that they should be fulfilled, that in due time Canaan would be theirs: and the continuance of this ordinance, after Canaan was theirs, intimates that these promises looked further to another Canaan, which they must still be in expectation of. See Heb. iv. 8. 2. An obligation upon Abraham and his seed to that duty which was their part of the covenant; not only to the duty of accepting the covenant and consenting to it, and putting away the corruption of the flesh (which were more immediately and primarily signified by circumcision), but, in general, to the observance of all God’s commands, as they should at any time hereafter be intimated and made known to them; for circumcision made men debtors to do the whole law, Gal. v. 3. Those who will have God to be to them a God must consent and resolve to be to him a people. Now, (1.) Circumcision was a bloody ordinance; for all things by the law were purged with blood, Heb. ix. 22. See Exod. xxiv. 8. But, the blood of Christ being shed, all bloody ordinances are now abolished; circumcision therefore gives way to baptism. (2.) It was peculiar to the males, though the women were also included in the covenant, for the man is the head of the woman. In our kingdom, the oath of allegiance is required only from men. Some think that the blood of the males only was shed in circumcision because respect was had in it to Jesus Christ and his blood. (3.) It was the flesh of the foreskin that was to be cut off, because it is by ordinary generation that sin is propagated, and with an eye to the promised seed, who was to come from the loins of Abraham. Christ having not yet offered himself to us, God would have man to enter into covenant by the offering of some part of his own body, and no part could be better spared. It is a secret part of the body; for the true circumcision is that of the heart: this honour God put upon an uncomely part, 1Co 12:23; 1Co 12:24. (4.) The ordinance was to be administered to children when they were eight days old, and not sooner, that they might gather some strength, to be able to undergo the pain of it, and that at least one sabbath might pass over them. (5.) The children of the strangers, of whom the master of the family was the true domestic owner, were to be circumcised (Gen 17:12; Gen 17:13), which looked favourably upon the Gentiles, who should in due time be brought into the family of Abraham, by faith. See Gal. iii. 14. (6.) The religious observance of this institution was required under a very severe penalty, v. 14. The contempt of circumcision was a contempt of the covenant; if the parents did not circumcise their children, it was at their peril, as in the case of Moses, Exo 4:24; Exo 4:25. With respect to those that were not circumcised in their infancy, if, when they grew up, they did not themselves come under this ordinance, God would surely reckon with them. If they cut not off the flesh of their foreskin, God would cut them off from their people. It is a dangerous thing to make light of divine institutions, and to live in the neglect of them.
Fuente: Matthew Henry’s Whole Bible Commentary
7. And thy seed after thee There is no doubt that the Lord distinguishes the race of Abraham from the rest of the world. We must now see what people he intends. Now they are deceived who think that his elect alone are here pointed out; and that all the faithful are indiscriminately comprehended, from whatever people, according to the flesh, they are descended. For, on the contrary, the Scripture declares that the race of Abraham, by lineal descent, had been peculiarly accepted by God. And it is the evident doctrine of Paul concerning the natural descendants of Abraham, that they are holy branches which have proceeded from a holy root, (Rom 11:16.) And lest any one should restrict this assertion to the shadows of the law, or should evade it by allegory, he elsewhere expressly declares, that Christ came to be a minister of the circumcision, (Rom 15:8.) Wherefore, nothing is more certain, than that God made his covenant with those sons of Abraham who were naturally to be born of him. If any one object, that this opinion by no means agrees with the former, in which we said that they are reckoned the children of Abraham, who being by faith ingrafted into his body, form one family; the difference is easily reconciled, by laying down certain distinct degrees of adoption, which may be collected from various passages of Scripture. In the beginning, antecedently to this covenant, the condition of the whole world was one and the same. But as soon as it was said, ‘I will be a God to thee and to thy seed after thee,’ the Church was separated from other nations; just as in the creation of the world, the light emerged out of the darkness. Then the people of Israel was received, as the flock of God, into their own fold: the other nations wandered, like wild beasts, through mountains, woods, and deserts. Since this dignity, in which the sons of Abraham excelled other nations, depended on the word of God alone, the gratuitous adoption of God belongs to them all in common. For if Paul deprives the Gentiles of God and of eternal life, on the ground of their being aliens from the covenant, (Eph 4:18,) it follows that all Israelites were of the household of the Church, and sons of God, and heirs of eternal life. And although it was by the grace of God, and not by nature, that they excelled the Gentiles; and although the inheritance at the kingdom of God came to them by promise, and not by carnal descent; yet they are sometimes said to differ by nature from the rest of the world. In the Epistle to the Galatians, (Gal 2:15), and elsewhere, Paul calls them saints ‘by nature,’ because God was willing that his grace should descend, (406) by a continual succession, to the whole seed. In this sense, they who were unbelievers among the Jews, are yet called the children of the celestial kingdom by Christ. (Mat 8:12.) Nor does what St Paul says contradict this; namely, that not all who are from Abraham are to be esteemed legitimate children; because they are not the children of the promise, but only of the flesh. (Rom 9:8.) For there, the promise is not taken generally for that outward word, by which God conferred his favor as well upon the reprobate as upon the elect; but must be restricted to that efficacious calling, which he inwardly seals by his Spirit. And that this is the case, is proved without difficulty; for the promise by which the Lord had adopted them all as children, was common to all: and in that promise, it cannot be denied, that eternal salvation was offered to all. What, therefore, can be the meaning of Paul, when he denies that certain persons have any right to be reckoned among children, except that he is no longer reasoning about the externally offered grace, but about that of which only the elect effectually partake? Here, then, a twofold class of sons presents itself to us, in the Church; for since the whole body of the people is gathered together into the fold of God, by one and the same voice, all without exception, are in this respects accounted children; the name of the Church is applicable in common to them all: but in the innermost sanctuary of God, none others are reckoned the sons of God, than they in whom the promise is ratified by faith. And although this difference flows from the fountain of gratuitous election, whence also faith itself springs; yet, since the counsel of God is in itself hidden from us, we therefore distinguish the true from the spurious children, by the respective marks of faith and of unbelief. This method and dispensation continued even to the promulgation of the gospel; but then the middle wall was broken down, (Eph 2:14,) and God made the Gentiles equal to the natural descendants of Abraham. That was the renovation of the world, by which they, who had before been strangers, began to be called sons. Yet whenever a comparison is made between Jews and Gentiles, the inheritance of life is assigned to the former, as lawfully belonging to them; but to the latter, it is said to be adventitious. Meanwhile, the oracle was fulfilled in which God promises that Abraham should be the father of many nations. For whereas previously, the natural sons of Abraham were succeeded by their descendants in continual succession, and the benediction, which began with him, flowed down to his children; the coming of Christ, by inverting the original order, introduced into his family those who before were separated from his seed: at length the Jews were cast out, (except that a hidden seed of the election remained among them,) in order that the rest might be saved. It was necessary that these things concerning the seed of Abraham should once be stated, that they may open to us an easy introduction to what follows.
In their generations This succession of generations clearly proves that the posterity of Abraham were taken into the Church, in such a manner that sons might be born to them, who should be heirs of the same grace. In this way the covenant is called perpetual, as lasting until the renovation of the world; which took place at the advent of Christ. I grant, indeed, that the covenant was without end, and may with propriety be called eternal, as far as the whole Church is concerned; it must, however always remain as a settled point, that the regular succession of ages was partly broken, and partly changed, by the coming of Christ, because the middle wall being broken down, and the sons by nature being, at length, disinherited, Abraham began to have a race associated with himself from all regions of the world.
To be a God unto thee In this single word we are plainly taught that this was a spiritual covenant, not confirmed in reference to the present life only; but one from which Abraham might conceive the hope of eternal salvations so that being raised even to heaven, he might lay hold of solid and perfect bliss. For those whom God adopts to himself, from among a people — seeing that he makes them partakers of his righteousness and of all good things — he also constitutes heirs of celestial life. Let us then mark this as the principal part of the covenant, that He who is the God of the living, not of the dead, promises to be a God to the children of Abraham. It follows afterwards, in the way of augmentation of the grant, that he promised to give them the land. I confess, indeed, that something greater and more excellent than itself was shadowed forth by the land of Canaan; yet this is not at variance with the statement, that the promise now made was an accession to that primary one, ‘I will be thy God.’ Now, although God again affirms, as before, that He will give the land to Abraham himself, we nevertheless know, that Abraham never possessed dominion over it; but the holy man was contented with his title to it alone, although the possession of it was not granted him; and, therefore, he calmly passed from his earthly pilgrimage into heaven. God again repeats that He will be a God to the posterity of Abraham, in order that they may not settle upon earth, but may regard themselves as trained for higher things.
(406) “ Quia continua serie prosequi nolebat Deus, gratiem suam ergo totum semen.” So it is, both in the Amsterdam edition, and in that of Hengstenberg; but the word nolebat (was unwilling) seems so contrary to the writer’s line of argument, that the French version is followed in the translation, which is, “ Pource que Dieu vouloit poursuyure,” etc. — Ed
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary
Gen 17:7 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 unto thee, and to thy seed after thee.
Ver. 7. For an everlasting covenant. ] Circumcision, the outward sign of it, was temporary, and changeable into baptism; but the covenant of grace, thereby then, and by baptism now, sealed up unto us, is eternal; being established and ratified. by the death of the Testator, “by the blood of the Arch-shepherd”. Heb 13:20 Here it must be considered a that there is a twofold covenant: 1. Single; such as God makes with children, when baptized; viz., if you will repent, believe, and walk with me, ye shall be saved. Now, if they break the condition, God is freed, he it not bound any further. 2. Double; such as God makes with his elect only; and that is to perform both parts, sc., if you will believe, repent, obey, ye shall be saved: and further, I will give you a new heart, so that you shall repent, believe, &c., and be saved. Thus God undertakes for both parts, and so it becomes an everlasting covenant, such as hath the “sure” or unfailable “mercies of David” b Isa 55:3 And here those, that are in double covenant with God, are fitly compared to them that are gone in at a church door: some are farther in than others, but yet all are in. So, though the weak in faith be not so forward, yet they may be in, though not so far in.
And to thy seed after thee.
a Dr Preston Of God’s Attributes
b T D
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
covenant: unconditional.
thy seed. Here, the collective noun ser’a is shown to be plural by the words “after thee” (compare verses: Gen 17:8, Gen 17:9), and by the plural pronoun “their generations” (verses: Gen 17:7, Gen 17:9). This is not the verse referred to in Gal 1:3, Gal 1:16, but Gen 21:12. See note on Gen 21:12, where “seed” must be in the singular because of the verb.
everlasting. Hence Israel so called. Isa 44:7 margin.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
And I: Gen 15:18, Gen 26:24, Exo 6:4, Psa 105:8-11, Mic 7:20, Luk 1:54, Luk 1:55, Luk 1:72-75, Rom 9:4, Rom 9:8, Rom 9:9, Gal 3:17, Eph 2:2
God: Gen 26:24, Gen 28:13, Exo 3:6, Exo 3:15, Lev 26:12, Psa 81:10, Eze 28:26, Mat 22:32, Heb 8:10, Heb 11:16
and to: Exo 19:5, Exo 19:6, Mar 10:14, Act 2:39, Rom 9:7-9
Reciprocal: Gen 6:18 – establish Gen 9:9 – General Gen 13:15 – General Gen 24:12 – O Lord Gen 31:53 – God of Abraham Gen 32:9 – O God Exo 2:24 – remembered Exo 6:7 – will take Exo 13:5 – sware Exo 15:2 – my God Exo 20:2 – the Lord Lev 18:2 – General Lev 23:21 – a statute Lev 26:9 – make you Lev 26:45 – for their Deu 1:8 – which Deu 5:3 – General Deu 7:9 – which keepeth Deu 28:9 – establish Deu 29:13 – he may be Jdg 2:1 – I will never 1Sa 12:12 – when the Lord 1Sa 14:6 – uncircumcised 2Sa 7:24 – confirmed 2Ki 13:23 – because of his covenant 1Ch 16:4 – the Lord God 1Ch 16:13 – ye seed 1Ch 16:17 – an everlasting 1Ch 17:22 – thy people 2Ch 20:7 – our God Neh 9:8 – madest Psa 25:13 – his seed Psa 37:25 – nor his seed Psa 47:9 – the God Psa 67:6 – our own Psa 74:20 – Have Psa 91:2 – my God Psa 105:7 – the Lord Psa 105:10 – an everlasting Psa 112:2 – General Psa 115:14 – you Pro 11:21 – the seed Pro 13:22 – leaveth Pro 20:7 – his children Isa 44:1 – O Jacob Isa 44:7 – since Isa 55:3 – and I will Isa 61:8 – I will make Isa 63:8 – Surely Isa 65:23 – for Jer 31:1 – will Jer 31:33 – and will Jer 32:22 – which Jer 32:38 – General Jer 32:39 – for the Jer 32:40 – I will make Jer 50:5 – in a Eze 14:11 – that they Eze 16:20 – thy sons Eze 37:23 – they be Eze 37:26 – I will make Hab 3:9 – according Mat 19:14 – Suffer Mar 12:26 – I am Luk 1:50 – General Luk 20:37 – when Joh 20:17 – your God Act 11:14 – all Act 13:17 – God Act 16:31 – and thy Rom 3:29 – General Rom 11:16 – and if 2Co 6:16 – I will be Gal 3:16 – to Gal 4:7 – heir Eph 2:12 – the covenants Rev 21:3 – they shall
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Gen 17:7. And I will establish my covenant Not to be altered or revoked; not with thee only, then it would die with thee; but with thy seed after thee Especially thy spiritual seed. It is everlasting in the evangelical meaning of it, from everlasting in the counsels of it, and to everlasting in the consequences of it. This is a covenant of exceeding great and precious promises. Here are two which indeed are all-sufficient: one is, that God would be a God to him and to his seed. All the privileges of the covenant, all its joys and all its hopes, are summed up in this. A man needs desire no more than this to make him happy. What God is himself, that he will be to his people: wisdom to guide and counsel them, power to protect and support them, goodness to supply and comfort them; what faithful worshippers can expect from the God they serve, believers shall find in God as theirs. This is enough, yet not all: The other is,