off from his people x: he hath broken my covenant y. * Orrather, And as for the uncircumciſed man-child, So the nominarive "8 is put abſolutely, as 1s frequent in the Hebrew Tongue. « Or, Wi? "x | ſhall not circumc Fd the fleſb of his fere-ckin ; For the Hebrew Verb may E - be rendred aQively, which ſeems beſt here ; becauſe the puniſhmenc ſeems mere juſtly to belong to the Parent, who was guilty, of this negle&; than to the Child, who was not capable of this Precepr, and therefore not guilty of the violation of it, And this may further appear from Exod: 4: 24, 25: where God ſeeks to kill, not the Child, but the Father, Moſe:, for this Sin. And zhe fieſh of the Child's fore-skin is rightly called he fleſb of his, i. e. The Parent's fore-ckin, becauſe the Child is part and the poſſeſſion of his Pareat. So that this threat- ning concerns only grown perſons, and of them only ſuch as ſhall wilfully and unneceſſarily negle& this duty ; for otherwiſe it was negleted by the J/raelites for forty years together in the Wilderneſs, If. 5: 7: without any token of God's diſpleaſure for it. x This phraſe denotes either 1. An excluſion from Fellowſhip with God's People, and from all the Promiſes, Priviledges and Bleflings belonging to them, either in this Life, or that to come. Or rather 2. An untimely and violent Death, as may be gathered from Exod: 31: 14: to be S5nflited by the Magiſtrat, to' whom God comaurred rhe execution ! of this, as well as other Laws; and in caſe ofhis negle& and defaulc, 1% orthe ſecrecy of the fat, by the extraordinary hand of God, who ſometimes aſcribes this a& to himſelf, as Zevir: 17: 10; and 20: 6. »y That ſacred bond which ryed him and me together, and by his negle& and contempt of the condition required on his part, he hath forfeited the bleſſing promiſed on my part. And God ſaid unto Abraham,
$ —_ As for Sarai thy | wife, thou ſbalt not call her name Sarai, but Sarah z t - ſhall her name be. | $4 ©
F z Sarai ſignifies my Lady, or wy Princeſs, which confines her
Dominion to one Family ; but Sarah ſignifies either a Lady or Princeſs, ſimply and abſolutely without reſtriftion, or the Princeſs of a multi-
- tude, the Hebrew Letter he being taken our of Hamon, and added to her name, as it was to Abram's name.
'Y 16 And I will bleſs her, and pive thee a ſon alſo of | + Heb. be her : yea, I will bleſs her, and {ae ſhall be « m#rber of
_— * nations ; kings of people ſhall be of her.
43
and ſaid in his heart, Shall « ebi/4 be born unto him that is an hundred years old ? and ſhall Sarah thar is ninety years old bear ? . | = a Through admiration and holy rejoycing at ſo great a Bleſſing, not through unbelief, as Sarah did Gen: 18: 12, 13. asappears from Rom: 4: 19, 29. Andthough the outward a@ was the ſame in both, yer God diſcerned their differing diipoſirions and intentions there-
10, 138 :And Abraham ſaid unto God, O that Iſhmae] 'might live before thee 6? : b Grant, O Lord, that the giving ofone Son may not be joyned with the taking away of another ; that be! may faithfully ſerve thee, and may bave a ſhare in thy favour, and gracious Covenant. For this ſeems to be the meaning of this phraſe of living before God, or in God's preſence, by comparing a parallel phraſe, of walking before God, Verſe 1. and elſewhere, and an oppoſite phraſe, Fom thy face ſhall T be hid, Gen. 4. 14. : 19 And God faid, * Sarah thy wife ſhall bear thee a ſon indeed ; and thou ſhalt call his name Ifaacc, and 1 will eftabliſh my covenant with him for an everlaſting covenant, and with his ſeed after him. 5 c Which ſignifies lauzhter, nor from Sarah's laughter, which es = yet had not happened, but from 4bram's patt laughter, Yerſe 17. and - future joy in h15 Son. 20 Ard as for Iſhmael, T have heard thee |: behold, T have bleſſed him, and will make him fruitful, and will multiply him exceedingly : * eweive princes ſhall he beger, and I will make him a grear nation. + To wit, in part, or ſo far as is here expreſſed ; and probably, | as to the chief Bleſſing of the Covenant, to wir, the forgiveneſs of his Sins, and eternal Life, as the Hebrew DoQtors and ſome othars
MA”
*Chap:18: "x0: and ” 1: 2;
* Chap: 257 363
reaſon alſo Beaſts were not to be offered to God before the eighth day, :
17 Then Abraham fell upon his face, and laughed a, |
; '$: . Chap. XVIIL. 2T But my covenant will I eſtabliſh with Iſaac 4,
whom Sarah ſhall bear unto thee at this ſet time, in the
next Year.
4 The Covenant of the promiſed Seed to come ont of his Loins, and of Life and Salvation to accrue to himſelf, and to his Puſteriry by vertue of that Seed : In compariſon whereof God ſpeaks ſ]'ghtly of all the temporal Bleſſings conferred upon 1bmael, thoygh in themſelves they were great and glorious. By which ic may {vſſici- ently appear that Abraham's Faith, whereby he is ſaid to be jnt: hed, Rom: 4: had a farther reach in it than to bis own immediate Child, —_ 5 _ Meſſias, whoſe day therefore Abraham is ſaid to have ſeen,
ohn 8: 56.
22 And he left off talking with him, and God went up e from Abraham.
e To Heaven in 2 viſible manner, -as it ſeems he converſed with him in ſome viſible ſhape. Compare Geneſis 35: 13: Judges 13; 20:
23 EC And Abraham took Iſhmael his ſon, and all that were born in his houſs,and all that were bought with
his money, every male among the men of Abrahams houſe, and circumciſed the fleſh of their fore-skin f in the ſelf-ſame day g, as God had ſaid unto him.
f Partly by his own hand, and partly by the help of others, whom he by Divine Inſtin& called to, and direfted in that work. gln which God appeared to him and gave the command. So he made haſte and delayed nor to execure God's command. And his Servants alſo yielded a ready and cheerful Obedicnce to this ſevere and painful Precept, being moved thereunto by Abraham's Example and ſovereign Authority,by God's powerful Preſence ſome way or other manifeſted to them, and by the proſpe& and hope of God's Bleſſing ta accom= pany and follow his own Ordinance. *
24 And Abraham as ninety years old and nine, when he was circumciſed in the fleſh of his fore-skin.
25 And Iſhmael his ſon was thirteen years old, when he was circumciſed in the fleſh of his fore-skin,
26 In the ſelf-ſame day was Abraham circumciſed, and Iſhmael his ſon.
27 And all the men of his houſe, born in the houſe,
and bought with money of the ſtranger, were circum- ciſed with him. :
CHAP, XVIII,
OWE 0