15 And God said unto Abraham, As for Sarai thy wife, thou shalt not call her name Sarai, but Sarah shall her name be. 16 And I will bless her, and give thee a son also of her: yea, I will bless her, and she shall be a mother Y of nations; kings of people shall be of her. 17 Then Abraham fell upon his face, and laughed, and said in his heart, Shall a child be born unto him that is an hundred years old? and shall Sarah, that is ninety years old, bear? 18 And Abraham said unto God, O that Ishmael might live before thee! x ch. 18: 10. y ch. 35: 11; Gal. 4: 31; 1 Pet. 3: 6. z ch. 18: 12; 21: 6. and Sarah "Princess," in general. Ewald takes it to be an adjective form meaning contentious. Fürst renders it tyrannical. Kurtz agrees with Iken, that it means nobility; while Sarah means to be fruitful. This agrees with the context, vs. 16, 66 She shall become nations." The Gr. has it Sarra. Some make the final h to mean here the same as in the name Abraham-a multitude and so it would mean princess of a multitude. "God gives the name before the thing signified, as a support to weak faith." 66 16. A son also of her. This was the first positive declaration of Sarah's part in the covenant as mother of the promised seed. So she is to become the mother of nations and of kings. This assurance was contrary to all their expectations, and to all natural prospects. It was therefore a challenge for their faith in the simple word of promise. Against hope Abram believed in hope that he might become the father of many nations," etc., (Rom. 4: 18, 19.) It was not fit that the mother of the covenant people, who was to teach His name and to propagate His religion, should be a foreign-born maid like Hagar. ¶ She shall be. Heb., She shall become nations. Gr., He shall be. See vs. 6. The bondmaid was not the proper one to be the mother of the covenant seed. God would extend her preeminence far and wide, which in her former name had been restricted. 17. Abraham, who at first had fallen upon his face in devout reverence and awe of God's majesty, now falls on his face in mingled adoration, astonishment, and joy. Onk., Rejoiced. Targ. Jer., Marvelled. See Psa. 126: 1, 2; Job 8:21. See ch. 18:12, 13. The son was called "Isaac," (meaning "laughter,") vs. 19, by Divine direction. The context shows that there was here nothing like contempt or derision of God's word, but quite the contrary. "Shall it be so indeed." Can this be? This that was only too good to be thought of, and too blessed a consummation of all his ancient hopes, to be now at this late day so distinctly assured to him by God Himself. Yet it would not be wonderful if he also in his laughter expressed a hidden doubt of what seemed in itself so absurd, so ridiculous in its more natural aspects. And if so, then we can also understand his meaning in the ensuing passage. 18. O that Ishmael. As if he yet cleaved to Ishmael, whom he had already in hand, and would be content if he could enjoy the Divine favor as the covenant son. Doubtless, he had rested his hope of the promise very much upon this son of the bondwoman, and had become used to the idea that the blessings of the covenant were to come through him. Or, it may be that he sees in this promise of a new son and heir only a rejection of Ishmael, so that his first feeling after the surprise is 19 And God said, a Sarah thy wife shall bear thee a son indeed; and thou shalt call his name Isaac: and I will establish my covenant with him for an everlasting covenant, and with his seed after him. 20 And as for Ishmael, I have heard thee: behold, I have blessed him, and will make him fruitful, and will multiply him exceedingly: twelve princes shall he beget, and I will make him a great nation. d 21 But my covenant will I establish with Isaac, e which Sarah shall bear unto thee at this set time in the next year. 22 And he left off talking with him, and God went up from Abraham. 23 And Abraham took Ishmael his son, and all that were a ch. 18: 10; 21: 2; Gal. 4: 28. b ch. 16: 10. c ch. 25: 12-16. d ch. 21: 18. e ch. 21: 2. and fear. But the salvation of mankind was to proceed not in the channel of earthly conquest and grandeur, but of spiritual gifts. 21. But. The higher distinction and stipulation is reserved for Isaac, the son of the free woman-the cov to plead for him. Live before thee. Be a sharer in the Divine favor and in the covenant blessings, and not be cast off. This is a natural outburst of parental anxiety. All the greater, perhaps, as he seemed the unfortunate son. 19. Indeed. Heb., But nenant son-the son of promise. His deed. An emphatic term, as if to deny the contrary thought, couched, perhaps, in Abraham's plea for Ishmael. "You need not doubt it. Indeed, on the contrary, Sarah is bearing thee a son." Isaac. Heb., Laughter. Referring to the laugh of Abraham as more of joy than of incredulity. My covenant. This was to be the covenant son-the son of promise the type of Christ-the channel of blessing to the nations. As it is written, "In Isaac shall thy seed be called," (Rom. 9:7.) 20. As for Ishmael. Meanwhile Ishmael should not be cut off. God's covenant with Isaac should not lead to the rejection and exclusion of Ishmael. He should also enjoy the Divine favor. Abraham's prayer for him was heard. His blessings were to be chiefly temporal. He should become great and powerful-occupy large districts; twelve princes should descend from him-as twelve from Jacob (ch. 25: 12-16) and the dread of his name should inspire respect blessings should be preeminent, as the channel of blessing to all nations, while Ishmael should be a marauder and despoiler of all. "In Isaac shall thy seed be called." He is the son of the house, the other is the servant. He is the type of the regenerate-born of God-type of the evangelical, as distinct from the other, the legal. He is the son given by promise, not coming by nature. And he is also the type of the miraculous seed, which is Christ, (Gal. 4: 27-29.) This set time. This time next year. See ch. 21: 2.. 22. God went up. Chal., The glory of the Lord went up. The shekinah -the symbol of the visible presence of God. But the Heb. expresses the fact that God was personally present, revealing Himself in some visible form, (vs. 1.) 23. Abram's obedience to God's injunctions, and his observance of the sacramental ordinance, is now recorded. (1.) He did it thoroughly and fully, omitting none of all his born in his house, and all that were bought with his money, every male among the men of Abraham's house; and circumcised the flesh of their foreskin, in the self-same day, as God had said unto him. 24 And Abraham was ninety years old and nine, when he was circumcised in the flesh of his foreskin. 25 And Ishmael his son was thirteen years old, when he was circumcised in the flesh of his foreskin. 26 In the self-same day was Abraham circumcised, and Ishmael his son; 27 And fall the men of his house, born in the house, and bought with money of the stranger, were circumcised with him. f ch. 18: 19. house. Every male among themhis children and servants all under his roof, (vs. 23.) (2.) He observed the rite in his own person, not making it a duty for others and for all but himself, but including himself with the others. And this he did at his advanced age, when he was nearly a hundred years old, (vs. 24.) Aged piety is beautiful, and has the Divine blessing in large measure. (3.) He commanded his children and his household after him, that they might keep the way of the Lord, (Gen. 18:19.) This boy of thirteen years of age, poor Ishmael, might have claimed to judge for himself, if he had been so trained as to be left to himself. This is the age at which a boy became a son of the law, and was regarded as of age to take the sacrament of the passover-twelve to thirteen years of age. Jesus went up to the passover at twelve. Ishmael was now thirteen. Children, when they come to such years of discretion, should be taught their duty in regard to as suming sacramental obligations, and coming forward to the full benefits of the Christian church, (vs. 25.) (4.) It was a household dedication. The aged patriarch and the youthful son, and all the men-servants, no matter how they came into the household, were thus marked as sharers in the covenant, and the patriarch's house was stamped in their very flesh as the Lord's, (vss. 26, 27.) Domestic piety is beautiful. The passover and circumcision were both of them household seals, and so .are baptism and the Lord's Supper. Everywhere there are the simple elements-a little bread and wine, and a little water-and what doth hinder? (Acts 8:36.) And God is faithful. Christ is the Head of His house, as the covenant Son in whom we have all blessings. Parental fidelity God covenants to bless. "For I know Abraham, that he will command his children and his household after him, and they shall keep the way of the Lord to do justice and judgment, that the Lord may bring upon Abraham all that He hath promised," (ch. 18:19.) APPENDIX. The recent work of Keil and Delitzsch, on the Pentateuch, has fallen into the hands of the author since the foregoing pages were written, as also certain other late productions; from which a few supplementary NOTES are here appended, without burdening the running comments, and too valuable to be omitted. INTRODUCTION. On the important point of the Mosaic authorship, it is argued summarily thus: "The five Books of Moses occupy the first place in the Canon of the Old Testament, not only from their peculiar character as the foundation and norm of all the rest, but also because of their actual date, as being the oldest writings in the Canon, and the groundwork of the whole of the Old Testament literature-all the historical, prophetical, and poetical works of the Israelites subsequent to the Mosaic era, pointing back to the law of Moses as their primary source and type, and assuming the existence, not merely of the law itself, but also of a book of the law, of precisely the character and form of the five Books of Moses." 2. "The internal character of the book is in perfect harmony with this indisputable fact that the Pentateuch is as certainly presupposed by the whole of the post-Mosaic_history as the root is by the tree. For it cannot be shown to bear any traces of post-Mosaic times and circumstances. On the contrary, it has the evident stamp of Mosaic origin, both in substance and in style. All that has been adduced as proof of the contrary by the so-called modern criticism, is founded either upon misunderstanding and misinterpretation, or upon a misapprehension of the peculiarities of the Semitic style of historical writing, or, lastly, upon doctrinal prejudices, in other words, upon a repudiation of all the supernatural characteristics of Divine revelation, whether in the form of miracle or prophecy. The Pentateuch answers all the expectations which a study of the personal character of Moses could lead us justly to form of any work composed by him. In him the patriarchal age terminated, and the period of the law began-consequently we expect to find him as a sacred historian, linking the existing revelation with its patriarchal and primitive antecedents. As a mediator of the law he was a prophet, and we expect from him therefore an incomparable prophetic insight into the ways of God, in both past and future. He was learmed in all the wisdom of the Egyptians-and a work from his hand would therefore show, in various intelligent allusions to Egyptian customs, laws and incidents, the well educated native of that land; Gen. 40: 16; 41: 14; 44: 5; 50: 2, 3, 26; Exod. 2:3; 7: 8 to 10: 23; 22:19; Lev. 18:23; 20:15, 16; Numb. 13: 23; 11:5; Deut. 11: 10, 11; 25: 2, 3; 7: 15; 28:27; 35: 60. It also presents so many marks of the Mosaic age and the Mosaic spirit that it is a priori probable that Moses was its author. How admirably, for example, was the way prepared for the revelation of God at Sinai by the revelations recorded in Genesis of the primitive and patriarchal times! distinctly stated at the conclusion of the Pentateuch in Deut. 31:9, 24. This testimony is confirmed by Deut. 17: 18; 28: 58, 61; 29: 21; 30:10; 31: 26.-Keil and Delitzsch. HISTORICAL CHARACTER OF Of the reality of the Divine revelations, accompanied by miracles and prophecies, the Christian (i. e., the believing Christian,) has already a pledge in the miracle of regeneration, and the working of the Spirit in his own heart. We have here, as historical facts, the natural miracles, and the testimony of eye witnesses, ensuring their credibility, in the case of all the events of Moses' own time-that is, of all in the last four books of Moses. The legal code There is also the unity of plan that we might expect, and the childlike simplicity of style; with an antiquated feature, which is common to all the five books, and distinguishes them essentially from all the other writings of the Old Testament. There are also express statements that the Pentateuch was written by Moses himself; Exod. 17: 14; 24: 3, 4, 7; (see 20:2-17;) ch. 21 to 23; ch. 34: 27; Numb. 33:2. It is true that these statements furnish no direct evidence of the Mosaic authorship of the entire Pentateuch. But from the fact that the covenant of Sinai was to be concluded, and actually was concluded, on the basis of a written record of the laws and priv-contained in these books is now acileges of the covenant, it may be inferred, with tolerable certainty, that Moses committed all those laws to writing, which were to serve the people as an inviolable rule of conduct towards God. And from the record which God commanded to be made of the two historical events already mentioned, it follows unques. tionably, that it was the intention of God that all the more important manifestations of the covenant fidelity of Jehovah should be handed down in writing, in order that the people, in all time to come, might study and lay them to heart, and their fidelity be thus preserved towards their covenant God. Moses recognised this Divine intention, and for the purpose of upholding the work already accomplished through his mediatorial office, committed to writing, not merely the whole of the law, but the entire work of the Lord in and for Israelin other words, that he wrote out the whole Pentateuch in the form in which it has come down to us, and handed over the work to the nation before he departed this life, that it might be preserved and obeyed, is That knowledged by the most naturalistic opponents of biblical revelation to have proceded from Moses, so far as its most essential elements are concerned; and this is, in itself, a simple confession that the Mosaic age is not a dark and mythical one, but falls within the clear light of history. The historical events of these books contain no traces of legendary transmutation, or mythical adornment of the actual facts. Cases of discrepancy, which some critics have adduced as containing proof of this, have been pronounced by others of the same theological school to be quite unfounded."-Keil and Delitzsch. The biblical account of the creation can also vindicate its claim to be true and actual history, in the presence of the doctrines of philosophy, and the established results of natural science. So long, indeed, as philosophy undertakes to construct the universe from general ideas, it will be utterly unable to comprehend the creation. But ideas will never explain the existence of things. Creation is an act of the personal God, not a process of nature, the de |