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And when Abram was ninety years old and nine, the LORD appeared to Abram, and said unto him, I [am] the Almighty God; walk before me, and be thou perfect.

The Lord appeared to Abram. — After thirteen years’ absence and silence, far aught we read; so that Abram began to conclude, that Ishmael surely was the promised seed, and all the sons he was likely to have to inherit the land. The Church then may err, when she cleaves not close to the word; though God at length will direct her into the right way, as here he did Abram.

I am God Almighty. — Or all-sufficient, self-sufficient (so Aquila), Aυταπκης Iκανος . - Aquila. Aνενδεης . - Plato independent, absolute, the original, universal good. Aben-Ezra interprets Shaddai, a conqueror: others, a destroyer, which a conqueror must needs be. Eundem victorem et vastatorem esse oportet , saith Cameron. And to this the Scripture alludes when it saith Shod shall come from Shaddai , "Destruction from the Almighty". Isaiah 13:6 Some there are that derive Shaddai of Shad a dug, because God feeds his children with sufficiency of all good things, as the loving mother doth the child with the milk of her breasts. Hence the heathen called Diana (and likewise Ceres) πολυμαθον and Mammosam, as if she were the nurse of all living creatures. God is the only satisfactory good, proportionable and fitting to our souls, as the dug to the child’s stomach.

Walk before me. — Heb., Indesinenter ambula , Walk constantly, step for step, and keep pace with me. Austin would not, for the gain of a million of worlds, be an athiest for half an hour, because he knew not but God might in that time make an end of him. For "can two walk together and they not agreed?" saith the prophet. Amos 3:3 "Ye cannot serve the Lord," saith Joshua to the people that promised fair, Joshua 24:19 that is, unless ye will serve him entirely, walk uprightly, as Abram here; walk evenly, without halting or halving with him. Holiness must run through the whole life, as the warp doth through the woof: all the parts of our line of life must be straight before God. "As for such as turn aside to their crooked ways, the Lord shall lead them forth with the workers of iniquity," with openly profane persons, when "peace shall be upon Israel," Psalms 125:5 upon all that are "Israelites indeed, in whom there is no guile". John 1:27 Psalms 32:2 Surely, as an unequal pulse shows a distempered body, so doth uneven walking an unsound soul, - such as is not verily persuaded that God is all-sufficient, able, and ready to reward the upright, and punish the hypocrite.

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And I will make my covenant between me and thee, and will multiply thee exceedingly.

And I will make my covenant. — This is now the fifth confirmation of the Covenant; which shows that it is the alpha and omega , the first, second, and third of our salvation; and it is fit we should be well studied in it, and assured of our interest. For as the mercy seat was no larger than the ark, Exodus 25:10-17 so neither is the grace of God than the covenant. And as the ark and mercy seat were never separated; so neither is his mercy from his people.

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And Abram fell on his face: and God talked with him, saying,

And Abram fell on his face. — It was fit he should, now that God talked with him. Such a posture of body befits us at the hearing of the word, as may best express our reverence, and further our attention. Balak is bid to rise up to hear Balaam’s parable. Numbers 23:18 Eglon, though a fat unwieldy man, riseth up from his seat to hear God’s message from Ehud. Judges 3:20 The people in Nehemiah "stood up" Nehemiah 8:5 to hear the law read and expounded. Constantine the Great would not be entreated to sit down or be covered at a sermon: Eusebius. no more would our Edward VI, whose custom was also to take notes of what he heard, which (together with his own applications of the word to himself) he wrote in Greek characters, that his servants might not read them. Act. and Mon. The Thessalonians are commended for this, that they heard Paul’s preaching "as the word of God, and not of man". 1 Thessalonians 2:13 Had Samuel thought it had been God that called to him (and not Eli), he would not have slept, but fallen on his face before the Lord, as Abram here, who was no novice, but knew well that though God loves to be acquainted with men in the walks of their obedience yet he takes state upon him in his ordinances, and will be trembled at in his word and judgments.

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As for me, behold, my covenant [is] with thee, and thou shalt be a father of many nations.

As for me. — Ego ecce . An abrupt speech, to show what haste God made to comfort and confirm Abram, now fallen at his feet.

Thou shalt be a father of many nations. — The Israelites, Ishmaelites, Edomites, Keturites, …, besides all believers. Galatians 3:28-29

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Neither shall thy name any more be called Abram, but thy name shall be Abraham; for a father of many nations have I made thee.

Neither shall thy name any more, … — This is reckoned for a high favour by those holy Levites. Nehemiah 9:7 The Jews say, that for honour’s sake, God inserted one of the letters of his own incommunicable name Jehovah into the name of Abram, now Abraham. Sure it is, that by styling himself "the God of Abraham," he doth him more honour, than if he had engraven the word Abraham upon the firmament, or in the clouds in letters of gold.

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And I will make thee exceeding fruitful, and I will make nations of thee, and kings shall come out of thee.

I will make thee exceeding fruitful. — Heb., Foecundabo te valde valde :and as oft as thou thinkest upon thy new name, thou shalt remember my promise, and rest assured of my performance. See how God, of his grace, condescends unto us, and accommodates us.

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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.

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". Hebrews 13:20 Here it must be considered Dr Preston Of God’s Attributes 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, …, 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" Tα οσια του Dαβιδ Isaiah 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. — See Trapp on " Genesis 17:8 "

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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.

All the land of Canaan, for an everlasting possession. — And yet now, for their inexpiable guilt, in putting to death the Lord of life, they are utterly dispossessed of that pleasant land. In Jerusalem itself there are not to be found a hundred households of Jews. Brerewood. Adrian the emperor drove them utterly out of Judea, and commanded them by proclamation not so much as to look toward it, from any tower or high mountain. Funccius. Yea, long before this, the Lord, for their wickedness, counted them but usurpers, and called them "sojourners in that land." Ezekiel 20:38 ; Ezekiel 11:15 If men forfeit their privileges, God may, at his pleasure, take the forfeiture, and disprivilege them, as he did Saul, and Judas, who "by transgression fell" from his office, "that he might go to his own place". Acts 1:25

I will be their God. — This is a singular comfort for all believing parents. Their greatest care is for their poor little ones, what they shall do another day: why, cast them upon God, their God as well as thine: for is not tie in covenant with them too? It would be a great stay of mind, if God should say to us for our children, as David said to Mephibosheth, or to Barzillai, of his son Chimham, "Chimham shall go over with me, and will I do to him that which shall seem good unto thee; and whatsoever thou shalt require of me, that will I do for, thee," 2 Samuel 19:38 Behold, God saith all this, and more to us, when he saith, "I will be a God to thee, and to thy seed after thee." I remember a sweet passage of Mr Saunders the martyr in a letter to his wife: "Though we do shortly depart hence, and leave our poor infant, to our seeming, at all adventures, yet shall he have our gracious God to be his God: for so hath he said - and he cannot lie; - ‘I will be thy God, and of thy seed.’ Yea, if you leave him in the wilderness, destitute of all helps, being called of God to do his will, either to die for the confession of Christ, or any work of obedience; that God, which heard the cry of the little poor infant of Hagar, and did succour it, will do the like to the children of you, or any other fearing him, and trusting in him." Act. and Mon., fol. 1364

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