Genesis 17:1 Commentary and Bible Study

It is now 13 years since Ishmael was born and Abram is 99 years old. During those 13 years we hear nothing of any further appearance of the Lord to him, but now those silent years are going to end. ‘The Lord appeared to Abram and said unto him, I am the Almighty God.’ Note the article, the Almighty God. ‘Walk before me and be thou perfect.’ So God is going to speak to him again and renew the covenant revelation. The cost of error is seen in that long delay. If I am doctrinally conservative and culturally progressive, and I act accordingly, it may be 13 years before God really does anything much for me again. It seems to be a sort of barren period before the covenant is renewed with Abraham. But this time God renews the covenant in even greater words than were given before, ‘I am the Almighty God; walk before me, and be thou perfect.’ The narrative is so superb. It's much more emphatic now, the way God names himself. It's almost as though in this title alone, God is saying, ‘You tried to solve your problem yourself. I am the Almighty God. You have to look to me. I am the only one who can keep my promises. Walk before me and be thou perfect.’ The name of God given to Abram is the LORD in capital letters: that is Yahweh, Jehovah, I am, the self-existent God. That is the whole Godhead. It is not quite the same as the appearance of Christ in the previous chapter, because this is the great and mysterious divine name. We assume that God appeared to Abram here in the form of some overpowering symbol. Some people have suggested dazzling light, a great rainbow of light in a small compass, but whatever that symbol or token was, God not only speaks but he gives Abram some vision over his appearance. He says to Abraham, ‘I am’, and then he gives another name, ‘the Almighty God’, and that is an exact translation, a very good translation. The name which God adopts here is the Almighty God, the one and only Almighty God who can accomplish anything. That is very appropriate because though they wanted the right things – Sarai and Abram – they had underestimated God. They believed in his mighty power, they trusted him, they loved his promise, and they walked with him, but they tried to help him out by recourse to human ideas and the culture around them, and it had produced strife and unhappiness in his own family. So it is not surprising that God’s next special revelation would adopt the name, the one and only Almighty infallible, omnipotent God. They have got to trust him. Abram must learn that God was not weak as he was, and if God delayed in fulfilling his promise, it was not because God was powerless to do anything, neither was it because he had forgotten Abram.Then after that: ‘Walk before me’ – literally, walk before my eyes, walk in my sight – ‘and be thou perfect.’ The word translated ‘perfect’ could be upright or sincere; sincerity is chiefly in mind. God reminds them of his omnipotence, and calls upon Abram and Sarai to walk as people who are conscious they are in his view.