NOTES for Gen 17:1-27

When people speak about a covenant with God, the person or people entering such a covenant almost always face the question: what is this covenant? What is its essence and meaning?

Some results, fruits, something visible and tangible are expected, something that will say: yes, God is truly in covenant with me, or with us. In Abraham's case, it was a matter of land, although Abraham himself would not possess it, but his descendants would. Yet something more important is also said. God tells Abraham: the chief result of the covenant being made is Myself.

Many of us today would be disappointed by such an answer, because it would mean that we must fulfill our religious duties without receiving anything in return. Abraham, on the contrary, rejoiced, because even earlier God had called Himself by the name El Shaddai, which means "God of power." This was the power that lies at the foundation of the universe; whoever possesses it possesses the world. It is no surprise that when God promised Abraham that He Himself would be the foundation of the covenant, Abraham rejoiced. For him, this was not about rites and rituals, but about the real presence in his life of God, to whom the whole world is subject.

Every true covenant with God can only be like this. God can, of course, confirm the relationship by giving something as a sign of His complete trust to the person or people with whom the covenant has been made. But the basis of the covenant, its chief meaning, remains the relationship itself. Any gifts are only a consequence; in this sense, a person's relationship with God is like relationships between people. What would a gift be without a relationship? An offering or a bribe, and nothing more.

With God, of course, this is impossible. Nothing can be brought to Him, and nothing can be received from Him, if a person or a people are not bound to Him by deep and trusting relationships. But if such relationships exist, the one who has entered the covenant shares in that power of God which governs the world. The power of God, the breath of God, is the chief gift, because it opens to a person the main thing God can give: His Kingdom.

Of the several meetings between Abraham and God mentioned in Genesis, only two are described in detail. The second of them is about Abraham and Sarah receiving new names, and about God beginning to act: it is during this second meeting that He tells Abraham that a son will be born to him in a year. God finally enters directly into his life and into the life of his family. The birth of a son is understandable, since it had been promised to Abraham earlier. But what does the change of name mean? In antiquity such a change, if not always, then very often had a dedicatory, initiatory meaning. The same is true of circumcision, mentioned here as well in the story of the second theophany to Abraham described in detail in Genesis.

Many biblical scholars think that the account of circumcision is a late insertion into the text, the result of an ancient tradition, once written down, passing through the hands of editors from a priestly milieu. Some concepts characteristic of that milieu can indeed be found in the description of the second theophany, but still the account of circumcision, even if it was added to the ancient tradition later, proved surprisingly appropriate: circumcision really had been an initiatory rite from very early times. At first these were age-related initiations, and later religious ones as well. Most of all, circumcision in Abraham's time was indeed understood by him and by his tribesmen as a sign of a kind of dedication to God.

Circumcision alone was not enough. A change of name presupposes that the person himself changes, that he becomes different, new, while the former, old person disappears and gives way to the new. And it is no accident that God calls Himself by the name El Shaddai, "God of strength" (usually this name is translated so that El Shaddai becomes "God Almighty"). The point is the strength that all people in antiquity revered, because the world is upheld by it and without it no life, and no existence at all, is possible.

Gods, spirits, and human beings could be bearers of this strength, but not its source. When Abraham's God calls Himself El Shaddai, God of strength, He is speaking precisely of this. He points to Himself as the source of the strength by which the world is upheld. It is the strength that changes Abraham and Sarah themselves, making them different people who bear new names. This is spiritual formation: it is impossible without inward change, and also without a meeting with God.

What is the meaning of the union-covenant God made with Abraham? Of course, when answering this question, we usually immediately remember the promises God gave Abraham about the future of his tribe, which was to grow, become a people, and create its own state in the land through which Abraham had to wander. But is that the main thing? When Abraham meets God, he hears astonishing words: I am my covenant with you, God says to Abraham. Not the promised land, not the Torah, not the commandments, but God Himself becomes the pledge of the covenant that has been made.

And this is not surprising, because everything else depends on Him and is determined by Him. A covenant is, above all, a relationship, and no promises can guarantee relationships, even promises fulfilled to the end. Receiving the land and creating a state do not ensure closeness with God; they can be a consequence, but not a cause. Even the Torah, the commandments that centuries later would be given to the people through Moses, guarantee nothing by themselves. After all, the Torah too can be emptied out, reduced to formalism and legalism that brings no one closer to God and does not foster a living relationship with Him. Only God Himself can guarantee that the union-covenant between Him and His people will remain unshakable.

Of course, much also depends here on the people themselves, since a covenant involves at least two parties. But if anyone can repair what appears beyond repair, restore relationships that seem irretrievably destroyed, it is only the One who initiated the union-covenant. And in this is hope. Hope for the Kingdom, for the Messiah, and for salvation.