Theological Highlights:

1. Progressive Revelation: The covenant unfolds in stages (promise, Ishmael, circumcision, Isaac).

2. Sacramental Sign: Circumcision is not merely physical but a "sign of the covenant," prefiguring Christian regeneration.

3. Faith and Doubt: Hummelauer navigates the tension between Abraham's laughter as doubt (Jerome) vs. joy (Ambrose), concluding with Cajetan's nuanced view: a doubt of sense, not of truth.

4. Penalty of Uncircumcision: Interpreted not necessarily as capital punishment, but as excommunication ("cut off from the people") and loss of covenantal benefits.

5. Isaac vs. Ishmael: The covenant is established specifically through Isaac, though Ishmael is blessed temporally.

Scholarly Method: Hummelauer's commentary reflects the critical Catholic scholarship of his era: rigorous attention to Hebrew etymology, engagement with Jewish sources (Targums, Rabbis), dialogue with patristic and medieval exegetes (Chrysostom, Augustine, Cajetan), and careful distinction between literal and theological senses. This aligns with the exegetical rigor seen in the Knabenbauer text provided in the knowledge base, particularly in the handling of textual variants and patristic testimony. The following was translated by Qwen.

Father Franz von Hummelauer's Commentary on Genesis Chapter 17

The Covenant of Circumcision and the Promise of Isaac

Chapter XVII: Introduction and Summary

Chrysostom notes that in the seventy-fifth year of his age, the first promise was made to Abraham concerning future seed; in the eighty-sixth year, Ishmael was born, who was not to be the son of the promise; in the ninety-ninth year, the promise was repeated and the sign of circumcision granted; finally, in the hundredth year, Isaac was born and the promise fulfilled. This grace, however, was delayed for so long so that Abraham's faith and patience might be exercised and God's power made manifest.

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Verse-by-Verse Commentary

Verse 1

"After he began to be ninety-nine years old, the Lord appeared to him and said: 'I am God Almighty; walk before me and be perfect.'"

"I am God Almighty" (Hebrew: El Shaddai): By this name, God manifested Himself to the patriarchs (Exodus 6:3); we discussed this in the Introduction, pp. 4 sqq.

"Walk before me": That is, as the Targums rightly explain: "Serve before me." For Abraham must walk as a servant in the sight of the Lord. "And be perfect": In that service; be without blemish (Syriac). Cf. 6:9.

Verse 2

"And I will establish my covenant between me and you, and I will multiply you exceedingly."

"Behold the future reward of service." The covenant already sanctioned before, I will bring to execution (Cajetan). Hebrew: "In much, much"—a new and most emphatic expression foretelling the increase of seed. Simultaneously, the promise is confirmed by a twofold sign, and it is demonstrated that Abraham and his belong more intimately to God: namely, by the changing of his and his wife's name, and by the imposition of circumcision (Calmet).

Verse 3

"And Abram fell prone on his face."

Verse 4

"And God said to him: 'Behold, my covenant is with you, and you shall be a father of many nations.'"

Hebrew: "I am"—the voice is placed absolutely, as in verse 9, "your voice" (Cajetan). "Behold my covenant with you." First, He explains what He Himself is about to perform from the covenant; then, what is to be performed by Abraham. "You shall be a father of many nations": A new expression (Hebrew: Hamon Goyim): "You, a multitude of peoples." The same promise as before is inculcated. Nor is it necessary therefore to understand here the sons of Ishmael, Keturah, and Esau, but the elect nation, whether by flesh or by spirit, to be begotten from Abram.

Verse 5

"Nor shall your name be called Abram any more, but you shall be called Abraham."

"Abram" (Avram): "Exalted father" or "Father is exalted." It is the same name as Abiram, and corresponds to the Assyrian Aburamu (cf. Schrader on 3 Kings 16:34). "Abraham" (Avraham): If the matter be weighed according to etymology, it does not seem to be anything other than another, perhaps older, perhaps more Aramaic, pronunciation of the same name (Dillmann). But the matter here is not to be defined according to the canons of etymology; rather, God willed this form of the name to be a memorial of the numerous progeny promised to Abraham. Nor is it necessary, with Delitzsch, to feign some root Raham (multitude). But verses 4 sqq. seem selected because of the rarer word Hamon (multitude)—otherwise Qahal (28:3), Goy (35:11), Am (48:4)—because, with the termination -on removed, it actually expresses the extreme part of the name Abraham. Therefore, according to this least etymological reason: Abraham = Ab Hamon (Father of a Multitude). Cf. p. 395.

Verse 6

"And I will make you grow exceedingly greatly, and I will make you into nations, and kings shall come forth from you."

Nearly the same words as verse 2. Or rather: "Into nations"—the promise is made again more distinct.

Verse 7

"And I will establish my covenant between me and you and your seed after you in their generations, by an everlasting covenant, that I may be your God and the God of your seed after you."

This was the pact: that they should worship Him as God, and God should do good to them; or, which comes to the same, that He Himself should be their God and they His people (Sa).

Verse 8

"And I will give to you and to your seed the land of your sojournings, all the land of Canaan, for an eternal possession, and I will be their God."

Verse 9

"God said again to Abraham: 'And you therefore…'"

"Therefore" is opposed to the voice "I" in verse 4. "…shall keep my covenant, and your seed after you in their generations." Here the pact is understood generally: all that by the observation of which the Israelites will be the people of God, as He Himself will be their God. Generally also understood in verse 10, but immediately the explanation is restricted to one unique head: the external sign, for the revealing of which God manifested Himself to Abraham.

Verse 10

"This is my covenant which you shall observe between me and you and your seed after you: Every male among you shall be circumcised."

There is no reason, with Olshausen, to emend this verse. In covenants celebrated with solemn rite, there is never lacking some perpetual monument consecrated to the eternal memory of the thing. When God made a covenant with Noah, He placed the rainbow as a pledge and monument of the thing. In private covenants, the same monuments were not lacking to perpetuate the memory: Jacob and Laban erected a heap of stones, etc. (Calmet).

Verse 11

"And you shall circumcise the flesh of your foreskin, that it may be for a sign of the covenant between me and you."

Indeed, circumcision was chiefly going to effect this: that the seed of the patriarchs might remain unmingled, whereby the promises might be fulfilled in them (Chrysostom). According to Pererius, circumcision was a sign:

1. Commemorative of the covenant.

2. Representative, namely, a seal of the justice of faith (Romans 4:11).

3. Distinctive of the Jews from the remaining gentiles.

4. Figurative of future regeneration in Christ.

Verse 12

"The infant of eight days… shall be circumcised among you, every male in your generations."

Cf. Leviticus 12:3; Genesis 21:4; Luke 1:59; 2:21; Philippians 3:5. "Then not only Hebrews… but also the bought servant shall be circumcised." That is, both he who was born among them (cf. 14:14) and he who was bought for a price, a servant, and whoever was not of your stock.

Verse 13

"He shall surely be circumcised, he that is born in your house, and he that is bought with your money; and my covenant shall be in your flesh for an everlasting covenant."

The other texts have more than the Vulgate here and connect intimately with the extreme part of verse 12. No uncircumcised person is to be tolerated among the Hebrews, not even a servant.

Verse 14

"The male whose foreskin flesh shall not be circumcised, that soul shall be destroyed out of his people, because he has made void my covenant."

For he has despised the word of the Lord and made His precept void (Numbers 15:31). Hugo rightly perceived that in the expressions "shall be destroyed," etc., there can be a double sense: either he shall be put to death, or he shall be expelled from the people. For what Augustine felt—that the loss of the soul is expressed thereby—is excluded by the fact that such comminations in the Old Testament are legal and concern only temporal things (Bonfrerius). Therefore, many have judged, with Cajetan, that he is to be put to death, and they appeal to Exodus 12:15, 19; Leviticus 7:20, 21, 25, 27; 23:29; Numbers 9:13; 15:30, etc. Against whom it can be said: These texts were not really understood by the Jews as concerning death to be inflicted, except those which had added "he shall surely be put to death" (mot yumath) (Dillmann). Or who will demonstrate that the Jews judged those to be adjudged to supreme punishment who had eaten leavened bread on the days of unleavened bread, or tasted sacrificial meats while polluted, or did not observe the Day of Atonement or the Passover, etc.? Therefore, the opinion of Vatablus is much preferred: That man shall not be a partaker of my promises and benefits, first of all religious (which is clear concerning the uncircumcised), and in the rest it induced a kind of excommunication; then also temporal [benefits], which in the Old Testament were annexed to the observation of the law (Rupert). He shall not be numbered among the peoples of whom I have constituted you father. Moreover, we shall say more concerning this matter in the Commentary on Leviticus.

Verse 15

"God said also to Abraham: 'Sarai your wife you shall not call Sarai, but Sarah.'"

The former sounds "my lady," the latter "lady" absolutely.

Verse 16

"And I will bless her, and of her I will give you a son, whom I will bless, and he shall be into nations, and kings of peoples shall spring from him."

Hebrew, Samaritan, Targums: Have feminine suffixes, so that Sarah is said to be about to obtain the blessing, to be future into nations, to be a begetter. Otherwise, always these same things are predicated concerning Abraham.

Verse 17

"Then Abraham fell upon his face and laughed, saying in his heart: 'Shall a son be born to him that is a hundred years old? and shall Sarah, that is ninety years old, bear?'"

For the first time the promise is extended also to Sarah. Concerning this laughter of Abraham, interpretes have disputed much.

• Jerome (Dial. adv. Pelag. III, 12; Migne 23, 582) certainly argues the man of incredulity.

• Chrysostom (Hom. 6 de Poen.; Migne 49, 313) was of the same opinion, but he no longer defends it in his Homilies.

• Against whom is chiefly cited the text Romans 4:19: "And he was not weak in faith, nor did he consider his own body now dead, when he was almost a hundred years old, and the dead womb of Sarah."

• Advert nevertheless: Even Sarah is praised by the Apostle with similar words (Hebrews 11:11): "By faith also Sara herself, being barren, received strength to conceive seed, even past the time of age, because she believed him faithful who had promised." Nevertheless, Sarah (18:10 sqq.) sinned by incredulity and bore reproof from God. Abraham and Sara deserved the praise of faith even by this: that when they were of such advanced age, they performed the conjugal act by God's authorship, although perhaps before they had admitted some incredulity.

But another reason is adduced: That Sarah was reproved for the laughter, but not Abraham; wherefore Abraham's laughter seems to have been immune from fault.

• Another opinion is Ambrose's: That the laughter existed not as an indication of incredulity, but of exultation; not of one doubting, but ineffably admiring his own happiness (Rupert).

• Therefore, this laughter and the words following were poured forth from some great joy of mind and sum admiration of so great a benefit and novelty, and of a man scarcely containing himself for stupor (Bonfrerius).

• Moreover, the Chaldeans anticipated this explanation, translating "laughed" as "rejoiced"; Psalms Jonathan and Targum Jerusalem translating "admired." For they themselves sensed that this laughter would be turned to the patriarch's fault by some.

• Against this explanation, however, this can be urged: The words of Abraham, verse 17, do not sound of mere admiration or tripping, but certainly some doubt. Which since it is clear of itself, it is confirmed by a twofold reason.

  1. First, to those thoughts of Abraham, God responding in verse 19 insists more on the truth of the prior affirmation according to the Hebrew: "Indeed Sarah shall bear." By which assertion some doubt is suggested to have adhered to Abraham's mind.

  2. Second, 18:12, 14: Sarah expresses doubt indeed with nearly the same words and is reproved for the expressed doubt.

The third opinion is Cajetan's: That there was present in Abraham's mind a doubt concerning the divine eloquence not indeed of truth, but of sense. He seems to have been persuaded that the promised seed was Ishmael himself; concerning progeny to be received from Sarah he does not seem even to have thought. Hearing now the words concerning progeny to be begotten from Sarah, he recollected his and his wife's advanced age, not so that he might deny faith to the divine assertion, but so that he might persuade himself that it ought to be understood not in the obvious sense but in some other still hidden sense. You may say: to this doubt also some incredulity seems to inhere. Let Abraham's faith have been less perfect and alacritous than in some others; yet we are not compelled by the Apostle's words to defend that Abraham exercised most perfect faith continuously in the ninety-ninth year of his life. It suffices to defend that he then exercised signal faith when in that year of life he performed the conjugal act with Sarah (Romans 4:19).

Verse 18

"And he said to God: 'Oh that Ishmael might live before you.'"

Chaldean: "May he remain before you." Since Abraham spoke the words of verse 17 in his heart, by these verse 18 he wishes to express somehow that which he had in mind in verse 17, or certainly enunciates some corollary of it. The words are explained variously according to various opinions concerning verse 17.

• Cajetan: Hence it is clearly plain that he did not hope to have a son from Sarah, and therefore turned himself to supplicate for Ishmael, that he might be accepted, that he might be blessed and multiplied by God.

• Bonfrerius: They are words of one humbling himself and reputing himself unworthy of so great a benefit; as if to say: "I thought myself augmented by a great benefit because I had received Ishmael from a handmaid, and now what I would have dared to hope and ask from you at most was that you grant him life, which I also ask; but now you promise me in addition a son from Sarah, which I never hoped nor dared to ask."

Verse 19

"And God said to Abraham: 'Indeed Sarah your wife shall bear you a son, and you shall call his name Isaac, and I will establish my covenant with him for an everlasting covenant, and to his seed after him.'"

The LXX and Chaldean do not dissonate much from this text. God distinctly repeats that which had made such admiration for Abraham, so that he may perceive the words ought to be understood in the obvious sense. Now He satisfies also his solicitude concerning Ishmael.

Verse 20

"Concerning Ishmael also I have heard you. Behold, I will bless him and increase and multiply him exceedingly; he shall beget twelve chiefs… and I will make him into a great nation."

Although I shall make Ishmael so great, nevertheless my covenant shall not be firm with him but with Isaac (Cajetan).

Verse 21

"But my covenant I will establish with Isaac, whom Sarah shall bear to you at this time in the next year."

Verse 22

"And when he had finished speaking with him, God went up from Abraham."

"Therefore, coming, He had descended," says Delitzsch; hence we can form some idea of those appearances (cf. 35:13). The Vulgate seems to have understood the subject of the prior part of the verse as Abraham, but understand more plainly: God, "when He had ceased to speak with him" (Hebrew).

Verses 23-27: The Fulfillment

"Abraham took Ishmael his son… and circumcised the flesh of their foreskin… Abraham was ninety-nine years old… and Ishmael his son had fulfilled thirteen years… the same day… all the men of his house… were circumcised."

Hebrew: "Bought servants concerning aliens." These things are narrated so accurately because circumcision was a matter of such moment for the posterity of Abraham. Therefore, they are taught that all males were circumcised immediately; the years of age are handed down to memory in which Abraham and Ishmael underwent that rite.

 

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