Genesis 17, 5/24/2025

Daily Bible Study

📅 Date

5/24/2025

📖 Passage

Genesis 17

Initial Reading Notes (BibleGateway)

Summary of the Chapter

Genesis 17 is a significant chapter in the Bible where God establishes His covenant with Abram, changing his name to Abraham, which means “father of many nations.” God promises Abraham that he will be the ancestor of a multitude of nations and that kings will come from him. This covenant is everlasting and includes the promise of the land of Canaan to Abraham and his descendants.

God also changes Sarai’s name to Sarah and promises that she will bear a son, Isaac, through whom the covenant will continue. Abraham is instructed to circumcise every male in his household as a sign of the covenant. This act of circumcision becomes a physical mark of the covenant between God and Abraham’s descendants.

The chapter emphasizes the importance of faith and obedience to God’s commands, as Abraham immediately follows God’s instructions regarding circumcision. It also highlights God’s faithfulness in fulfilling His promises, even when they seem impossible from a human perspective.

Footnotes or Alternate Meanings (from BibleGateway)

• In Genesis 17:5, Abram means “exalted father,” while Abraham sounds like a term that means “father of many.”
• In Genesis 17:15, Sarai and Sarah both mean “princess.”
• In Genesis 17:19, Isaac means “he laughs.”

Key Verses That Stood Out

• Genesis 17:23: On that very day Abraham took his son, Ishmael, and every male in his household, including those born there and those he had bought. Then he circumcised them, cutting off their foreskins, just as God had told him.

What I Learned or Observed

Abraham showed obedience to God by doing exactly what He asked on the same day. This is something I want to emulate.

Questions I Have

• Why the change from Sarai to Sarah when both names have the same meaning?

Notes from Warren Wiersbe’s BE Series

Main Themes or Lessons

• Names, particularly those of people in the Bible, are important. They might record something significant about the person’s birth or about a life-changing experience.
• In verse 1, God uses the name El-Shaddai for the first time. He does this because He’s about to tell Abraham that Sarah, who is 90 years old, will have a son, and He wants Abraham to know He’s all-sufficient and all-powerful and nothing is too hard for Him.
• God uses the phrase “my covenant” 9 times in this chapter. It’s not a new covenant, different from the one God already established with Abraham, but a reaffirmation of that one, with the important addition of circumcision to sign and seal it.
• Circumcision was not a means of salvation, as some Jewish people tried to make it later. Instead, it stood for one’s relationship to God. God wants us to “circumcise our hearts” and be completely devoted to Him in love and obedience.
• The name Sarai might have meant to mock or to be contentious, but it could also have been another form of “princess.” We’re not sure. The NLT footnotes say it means “princess.”
• Ishmael’s and Isaac’s births represent two different births. Ishmael represents our first birth after the flesh, and Isaac our second birth through the spirit.
• When God is preparing a bright future for you, don’t cling to the things of the past.

Quotes or Highlights

• “El is the name of God that speaks of power; but what does Shaddai mean? Scholars do not agree. Some say it comes from a Hebrew word meaning “to be strong”; others prefer a word meaning “mountain” or “breast.” Metaphorically, a mountain is a “breast” that rises up from the plain, and certainly a mountain is a symbol of strength. If we combine these several ideas, we might say that El Shaddai is the name of “the all-powerful and all-sufficient God who can do anything and meet any need.””

• “Now when Abraham and Sarah were “as good as dead,” God assured them that He was more than sufficient to bring about the miracle birth. God comes to us in the ways we need Him most.”

• “The secret of a perfect walk before God is a personal worship of God. Like Abraham, every believer must fall before the Lord and yield everything to Him. If He is El Shaddai–“God Almighty”–then who are we to resist His will?”

• “God promised once again to multiply Abraham’s family, even though he and his wife did not have any children. His descendants would be “as the dust of the earth” (13:16) and as the stars of the heavens (15:5). These two comparisons–earth and heaven–suggest that Abraham would have a physical family, the Jews (Matt. 3:9), and a spiritual family made up of all who believe in Jesus Christ (Gal. 3:26-29).”

• “Keep in mind that Abraham’s descendants include not only the Jewish people, but also the Arab world (through Ishmael) and the nations listed in Genesis 25:1-4. All who trust Jesus Christ as Savior are spiritual children of Abraham (Gal. 3:6-9), and that will be a vast multitude (Rev. 7:9).”

• “God’s everlasting covenant also included an everlasting possession: the land of Canaan. This land is a battleground today and always will be until the Lord returns to reign. But as far as God’s covenant is concerned, the land belongs to Israel.”

• “It is important to note that circumcision was not a “sacrament.” The performing of it did not convey spiritual blessing to the recipient. An eight-day-old baby boy (Lev. 12:3) would not even understand what was going on, and when he got older, the ritual would have to be explained to him. It was the obedience of the parents that was important, for if they did not obey God in this matter, their son would be cut off from his people (Gen. 17:14). The covenant people must bear the mark of the covenant.”

• “Romans 4:9-12 makes it clear that the physical operation had nothing to do with Abraham’s eternal salvation. Abraham had believed God and received God’s righteousness before he ever was circumcised (Gen. 15:6). Circumcision was not the means of his salvation but the mark of his separation as a man in covenant relationship with God.”

• “What does all of this mean to Christian believers today? The seal of our salvation is not an external rite but the presence of an internal witness in the person of the Holy Spirit of God (Eph. 1:13; 4:30; Rom. 8:9, 16). We have experienced a “spiritual circumcision” (Col. 2:9-12) that makes us part of the “true circumcision” (Phil. 3:1-3 nasb). When we trusted Christ to save us, the Spirit of God performed “spiritual surgery” that enables us to have victory over the desires of the old nature and the old life. Circumcision removes only a part of the body, but the true “spiritual circumcision” puts off “the body of the sins of the flesh” (Col. 2:11) and deals radically with the sin nature.”

• “This “spiritual circumcision” is accomplished at conversion when the sinner believes in Christ and is baptized by the Spirit into the body of Christ (1 Cor. 12:13). This baptism identifies the believer with Christ in His death, burial, resurrection, and ascension, and also in His circumcision (Col. 2:11-12; Luke 2:21). It is not “the circumcision of Moses” but “the circumcision of Christ” that is important to the Christian believer.”

• “Three different occasions of laughter are associated with Isaac’s birth: Abraham laughed for joy when he heard his wife would give birth to the promised son (Gen. 17:17); Sarah laughed in unbelief when she heard the news (18:9-15); and Sarah laughed for joy when the boy was born (21:6-7). The name Isaac means “he laughs.””

• “Ishmael represented the past, Isaac the future. Ishmael symbolized man’s fleshly way of accomplishing something for God, but Isaac was a miracle baby, born by the power of God. Ishmael brought dissension into the home, but Isaac brought laughter. If you have an “Ishmael” in your life, yield it up to God. God has a perfect plan, and what He plans is the best. It may pain you to give up your cherished dreams, but God’s way is always the right way.”

Reflection Questions & My Answers

1. Do you know the meaning of your name? If so, explain it.
   • No, I don’t know the meaning of my name. I don’t think it was chosen for its meaning, though, but because my mom heard it in a movie and liked it.
2. What is your response to God’s name “El Shaddai”?
   • I feel like this is a fitting name for God. He truly is almighty and all-powerful God. If Shaddai means breast or mountain, that makes sense since mountains are symbols for strength. I’d never thought about the metaphorical way a mountain could be seen as a breast rising up from the earth.
3. Why did God use this name with Abraham at this time?
   • God needed Abraham to understand that He was all-powerful and could do anything, even things that seemed impossible, like giving him and Sarah a child when they were 100 and 90.
4. What was the significance of circumcision?
   • Circumcision was a sign of God’s covenant with Abraham, a way to sign and seal it. It also signified the Jewish peoples’ obedience to God. If they didn’t circumcise a child, he would be cut off from the covenant.
5. What does the Holy Spirit have to do with our “spiritual circumcision” today?
   • The Holy Spirit serves as a witness that our hearts have been circumcised, that we’re completely devoted to God. When we trusted in Christ as our Savior, the Holy Spirit made a change in us that enables us to have victory over our old nature and desires. This is spiritual circumcision.
6. Why did God change Abraham’s and Sarah’s names?
   • The new names for Abraham and Sarah represented their new births through the Spirit, and who they would be in God’s plan.
7. When God is preparing a bright future for you, don’t cling to the things of the past.” What does that mean to you?
   • This really hit home for me. I had some traumatic experiences years ago in high school that I’ve been struggling to move past. I want to, but what I went through caused a lot of fear and anxiety in me, and it causes problems every time I try to move forward in my life. I’ve been seeing a therapist weekly because of it. To me, this means I need to let go of those things and stop letting them cause me fear and anxiety. I need to trust in God and step out in faith, knowing that doing so will make me grow. God is building a bright future for me, but He can only build that future if I’ll reach out and take it.
8. Why didn’t God give Ishmael a new name too?
   • Ishmael represents the flesh, which can’t be changed. He represents the sinful desires of Abraham and Sarah, how they tried to take control, to force God’s plan to happen faster.
9. When a person becomes a Christian, does his old nature go away? Explain.
   • I don’t think the old nature goes away right away, but rather that this is something we have to work on with the help of the Holy Spirit. When we make decisions, we can choose to either let our old natures lead, or to let the Holy Spirit do so. I think as we choose love and the Holy Spirit, that choice becomes easier and we start to change.
10. Do you have an Ishmael that you need to yield to God? If so, explain.
    • Yes. My sisters have been causing a lot of problems in my family, particularly with my mom but also with me. I plan to write letters to them telling them how I feel, but other than that, all I can do is give the situation to God. I’m trying, but I wish I could fix things, as the situation is causing my mom a lot of pain, and it breaks my heart to see her that way.

Word Study

Original Language

• בְּרִית

Meaning

• Covenant

Usage

The word covenant means an agreement between two parties with consequences if they break it. It’s often used for an agreement between God and a group of people, like in Genesis 17, where it’s used for an agreement between God and Abraham and his descendants.

Life Application

How it applies to my life

There was a lot today again about letting go of the past, a theme, along with letting go of fear, that keeps coming up for me. I really need to work on this, and I’m trying. I asked my mom to help me cook something next time we have money, and the kitchen is one of the things that scares me. There was also a lot about total devotion to God and how to be right with Him. I feel like I’m doing well in that area, getting to know Him a lot better since I’ve started studying like this.

Prayer & Personal Response

Prayer Based on Today’s Study

Dear Lord, thank You again for teaching me! I’m sorry I had some trouble with fatigue and wasn’t as focused today, but I still learned a lot! Lord, I’m seeing more and more how important it is that I let go of the past and move forward in my life. Help me to do this! Please help me to let go of the fear I’ve let control me, to step out in faith and to be bolder. You know the things that scare me: traveling independently, using hot appliances in the kitchen, even traveling around our yard because I’m afraid I’ll get lost since I do even in the house. I don’t want to be scared like that anymore! Help me get past that! Thank you for Colorado Christian University. I feel like I’ve learned and grown a lot in the past couple months since starting there. Please help me continue to grow.

Action Step or Commitment

When trying something new or that I’ve had trouble with in the past, if my mind wanders back to the bad experiences I had previously, I can pray for help to get past those, asking God to take the anxiety. I can also use positive self-talk, telling myself this isn’t then, it’s a totally different experience now, and even if it doesn’t go perfectly, it’s not a failure as long as I did my best and learned something from it.