Summary of passage: God appeared to Abram when he was 99 and said He was going to confirm His covenant with him. Abram fell face down and God told him he would be the father of many nations. God renamed Abram Abraham, which means father of many. God will make Abraham fruitful and kings will come from him.
This covenant will be between Abraham, God, and all of Abraham’s descendants and God will give Abraham and his descendants Canaan forever and God will be our God.
Questions:
9a) Personal Question. My answer: No. I think it means to be blameless/perfect before God, which we achieve when we repent of our sins and God forgives us. We are then righteous in His eyes through Jesus Christ our Savior and the Holy Spirit.
One commentary said the word blameless here means “whole” so God wanted all of Abram, a total commitment to Him like God was giving to Abram (and to us).
b) Walk before God, which means to know God and who He is.
10a) Abraham will be the father of many nations; he will be fruitful; kings will come from him. God gives Abraham the whole land of Canaan to him and to his descendants and this covenant God makes with Abraham’s descendants as well.
b) Personal Question. My answer: God clarifies by saying in verse 8, “The whole land of Canaan, where you are now an alien, I will give as an everlasting possession…” This would be the land Abram is occupying now and possession is something you hold physically.
c) Forever
Conclusions: I’m not sure what to conclude nor am I sure what to get out of this besides God confirming His covenant YET AGAIN with Abraham. I guess this speaks to man’s unending wavering, self-doubt, low self-esteem, and need for confirmation and affirmation.
Sometimes I just wish God would have created us a bit stronger.
Yet it had been 13 years since God had spoken to Abram so at times he surely must have thought God had forgotten so here God is again giving a powerful reminder with a new name.
I’m still waiting for my reminder…