6 And God spake on this wise, That his seed should sojourn in a strange land; and that they should bring them into bondage, and entreat them evil four hundred years. 7 And the nation to whom they shall be in bondage will I judge, said God: and after that shall they come forth, and serve me in this place. 8 And he gave him the covenant of circumcision: and so Abraham begat Isaac, and circumcised him the eighth day; and Isaac begat Jacob; and Jacob begat the twelve patriarchs. (Acts 7:6-8 KJV)
William Burkitt’s Commentary
Observe here, The great trial which God put Abraham’s faith unto; The Lord promised to give him the land of Canaan for a possession, but he gave him not a foot’s breadth: He promised to give it unto his seed , when as yet he had no child; and when God gave him seed, yet they were to sojourn in a strange land, Egypt; and continue there in bondage four hundred years.
Learn hence, That there is no grace which God delights more to exercise and try, than the faith of his people; as faith put honour upon God, so doth God put honour upon faith; and faith never honours God more, nor is more highly honoured by him, than when it is put upon the greatest exercise and trial; That the trial of your faith being much more precious than of gold that perisheth, might be found unto praise, and honour, and glory. 1Pe 1:7
Here the apostle compares faith unto, and prefers it before gold, even the most precious gold purified in the fire. Is gold precious and rare? So is faith. Is gold pure and resplendent? So is faith. Is gold lasting and durable? So is faith. Is gold purified and improved by trying in the fire? So is faith by exercise; as the instance of Abraham here fully proves.
Observe, 2. How God takes Abraham and his seed into covenant with him, and gives him circumcision, the seal of the covenant.
Thence learn, That in the covenant which God made with Abraham, he gave himself to be a God to Abraham and to his seed, and received Abraham and his seed to be a people unto himself.
2. That circumcision was both the sign and the seal of the covenant which God made with Abraham.
1. Circumcision was a sign, and that in several respects:
It was a commemorative sign of God’s covenant with Abraham;
it was a representative sign of Abraham’s faith and obedience towards God.
A demonstrative sign of original sin, and the depravity of human nature.
A discriminating and distinguishing sign of the true church, and people of God, from all the rest of the world.
An initiating sign, by which all strangers were admitted into the Jewish church.
And, lastly, It was a prefigurative sign of baptism, which succeeded in the room of not only a sign, but a seal also: He received the sign of circumcision, the seal of the righteousness by faith Ro 4:11.
It was a seal on God’s part, to confirm all the promises made to Abraham and his seed:
And it was a seal on his and their part, to blind him to renounce the service of all other gods, and to oblige them to the observation of the whole Jewish law.