Genesis 17:1

And when Abram was ninety years old and nine. Thirteen years had elapsed since the birth of Ishmael (ch. 16:16) before God again revealed Himself to Abram. During the previous 11 years God had appeared to him at least 4 times (see chs. 12:1, 7; 13:14; 15:1). The long delay on the part of God to appear again to Abram was probably not without purpose. It was perhaps intended as a remedial penalty for Abram’s impatience in not waiting for God to work things out in His own good time and way.

I am the Almighty God. This name of God, ’El-Shaddai, is found only in the books of Genesis and Job, 6 times in the former and 31 times in the latter. This is one of many indications that the author of both books was one and the same person. The origin and meaning of the word Shaddai are uncertain, but the KJV translation, “almighty,” is in all probability the most nearly correct one (Isa. 13:6; Joel 1:15). This name was well chosen in view of the new promise God was about to make to Abram. Twenty-four years had passed since his entry into the land of Canaan (see Gen. 12:4). During the first ten years God had repeatedly promised Abram a child, until he took things into his own hands, married Hagar, and begot Ishmael. Since Ishmael’s birth there is no record of any further divine revelations having been received, and Abram seems to have thought that Ishmael was the fulfillment of God’s promises (see vs. 17, 18). Ready now to renew His promise to Abram, God found him somewhat skeptical. For this reason God introduced Himself as “the Almighty God,” for whom nothing, however difficult it might appear to men, would be impossible.

Walk before me. For 13 years Abram had not fully walked “before” God; hence the command to do so. Abram was to walk as if in God’s very presence, conscious of divine inspection and solicitous for His approval — not behind Him, as if sensible of his shortcomings and desirous of avoiding observation. There is a marked difference between the expression used to designate Enoch’s (ch. 5:24) and Noah’s (ch. 6:9) lives, and this command. Of the two earlier patriarchs it was said that they walked “with God,” while Abram is asked to walk “before” Him. This suggests a less-complete degree of fellowship, and may have implied God’s displeasure with Abram’s lack of faith in marrying Hagar.

Be thou perfect. Just as righteousness received in faith (justification) was necessary to the establishment of the covenant, so a blameless walk before God (sanctification) was necessary to its maintenance. This exhortation may perhaps have been a veiled reference to the fact that Abram’s past life had not been entirely blameless. God wished Abram to understand that the ultimate realization of the divine promise required him to measure up more completely to God’s exalted standard of purity and holiness (see Matt. 5:8, 48). Abram was called to a higher experience than he had known heretofore.