Comentario sobre Génesis 17:4

BEHOLD, MY COVENANT IS WITH THEE, AND THOU SHALT BE THE FATHER OF A MULTITUDE OF NATIONS. This refers to the covenant of the circumcision, as He will explain, “This is the sign of the Covenant,⁴⁰¹In Verse 10: This is my covenant. and after the covenant you will be the father of a multitude of nations.”
Blessed be the Lord! By Him alone are actions weighed, for He preceded and commanded Abraham to enter into His covenant to be circumcised before Sarah became pregnant so that his seed would be holy.

אני הנה בריתי אתך, "I am now doing what I had told you, to make the covenant actual."

אני הנה בריתי אתך, just as you have ben certain that when I said to you that I am א-ל שדי that I have the power to change the laws of nature, I am telling you additionally, that you will not only be the founder of one nation, but that you will became the founder of numerous nations. Both Yitzchok, Ishmael, and the sons of Keturah will al become important nations.

אני הנה בריתי אתך, “as far as I am concerned, here is My covenant with you.” The covenant G’d refers to here is the covenant of the circumcision. G’d instructed him to perform the sign of the covenant before Sarah would conceive, so that the baby born from her would also have been conceived in a state of purity and holiness.

אני הנה בריתי אתך, “As for Me, this is My covenant with you.” Nachmanides writes that the mystical meaning of these words is the same as Kings I 5,58 יהי ה' אלוקינו עמנו, “may the Lord our G’d be with us;” or, it is similar to Genesis 28,15 והנה אנכי עמך “and here I am with you.” We also find a similar expression in Exodus 3, 12 where G’d assures Moses כי אהיה עמך, ”for I am going to be with you.” What G’d meant by His words was that this very covenant would be with Avraham and would enable him to become fruitful and to multiply. Subsequently G’d commanded Avraham to observe this covenant by performing the visible sign of it, the rite of circumcision. The constantly recurring sign of the circumcision is the Sabbath. There the Torah (Exodus 31,13) also writes that the Israelites would observe the Sabbath as a sign of the eternal covenant between G’d and the children of Israel. The similarity of the language of the Torah in both instances makes it clear that both ”signs” (the circumcision and Sabbath observance) refer to the same covenant although the Torah delayed mentioning this until Exodus 31,13.

(4-8) sprechen die eine Seite des Bundes aus: das von Gott zu Erwartende; Raw Hirsch on Genesis 17: 9—14 das dagegen von Abraham und seinen Nachkommen zu Leistende. אני הנה וגו׳ Ich, was mich betrifft, von diesem Augenblick beginnt meine absolute Verheißung mit dir zu sein, und die bewirkt, dass du zu einem "Vater des Gewoges der Völker" werdest. Es ist hier schwerlich an die leibliche Abstammung von Abraham zu denken, von dieser ist erst Raw Hirsch on Genesis 17: 6 die Rede. Der Name Abraham, in welchem diese Verheißung festgehalten werden soll, beweist auch, dass אב hier nicht im leiblichen Sinne zu verstehen sei, es würde sonst אבהם lauten müssen und das ר wäre bedeutungslos und störend. אב המון גוים ist vielmehr gleichbedeutend mit אבר .אבר המון גוים ist aber der Fittich, bildlich: die Schwungkraft, davon אְַבִיר; so heißt Gott, der אביר יעקב ,ישאהו על אברתו. So ist Abraham אביר הגוים, er ist der Hebel, der sie zur geistigen und sittlichen Höhe bringt. Ohne Abrahams Geist ist die Masse der Völker: המון, ein auseinander und durcheinander brausendes Gewoge, sie kommen, man weiß nicht woher, sie gehen, man weiß nicht wohin, ihrer Bewegung fehlt jedes Richtmaß und Ziel. Sie sind kein צבא, keine sich um einen einheitlichen Willen zu einem einheitlichen Ziele gruppirende Menge, sondern המון: eine ungeordnete Masse. Abraham bringt ihnen den einheitlichen Geist, wird dadurch ihr geistiger Vater. Möglich, dass auch darum nicht das gewöhnliche אְַבִי המון גוים, sondern אב המון גוים gebraucht ist.

And you shall be the father of many...

The expression המון means "a multiplicity." In order that this will be remembered for all future times, I change your name by the addition of the letter ה, which by being joined to the letter מsymbolizes the word המון.

Nations: For until this point, Abraham had called out the name of God and converted some people, but this was only those people who converted entirely and entered under the category of servants of God in God's Torah that Abraham had taught them. And this is as it is taught in the Gemara Tractate Sanhedrin (99b) and in Avodat Kochavim (page 9) that the meaning of "the souls that they made in Charan" is that he taught them Torah and this is impossible for the whole world. And from the beginning, the only purpose was to "establish the borders of the nations according to the number of the children of Israel."(Devarim 32:8). But it was the desire and the goal that all of the nations should know God. "And the idols would entirely disappear"(Isaiah 2:18) And it was for this thing that God warned Abraham that his desire should be to the depths of his understanding to be a father of many nations, to make them know God. And In this he was called a father of many nations, like a father who establishes his son with correct ideas and by this the previous statement of God is clarified.