As it is written I have made thee a father of many
nations,
&c.] The passage referred to, is in ( Genesis 17:4
Genesis
17:5 ) ; which proves him to be a father not of the Jews
only, since they cannot be called "many nations", but of the
Gentiles also; and which must be understood in a spiritual sense,
for Abraham was the father of them,
before him whom he believed, [even] God;
that is, he was so, either in the sight of God, who sees not as
man sees; in his account, he was the father of many nations, long
before he really in fact was; or "over against" or "like unto
him", as the word may signify: as God was the Father of many
nations, so was Abraham, though not in such a sense as he is; and
as God is the Father of us all that believe, so was Abraham;
there is some little likeness and resemblance in this between
them, though not sameness. The object of his faith is described
as he,
who quickeneth the dead:
meaning either the dead body of Abraham and Sarah's womb; or
Isaac, who was given up for dead; or the Gentiles, who were dead
in trespasses and sins; or rather the dead bodies of men at the
last day, a work which none but the almighty God can effect; the
consideration of which is sufficient to engage faith in the
promises of God, and a dependence on him for the fulfilment or
them: and who stands further described as he, who
calleth those things which be not, as though they
were;
so he called Abraham the father of many nations, when he was not
in fact, as if he really was; and the Gentiles his seed and
offspring, before they were; and when he comes effectually to
call them by his grace, they are represented as "things which are
not", whom he called, "to bring to nought things that are", (
1
Corinthians 1:28 ) ; they were not his people, nor his
children, and he called them so, and by his grace made them so,
and made them appear to be so; for as in creation so in
regeneration, God calls and brings that into being which before
was not: and the phrase seems to be an allusion to the creation
of all things out of nothing; and it is a Rabbinical one, for so
the Jews speaking of the creation say F19
``(Nya la arwq) , "he calls to that which is not", and it is excluded; (i.e. all things are excluded out of it, as a chicken out of an egg;) and to that which is, and it is established, and to the world, and it is stretched out.''
F19 R. Solomon ben Gabirol in Cether Malcuth apud L. Capell. in loc.