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.''