Commentary on Genesis John Calvin
COMMENTARY ON GENESIS
32. Thus they made a covenant at Beersheba: then Abimelech rose up, and Phichol the chief captain of his host, and they returned into the land of the Philistines.
32. Percusserunt ergo foedus in Beer-sebah: et surrexit Abimelech, et Phicol princeps exercitus ejus, et reversi sunt in terram Pelisthim.
33. And Abraham planted a grove in Beersheba, and called there on the name of the LORD, the everlasting God.
33. Et plantavit nemus in Beersebah, et invocavit ibi nomen Jehovae Dei saeculi.
34. And Abraham sojourned in the Philistines' land many days.
34. Et habitavit Abraham in terra Pelisthim dies multos.
1. And the Lord visited Sarah. In this chapters not only is the nativity of Isaac related, but because, in his very birth, God has set before us a lively picture of his Church, Moses also gives a particular account of this matter. And first, he says that God visited Sarah, as he had promised. Because all offspring, flows from the kindness of God, as it is in the psalm, 'The fruit of the womb is the gift of God;' (Psalm 127:3;) therefore the Lord is said, not without reason, to visit those, to whom he gives children. For although the foetus seems to be produced naturally, each from its own kind; there is yet no fecundity in animals, except so far as the Lord puts forth his own power, to fulfill what he has said, Increase and multiply. But in the propagation of the human race, his special benediction is conspicuous; and, therefore, the birth of every child is rightly deemed the effect of divine visitation. But Moses, in this place, looks higher, forasmuch as Isaac was born out of the accustomed course of nature.433 Therefore Moses here commends that secret and unwonted power of God, which is superior to the law of nature; and not improperly, since it is of great consequence for us to know that the gratuitous kindness of God reigned, as well in the origin, as in the progress of the Church; and that the sons of God were not otherwise born, than from his mere mercy. And this is the reason why he did not make Abraham a father, till his body was nearly withered. It is also to be noticed, that Moses declares the visitation which he mentions, to be founded upon promise; 'Jehovah visited Sarah, as he had promised.' In these words he annexes the effect to its cause, in order that the special grace of God, of which an example is given in the birth of Isaac, 433Calvin here adds, "Nam communis gignendi ratio, et vis illa quam Dominus hominibus indidit, in Abraham et ejus uxore cessaverat."