Charles Ellicott Commentary Genesis 17:1

"And when Abram was ninety years old and nine, Jehovah appeared to Abram, and said unto him, I am God Almighty; walk before me, and be thou perfect." — Genesis 17:1 (ASV)

Abram was ninety-nine years old. —Thirteen years, therefore, had passed since the birth of Ishmael, who doubtless during this time had grown very dear to the childless old man, as we gather from the wish expressed in Genesis 17:18.

I am the Almighty God. —Hebrew, El shaddai. The word is archaic, but there is no doubt that it means strong so as to overpower. Besides its use in Genesis, we find it used as the name of the Deity by Balaam (Numbers 24:4; Numbers 24:16), by Naomi (Ruth 1:20), and in the Book of Job, where it occurs thirty-one times. We may thus regard it as “one of the more general worldwide titles of the Most High” (Speaker’s Commentary). In Exodus 6:3 it is said, with evident reference to this place, that El shaddai was the name of God revealed to the patriarchs, but that He was not known to them by His name Jehovah. Here, nevertheless, in a passage said by commentators to be Elohistic, we read that “Jehovah appeared to Abram, and said to him, ‘I am El shaddai.’”

But the very gist of the passage is the identification of Jehovah and El shaddai. The great object of the manifest care with which Moses distinguishes the Divine names seems to be to show that, though Jehovah became the special name of Elohim in His covenant relation to Israel after the Exodus, the name was nevertheless old and primeval (Genesis 4:26). This care also shows that the God of revelation, under various titles, was always one and the same. And so it is now, though we, by following a Jewish superstition, have nearly forfeited the use of the name Jehovah, so greatly prized in ancient times (Genesis 4:1).

Walk before me. —This is the same verb used for Enoch (Genesis 5:22) and Noah (Genesis 6:9), but the preposition before implies less closeness than with. On the other hand, Noah was described as “perfect among his contemporaries” (ibid.), while Abram is still required to strive for this integrity (see Note on Genesis 6:9).