A simple question that will not produce simple answers. What are your thoughts?
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Focus of the Month: Land, Seed, and Blessing in the Abrahamic Covenant
Sorry, I don't have 62 minutes to watch a video. I'll comment based on my understanding and acceptance of what it says in Genesis several times -- not only to Abraham but to his offspring as well -- regarding the Land, Seed and Blessing.
The Land
Genesis 12, NASB
1 Now the LORD said to Abram, "Go forth from your country, And from your relatives And from your father's house, To the land which I will show you; ...
7 The LORD appeared to Abram and said, "To your descendants I will give this land." So he built an altar there to the LORD who had appeared to him.
Genesis 11:31 indicates that Abraham's family was already headed toward Canaan. However, the phrase, "To the land which I will show you; . . ." would seem to indicate that Abraham acted on faith with no knowledge of his destination.
Usually either too much or too little is put into the clause: " ... to the land which I will show you." Too little, if it be assumed that Abram did not even have an idea in what direction toward what land he should go. In 12:5 it is said, "and they set out for the land of Canaan." Besides, according to 11:31 the destination of Terah was Canaan from the first. On the other hand, too much is presupposed if it be assumed that Abram actually knew that Canaan was to be his ultimate destination. The compromise position in this case, then, would be that Abram well knew that he should first bend his steps toward Canaan. But the land that God intended to show him was yet to be revealed. In other words, only after Abram had actually arrived in Canaan did God also reveal to him that Canaan was the land where he was to take up his dwelling permanently.
So Abraham headed toward Canaan, but did not know it was his destination. When Abraham arrived in Canaan and traveled to Shechem, God appeared to Abraham and confirmed the covenant. God told Abraham that, " ... to your descendants I will give this land." The generous character of the promise should be duly noted. Abram had merely been bidden to go to a land that God would show him. There was in that word no intimation that Abram's seed would inherit that land. So God is seen actually to give more than He promised. This is how God keeps His word, giving more often than not greater than what He promises. It is to be unequivocally understood, therefore, that the promise of a land is extended to Abraham and his descendants.
The Seed
Genesis 12
2 And I will make you a great nation, And I will bless you, And make your name great; And so you shall be a blessing; ...
God next promises Abraham, "And I will make you a great nation ... " The Hebrew for "a great nation" is
legoy gadol. The term is significantly
goy, not
'am "people." For the important distinction between the two, one must understand that
goy requires a territorial base, since the concept is political in nature. So, following the promise of a land, God promises to make Abraham into a "great nation" that will dwell in that land. Thus, the territorial reference.
A promise of descendants also follows logically from Gen. 12:7 where Abraham is told that his descendants will inherit the land of Canaan. This promise requires that many descendants come from Abraham and all this at a time when he had no son. There are three ways in which the phrase "seed of Abraham" is used in Scripture.
First, there is the natural lineage, or natural seed. This is limited largely to the descendants of Jacob in the twelve tribes. The land of Israel in the Old Testament is given specifically to them. Second, there is the spiritual lineage within the natural, and Paul states emphatically what, or rather, who, that seed truly is.
Galatians 3
16 Now the promises were spoken to Abraham and to his seed. He does not say, "And to seeds," as referring to many, but rather to one, "And to your seed," that is, Christ.
Third, there is the spiritual seed of Abraham who are not natural Israelites. Here is where the promise to "all the families of the earth" comes in. In other words, the children of Abraham (spiritually) who come from the "heathen" or the Gentiles fulfill that aspect of the Abrahamic covenant which dealt with Gentiles in the first place, not the promises pertaining to Israel, which remain to be fulfilled completely.
Those "spiritual seeds" must "descend" from The Seed -- Christ. In other words, they must have faith in Christ to the extent that they receive the promise of Seed and Blessing just as did Abraham. The patriarch is also given a personal promise that relates to the seed promise, "I will . . . make your name great." The Hebrew word for "make . . . great" is
'egadlah which is a Piel imperfect of
gadal -- "to make great." Since the Piel indicates intensive action, this could be translated, "I will thoroughly make [your name] great . . ." Indeed, today Abraham is recognized and honored as a "father" by Christians, Jews, and Muslims. God chose Abram and his descendants to bear His Gospel to the world. From the line of Abram, Christ was to come, to fulfill God's purposes, though those of Islam are disqualified because they claim their "inheritance" through Ishmail. Though he received an inheritance, and his own promise, neither are
this inheritance or
this promise.
The blessing
Genesis 12
2 And I will make you a great nation, And I will bless you, And make your name great; And so you shall be a blessing;
3 And I will bless those who bless you, And the one who curses you I will curse. And in you all the families of the earth will be blessed."
It is obvious from even a cursory examination of this passage that blessing is a major component of the Abrahamic covenant. Blessing dominates two thirds of this passage. Surely the allotted space indicates what is important to God.
The promise of blessing in Genesis 12:2-3 is progressively expanded. First, God promises, "I will bless you. . . ." Then, Abraham is told that, "you shall be a blessing. . . ." God then promises to bless those blessing Abraham and curse those who curse him. Finally, Abraham is told that, "in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed." God moves from blessing Abraham to using him as a channel of blessing to the entire world.
God's promise, "I will bless you . . ." is
'avarekeka which is the Piel imperfect of barak -- "to bless." Since the Piel indicates intensive action, this has the meaning of "I will thoroughly bless you." That Abraham was abundantly blessed, that he did, indeed -- despite, rather than because of, his own efforts -- become the father of a great nation, as well as many others, is indisputable. That leaves only the land -- though given by God, never thoroughly occupied by ancient Israel and not occupied fully to this day -- to pass to the remnant faithful of that nation, in order to fulfill that unrealized promise of God.
