And I will bless them that bless thee, and curse him that curseth thee: and in thee shall all families of the earth be blessed.
3. and I will bless, &c.] The blessing which Abram receives from God is to be a source of good to his friends and of evil to his foes. Observe the delicacy with which the recipients of the blessing are expressed in the plural; but of the curse in the singular (“him that curseth will I curse”). It is assumed that his friends are numerous and his foes few.
curse ] Cf. Gen 27:29, “Cursed be every one that curseth thee.”
in thee shall all the families of the earth, &c.] These words can be understood in two ways, according as the verb is rendered ( a) passively, ( b) reflexively. ( a) “On account of thee the whole world shall be blessed.” In Abram is impersonated a blessing that shall become universal. The directly Messianic application of this rendering is obvious. ( b) “In thy name all the families of the earth will find the true formula of benediction.” The blessing of Abram shall pass into a universal proverb. All will regard it as the best object of human wishes to participate in the happiness of Abram. The rendering would then be, “shall bless themselves.” Cf. Gen 48:20. This rendering is probably supported by Gen 22:18, Gen 26:4; Psa 72:17. Like the alternative rendering, it admits of a Messianic application in the universal recognition of the place of Abram in the Divine scheme of Redemption.
In this passage, the thought which was faintly foreshadowed in the prediction of (1) the conflict between man and the power of evil in Gen 3:15, and of (2) the privilege of the family of Shem in Gen 9:26, becomes more definite in (3) the selection of the patriarchal family as the channel of universal blessing.
4b (P). and Abram was seventy and five years old ] Comparing this statement with Gen 11:26, we gather Abram left Haran when Terah was 145 years old. In Gen 11:32, Terah lived to an age of 205. If so, he lived for 60 years after Abram’s departure. We should, however, naturally infer both from this verse, and from Gen 11:32, that Terah died before Abram left Haran. We must conclude, either, that the text of the figures in Gen 11:32 is erroneous, and should be 145; or, that Abram was born 60 years after Nahor and Haran (Gen 11:26); or, that divergent strata of tradition have been incorporated in the narrative.
The connexion of the ancestry of Israel with the Aramaeans is elsewhere indicated in chap. 24, Gen 28:1 to Gen 32:2, and Deu 26:5.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
Verse 3. In thee] In thy posterity, in the Messiah, who shall spring from thee, shall all families of the earth be blessed; for as he shall take on him human nature from the posterity of Abraham, he shall taste death for every man, his Gospel shall be preached throughout the world, and innumerable blessings be derived on all mankind through his death and intercession.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
Those that are friends or enemies to thee shall be the same to me; a marvellous condescension and privilege.
In thee, i.e. in thy Seed, as it is explained Gen 22:18; 26:4; 28:14, i.e. in and through Christ, Act 3:25; Gal 3:9,16,28-29; or, for thee, as the Chaldee hath it, i.e. for thy sake; or, by thee, i.e. by thy means; or, with thee, by comparing this with Gal 3:8-9, i.e. in the same way and manner in which thou art blessed, that is, by a fruitful faith: compare Rom 4:11-12,16.
All families of the earth, i.e. all nations; which is to be limited to the believers of all nations, by the whole current of the Scriptures. All that shall be blessed shall be blessed by this means, and no other way.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
And I will bless them that bless thee,…. Not the priests only that should bless his children, the children of Israel, as the Targum of Jonathan, but all men of all nations, and of every age, that speak well of him, commend him for his faith and holiness, and tread in his steps, these are blessed with faithful Abraham, Ga 3:7.
And curse him that curseth thee; here is a change of numbers, before the plural, here the singular, denoting, it may be, that many would bless him, and but few curse him, and that every individual person that did curse him should be cursed himself: the Targum of Jonathan wrongly restrains this to Balaam’s cursing Abraham’s children, and was cursed by God; Maimonides y thinks, there is no doubt to be made of it, that the Zabaeans, the idolatrous people Abram was brought up with, when he contradicted them, loaded him with curses and reproaches; and, because he bore them all patiently for the glory of God, as became him, therefore these words are said; but they, without question, respect future as well as present times, and regard all such, in every age and of every nation, that disapproves of, or rejects and reproaches Abram’s God, his faith, his religion, and his people.
And in thee shall all families of the earth be blessed; that is, in his seed, as in Ge 22:18 and which is interpreted of Christ, Ac 3:25 meaning not every individual of all the families or nations of the earth; but that as many as believe in Christ, of all nations, are blessed in him; and that whoever of them are blessed, they are blessed and only blessed in him, and that they are blessed for his sake with all spiritual blessings; see Eph 1:3 such as redemption, justification, remission of sins, sanctification, adoption, and eternal life.
y More Nevochim, ut supra. (par. 3. c. 29. p. 421.)
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
3. And I will bless them that bless thee. Here the extraordinary kindness of God manifests itself, in that he familiarly makes a covenant with Abram, as men are wont to do with their companions and equals. For this is the accustomed form of covenants between kings and others, that they mutually promise to have the same enemies and the same friends. This certainly is an inestimable pledge of special love, that God should so greatly condescend for our sake. For although he here addresses one man only, he elsewhere declares the same affection towards his faithful people. We may therefore infer this general doctrine, that God so embraced us with his favor, that he will bless our friends, and take vengeance on our enemies. We are, moreover, warned by this passage, that however desirous the sons of God may be of peace, they will never want enemies. Certainly, of all persons who ever conducted themselves so peaceably among men as to deserve the esteem of all, Abram might be reckoned among the chief, yet even he was not without enemies; because he had the devil for his adversary, who holds the wicked in his hand, whom he incessantly impels to molest the good. There is then, no reason why the ingratitude of the world should dishearten us, even though many hate us without cause, and, when provoked by no injury, study to do us harm; but let us be content with this single consolation, that God engages on our side in the war. Besides, God exhorts his people to cultivate fidelity and humanity with all good men, and, further, to abstain from all injury. For this is no common inducement to excite us to assist the faithful, that if we discharge any duty towards them, God will repay it; nor ought it less to alarm us, that he denounces war against us, if we hurt any one belonging to him.
In thee shall all families of the earth be blessed. Should any one choose to understand this passage in a restricted sense, as if, by a proverbial mode of speech, they who shall bless their children or their friends, shall be called after the name of Abram, let him enjoy his opinion; for the Hebrew phrase will bear the interpretation, that Abram shall be called a signal example of happiness. But I extend the meaning further; because I suppose the same thing to be promised in this place, which God afterwards repeats more clearly, (Gen 22:18.) And the authority of Paul brings me to this point; who says, that the promise to the seed of Abraham, that is, to Christ, was given four hundred and thirty years before the law, (Gal 3:17.) But the computation of years requires us to understand, that the blessing was promised him in Christ, when he was coming into the land of Canaan. Therefore God (in my judgment) pronounces that all nations should be blessed in his servant Abram because Christ was included in his loins. In this manner, he not only intimates that Abram would be an example, but a cause of blessing; so that there should be an understood antithesis between Adam and Christ. For whereas, from the time of the first man’s alienation from God, we are all born accursed, here a new remedy is offered unto us. Nor is there any thing contrary to this in the assertion, that we must by no means seek a blessing in Abram himself, inasmuch as the expression is used in reference to Christ. Here the Jews petulantly object, and heap together many testimonies of Scripture, from which it appears that to bless or curse in any one, is nothing else than to wish good or evil to another, according to him as a pattern. But their cavil may be set aside without difficulty. I acknowledge, that what they say is often, but not always true. For when it is said, that the tribe of Levi shall bless in the name of God, in Deu 10:8 Isa 65:16, and in similar passages, it is sufficiently evident, that God is declared to be the fountain of all good, in order that Israel may not seek any portion of good elsewhere Seeing, therefore, that the language is ambiguous, let them grant the necessity of choosing this, or the other sense, as may be most suitable to the subject and the occasion. Now Paul assumes it as an axiom which is received among all the pious, and which ought to be taken for granted, that the whole human race is obnoxious to a curse, and therefore that the holy people are blessed only through the grace of the Mediator. Whence he concludes, that the covenant of salvation which God made with Abram, is neither stable nor firm except in Christ. I therefore thus interpret the present place; that God promises to his servant Abram that blessing which shall afterwards flow down to all people. But because this subject will be more amply explained else where, I now only briefly touch upon it.
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary
3. I will bless curse The promise is here expanded Abram, as the man of faith, is to be identified with the divine plan for human redemption; his friends are, therefore, God’s friends, his enemies God’s enemies . Faith makes man one with God; takes up his plans into the divine plan . Thus “all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called [as was Abram] according to his purpose,” who elects, as sons of God, those in whom this faith is foreknown . Rom 8:28-29. The foreknowledge of Abram’s faith was the basis of the great promise, in thee shall all families of the earth be blessed. This promise was conspicuously fulfilled in three modes by Abram. Abram became a channel of the divine law to all mankind. 1) From him came the Hebrew people, who for fifteen centuries preserved the knowledge of the unity, spirit, and holiness of God amidst manifold and abominable idolatries, which saturated all the ancient ceremonies. 2) From him thus came the Bible, God’s book, to the world. 3) And from him came the Messiah, the Incarnate God and Redeemer. This promise is as broad as mankind, as deep and high as human wants and aspirations, as far reaching as immortality itself. Abram believed it, though imperfectly comprehending it; not receiving in his earthly lifetime the thing promised, yet having God’s testimony of acceptance through faith, (Heb 11:39,) God having, in all this preparatory dispensation, provided, (Heb 11:40,) foreseen, and arranged for better things concerning us who enjoy the revelations in full sunshine, whose twilight gleam patriarchs saw afar off. Yet they were made perfect in their love by this distant view; what then must be our responsibility, who have come unto Mount Zion?
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
And I will bless them that bless thee, and curse him that curseth thee: and in thee shall all families of the earth be blessed.
Reader! pause over this precious verse; and when you have duly meditated upon it, ask your own heart, whether it is not fully verified? Act 4:12 ; 2Co 1:20 .–Note, when God eminently blesses any one, it is that he may be a blessing unto others.
Fuente: Hawker’s Poor Man’s Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
Gen 12:3 And I will bless them that bless thee, and curse him that curseth thee: and in thee shall all families of the earth be blessed.
Ver. 3. And I will bless them that bless thee. ] Some there are that will curse those whom God blessed; but nothing so many as they that will rise up and call them blessed. These are expressed here in the plural number; those in the singular only. “For who is he that will harm you, if ye be followers of that which is good?” 1Pe 3:13 But say there be some Balaams that would curse God’s Israel, Num 23:2 or some Esaus that could wish them unblest again; yet God will turn Balaam’s curse into a blessing (which is reckoned as a great favour); and he will tell Esau (if not in his ear, yet in his conscience) that Jacob is blest, “and he shall be blest.” Gen 27:33 If Isaac, drawn aside by natural affection, would go about to reverse the blessing, God will cause him to “tremble very exceedingly,” and so overawe him that he shall not be able to do it. But see here (as in a mirror) the wonderful love of God to his children: so dear they are unto him, that he cannot but love all that love them, and bless those that bless them. They have a powerful speech in Spain, – He that wipes the child’s nose kisseth the mother’s cheek. Surely, as natural parents take the kindnesses and unkindnesses showed to their children as done to themselves, so doth God.
And in thee shall all families, &c.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
thee. To Abraham personally. See note on Gen 50:24.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
And I: Gen 27:29, Exo 23:22, Num 24:9, Mat 25:40, Mat 25:45
in thee: Gen 18:18, Gen 22:18, Gen 26:4, Gen 28:14, Gen 30:27, Gen 30:30, Gen 39:5, Psa 72:17, Act 3:25, Act 3:26, Rom 4:11, 1Co 1:30, Gal 3:8, Gal 3:16, Gal 3:28, Eph 1:3, Col 3:11, Rev 7:9
Reciprocal: Gen 13:16 – General Num 6:27 – and I will Num 22:6 – curse me Deu 32:43 – Rejoice Jos 6:17 – because Psa 67:7 – God Psa 115:12 – the house of Israel Psa 122:6 – they shall Isa 46:10 – the end Isa 49:25 – I will contend Mic 7:20 – General Zec 8:13 – ye shall Zec 14:17 – all Mat 1:1 – the son of Abraham Mat 8:11 – That Mat 11:3 – Art Mat 25:34 – Come Luk 1:55 – General Luk 1:70 – which Luk 1:72 – perform Luk 2:10 – to Luk 24:47 – among Joh 5:46 – for Act 13:32 – how Act 26:6 – the promise Rom 4:13 – For the Rom 9:5 – of whom Gal 3:14 – the blessing Heb 6:15 – General
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
BLESSING RECEIVED AND IMPARTED
And I will bless them that bless thee, and curse him that curseth thee; and in thee shall all families of the earth be blessed.
Gen 12:3
I. A double stream of narrative runs through the first four books of the Pentateuch.One of these may be called the Priestly narrativethe other, the Prophetical narrative. The text sets before us one of the characteristic features of the Prophetical narrativethat consciousness of the ideal destiny of Israel which developed afterwards into the definite hope commonly called Messianic. Unfettered by the political and material limitations of his age, the narrator discerns in dim outline the far-off goal of Israels history, and enables his reader to discern it with him. We have first the familiar Protevangelion of the third chapter, where hope already steps in to alleviate the effects of the Fall. Then comes the blessing given to Shem, and then the promise of our text.
II. What is the source of this conception of the ideal destiny of Israel which dominates so many points of the Old Testament? Israel was the people of Jehovah. They knew that the God of heaven and earth had really become their God, and had separated them to Himself as a peculiar people. Israel is the people of God: here is the fruitful germ of their whole future. The earliest records of the Old Testament are inspired by the consciousness of a noble ideal, which, so far from proving itself an illusion, was more or less completely realised. We may notice some of the more salient aspects of its development: (a) The establishment of the monarchy forms an epoch in Israelitish history. The monarchy created in Israel a sense of unity, and gave a new impulse to national feeling. (b) The great prophets amplify in different directions the thought of Israels ideal future. (c) In the great prophecy of Israels restoration, which occupies the last twenty-seven chapters of Isaiah, we find the nation no longer viewed as an aggregate of isolated members, but grasped as a whole, dramatised as an individual, who stands before us realising in his own person his peoples purposes and aims. In his work as prophet he endures contumely and opposition, and though innocent himself, he sacrifices his life for others. Such is the personality upon whom, in the mind of Isaiah, the future alike of Israel and the world depends. In Christ as King and Christ as Prophet, the Founder and Head of a new social state, the hope of Israel, which but for His advent had been as an illusion or a dream, finds its consummation and its reward.
Rev. Canon Driver.
Illustration
Whoever would be a blessing, must always be thinking more of what he is to receive than what he is to impart. It is the filling of the vessel, and not the pouring out of it, which is the most important part. The water is sure to run, if the vessel is full enough. Therefore it stands first, I will bless thee; and then, Thou shalt be a blessing.
Therefore, whoever would be a blessing must be, as Abraham was, a man of faith, and a man of great prayer. He must live close to God, and separate from the world. He must grapple with God in earnest communion every day. He must go up much to the fountains of things. He must not be contented without taking in the mind of God. He must be a man whose converse is always of the unseen, the eternal, and the real.
And there is no blessing in anything which is not loving. Loving humility, loving intercession, loving faithfulness, loving labours, loving controversies, loving patience, loving self-denial, loving judgments of every man, loving looks, loving hands, loving thoughts. It is love that does the work.
Therefore go about lovingly. Feeling, Oh! how has God loved me; that He ever thought of me! that He ever chose me! that He ever used me! How, at this moment, God is loving that soul to which I am speaking. O God, make me love like Thee! Steep me in love!
If thus you go along the path of life, the words will go to you, Thou shalt be a blessing.
Fuente: Church Pulpit Commentary
Gen 12:3. In thee shall all families of the earth be blessed This promise crowned all the rest; for it pointed at the Messiah, in whom all the promises are yea and amen. Now, with what astonishing exactness has God fulfilled these promises, and yet how unlikely it was, at the time they were made, that they should be fulfilled! Surely we need no other proof that the historian wrote by inspiration of God!