And I will make of thee a great nation, and I will bless thee, and make thy name great; and thou shalt be a blessing:
2. The promise, (1) of national greatness, (2) of personal privilege, embraces a double relation, to the world and to the individual.
a great nation ] This thought stands in the forefront. The personal aspect of the promise made to Abram is from the first merged in the thought of its historic influence throughout the ages.
I will bless thee ] The experience of happiness in the personal relation to Jehovah is to be the pledge of the ultimate fulfilment of blessing to the world.
make thy name great ] Contrast Gen 11:4. The blessing of Abram, in its spiritual influence upon the world, will be of more enduring renown than any of the material forces of the world.
be thou a blessing ] i.e. one who impersonates true felicity; cf. Zec 8:13. Not a source, but a type, of blessing, to be pronounced upon others. The imperative expresses a consequence which is intended (Gesenius, Heb. Gr. 110. 1) = “so that thou shalt be a blessing.” By a slight alteration of the pointing, Giesebrecht reads “and it (the name) shall be a blessing.” For the “curse” of the primaeval age (Gen 3:13, Gen 4:11, Gen 5:29, Gen 9:25 (J)) is substituted the “blessing” of the Chosen Family.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
Verse 2. I will make of thee a great nation] i.e., The Jewish people; and make thy name great, alluding to the change of his name from Abram, a high father, to Abraham, the father of a multitude.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
I will bless thee with all my blessings, spiritual, temporal, and eternal; (see Deu 7:13; 28:2, &c.; Eph 1:3)
and thou shalt be, both a pattern and instrument of blessedness to others; to thy posterity, who shall be blessed for thy sake; to thy servants and friends, who shall be blessed by thy instruction and help; and to all the world, as it follows.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
And I will make of thee a great nation,…. In a literal sense, as the people of the Jews were that descended from him, and in a spiritual sense believers in all ages and of all nations, that walk in the steps of the faith of Abram, who are his children, and are blessed with him:
and I will bless thee; not only with temporal blessings, but principally with spiritual ones, since Abram in person had no share of the land of Canaan; even with the adoption of children and friendship with God; with justification by the imputed righteousness of Christ, which blessedness came upon him when uncircumcised; with a large measure of faith, and every other grace; with the sanctification of the Spirit, and an increase of it until brought to perfection; and with eternal glory and happiness, a right, title, and meetness for it, and the full possession of it:
and make thy name great; as it was among the Jews his descendants, who boasted of having Abram for their father; and among the several nations of the world; his name is famous in profane history, and is in high esteem with the Mahometans to this day; and especially his name is great and famous, and the memory of him precious among all those who have obtained like precious faith with him, in every age and in every nation:
and thou shall be a blessing; to all that knew him and conversed with him, they receiving spiritual light and knowledge by means of his instruction, and to all that should hear and read of his faith and piety, being encouraged by his example: or, “shall be blessing”; blessing itself, that is, most blessed, exceedingly blessed; as a very wicked man may be called wickedness itself; as “scelus” for “scelestus” with the Latins; so a good man may be called blessing itself, extremely happy.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
2. And I will make of thee a great nation. Hitherto Moses has related what Abram had been commanded to do; now he annexes the promise of God to the command; and that for no light cause. For as we are slothful to obey, the Lord would command in vain, unless we are animated by a superadded confidence in his grace and benediction. Although I have before alluded to this, in the history of Noah, it will not be useless to inculcate it again, for the passage itself requires something to be said; and the repetition of a doctrine of such great moment ought not to seem superfluous. For it is certain that faith cannot stand, unless it be founded on the promises of God. But faith alone produces obedience. Therefore in order that our minds may be disposed to follow God, it is not sufficient for him simply to command what he pleases, unless he also promises his blessing. We must mark the promise, that Abram, whose wife was still barren, should become a great nation. This promise might have been very efficacious, if God, by the actual state of things, had afforded ground of hope respecting its fulfillment; but now, seeing thatthe barrenness of his wife threatened him with perpetual privation of offspring, the bare promise itself would have been cold, if Abram had not wholly depended upon the word of God; wherefore, though he perceives the sterility of his wife, he yet apprehends, by hope, that great nation which is promised by the word of God. And Isaiah greatly extols this act of favor, that God, by his blessing, increased his servant Abram whom he found alone and solitary to so great a nations (Isa 2:2.) The noun גוי ( goi,) “my nation,” (Gen 12:4,) though detestable to the Jews, (341) is in this place, and in many others, taken as a term of honor. And it is here used emphatically, to show that he should not only have posterity from his own seed in great number, but a peculiar people, separated from others, who should be called by his own name.
I will bless thee. This is partly added, to explain the preceding sentence. For, lest Abram should despair, God offers his own blessing, which was able to effect more in the way of miracle, than is seen to be effected, in other cases, by natural means. The benediction, however, here pronounced, extends farther than to offspring; and implies, that he should have a prosperous and joyous issue of all his affairs; as appears from the succeeding context, “And will make thy name great, and thou shalt be a blessing.” For such happiness is promised him, as shall fill all men everywhere with admiration, so that they shall introduce the name of Abram, as an example, into their formularies of pronouncing benediction. Others use the term in the sense of augmentation, ‘Thou shalt be a blessing,’ that is, ‘All shall bless thee.’ But the former sense is the more suitable. Some also expound it actively, as if it had been said, ‘My grace shall not reside in thee, so that thou alone mayest enjoy it, but it shall flow far unto all nations. I therefore now so deposit it with thee, that it may overflow into all the world.’ But God does not yet proceed to that communication, as I shall show presently.
(341) The dislike which the Jews have to this word arises from the fact that they confine its application to heathens, barbarians, and Christians, in short, to all who are not of Israel according to the flesh. They are not, however, warranted by Scripture in so doing, as Calvin rightly argues. — Ed.
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary
(2, 3) Thou shalt be a blessing.More correctly, Be thou a blessing. The promises made to Abram are partly personal and partly universal, embracing the whole world. In return for all that he abandons he is to become the founder of a powerful nation, who will honour his name, and teach the inheritors of their spiritual privileges to share in their veneration for him. But in the command to be or become a blessing, we reach a higher level, and it is the glory of Abrams faith that it was not selfish, and in return for his consenting to lead the life of a stranger, he was to be the means of procuring religious privileges, not only for his own descendants, but also for all families of the earth (Heb., of the groundthe admh). Not for the earth as the material universe, but solely in its connection with man. Wherever man makes his home upon it, there, through Abram, spiritual blessings will be offered him.
I will bless . . . These words indicate relations mysteriously close between Jehovah and Abram, whereby the friends and enemies of the one become so equally to the other. But in the second clause our version has not noticed an essential difference between the verbs used. They occur together again in Exo. 22:28, and are there more correctly rendered by revile and curse. The one word signifies to treat lightly and contemptuously, the other to pronounce a curse, usually in a judicial manner. We might, therefore, translate, I will cursepass a sentence of rejection uponhim that speaketh lightly of, or revileth thee.
In thee shall all families of the earth be blessed.Some authorities translate, shall bless themselves; but there is a different conjugation to express this meaning, and no reason exists for forcing it upon the text. Henceforward Abram and the nation sprung from him were to be the intermediaries between God and mankind, and accordingly revelation was virtually confined to them. But though the knowledge of Gods will was to be given through them, it was for the benefit of all the families of every race and kindred distributed throughout the habitable world, the admh (Rom. 3:29; Rom. 10:12, &c).
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
2. I will make of thee a great nation Great promises correspond with the great sacrifices commanded . 1) He left his nation, but should himself be the founder of a great nation. 2) He sacrificed kindred, but should be blessed with a spiritual kinship, as yet by him unimagined and inconceivable, but hailed afar off by faith. Heb 11:13. 3) He broke away from ancestral ties, but his own name should be illustrious as father of the faithful, ancestor of the Hebrew people, and of the world’s Messiah. 4) Most glorious of all,
Thou shalt be a blessing Hebrews, Be thou a blessing. “It is more blessed to give than to receive;” and, like the great Antitype, Abram’s highest glory was in being a fount of blessing to all mankind. He should be famous, not for what he took from men, but for what he gave to men; not like Sesostris, Caesar, Alexander, for the victories of the sword, but for the grander victories of truth and love.
Abram signifies “the lofty Father,” and to-day Christians, Mohammedans, and Jews contend with each other in the veneration which they show for Abram as a father. Alexander Severus, the Roman emperor, built a chapel in his palace in which all the great religions of the earth were honored; and it is related that the statues of Abram and Zoroaster stood there with those of Orpheus and of Christ. Probably no human name is to-day so widely honored as that of the “father of the faithful.”
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Gen 12:2-3. I will make of thee a great nation, &c. In these two verses the twofold covenant, or promise, is comprised. See note on ch. Gen 9:9. 1st, The temporal one, in which God promises to make of Abram a great nation, “to multiply his posterity, and to render them famous; and by that means to make his name great, and himself both blessed and a blessing to others:” particulars, which have been eminently fulfilled, as in others of Abram’s descendants, so peculiarly in the Israelites; while he was himself peculiarly prosperous. His name has been, and is famous throughout the world, among Jews and Gentiles, among Christians and Mahometans. Nay, God promises to espouse his interest, and enters, as it were, into a league with him, to have the same common friends and enemies, I will bless them that bless thee, &c. Hence, Abram has that high and honourable title, the Friend of God, Isa 8:2 nd, But farther still, as to the spiritual covenant, God promises, that in him, not only his immediate descendant, and posterity, but all families of the earth shall be blessed; which the apostle, Gal 3:16 has referred to Christ, in whom alone indeed it can be fulfilled, and in whom it is eminently fulfilled. “This part of the promise,” says Bishop Warburton, “is remarkable, as containing the proper end of God’s choice and separation of him and his posterity, and so is very fitly made, by the sacred writer, the foundation of the history of God’s dispensations to him, and a mark to direct the reader to what they are all ultimately to be referred.”
Thus was Abram required and encouraged to cast himself wholly upon God’s providence, by removing, at God’s command, from his country and kindred, to an unknown, distant land, which God would shew him, assuring him of his presence and special blessing. Thus the Lord took him under his immediate care and protection. In this strange land he wandered about as long as he lived, but God was with him every where; God appeared to him and conversed with him, frequently and familiarly; by extraordinary interpositions and express declarations, from time to time, encouraging, directing, prospering, and guarding him. He became very rich, great, and honourable; but all was most visibly the gift and operation of God! What could be more engaging than all these circumstances! What more proper to excite in a man duty, affection, and confidence towards the Almighty!
REFLECTIONS.Observe, God appeared unto Abram in Ur of the Chaldees, and warned him out of that land. In obedience to the heavenly vision, he had come as far as Charran or Haran, where his father died, and now he must proceed on his journey. Though not knowing whither he went, he followed God, and then he knew he was safe. Note; God will not suffer his people to take up their rest any where short of heaven: if they are making a home of the house of their pilgrimage, he will warn them to remove. We have here,
1. God’s command to Abram; and a trying one it was: to leave his country, to part with his dearest friends, and to follow God, without so much as asking him whither he would lead him: but it was a matter become highly necessary. He dwelt in an idolatrous house; it was time for him to fly, lest he should be infected with their sins. Now must he prove his faith in, and love of God, by an implicit obedience, and a cheerful forsaking all to follow God. Behold, in the conduct of Abram, the duty of every faithful soul. (1.) To give himself entirely to be guided by the word of God. (2.) To renounce his dearest relations, and to become strange to his own house, when the glory of the Redeemer requires it. (3.) To part with the world always in affection, and to live in it with a disposition to leave it, or lose it cheerfully, whenever God calls. (4.) To forsake the ways of sin, and the companions in sin, and to have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness. (5.) To make no hesitation about the consequences, but to leave them in God’s hands.
2. God’s promise to encourage him. He requires nothing from him, but he will amply repay him for it: but for this he must be trusted. Accordingly, here is every imaginable blessing set before Abram. (1.) He should become a great nation. (2.) God would make his name great: though he was a stranger and unknown, his fame should rise above the kings of the earth. (3.) He should be a blessing to all around him; and the latest ages should call him blessed, and be the better for him. (4.) God would bless his friends and curse his enemies; so that the Lord would, as it were, share his weal and woe with him, and be his portion and shield. And, (5.) Above all, from him should the Messiah come, to bless all nations.
Note; 1. The heirs of Abram’s faith shall inherit his blessing. (1.) They shall be great, made kings unto God. (2.) Their name shall be written in the Lamb’s book of life. (3.) God will be the friend of their friends, and the enemy of their enemies. The enemies of the people of God little think against whom they sport themselves. (4.) He will make them blessed in Jesus to all eternity, and sharers with Abram in the Canaan of everlasting rest. 2. The salvation of the gospel is a common salvation for all families and all nations; God excludes none, who do not exclude themselves: whoever will, let him come. 3. When we reckon up our losses and gains for God, we shall find the one nothing, and less than nothing, and vanity: the other, a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory.
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
And I will make of thee a great nation, and I will bless thee, and make thy name great; and thou shalt be a blessing:
How eminently was this fulfilled in Abram’s history. First, according to nature in the flesh, in the children of Ishmael. See Gen_16:10; Gen_17:20 . Secondly, according to promise. Here Abram. was greater still in the issue of Isaac, Jacob, and the Patriarchs. Num 22:10 . And Thirdly, and above all, in his spiritual seed, in which all the followers of his faith and obedience, are in scripture accounted his children: as well in the Gentile, as the Jewish Church. Gal 3:8-9 ; Rev 7:9 .
Fuente: Hawker’s Poor Man’s Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
Gen 12:2 And I will make of thee a great nation, and I will bless thee, and make thy name great; and thou shalt be a blessing:
Ver. 2. And I will make of thee a great nation. ] Why then should the scornful Jews call us nations or Gentiles in contempt? yea, heathen bastards, heathen dogs, as they do at this day? a Surely, either themselves are of this great Goi or nation here mentioned, or else they have not Abraham to their father; choose them which.
I will bless thee.
And make thy name great.
And thou shalt be a blessing.
a Pareus in Rom 11:25 . See my True Treasur. , p. 297.
b
c Act. and Mon.
d Vir bonus est commune bonum .
e In execrationibus dicunt, Iudaeus sim si fallo . – Sanct.
And. Note the Figure of speech Polysyndeton (App-6).
I will. Note this sevenfold promise with the sevenfold blessing in Exo 6:4-8 (App-10).
And
For analysis and summary of the Abrahamic Covenant, (See Scofield “Gen 15:18”).
Gen 13:16, Gen 15:5, Gen 17:5, Gen 17:6, Gen 18:18, Gen 22:17, Gen 22:18, Gen 24:35, Gen 26:4, Gen 27:29, Gen 28:3, Gen 28:14, Gen 35:11, Gen 46:3, Exo 1:7, Exo 32:10, Num 14:12, Num 24:9, Num 24:10, Deu 26:5, 2Sa 7:9, 1Ki 3:8, 1Ki 3:9, Mic 7:20, Rom 4:11, Gal 3:7
thou shalt: Gen 14:14-16, Gen 18:18, Gen 19:29, Gen 28:4, 1Ki 1:47, Gal 3:14
Reciprocal: Gen 14:16 – General Gen 15:3 – Behold Gen 17:2 – multiply Gen 17:4 – a father Gen 17:16 – And I Gen 19:21 – that Gen 22:16 – General Gen 24:1 – blessed Gen 25:11 – after Gen 26:29 – the blessed Gen 34:30 – and I shall Gen 39:5 – for Joseph’s Gen 48:4 – Behold I Exo 11:3 – Moses Exo 12:37 – six hundred Exo 20:24 – will bless thee Exo 32:13 – I will multiply Lev 26:45 – for their Num 1:46 – General Num 6:27 – and I will Num 11:21 – General Num 22:12 – for they Num 23:20 – he hath Num 26:53 – General Deu 2:7 – blessed Deu 6:3 – that ye may Jos 2:18 – thy father Jos 6:23 – out Rahab Rth 4:14 – that his 2Sa 22:36 – made me great 1Ki 11:12 – for David 1Ki 15:4 – for David’s 1Ch 4:10 – bless me 2Ch 17:14 – the numbers 2Ch 26:8 – his name Neh 9:7 – choose Job 35:8 – may profit Psa 21:6 – made Psa 67:7 – God Psa 107:38 – He blesseth Psa 115:12 – the house of Israel Pro 10:22 – it Isa 19:24 – a blessing Isa 26:15 – increased Isa 43:4 – thou hast been Isa 46:10 – the end Isa 65:23 – for Eze 34:26 – make them Zec 8:13 – ye shall Mat 25:34 – Come Luk 1:15 – great Act 27:24 – lo Eph 1:3 – who Heb 6:15 – General Heb 7:4 – Abraham Heb 7:6 – had
Gen 12:2. I will make of thee a great nation When God took him from his own people, he promised to make him the head of another people. This promise was both a great relief to Abrams burden, for he had now no child, and a great trial to Abrams faith, for his wife had been long barren; so that if he believe, it must be against hope, and his faith must build purely upon that power which can out of stones raise up children unto Abraham. I will bless thee Either particularly with the blessing of fruitfulness, as he had blessed Adam and Noah; or in general, I will bless thee with all manner of blessings, both of the upper and nether springs: leave thy fathers house, and I will give thee a fathers blessing, better than that of thy progenitors. I will make thy name great By deserting his country he lost his name there. Care not for that, says God, but trust me, and I will make thee a greater name than ever thou couldst have had there. Thou shalt be a blessing Thy testimony for God, thy example, thy prayers, and power with God, thy wisdom and prudence, thy peaceable and benevolent disposition and conduct, shall make thee a blessing in all places where thou shalt sojourn. I will bless them that bless thee, &c. I will be a friend to thy friends, and an enemy to thy enemies; thus making, as it were, a kind of league, offensive and defensive, with Abram. Abram heartily espoused Gods cause, and here God promises to interest himself m his behalf.
12:2 And I will make of thee a great nation, and I will bless thee, and make thy name great; and thou shalt be {c} a blessing:
(c) The world shall recover by your seed, which is Christ, the blessing which they lost in Adam.
Abram had only a promise from God. We see his faith in his willingness to obey God strictly in the confidence that what God had promised He would perform (Heb 11:8). This divine promise was the seed from which the Abrahamic Covenant grew (ch. 15). The promise here included few details; it was only a general promise of descendants (Gen 12:2) and influence (Gen 12:2-3). The Hebrew text says, "be a blessing" (Gen 12:2), not "you shall be a blessing." This was a command rather than a prediction. However as Abram blessed others he would become a blessing (i.e., enriched, as in enriched uranium or plutonium). God would make his life more rich and powerful, and he would enrich the lives of others.
"The promises that this glorious God gave to Abram fall into three categories (Gen 12:2-3). First there were personal promises given to Abram. God said, ’I will bless you; I will make your name great.’ Then there were national promises given to this childless man. ’I will make you into a great nation.’ And finally there were universal promises that were to come through Abram. ’You will be a blessing . . . and all peoples on earth will be blessed through you.’" [Note: Pentecost, pp. 51-52. See Z. Weisman, "National Consciousness in the Patriarchal Promises," Journal for the Study of the Old Testament 31 (February 1985):55-73.]
"Five times in Gen 12:2-3 Abraham is said to be ’blessed’ or a ’blessing’ to others. This harks back to the first great blessing of mankind at creation (Gen 1:28) and its renewal after the flood (Gen 9:1). Moreover, Abraham is to become ’a great nation,’ comparable presumably to the seventy nations listed in Genesis 10. His name will also be ’great,’ whereas the men of Babel who tried to make themselves ’a name’ were frustrated (Gen 11:4-9)." [Note: Wenham, Genesis 1-15, p. 282.]
Three nuances of blessing include prosperity (Gen 13:2; Gen 13:5; Gen 14:22-23; Gen 24:35; Gen 26:12-13; Gen 30:43; Gen 32:3-21), potency or fertility (Gen 1:28; Gen 13:16; Gen 15:5; Gen 22:17; Gen 26:4; Gen 28:3; Gen 28:14; Gen 35:11) and victory (Gen 1:22; cf. Gen 22:17).
The Hebrew words translated "curse" in Gen 12:3 are significant. The word qll in "the one who curses you" really means "disdains," but the word ’rr in "I will curse" means "curse." It was only disdain for Abraham that would provoke God’s judgment.
God’s ultimate purpose was to bless all the peoples of the earth through Abraham and his seed. [Note: William J. Dumbrell, Covenant and Creation, p. 65, explained how the Hebrew construction of Gen 12:1-3 makes this evident. See Mathews, Genesis 11:27-50:26, pp. 72-80, for proof that the theme of the patriarchal narratives is blessing. He listed as major motifs (recurring key words or ideas) in these stories: sibling rivalry, deception, and alienation/separation.]
"Any promise God gives must be appropriated by faith." [Note: Pentecost, pp. 51-52.]
"The remarkable thing about Abraham was his deep, unwavering faith." [Note: Davis, p. 168.]
The amillennial interpretation of this promise is that it "does not pertain today to unbelieving, ethnic ’Israel’ (see Rom 9:6-8; Gal 3:15) but to Jesus Christ and his church (see Gen 12:7; Gen 13:16 and notes; Gal 3:16; Gal 3:26-29; Gal 6:16)." [Note: Waltke, Genesis, p. 206.] This interpretation applies the promise to the spiritual seed of Abraham and not to the physical seed. However, there is no reason for accepting this more obscure explanation. Abraham understood the promise as applying to his physical descendants, and later revelation encourages us to understand it this way too.
Revelations to the Patriarchs
Abraham
Isaac
Jacob
Joseph
Gen 12:1-3
Gen 26:2-5
Gen 28:12-15
Gen 37:5-7
Gen 12:7
Gen 26:24
Gen 31:3
Gen 37:9
Gen 13:14-17
Gen 31:11-13
Genesis 15
Gen 32:24-29
Gen 17:1-21
Gen 35:1
Genesis 18
Gen 35:9-12
Gen 21:12-13
Gen 46:2-4
Gen 22:1-2
Gen 22:15-18
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
Fuente: Scofield Reference Bible Notes
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Fuente: Geneva Bible Notes
Fuente: Expository Notes of Dr. Constable (Old and New Testaments)