CHAPTER IX

THE PROMISE AS GIVEN TO THE PATRIARCHS

The

IN the last chapter we examined the doctrine of Yahaweh's promise to mankind through Israel, as that doctrine is formulated in the New Testament. men of the New Testament say that Yahaweh, when he called Abraham, announced a promise given through him to the human race; that the history of Israel is the unfolding of this promise; that the promise was renewed with David, and preached by all the prophets; that it began to be fulfilled directly after it was made, and has been fulfilling ever since; that its greatest fulfilment is in the person and work of Jesus Christ; that it will never cease being in process of fulfilment; and that this promise-doctrine is the sum of what the prophets teach in the scriptures.

We are now to inquire whether the New Testament writers are correct in their exegesis of the Old Testament. An adequate answer would require an examination of all the teachings of the prophets, and would fill a series of volumes rather than a couple of chapters. All that can be here attempted is an informal study of the situation at four periods in the history; namely, the times of the patriarchs, of the exodus, of David, of the post-Davidic prophets. The present chapter deals with the patriarchal times.

The main line of the Old Testament record, for any purpose, is that which presents the history of Israel. Properly this begins with the account of the calling of

Abraham from Ur of the Chaldees, as found in the twelfth chapter of Genesis, the contents of the preceding eleven chapters being preliminary.

But these preliminary sections are of prophetic authorship, and were written from prophetic points of view. It is therefore not surprising that interpreters Pre-Abrahamic messi- have found in them abundant traces of the Much

anic passages prophetic doctrine of the Messiah. stress has been laid on Yahaweh's relations with Adam, including the protevangelium (Gen. iii. 15); on the sacrifice made by Abel (Gen. iv; Matt. xxiii. 35; Lc. xi. 51; Heb. xi. 4, xii. 24; 1 Jn. iii. 12; Jude 11); on the experiences of Noah, especially the covenant (Gen. vi. 18, ix. 9, 11, 12, 13, 15, 16, 17). The messianic subjectmatter includes whatever indications there may be of God's plan of redeeming blessing for mankind, as found in the accounts of the creation, the fall, or the flood. The instances are very fully treated in current works, but I do not purpose to discuss them here; not even to argue the question in case any one shall think that they belong to the main line of Old Testament messianic teaching, that line beginning with Adam rather than with Abraham. In any case, the record of these preAbrahamic events supplements the messianic teaching found elsewhere, especially in such important matters as sin and redemption, and God's purpose for mankind.

Dismissing these preliminary chapters, we turn to the calling of Abraham, and there begin our search for the main line of messianic doctrine. Both at the beginning and afterward, we shall find it to be the principal thing in the Old Testament. Luthardt well says (Bremen Lectures, p. 195) that the whole history of Israel is prophetic of Christ. We will first examine the presentation of the case as made in Genesis, and will after

ward look at certain problems which arise from this presentation.

I. We have seen in the preceding chapter that the Old Testament passage more emphasized in the New than any other is the promise made to Abraham. Let us study this promise.

1. The earliest account of it is as follows:

"And Yahaweh said unto Abraham, Get thee out from thy land, and from thy native place, and from the house of thy father, unto the land that I shall cause thee to see; that I may make thee a great nation, and may bless thee, and may make thy name great; and be thou a blessing; and I will bless those who bless thee, and curse those who make light of thee, and in thee shall all the families of the ground be blessed" (Gen. xii. 1–3 J).

The promise is in two parts: first, a promise to Abraham that he shall have the land of Canaan, shall become a great nation, shall have a distinguished name, and shall have the divine favor for his friends and disfavor for his enemies; second, a promise to him and all mankind that he shall be the channel of Yahaweh's blessing to the human race. The second part comes last, the order being apparently climacteric. Abraham is represented as chosen to be the recipient of peculiar favors, not for his own sake, but that through him all the families of the ground may receive blessing. This is the supreme thing in the promise as given, all the other specifications being subordinate to it.

Subordinate items in the

promise

The subordinate items reappear in many places in Genesis. A glance at them will help us in our understanding of the principal promise. First, a "seed," that is a posterity, is promised to Abraham, Sarah, Isaac, Jacob (xiii. 14 ff., xv, xvii. 6-7, 15-16, etc., xxvi. 3, 4, xxviii. 3, 4, xXXV. II, 12, xlviii. 3, 4).

Second, this seed shall be or shall include persons countless as the stars, as the dust of the earth, as the sand on the seashore (ib.).

Third, it shall be or shall include a great nation (xviii. 18, xxxv. 11, xlvi. 3).

Fourth, it shall be or shall include what is called "an assembly of nations," "an assembly of peoples" (xxviii. 3, xxxv. 11, xlviii. 4). In xvii. 6, 16, the meaning is the same, though the phrase is simply "nations." The nation intended is Israel, and the federated parts of Israel are the assembly of nations or of peoples, though confused translation has sometimes led to other conclusions.1

Fifth, in these same passages it is promised that kings

1 It is a pity that the versions, in rendering these passages, have made them unlike, as they should not be, and have also confused them with other passages that are very unlike them. For example, the versions make it that Ephraim's seed (xlviii. 19) shall become “a multitude of nations"; its distinctive meaning is that his seed "shall fill the nations." The meaning of Gen. xvii. 4-5 will be considered below. It is entirely different from that of the passages just cited. It is often assumed that the "nations" of Gen. xvii. 6 include the Ishmaelites and Edomites and other Abrahamic descendants; and it is true that Ishmael and Esau are elsewhere spoken of as nations, and as having promises through Abraham (xvii. 20, xxí. 13, 18, xxv. 23, etc.); but xvii. 6 is to be grouped with xvii. 16, as referring to Sarah's descendants only, and these two passages belong with the other three in which the "assembly of peoples" or of "nations" are derived from Jacob.

The Hebrew word in these three places is qāhāl, sometimes translated in the Septuagint by ẻккλŋola. Stephen (Acts vii. 38), alluding to this word as found in Deuteronomy (xviii. 16), says: "the church in the wilderness." The word properly denotes the officially convened assembly of the twelve tribes, called to order for important business (e.g. Jud. xx. 2, xxi. 5-8). It appears scores of times in this use, and seldom, if ever, save in this use or some natural modification of it.

The meaning, therefore, is definite and clear, though much ignored. Abraham was to be the ancestor of a nation, Israel, which would exist in the form of an assembly of nations; namely, the federated tribes and families of Israel.

shall spring from Abraham, from Sarah, from Jacob (xvii. 6, 16, xxxv. II). The kings that spring from Jacob can be no other than the line of the monarchs of Israel. Whether the promise to Abraham should be interpreted as also including the kings of the Ishmaelites, Edomites, Midianites, etc., may be a question.

Sixth, in many of the passages cited and in other passages it is promised that Abraham's posterity, in the line of Isaac and Jacob, shall inherit the land of Canaan, sometimes called "this land," or "these countries."

Seventh, there are other items. Abraham's name shall be made great; his friends are to be blessed, and those who contemn him are to be cursed (xii. 2-3). His seed shall take possession of the gates of their enemies (xxii. 17).

2. Among these various aspects of the promise, where does the emphasis lie? The answer is clear. The principal thing is that all mankind shall be blessed in Abraham and his seed. In the narratives concerning the patriarchs this is emphasized beyond all else.

With slight variations in phraseology this statement is five times repeated in Genesis. Besides its first occurrence, already noticed, it is uttered by Five times Yahaweh to Abraham at the time of his inter- repeated cession for Sodom,1 and at the time when he has been commanded to sacrifice Isaac.2 After the death of

1 "Seeing Abraham shall surely become a great and strong nation, and all the nations of the earth shall be blessed in him" (Gen. xviii. 18 JE'). Note how formally the two separate parts of the promise are here distinguished.

2 "I will greatly bless thee, and will greatly multiply thy seed, as the stars of the heaven, and as the sand that is upon the edge of the sea; and thy seed shall take possession of the gate of his enemies; and in thy seed shall all the nations of the earth bless themselves" (Gen. xxii. 17–18 JE').