Discovery BoxGenesis 22:16-18
Context22:16 and said, “‘I solemnly swear by my own name,’ 1 decrees the Lord, 2 ‘that because you have done this and have not withheld your son, your only son, 22:17 I will indeed bless you, 3 and I will greatly multiply 4 your descendants 5 so that they will be as countless as the stars in the sky or the grains of sand on the seashore. Your descendants will take possession 6 of the strongholds 7 of their enemies. 22:18 Because you have obeyed me, 8 all the nations of the earth will pronounce blessings on one another 9 using the name of your descendants.’”
Genesis 26:3-5
Context26:3 Stay 10 in this land. Then I will be with you and will bless you, 11 for I will give all these lands to you and to your descendants, 12 and I will fulfill 13 the solemn promise I made 14 to your father Abraham. 26:4 I will multiply your descendants so they will be as numerous as the stars in the sky, and I will give them 15 all these lands. All the nations of the earth will pronounce blessings on one another using the name of your descendants. 16 26:5 All this will come to pass 17 because Abraham obeyed me 18 and kept my charge, my commandments, my statutes, and my laws.” 19
Psalms 105:9-11
Context105:9 the promise 20 he made to Abraham,
the promise he made by oath to Isaac!
105:10 He gave it to Jacob as a decree,
to Israel as a lasting promise, 21
105:11 saying, “To you I will give the land of Canaan
as the portion of your inheritance.”
[22:16] 1 tn Heb “By myself I swear.”
[22:16] 2 tn Heb “the oracle of the
[22:17] 3 tn The use of the infinitive absolute before the finite verbal form (either an imperfect or cohortative) emphasizes the certainty of the blessing.
[22:17] 4 tn Here too the infinitive absolute is used for emphasis before the following finite verb (either an imperfect or cohortative).
[22:17] 5 tn The Hebrew term זֶרַע (zera’) occurring here and in v. 18 may mean “seed” (for planting), “offspring” (occasionally of animals, but usually of people), or “descendants” depending on the context.
[22:17] 7 tn Heb “gate,” which here stands for a walled city. To break through the gate complex would be to conquer the city, for the gate complex was the main area of defense (hence the translation “stronghold”).
[22:18] 8 tn In the Hebrew text this causal clause comes at the end of the sentence. The translation alters the word order for stylistic reasons.
[22:18] 9 tn Traditionally the verb is taken as passive (“will be blessed”) here, as if Abraham’s descendants were going to be a channel or source of blessing to the nations. But the Hitpael is better understood here as reflexive/reciprocal, “will bless [i.e., pronounce blessings on] themselves/one another” (see also Gen 26:4). Elsewhere the Hitpael of the verb “to bless” is used with a reflexive/reciprocal sense in Deut 29:18; Ps 72:17; Isa 65:16; Jer 4:2. Gen 12:2 predicts that Abram will be held up as a paradigm of divine blessing and that people will use his name in their blessing formulae. For examples of blessing formulae utilizing an individual as an example of blessing see Gen 48:20 and Ruth 4:11. Earlier formulations of this promise (see Gen 12:2; 18:18) use the Niphal stem. (See also Gen 28:14.)
[26:3] 10 tn The Hebrew verb גּוּר (gur) means “to live temporarily without ownership of land.” Abraham’s family will not actually possess the land of Canaan until the Israelite conquest hundreds of years later.
[26:3] 11 tn After the imperative “stay” the two prefixed verb forms with prefixed conjunction here indicate consequence.
[26:3] 12 tn The Hebrew term זֶרַע (zera’) occurring here and in v. 18 may mean “seed” (for planting), “offspring” (occasionally of animals, but usually of people), or “descendants” depending on the context.
[26:3] 13 tn The Hiphil stem of the verb קוּם (qum) here means “to fulfill, to bring to realization.” For other examples of this use of this verb form, see Lev 26:9; Num 23:19; Deut 8:18; 9:5; 1 Sam 1:23; 1 Kgs 6:12; Jer 11:5.
[26:3] 14 tn Heb “the oath which I swore.”
[26:4] 15 tn Heb “your descendants.”
[26:4] 16 tn Traditionally the verb is taken as passive (“will be blessed”) here, as if Abraham’s descendants were going to be a channel or source of blessing to the nations. But the Hitpael is better understood here as reflexive/reciprocal, “will bless [i.e., pronounce blessings on] themselves/one another” (see also Gen 22:18). Elsewhere the Hitpael of the verb “to bless” is used with a reflexive/reciprocal sense in Deut 29:18; Ps 72:17; Isa 65:16; Jer 4:2. Gen 12:2 predicts that Abram will be held up as a paradigm of divine blessing and that people will use his name in their blessing formulae. For examples of blessing formulae utilizing an individual as an example of blessing see Gen 48:20 and Ruth 4:11. Earlier formulations of this promise (see Gen 12:2; 18:18) use the Niphal stem. (See also Gen 28:14.)
[26:5] 17 tn The words “All this will come to pass” are not in the Hebrew text, but are supplied for stylistic reasons.
[26:5] 18 tn Heb “listened to my voice.”
[26:5] 19 sn My charge, my commandments, my statutes, and my laws. The language of this verse is clearly interpretive, for Abraham did not have all these laws. The terms are legal designations for sections of the Mosaic law and presuppose the existence of the law. Some Rabbinic views actually conclude that Abraham had fulfilled the whole law before it was given (see m. Qiddushin 4:14). Some scholars argue that this story could only have been written after the law was given (C. Westermann, Genesis, 2:424-25). But the simplest explanation is that the narrator (traditionally taken to be Moses the Lawgiver) elaborated on the simple report of Abraham’s obedience by using terms with which the Israelites were familiar. In this way he depicts Abraham as the model of obedience to God’s commands, whose example Israel should follow.
