Verse off the Week: Genesis 12:3
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 shall be blessed. Genesis 12:3
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 shall be blessed. Genesis 12:3
And I- Complete sovereignty. If a nation or a person
experiences blessing because of their attitude towards Israel and the Jewish
people God is responsible for that blessing.
Bless…curse- Abraham’s relation to God was so close
that to bless or curse him was, in effect, to bless or curse God. This remains
true today and is a root reason for the decline and death of many empires.
Barnhouse writes:
“When the Greeks overran Palestine
(Israel) and desecrated the altar in the Jewish temple, they were soon
conquered by Rome. When Rome killed Paul and many others, and destroyed
Jerusalem under Titus, Rome soon fell. Spain was reduced to a fifth-rate nation
after the Inquisition against the Jews; Poland fell after the pogroms; Hitler’s
Germany went down after its orgies of ant-Semitism; Britain lost her empire
when she broke her faith with Israel.”
Why has
America been so blessed? Because of her treatment of the Jews. Because of the
lack, though not totally, of anti-Semitism in American and their embrace of Jewish
people God has blessed the nation. The United States was of the first modern
nations to grant full citizenship and protection to Jewish people.
Will bless- So intimately is God concerned in having
men take the proper attitude toward this prophet and servant of His that
whoever wishes him well God will bless. God is so concerned with Abraham and
the covenant people that whoever wishes them blessings will cause God to do
well to them. Man wishes good, God imparts good.
Those- There will be many who cross Abraham’s path
that will wish him well.
God’s promise to bless others because of Abraham was not an
opportunity for Abraham to demonstrate how great he was. This was given to Abraham
to that through God he might help others. His high regard by God would be a
great motivator for him in this actions and care of others.
When we think of the Church today, we forget that the reason
God has given us blessings not for our own personal comfort and enjoyment. We
have a great privilege today to be the carriers of His Word. Only we have been
commanded to go into the whole world and present the gospel of Jesus Christ to
a dying world. But we have a great responsibility to make this proclamation. We
encounter many people from all walks of life and it is our duty to bring them
the Word.
Who bless you- This is a promise for those who do
good to Abraham and to his posterity.
The one- divine grace presupposes that there will not
be many that wish this friend of God ill.
Who curses you- The Hebrew uses two words for curse-
1.
‘arar God’s judicial cursing. Other
related words to ‘arar include “lie in wait, lion, to ambush.” Many of
the nations would wait, they were more powerful and could attack when they
wanted. They did not have anything to fear from little Israel and could use
them as they wished. When they would attack, they would discover Israel
pouncing like a lion. The Six-Day War was such a case. God is there to protect
those who would curse Israel and protect them at all times.
2.
Galal for man’s injudicious or
blasphemous cursing that will lead to being humbled, made little, humiliated,
or diminished. This is what we would see
in what happened to Nazi Germany in World War II. Because of the persecution of
the Jews they not only lost their territory but they were conquered and their
homeland was split in two.
This is the person who degrades or despises Abraham and his posterity.
Those who would curse Abraham would in this act reveal their insensitivity to
God. By acting in such a manner, they demonstrate a conspicuous absence of love
and honor to God. Because of these actions they will find themselves the
objects of God’s wrath.
The idea conveyed here is that to curse Abraham is almost
the equivalent of cursing God.
Curse- This is God’s judicial curse and would affect
anyone who would treat him lightly.
In you- Not only was Abraham promised blessing from
God, God also promised that Abraham would become a blessing. This promised
blessing was not for the Jewish nation only but for the entire scope of
mankind.
All the families- Jew and Gentile, who will be
blessed by Abraham and his seed. This blessing is so great that it will extend
to the entire earth.
This is the first allusion to the fact that blessing would
not be limited to just the Jewish nation. God had a plan for all people who
were born into the world. This should lead them to a realization that this
first was given to the Jewish nation and then spread out to the Gentile
population.
History is the outworking of this covenant through the
nation of Israel. What we read about what God’s actions through Abraham will
seep through mankind.
Martin Luther wrote concerning this promise that “in your
all the families shall be blessed” should be written:
“…in golden letters and should be
extolled in the languages of all the people…” for “who else…has dispensed this
blessing among all nations except the Son of God, our Lord Jesus Christ?”
Even in the darkest times on planet Earth we see the promise
of Gentiles being blessed by this promise in the Tribulation:
And
they sang a new song, saying,
“Worthy art Thou to take the book
and to bread its seals; for Thou wast slain and didst purchase for God with Thy
blood men from every tribe and tongue and people and nation.” Revelation 5:9
And then in the midst of the most horrible time to be a
believer:
After these things I looked and
behold, a great multitude,[1]
which no one could count, from every nation and all tribes and peoples and
tongues, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed in white
robes, and palm branches were in their hands; Revelation 7:9
Of the earth- The justification of uncircumcised
Gentiles was anticipated in the universal aspect of the Abrahamic Covenant.
Shall be blessed- When we look at the blessing that
God has given, what do we find that has affected all that have ever lived? Only
the promises of the coming Messiah. When Abraham was given this promise very
little was known of the coming Messiah. Over the centuries more would be added
to the Messianic prophecies. This word is definitely Messianic and determines
that the Messiah is to emerge from the line of Abraham, through Isaac, through
Jacob, through the tribe of Judah.
When the time was right, according to God’s promise, this
promise was fulfilled in the coming of Abraham’s seed, Jesus Christ:
And the Scripture, foreseeing that
God would justify the Gentiles by faith, preached the gospel beforehand to
Abraham, saying, “ALL THE NATIONS SHALL BE BLESSED IN YOU.” Galatians 3:8
Now the promises were spoken to
Abraham and to his seed.[2]
He does not say, “And to seeds,” as referring to many, but rather to one, “And
to your seed,” that is, Christ. Galatians 3:16
This promise takes on its greatest fulfillment in the fact
that Jesus Christ became the means of blessing to the world.
[1] A
great multitude- This multitude is composed of many racial and geographic
groups who will be redeemed during the tribulation period (v. 14). In these
difficult days, many will find Christ as Savior.
[2] Seed-
Since Paul’s argument here is based on the singular form of the word in the
Old Testament (Genesis 22:17, 18), he must have believed in the accuracy of the
very words of Scripture.
