When we talk about the old covenant Passover, we make a distinction between the Passover as first celebrated and the codified, permanent way it was later commemorated. That is to say, while some traditions established in the first Passover meal continued on, not every element given in Exodus 12:1-32 was performed year after year. For example, the Israelites did not spread blood on their doorposts once they dwelt in the Promised Land. Instead, they looked to the instructions given in passages such as Leviticus 23:4-8, Numbers 9:1-14, and Deuteronomy 16:1-8 to show them how to keep the feast once they settled in Canaan.
Numbers 9:1-14 establishes the importance of Passover in the life of the people of God. There was to be no Israelite who failed to keep the feast each year, for even the unclean or those travelling on a long journey were required to observe Passover, although their particular circumstances meant that they were allowed to do so the following month. The important part of all this is, of course, the requirement that no covenant member could get away with neglecting the feast that commemorated Israel’s redemption from Egypt. Anyone who did not keep the Passover would be cut off from the people (v. 13) — they would be excluded from the nation. They were risking their lives, as those who were cut off faced the possibility that the Lord might strike them dead (Gen. 9:11). There is probably a hint of eternal judgment in this phrase as well. Paul is probably alluding to this warning of being cut off when he cautions today’s believers against unworthily partaking of the Lord’s Supper, which is a new covenant expression of Passover (1 Con 11:27-32). Professing new covenant believers who fail to partake of the body and blood of Christ Jesus in faith risk God’s discipline. Moreover, the command not to miss the Passover in Numbers 9:13 likely should be taken as a caution for us today not to miss the sacrament when it is offered.
Once Israel was established in the Holy Land, Passover was celebrated each year in Jerusalem, the whole nation making pilgrimage there to keep the feast and recall God’s salvation (Dent. 16:1-2). Later generations of Israel would sing the hallel (Pss. 113-18) on their way to Jerusalem for the seder, or Passover meal. The final Passover Lamb Himself sang these psalms just before His own sacrifice (Matt. 26:30). +

The importance of the Passover to the life of the old covenant people of God should clue us in on the centrality of the new covenant sacraments to the Christian life. These ordinances are not to be neglected but are to be attended when they are celebrated, for in them we have special remembrances of our salvation, and through them the Father strengthens our faith, union with Christ, and our unity with one another.

• From June 2010 Tabletalk Magazine

Despite Egypt’s antagonism toward Israel (Ex. 1:1-2:10), God’s rescue of His
people from captivity and His destruction of the pharaoh’s army (chap. 14) was never intended to be His last word regarding the Egyptian people. The Lord actually saved the Israelites in order to make them a light to the nations (Isa. 49:1-6), a witness to the glory and holiness of God as a nation of priests and servants (Ex. 19:1-6). This call was given so that people of every ethnicity would trust in Yahweh, even people from Egypt (Pss. 68:29; 82:8: Isa. 19:16-25).
Nothing less than the very salvation of the whole world was the purpose for Israel’s call. Called out of Egypt, Israel was to be the agent of Egypt’s redemption. Yet as is well known, the nation of Israel as a whole did not fulfill its call. True, the Spirit used the faith of individual Israelites like Naomi and the two spies sent to Jericho to call individual Gentiles like Ruth and Rahab to faith (Josh. 2; Ruth 1). Nevertheless, the people as a whole failed in their vocation and went after the pagan gods worshiped in the nations around them (Jer.16:14-21).
God could have abandoned His plan to make Israel, the people He called out of Egypt, a light to the nations due to its failure to bear witness to the Gentiles. Yet that is not what He did, as revealed in today’s passage. Matthew 2:13-I5 describes Jesus’ descent into Egypt and return to Galilee as a fulfillment of a prophecy first given in Hosea 11:1. In its original context, this prophecy in Hosea is about the Lord’s initial call of Israel (His son) out of Egypt during the exodus to be His light to the world. Since Israel failed to be this light, God sent His Son to succeed where His people failed. He would be the new Israel who would obey His Father’s will without hesitation and, as the light of the world (John 8:12), bring men and women from every background into saving fellowship with the one, true God. Christ Jesus, the true Israel, would incorporate into His body men and women to share His vocation as the light of the world to draw the nations to Himself (Matt. 5:14).
The Lord redeemed the Israelites from Egypt to save Egypt and, indeed, the entire world. When they failed, He sent His only Son, the faithful one, and brought Him out of Egypt to redeem Egypt, Assyria, and the world (Isa. 19:16-24; John 3:16).

All of us who were once in sin were in slavery even if we had no earthly masters. Wickedness held sway over our every thought, decision, and action, but in Christ we have been rescued from this power and are now enabled to live before God’s face in a manner that pleases Him. Christ went into Egypt and was brought out to begin the work that redeemed us from sin, and we should pursue holiness in gratitude for this awesome grace.

• from Tabletalk Magazine, March 2010

New Bible Commentary:

• The new element is that the Lord is seen here taking a decisive new part in their fortunes.
• It will be by his power that they will be restored to their land.
  • (This is the meaning, in effect, of the phrase restore your fortunes; v 3, see also Je. 29:14; 30:3.)
• Not only this, however, but he will create in them a new ability to be faithful.
  • This is implied by the phrase: The LORD your God mill circumcise your hearts (6); the same figure of speech in 10:16 had simply been an exhortation.
  • In some mysterious way the Lord will renew the relationship to make his people faithful (though their own need to repent is not bypassed; v 2). This is without lessening the need for their real obedience-, they are still responsible for their life with him.
  • The point may be understood in the light of the NT teaching about the role of the Holy Spirit in enabling Christians to overcome their sinful nature (Rom. 8:9-27; Gal. i:16-25).

Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary:

• 30:1-10 In this chapter is a plain intimation of the mercy God has in store for Israel in the latter days.
• This passage refers to the prophetic warnings of the last two chapters, which have been mainly fulfilled in the destruction of Jerusalem by the Romans, and in their dispersion to the present day; and there can be no doubt that the prophetic promise contained in these verses yet remain to come to pass.
• The Jewish nation shall in some future period, perhaps not very distant, be converted to the faith of Christ; and, many think, again settled in the land of Canaan.
• The language here used is in a great measure absolute promises; not merely a conditional engagement, but declaring an event assuredly to take place.
• For the Lord himself here engages to circumcise their hearts; and when regenerating grace has removed corrupt nature, and Divine love has supplanted the love of sin, they certainly will reflect, repent, return to God, and obey him; and he will rejoice in doing them good.
• The change that will be wrought upon them will not be only outward, or consisting in mere opinions; it will reach to their souls.
  • It will produce in them an utter hatred of all sin, and a fervent love to God, as their reconciled God in Christ Jesus; they will love him with all their hearts, and with all their soul.
• They are very far from this state of mind at present, but so were the murderers of the Lord Jesus, on the day of Pentecost; who yet in one hour were converted unto God.
• So shall it be in the day of God’s power; a nation shall be born in a day; the Lord will hasten it in his time.
• As a conditional promise this passage belongs to all persons and all people, not to Israel only; it assures us that the greatest sinners, if they repent and are converted, shall have their sins pardoned, and be restored to God’s favor.

The theology of Deuteronomy has relevance to modern Christians, but it must be read carefully, and in the light of the coming of Jesus Christ. Christians see themselves as the chosen people of God (1 Pet. 2:9), though in a quite different way from ancient Israel. They are not a political nation, living among other nations, nor do they need a land of their own, criminal laws, or their own leaders for times of peace and war. No more do they look for a single place of worship on earth in which God is more present than in other places. The period in God’s dealings with human beings in the world when these things were important is past. Since Jesus came, God’s people is international, living under different political systems, and actively seeking to extend God’s kingdom in all the world. And, of course, it is no longer making sacrifices to atone for sin.

Yet the main lines of the theology of Deuteronomy remain relevant. The book teaches about the grace of God in making us his own, as well as about the need for us to respond to him in a wholehearted way, in love and obedience. For us too God has been made known, though now in Christ, who is himself the ‘Place’ where we meet him. Our covenant is a new covenant in Christ, in which, though as morally weak as ever Israel was, we are enabled to remain faithful. And the blessings of God are no longer thought of in terms of material prosperity, but apply both to this age and the age to come.

Deuteronomy is firmly a book of God’s grace. It stresses that Israel owes its whole being to him, for he has brought them out of Egypt, and will lead them into a land in which they will be richly blessed (e.g. 8:7-10). Even his commandments are part of his grace, for in keeping them Israel will experience true freedom. The laws of Deuteronomy are designed to enable every Israelite to enjoy fully the gifts of the land, and to protect each from possible exploitation at the hands of others. Israelites are ‘brothers and sisters’ in the community of God’s making. Everyone, from the king (should they decide to have one; 17:14-20) to the ‘slave’ (15:12), is a `brother’ in Israel. This was a profoundly different idea of society from others in its day, in which most people were no better than serfs. Deuteronomy, therefore, has a vision of a harmonious society, in which people’s knowledge of God enables them to live together in the best possible way.

The vision, however, cannot be realized without the faithfulness of the people. Will they have the spiritual liveliness and moral stamina to keep the covenant? The good of all requires, in the short term, what always appear to be sacrifices, the giving up of one’s ‘rights’. Deuteronomy knows very well the frailty of human beings. The frailty of this chosen people has already become evident in its story so far (1:26-46). Indeed, it is a ‘stiff-necked’ people that is to receive the gift of the land (9:4-6).

From its beginning, therefore, Deuteronomy asks whether this (or any) people can keep covenant with God. The question receives its answer only at the end of the book (ch. 30), in a passage which reckons that the ‘curses’ are likely to fall before a final salvation can occur.

The theology of Deuteronomy has relevance to modern Christians, but it must be read carefully, and in the light of the coming of Jesus Christ. Christians see themselves as the chosen people of God (1 Pet. 2:9), though in a quite different way from ancient Israel. They are not a political nation, living among other nations, nor do they need a land of their own, criminal laws, or their own leaders for times of peace and war. No more do they look for a single place of worship on earth in which God is more present than in other places. The period in God’s dealings with human beings in the world when these things were important is past. Since Jesus came, God’s people is international, living under different political systems, and actively seeking to extend God’s kingdom in all the world. And, of course, it is no longer making sacrifices to atone for sin.

Yet the main lines of the theology of Deuteronomy remain relevant. The book teaches about the grace of God in making us his own, as well as about the need for us to respond to him in a wholehearted way, in love and obedience. For us too God has been made known, though now in Christ, who is himself the ‘Place’ where we meet him. Our covenant is a new covenant in Christ, in which, though as morally weak as ever Israel was, we are enabled to remain faithful. And the blessings of God are no longer thought of in terms of material prosperity, but apply both to this age and the age to come.

Deuteronomy, indeed, is no excuse for so-called ‘prosperity-theology’, though a careless reading might make it seem so. It does show a delight in the good things of the world, and a clear understanding of the need for human beings to enjoy the basic necessities of life. These things are as important for us and our world as they ever were. But Deuteronomy rules out any religion which disguises an attempt to become rich. It does so because it demands a love of God from the heart, and indeed a love of one’s neighbour. This is the opposite of selfish calculation. That, in fact, is idolatry, which is for Deuteronomy the primary sin.

From Matthew Henry’s Commentary:

• Be it (worshipping of false gods) ever so indusriously concealed, he(God) sees it, and be it ever so ingeniously palliated, he (God) hates it: it is a sin in itself exceedingly heinous, and the highest affront that can be offered to Almighty God.
• That it is a transgression of the covenant.
• It was on this condition that God took them to be his peculiar people, that the should serve and worship him only as their God, so that if they gave to any other the honor which was due to him alone that covenant was void, and all the benefit of it forfeited.
• Other sins were  transgressions of the command, but this was a transgression of the covenant.
• It was spiritual adultery, which breaks the marriage bond.

• From the Reformed Study Bible

ESV Study Bible notes:

• The unbelief of Israel has benefited the Gentiles, i.e., this is the period of history in which Gentiles are being saved, while most of Israel remains in unbelief.
  
  • But God’s electing promise given to their forefathers Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob will be fulfilled in the future.
• Salvation history is structured to feature God’s great mercy.
  • God saved the Gentiles when one would expect only the Jews to be saved, but in the future he will amaze all by his grace again by saving the Jews, so that it will be clear that everyone’s salvation is by mercy alone.
  • The final now in the text does not mean the promise to the Jews is now fulfilled but that the promise of Jewish salvation could be fulfilled at any time.
• Rom. 11:32 The word all here refers to Jews and Gentiles (all without distinction, not all without exception).
• The sin and disobedience of both Jews and Gentiles is highlighted, to emphasize God’s mercy in saving some among both Jews and Gentiles.

Seed, Land and Blessing

God’s promises to Abraham in Geneesis 12:1-3 include four elements (three promises and a purpose statement)
seed or offspring
land, namely, the land of Canaan (more explicit in Gen. 12:7)
Israel will be blessed
Israel will be a blessing to all nations
These four elements reappear as God repeats the promises of the covenant to the patriarchs: again to Abraham (Gen. 22:17-18), to Isaac (Gen. 26:3-4), and to Jacob (Gen. 28:13-15).

The Promise of a Seed

Abraham’s wife Sarah was barren (Gen. 11:27-32). Yet God promises Abraham that he will be the father of a great nation, a nation whose numbers will be as numerous as the dust of the earth (Gen. 13:16; 28:14).  As we know, the promise of a seed is not new in Genesis 12. The seed promise began when God cursed the tempting serpent:
And I will put enmity
between you and the woman,
and between your offspring and hers;
he will crush your head,
and you will strike his heel. (Gen. 3:15)
God made this Garden promise to all people, to all creation. It extended hope to all that the problem of sin will be dealt with, that the absurdity introduced into God’s creation by Adam and Eve will be removed, done away with.  As a means toward the fulfillment of that promise, God now focuses on a particular individual. He chooses one person out of the nations that had developed from Noah’s son Shem. God would now keep his promise to raise up a seed of the woman through the line of the Shemite Abraham. This seed, stretching back through Shem to Noah, from Noah to Seth, and from Seth to Adam, will be the divine vehicle for bringing redemption to the world, a vehicle that will ultimately bring forth a Messiah, a Savior.
Thus the goal of the seed promise goes beyond the birth of Isaac, the child according to the promise. It even goes beyond the birth of the nation of Israel (the larger concern of the Book of Genesis). In light of the reality that it is through Abraham and his descendants that God plans to bring redemptive blessing to all the nations of the world, and that that redemption takes place only in Jesus Christ, we are, of course, right to see that Genesis 12 refers ultimately to Jesus.
Abraham’s immediate concern, when he receives the promise, is not the Messiah. It is clear, from the rest of the chapter, that Abraham receives the promise as a promise of reproductive fertility. What he hears is that he is going to be a father. He does not see Jesus; he sees Isaac.  Yet the seed promise in Genesis 12 is more than merely a promise of reproductive fertility. God promises not merely that Abraham will be a father, that a seed will come from him, but that he will be the father of a nation. The word used is not zero (“seed”), but goy (“nation”).
A nation is more than just people, a mere collection of individual persons, even persons who share a common ancestor. A nation is a people bound together by geography, speech, religion, and culture. A nation is characterized by common descent, history, and experience. And often a nation shares a common political structure. A nation has a recognizable character and presence in the world beyond its individual citizens, a character that gives identity to its individual members, and in terms of which those members are known by others.
In short, a nation is a cultural force within the world. Abraham will do more than be a father. He will be the progenitor of a political, cultural, and religious entity that will stand for the kingdom of God in the world.
By his calling of Abraham, God begins the business of nation building, the formation of a nation that, unlike the Babelite search for a human presence without God, will derive its character and reason for being from the redemptive purpose of God. Four key elements of nationhood appear here. With the seed promise, God inaugurates a common people, a population. The Abrahamic covenant also designates a territory, a geographical location. This covenant also indicates implicitly the new nation’s leadership, some person or group who will provide direction and governance. As the Lord of the covenant, as the speaker of the divine word and King of creation, as Abraham’s Redeemer, Yahweh himself is King over the nation that will come from Abraham’s loins. Covenant leadership will develop in priestly, prophetic, and political-monarchial directions as the issue of covenant mediation will diversify in later covenant history. Finally, God will furnish this nation a common rule, or constitution. Abraham and his descendants are called to walk in the way of the Lord, to keep covenant (Gen. 17:9; 18:19). The specifics of this rule will await its expression in the law at Sinai.

The Promise of Land

Implicit in Genesis 12:1-3 is the promise of a land, for Abraham is called to the land that Yahweh will show him. God later states the land promise explicitly: “To your offspring I will give this land” (Gen. 12:7). After the seed promise—the particular theme of Genesis—the promise of the land is the second most frequently repeated of the Abrahamic promises, appearing twelve times in Genesis alone. The patriarchs will receive only a general description of the borders of the promised lands: a land west of the Jordan River and extending from the Negeb to the Euphrates (Gen. 15:18). A detailed description of the land’s borders will await the conquest of the land, some four hundred years after the patriarchs.
God does not fulfill the land promise in the lifetimes of any of the patriarchs. The patriarchs lived as aliens in the land of Canaan. As semi-nomadic wanderers they left no artifacts of a material culture there. Only the revelation of the Book of Genesis bears their history.
The final words of Genesis close the patriarchal story with a brief mention of Joseph’s death in Egypt. Whereas the promise of the seed shows signs of development, the promised occupation of the land seems far from realization. The reader is left wondering how it will be fulfilled.

Why Canaan?
Why was Abraham promised the land of Canaan rather than some other piece of real estate? If God had chosen Abraham and Israel for some pampered and coddled existence in which the nation would relate only to him and not bear an active mission toward the rest of humankind, then Canaan was an exceedingly poor choice on God’s part. But it was neither a mistake nor happenstance that Canaan, the crossroads of the ancient world, was chosen to be the dwelling place of Israel.
There is nothing particularly inviting about Canaan simply as real estate. To be sure, the Book of Joshua records that when the spies surveyed the land, they returned and reported that it was a rich land flowing with milk and honey. Idyllic descriptions of the land are common throughout the Pentateuch. Certainly, there were fertile areas in Canaan at the time of the conquest, and undoubtedly the land was more inviting then than it is today. But overall the climate of Canaan, then as now, was semi-arid. The encroachment of the Sahara across North Africa and into Canaan began in the third millennium B. C. And the ground is extremely rocky. An old Jewish saw quips that when God created the world he had a spare handful of rocks left over. With no particular intent he tossed them to the ground, and they covered the land of Canaan.
Agriculturally, God could have done much better by the people he made for himself out of Abraham. They were not getting the choicest piece of property for their crops and herds. If that had been the goal, the Nile River valley would have been far better. Or if safety from marauding neighbors or security from social and cultural corruption had been God’s intent, the island of Madagascar or Iceland would have provided security and isolation for his chosen people.
But God’s choice of Canaan as a land for Abraham was intentional and central to the redemptive mission for which Abraham was chosen. What was important about this particular piece of real estate was its geographic relationship to other lands. It was a doorway to the world, on the way to everywhere else.
Bounded by the Mediterranean to the west and the vast expanse of the Arabian Desert to the east, Canaan is a natural bottleneck between Asia Minor, Asia, and Africa. It is no wonder that Canaan is the most traveled, most disputed, most fought over, and most conquered land in the history of the world. Located astride the major trade route between Asia Minor, Asia, and Africa, the land of Canaan was ideally situated to serve as a focusing point for cultural exchange. It was God’s intention that Canaan would serve as a staging area for the dissemination of the faith to the heathen nations that surrounded Israel. God did not call his people to a mountain-top monastery but to a strip mall on Main Street.
We Christians sometimes think of the land promise as a reward for Israel’s four-century-long sojourn in Egypt or as a respite from the ardors of its wilderness wanderings after the exodus out of Egypt, a place where Israel could bathe those feet that had trudged through the desert for an entire generation. But Canaan was not a payoff or a perk of election. It was not the end but rather just a beginning. It was not an end but a means. When Israel finally entered the land under Joshua, it was beginning its mission in earnest.
The generation in the desert was going to school. Those forty years in the desert between Sinai and Canaan were crucial, not merely because they would see the passing away of the generation that had been faithless at Sinai; but because those were years in which Israel learned to live by the word, love, promise, and grace of Yahweh. Now the real work would begin, the building of Yahweh’s kingdom, the shedding of Yahweh’s light.

The Promise That God Will Bless Abraham

Accompanying as it does the seed promise God makes to Abraham and repeats to the later patriarchs, God’s promise that he will bless Abraham does not apply to him alone but to that seed as well. The promise of blessing includes the protection of the seed and God’s covenant presence in the lives of the patriarchs.”
God seeks to be with his people, as he had been in Eden. Thus the blessing of divine protection and presence are inseparable from covenant intimacy and relationship with God. James 2:23 tells us that because Abraham believed God and in his promise, he was declared righteous in God’s sight and “was called God’s friend.” Even people outside of the covenant, Genesis records, testified to God’s presence in Abraham’s life. The goal of this promise is that God’s presence should be evident in Israel’s existence. The transformation of men from hostility and enmity toward God to covenant intimacy and friendship was the ultimate goal of the Abrahamic covenant.

A BLESSING TO THE NATIONS

As we have observed, God promises Abraham a seed, indeed a nation, a land, and God’s covenant protection and presence. He promises these blessings to Israel so that the seed that comes from Abraham will in turn be a blessing to all. It is right to see this as a messianic promise, for ultimately Jesus—God come in the flesh to take away the sin of the world—is the seed par excellence (Gal. 3:16).
But a strong missional declaration is also being made here about Israel. God is calling Israel to be a missionary nation. He intends its life among the nations to demonstrate its allegiance to Yahweh, and thus to be a beacon to others. “What is being written in these few verses,” Dumbrell claims concerning Genesis 12:1-3, “is a theological blueprint for the redemptive history of the world.”
Far too often, books about mission begin with the missionary mandate of Matthew 28:19 and cite New Testament Scripture exclusively. The strong missional element of the Old Testament gets overlooked.
Happily, in his recent survey of biblical theology, Roger Hedlund finds a missional impulse running throughout the entirety of the Christian Scriptures. Hedlund finds it already in the Garden:

God reveals himself to be the missionary God. In the Garden God comes seeking man (Gen. 3:8ff.). The world’s religions represent man seeking for God. Here we see the reverse. In Genesis God takes the initiative. Men may seek God but they also flee from him. Adam tried to hide from God. But God entered the scene of Adam’s disobedience. God, someone has said, was the first missionary. He came, he sought and he found, and he provided salvation for his lost creature (Gen. 3:8). Man is not left in his predicament. God provides the remedy (Gen. 3:15) for the human race. This is the gospel of the Garden.”

Israel’s birth certificate bears the mark of divine purpose. Yahweh has elected it for service. Abraham is to be the father of a chosen people, a people chosen for a purpose, chosen to participate in God’s mission of redemption. Israel is elected to be God’s channel of blessing to all nations. Again, the three promises given to Abraham in Genesis 12:1-3 (a seed, a land, and God’s covenant blessing) are given for the sake of the fulfillment of Israel’s missionary mandate. The goal of God’s covenant with Abraham is that people from every nation, not just Israel, will be redeemed. The Old Testament is a missionary book because Yahweh is a missionary God.

COVENANT PROMISE, COVENANT RESPONSE

The seed and land promises offer an opportunity to observe something of the dynamic of covenant promise. God’s promise does not annul human agency and responsibility. While the promises of the covenant are divine promises, this does not suggest automatic fulfillment, as if they are to transpire apart from human involvement. Stating it crudely: the fulfillment of divine promise does not fall out of the sky.
In his relationship to his covenant people, God’s initiation, his gracious promise or action toward his people calls for our response. The complement of divine grace and promise is not human passivity, a let go and let God attitude. Grace always calls to action, to response.
The seed promise to Abraham exemplifies this dynamic of human involvement in divine promise. At one hundred years of age and ninety, Abraham and Sarah were well beyond their childbearing years when Isaac was born. While this child’s birth was a minor miracle, it was not a virgin birth. Isaac, the child of the seed promise, would not have been born unless Abraham and Sarah responded to the promise in an appropriate fashion.
Years later, when Israel finally enters the land under Joshua, its army must conquer in order to take possession. Thus Moses instructs the people:
The LORD your God has given. you this land to take possession of it. But all your able-bodied men, armed for battle, must cross over ahead of your brother Israelites. (Deut. 3:18)
The people of God are called to act in conformity to grace, in the light of grace, and in the power of grace. What we are and what we are called to do is a result of God’s grace and promise. But he calls us to walk in its light, and walking is a matter of a believing conformity to his promises.

THE CALL OF ABRAHAM

The Missional Purpose of God’s Covenant with Abraham

• Even though the word covenant (Hebrew: berith) does not appear in connection with Abraham until Genesis 15:18, God’s call in Genesis 12:1-3 expresses the heart of the Abrahamic covenant.
  • The LORD had said to Abram, “Leave your country, your people and your father’s household and go to the land I will show you
  • I will make you into a great nation and I will bless you;
  • I will make your name great, and you will be a blessing.
  • I will bless those who bless you, and whoever curses you I will curse; and all peoples on earth will be blessed through you.”

• ESV
  • 1 Now the Lord said [1] to Abram, “Go from your country and your kindred and your father’s house to the land that I will show you.
  • 2 And I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you and make your name great, so that you will be a blessing.
  • 3 I will bless those who bless you, and him who dishonors you I will curse, and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.”

• Most commentators today agree that the New International Version above is somewhat insensitive to the syntax of the passage.
  • The text begins with an imperative, a divine command for Abraham to uproot himself from his father’s house and homeland.
  • Then follows a string of three subordinate clauses, three divine volitional declarations:
    • I will make you into a great nation.
    • I will bless you.
    • I will make your name great.
  • The final clause of Genesis 12:2 is the problem.
    • While the NIV translates it as “and you will be a blessing,” it is actually a purpose clause.
    • Thus it would better be translated “so that you will be a blessing.”  [as in the ESV above]
    • In light of this, we see that the three promises are God’s enabling provision for Abraham that equip him for his mission to be a blessing.

• The third verse displays a similar structure: subordinate clauses (only two this time) followed by a purpose clause:
• I will bless those who bless you,
• but whoever curses you I will curse,
• so that by you all the peoples on the earth will be blessed.
• These purpose clauses function as the two primary clauses in the text:
  • so that you will be a blessing
  • so that by you all the peoples on the earth will be blessed.

• All of this underscores the main point of this chapter: that by narrowing his concern to Abraham, God is not turning his back on all others.
  • God’s election of Abraham is not a parochial dismissal of his former cosmic concern.
  • It must be remembered that the God who calls Abraham is the God who has called the creation into existence and who has called all humankind to reflect his character and steward his creation.
  • That sovereign kingly call is not being surrendered here.
    • Rather, the relation between God and all the families of the earth will now depend on Abraham and his descendants, his seed, mediating the blessings of the covenant to all.
  • God calls Abraham and his descendants to serve the well-being of all, by being the people of God, by being the kind of community that all men are called to be by their Creator.’