The Promise Expanded – Genesis 12:1-3

In Genesis 3:15 Yahweh promises that a seed or offspring of the woman will strike the head of the serpent and restore the kingdom of God on earth.  Every child born could be the one who fulfills this promise.  But Genesis 9 tells us that this offspring will come through the line of Shem, in whose tents Japheth and Ham will dwell.  Now a further narrowing of the line comes with Abraham, through whom all nations of the earth will be blessed.

[1] Now the LORD said 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.” (Genesis 12:1–3, ESV)

Whereas the people of Babel had sought security by making themselves great and staying together (chapter 10), God now promises to Abram to make his name great and make him a great nation in a land He will show him.  Abram must trust in Yahweh to be his security, to make him great.  He is one small family, asked to leave his country of origin and his greater family, and to risk everything on God’s promise.

God has scattered the nations and, it appears, has stopped dealing with them in a direct fashion.  He instead has chosen to deal with one nation directly, the nation to come through Abram, and use that nation to bless all the other nations.  This ultimate blessing to all nations, we know, will come through the person and work of Jesus the Messiah.  But along the way, those who bless Abram will be blessed and those who curse or dishonor him will be cursed.  We will see Abram and his offspring become the nexus around which the nations and their prosperity turns.

The promise begun in Genesis 3:15 is being given more definition, but the way of salvation is still, always has been, and always will be, faith in the promise of God.  With the coming of Messiah, the ultimate seed of the woman, the promise will find its climax, so that salvation will come by believing in Jesus.

Does the blessing of those who bless Abram mean that modern day Israel must be blessed in all it does?  No.  Nations should bless Israel by being for them instead of against them, but this does not mean that they should endorse everything Israel does.  Being a friend of a nation will at times mean challenging some of what they do that is not right (as, for example, Israel’s policy toward the original possessors of the land, the Palestinians) and help them to do better.  We will see the same approach played out in Abram’s life when he does some things not deserving of honor.