[ [1]] The object of this event, as pointed out by Calvin, viz., that God intended to give to all coming ages, in the person of Noah, a warning and an exhortation to temperance, would likewise be frustrated by this unwarrantable apology.
[ [2]] The reverse is the case with reference to Aram, which is essentially a lowland, while these critics would have us to believe that it means "highland." (Compare Baur on Amos, S. 229.)
[ [3]] Bochart remarks: "He cursed the guilty one in his own person, because the source and nourishment of evil is in man himself. But, rejoiced at Shem's piety, he rather blessed the Lord, because he knew that God is the Author of everything which is good."
[ [4]] With reference to the difference between these two names, compare the disquisitions in the author's "Genuineness of the Pent.," vol. i. p. 213 ff.
[ [5]] Our English authorized version translates the first clause of this verse thus: "And Leah said, A troop cometh,"—a rendering which cannot be objected to on etymological grounds, and which receives some support from Gen. xlix. 19. The ancient versions, however, are quite unanimous in assigning to the גד in בגד the signification of "fortune," "good luck;" and render it either: "in or for good luck;" "luckily," "happily" (so the LXX. et Vulg.), or, following Onkelos and the Mazorets: "good luck has come."—(Tr.)
[THE PROMISE TO THE PATRIARCHS.]
A great epoch is, in Genesis, ushered in with the history of the time of the Patriarchs. Luther says: "This is the third period in which Holy Scripture begins the history of the Church with a new family." In a befitting manner, the representation is opened in Gen. xii. 1-3 by an account of the first revelation of God, given to Abraham at Haran, in which the way is opened up for all that follows, and in which the dispensations of God are brought before us in a rapid survey. Abraham is to forsake everything, and then God will give him everything.
Gen. xii. 1. "And the Lord said unto Abraham, Get thee out of thy country, and from thy hone, and from thy father's house, into a land that I will show thee. Ver. 2. And I will make of thee a great nation, and I will bless thee, and make thy name great; and thou shalt be a blessing. Ver. 3. And I will bless them that bless thee, and him who curseth thee I will curse: and in thee all the families of the earth shall be blessed."
"Into a land that I will show thee." From what follows, it appears that, in the very same revelation, the country was afterwards more definitely pointed out; for Abraham, without having received any new revelation, goes to Canaan, For the sake of brevity, the writer gives the details only afterwards, when he has occasion to report how they were carried out. The land which God will show to Abraham, stands contrasted with that in which he is at home,—in which he and his whole being had taken root. This contrast points out the greatness of the sacrifice which God demands of Abraham. With a like intent we have the accumulation of expressions—"out of thy land," etc.—corresponding to a similar one when the command was given to sacrifice Isaac (Gen. xxii. 2), and forming the condition of the promise which follows. This promise is intended to make the sacrifice a light thing to Abraham, by pointing out what he is to receive if he give up everything which stands in the way of his living to God. A similar call comes to all who feel impelled to renounce the world in order to serve God. This call to Abraham is peculiar only as to its form; as to its essence, it is ever repeating itself. This will appear the more distinctly, when we inquire into the true reason of the outward separation here demanded of Abraham. It can be Intended only as a means of the internal separation. In the circle in which he lived, sin had already made a mighty progress, as appears from Josh. xxiv. 2,—a passage which shows us that idolatry had already made its way into the family of Abraham. In order to withdraw him from the influences of this corruption, Abraham is removed from the circle in which he had grown up, and in which he had hitherto moved. That the special thing here demanded is only the result of the general duty of renunciation and self-denial, which is here, in Abraham, laid upon the whole Church, appears from the circumstance, that the promise was renewed at a subsequent period, when, with a willing heart, he had offered up his son Isaac as a spiritual sacrifice to his God. The carnal, ungodly love to Isaac is thus placed on a level with the attachment to the land, etc., which came betwixt him and his God. The general idea, that self-renunciation lies at the foundation, is brought out in Psalm xlv. 11.
The words, "And thou shalt be a blessing," imply more than the words, "I will bless thee:" they are intentionally placed in the centre of the whole promise. Abraham shall, as it were, be an embodied blessing—himself blessed, and the cause of blessing to all those who bless him—to all the generations of the earth who shall, at some future period, enter into this loving and grateful relation to him. On the ground of Abraham's self-denial, and unreserved surrender, blessing is poured out upon him, blessing also on his account and through him. The blessing connected with him begins with himself, and extends over all the families of the earth.