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| Of the Third Promise of God, by Which He Assured the Land of Canaan to Abraham and His Seed in Perpetuity.
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Chapter 21.—Of the Third Promise
of God, by Which He Assured the Land of Canaan to Abraham and His
Seed in Perpetuity.
Now, when Abraham and Lot had
separated, and dwelt apart, owing to the necessity of supporting
their families, and not to vile discord, and Abraham was in the
land of Canaan, but Lot in Sodom, the Lord said to Abraham in a
third oracle, “Lift up thine eyes, and look from the place where
thou now art, to the north, and to Africa, and to the east, and to
the sea; for all the land which thou seest, to thee will I give it,
and to thy seed for ever. And I will make thy seed as the dust of
the earth: if any one can number the dust of the earth, thy seed
shall also be numbered. Arise, and walk through the land, in the
length of it, and in the breadth of it; for unto thee will I give
it.”906
It does
not clearly appear whether in this promise that also is contained
by which he is made the father of all nations. For the clause,
“And I will make thy seed as the dust of the earth,” may seem
to refer to this, being spoken by that figure the Greeks call
hyperbole, which indeed is figurative, not literal. But no person
of understanding can doubt in what manner the Scripture uses this
and other figures. For that figure (that is, way of speaking) is
used when what is said is far larger than what is meant by it; for
who does not see how incomparably larger the number of the dust
must be than that of all men can be from Adam himself down to the
end of the world? How much greater, then, must it be than the
seed of Abraham,—not only that pertaining to the nation of
Israel, but also that which is and shall be according to the
imitation of faith in all nations of the whole wide world! For
that seed is indeed very small in comparison with the multitude of
the wicked, although even those few of themselves make an
innumerable multitude, which by a hyperbole is compared to the dust
of the earth. Truly that multitude which was promised to Abraham
is not innumerable to God, although to man; but to God not even the
dust of the earth is so. Further, the promise here made may be
understood not only of the nation of Israel, but of the whole seed
of Abraham, which may be fitly compared to the dust for
multitude, because regarding it also there is the
promise907
| 907 Various reading, “the express
promise.” | of many
children, not according to the flesh, but according to the
spirit. But we have therefore said that this does not clearly
appear, because the multitude even of that one nation, which was
born according to the flesh of Abraham through his grandson Jacob,
has increased so much as to fill almost all parts of the world.
Consequently, even it might by hyperbole be compared to the dust
for multitude, because even it alone is innumerable by man.
Certainly no one questions that only that land is meant which is
called Canaan. But that saying, “To thee will I give it, and to
thy seed for ever,” may move some, if by “for ever” they
understand “to eternity.” But if in this passage they take
“for ever” thus, as we firmly hold it means that the beginning
of the world to come is to be ordered from the end of the present,
there is still no difficulty, because, although the Israelites are
expelled from Jerusalem, they still remain in other cities in the
land of Canaan, and shall remain even to the end; and when that
whole land is inhabited by Christians, they also are the very seed
of Abraham.E.C.F. INDEX & SEARCH
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