Genesis 12:3

BLESSING RECEIVED AND IMPARTED

‘And I will bless them that bless thee, and curse him that curseth thee; and in thee shall all families of the earth be blessed.’

Genesis 12:3

I. A double stream of narrative runs through the first four books of the Pentateuch.—One of these may be called the Priestly narrative—the other, the Prophetical narrative. The text sets before us one of the characteristic features of the Prophetical narrative—that consciousness of the ideal destiny of Israel which developed afterwards into the definite hope commonly called Messianic. Unfettered by the political and material limitations of his age, the narrator discerns in dim outline the far-off goal of Israel’s history, and enables his reader to discern it with him. We have first the familiar Protevangelion of the third chapter, where hope already steps in to alleviate the effects of the Fall. Then comes the blessing given to Shem, and then the promise of our text.

II. What is the source of this conception of the ideal destiny of Israel which dominates so many points of the Old Testament? Israel was the people of Jehovah. They knew that the God of heaven and earth had really become their God, and had separated them to Himself as a peculiar people. Israel is the people of God: here is the fruitful germ of their whole future. The earliest records of the Old Testament are inspired by the consciousness of a noble ideal, which, so far from proving itself an illusion, was more or less completely realised. We may notice some of the more salient aspects of its development: (a) The establishment of the monarchy forms an epoch in Israelitish history. The monarchy created in Israel a sense of unity, and gave a new impulse to national feeling. (b) The great prophets amplify in different directions the thought of Israel’s ideal future. (c) In the great prophecy of Israel’s restoration, which occupies the last twenty-seven Chapter s of Isaiah, we find the nation no longer viewed as an aggregate of isolated members, but grasped as a whole, dramatised as an individual, who stands before us realising in his own person his people’s purposes and aims. In his work as prophet he endures contumely and opposition, and though innocent himself, he sacrifices his life for others. Such is the personality upon whom, in the mind of Isaiah, the future alike of Israel and the world depends. In Christ as King and Christ as Prophet, the Founder and Head of a new social state, the hope of Israel, which but for His advent had been as an illusion or a dream, finds its consummation and its reward.

Rev. Canon Driver.

Illustration

‘Whoever would be “a blessing,” must always be thinking more of what he is to receive than what he is to impart. It is the filling of the vessel, and not the pouring out of it, which is the most important part. The water is sure to run, if the vessel is full enough. Therefore it stands first, “I will bless thee”; and then, “Thou shalt be a blessing.”

Therefore, whoever would be “a blessing” must be, as Abraham was, a man of faith, and a man of great prayer. He must live close to God, and separate from the world. He must grapple with God in earnest communion every day. He must go up much to the fountains of things. He must not be contented without taking in the mind of God. He must be a man whose converse is always of the unseen, the eternal, and the real.

And there is no blessing in anything which is not loving. Loving humility, loving intercession, loving faithfulness, loving labours, loving controversies, loving patience, loving self-denial, loving judgments of every man, loving looks, loving hands, loving thoughts. It is love that does the work.

Therefore go about lovingly. Feeling, “Oh! how has God loved me; that He ever thought of me! that He ever chose me! that He ever used me! How, at this moment, God is loving that soul to which I am speaking. O God, make me love like Thee! Steep me in love!”

If thus you go along the path of life, the words will go to you, “Thou shalt be a blessing.” ’