Genesis 12:3

and I will bless, &c. The blessing which Abram receives from God is to be a source of good to his friends and of evil to his foes. Observe the delicacy with which the recipients of the blessing are expressed in the plural; but of the curse in the singular ("him that curseth will I curse"). It is assumed that his friends are numerous and his foes few.

curse Cf. Genesis 27:29, "Cursed be every one that curseth thee."

in thee shall all the families of the earth, &c. These words can be understood in two ways, according as the verb is rendered (a) passively, (b) reflexively. (a) "On account of thee the whole world shall be blessed." In Abram is impersonated a blessing that shall become universal. The directly Messianic application of this rendering is obvious. (b) "In thy name all the families of the earth will find the true formula of benediction." The blessing of Abram shall pass into a universal proverb. All will regard it as the best object of human wishes to participate in the happiness of Abram. The rendering would then be, "shall bless themselves." Cf. Genesis 48:20. This rendering is probably supported by Genesis 22:18; Genesis 26:4; Psalms 72:17. Like the alternative rendering, it admits of a Messianic application in the universal recognition of the place of Abram in the Divine scheme of Redemption.

In this passage, the thought which was faintly foreshadowed in the prediction of (1) the conflict between man and the power of evil in Genesis 3:15, and of (2) the privilege of the family of Shem in Genesis 9:26, becomes more definite in (3) the selection of the patriarchal family as the channel of universal blessing.

4b (P). and Abram was seventy and five years old Comparing this statement with Genesis 11:26, we gather Abram left Haran when Terah was 145 years old. In Genesis 11:32, Terah lived to an age of 205. If so, he lived for 60 years after Abram's departure. We should, however, naturally infer both from this verse, and from Genesis 11:32, that Terah died before Abram left Haran. We must conclude, either, that the text of the figures in Genesis 11:32 is erroneous, and should be 145; or, that Abram was born 60 years after Nahor and Haran (Genesis 11:26); or, that divergent strata of tradition have been incorporated in the narrative.

The connexion of the ancestry of Israel with the Aramaeans is elsewhere indicated in chap. 24, Genesis 28:1 to Genesis 32:2, and Deuteronomy 26:5.