In Thee Shall All Families of the Earth Be Blessed
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As you see from the meme, the title of this post is taken from Genesis 12:3. Here it is in context:
Genesis 12:1 ¶Now the LORD had said unto Abram, Get thee out of thy country, and from thy kindred, and from thy father’s house, unto a land that I will shew thee:
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:
3 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.
To whom was that promise made?
John Hagee, a prominent Christian Zionist pastor says of Genesis 12:2-3:
No pronouncement of scripture is clearer or more decisive. God smiles on the friends of the descendants of Abraham, and they enjoy heavenly favor. In contrast, God will answer every act of anti-Semitism with harsh and final judgment
Final Dawn Over Jerusalem, page 20
Pastor Hagee is applying those Scriptures to the Jews and the modern nation of Israel. But does the Word of God itself apply it that way? Absolutely not! That promise does not apply to the Jews / Israelis today! How do I know that? The Apostle Paul in Galatians chapter 3 clearly says the promise of God of Genesis 12:2,3 was made to Abraham and his Seed! That Seed is Christ and those in Christ, those who hold Jesus of Nazareth to be Christ!
Genesis 28:14 adds additional insites.
Genesis 28:14 And thy seed shall be as the dust of the earth, and thou shalt spread abroad to the west, and to the east, and to the north, and to the south: and in thee and in thy seed (singular) shall all the families of the earth be blessed.
And the Apostle Paul in Galatians chapter 3 makes it abundantly clear to whom these promises are referring to.
Galatians 3:16 Now to Abraham and his seed were the promises made. He saith not, And to seeds, as of many (plural); but as of one (singular), And to thy seed, which is Christ.
The King James Version of the Bible uses the archaic form of you, the word “thee” and its possessive form “thy” which is singular. And it also uses the word “you” which, when you see it in the KJV, you should know it’s always plural. And it uses grammatical forms of you we don’t have today such as “ye” which is plural. A great example of this is John 3:7.
John 3:7 Marvel not that I said unto thee, Ye must be born again.
The “thee” of John 3:7 was the person who Jesus was talking to, Nicodemus, and the “ye” is everybody else, us, the people of the world.
The NIV translation is John 3:7 is
You should not be surprised at my saying, ‘You must be born again.’
The NIV is not as clear as the KJV when it uses the word “you” in John 3:7. The KJV is true to the original Greek which uses both the singular and plural form of the Greek word for you in John 3:7.
Why I am talking about English grammar in this Bible study? Because the key to understanding Genesis 12:3 and Genesis 28:14 is to know the words “thee” and “thy” are referring to Abraham and his seed singular, not plural.
Genesis 12:3 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.
God today blesses those who bless Abraham’s seed.
Genesis 28:14 And thy seed shall be as the dust of the earth, and thou shalt spread abroad to the west, and to the east, and to the north, and to the south: …d
Genesis 28:14 clearly is applicable to the Gentiles who have received Christ as their Lord.
Galatians 3:29 And if ye be Christ’s, then are ye Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the promise.
Combining Genesis 12:3 with what the Apostle Paul teaches in the Book of Galatians, we can clearly see God’s promise to Abraham refers to people who bless Christ and Christians, those who acknowledge that Jesus of Nazareth is the Christ, the Messiah! And all the families of the earth who have received Jesus of Nazareth as the Christ, the Messiah, have been blessed. It’s not at all talking about blessing the Jews or the modern nation of Israel. In fact, the Bible doesn’t even call them Jews!
Romans 2:28 For he is not a Jew, which is one outwardly; neither is that circumcision, which is outward in the flesh:
29 But he is a Jew, which is one inwardly; and circumcision is that of the heart, in the spirit, and not in the letter; whose praise is not of men, but of God.
In other words, only those in Christ are Jews in God’s eyes!
Should we bless the Jews who do not believe in Jesus of Nazareth as their Messiah? We should rather pray for them! Pray that their eyes be opened to the light of the Gospel of Christ!
Just the other day I had a wonderful conversation with a lady who calls herself Jewish. She was born in Israel and raised in Guam. She went to both a synagogue and a Christian school. I shared the Gospel with her and she listened.
I hope you see why it is important to read from a Bible translation such as the KJV that makes a difference between the singular and the plural. Most languages of Europe still use different words to denote a singular and a plural you. I know Russian does, and therefore probably all the Slavic languages, and I know Spanish does, and therefore probably all the Romance languages do. I don’t know about the Germanic languages because I haven’t studied them as I have Spanish and Russian. I heard that English dropped the singular words, “thee”, “thou”, “thy” and “thine” because they can be used in a condescending way. This is true of other European languages as well, but the singular form of the word you still remains part of their modern-day language.
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