very appropriate occasion, even that on which, by his endurance of the
greatest trial, and by his willingness to sacrifice to God even what
was dearest to him, he had proved himself a worthy heir of it. It is
certainly not a matter of mere accident that this promise is just three
times given to Abraham. There is in this a correspondence with the
three individuals to whom the same promise is addressed. Abraham,
however, as the first of them, and as the father of the faithful, could
not be put on the same footing with the others. Instead of "in thee,"
or "by thee" ([Hebrew: bK]), we read in xxii. 18, "in" or "by thy seed"
([Hebrew: bzreK]). The same promise is confirmed to Isaac in chap.
xxvi. 14, and it is transferred to Jacob in chap. xxviii. 14. But
while, in the first and second passages, it is said, "by thee," and in
the third and fourth, "by thy seed," we read, in the passage last
mentioned, "by thee and thy seed." This evidently shows that, in those
passages where we find "by thee" standing alone, we are not at liberty
to explain it as meaning simply: "by thy seed." It is not only the seed
of Abraham, but Abraham himself also, who is to be the medium of
blessing to the nations, as the foundation-stone of the large building
of the Church of God, as the father of our Lord Jesus Christ according
to the flesh, and as the father of all believers.

There is a deep reason for the fact that, wherever the posterity [Pg
54] of the Patriarchs are spoken of as the instruments of blessing, the
singular is always used. This circumstance is pointed out by Paul in
Gal. iii. 16. The Apostle does not in the least think of maintaining
that, by [Hebrew: zre] "seed," only a single individual could be
signified. Such an opinion, no one who understood Hebrew could for a
moment entertain; and Rom. iv. 13 shows that Paul was indeed very far
from doing so. The further development of the promise (which took place
within the limits of Genesis itself, in chap. xlix. 10), as well as its
fulfilment (it is, indeed, with reference to the promise now under
consideration that the lineal descent of Christ from Abraham is
established at the commencement of Matthew's Gospel), showed that the
real cause of the salvation bestowed upon the Gentiles was not the seed
of Abraham as a whole, but one from among them, or rather He, in whom
this whole posterity was comprehended and concentrated. Now, all to
which Paul intends to draw our attention is the fact,