Ver. 1. Now the Lord had said to Abram.] But was not this to command him to do that which was against nature? No, but only against corrupt nature, which must be denied, and mortified, or there is no heaven to be had. Father and friends must be hated (that is, not loved, as “Esau have I hated”), where they hang in our light, or stand in our way to keep us from Christ. (Matthew 10:37) Get thee out of thy country.] This is a hard saying to flesh and blood; for, Nescio qua natale solum,& c. But hard or not hard, it must be done, because God bids it; and difficulty, in such a case, doth but whet on heroic spirits, making them the more eager and resolute. It pleased David well to be set to fetch a hundred foreskins of the Philistines. God’s kingdom must be taken by violence. It is but a delicacy to dream of coming there in a featherbed. Too many, with Joseph, dream of their preferment, but not of their imprisonment. He that will be Christ’s disciple here, and co-heir hereafter, must deny himself; that is an indispensable duty. Abram was old-excellent at it. And from thy kindred, and father’s house.] Who set out fair with Abram—as did likewise Orphah with Ruth—but settled in Haran, which was also in Chaldea, not far from Ur, and would go no farther, after the old man’s death. There they had feathered their nests, gathered substance, and got souls, that is servants; (Genesis 12:4) and, therefore, there they would set up their staff, and afterwards turned again to idolatry. (Genesis 31:30,53 Joshua 24:2) Many follow God as Samson did his parents, till he light upon a honeycomb; or as a dog doth his master, till he meet with carrion; and then turn him up. Demas forsook God, and embracing this present world, became afterwards a priest in an idol-temple, as Dorotheus tells us. Unto a land that I will show thee.] Yet told him not whither, till he was upon the way, but “called him to his foot,” (Isaiah 41:2) that is, to follow him, and his direction. Magnus est animus qui se Deo tradidit, saith Seneca. Eundum quocunque Deus vocarit, saith another, etiamsi in ea loca migrandum esset — “ Pigris ubi nulla campis Arbor aestiva recreatur aura: Quod latus mundi nebulae malusque Iupiter urget.”
Ver. 2. And I will make of thee a great nation.] Why then should the scornful Jews call us nations or Gentiles in contempt? yea, heathen bastards, heathen dogs, as they do at this day? Surely, either themselves are of this great Goi or nation here mentioned, or else they have not Abraham to their father; choose them which. I will bless thee.] As a father his children, with all spiritual comforts, (Ephesians 1:3) and earthly contentments; with the blessings of the right hand, and of the left; with “the upper and nether springs,” (Judges 1:15) as Caleb blessed his daughter Achsah. “He will give grace and glory,” and (if that be not enough) “no good thing will he withhold,” &c. (Psalms 84:11) Hence Moses cries out, “Happy art thou O Israel; who is like unto thee!” &c. (Deuteronomy 33:29) And make thy name great.] A great name then is a great blessing. So David took it. (2 Samuel 7:9) And it was no small comfort to him, that whatever he did, pleased the people. Blessing and praise (or good name) is expressed by one and the same word in both Testaments. (Proverbs 27:21) Only (as it is in the same text) it then proves a blessing, when it is to a man “as the fining pot for silver, and furnace for gold,” when it melts us, and makes us better, when it works in us a care to walk worthy of the praise given us, to purge ourselves from all filth, that we may be as pure vessels, meet for the Master’s use, fit to be set upon the celestial shelf, as that martyr phrased it, “Since thou hast been precious in my sight, thou hast been honourable”. (Isaiah 43:4) Virtue is instead of a thousand coat-of-arms on shields. And thou shalt be a blessing.] That is, in a high degree blessed; or a common blessing to all, wherever thou comest, who shall fare the better for thee. Or, a public pattern of blessing (so some Hebrews expound it). Those that wish well to themselves, or others, shall pray God that Abram’s blessedness may befall them. The contrary hereunto is now befallen his unhappy posterity for their obstinacy. A curse they are become among the Gentiles, as was foretold them. (Zechariah 8:13) Sanctius, upon that text, tells us, that all over Turkey they have taken it up for a curse, -I would I might die a Jew, then; and, Let me be a Jew if I deceive thee. Pareus in Romans 11:25. See my True Treasur., p. 297. הכרב ευλογια Act. and Mon. Vir bonus est commune bonum. In execrationibus dicunt, Iudaeus sim si fallo.— Sanct.
Ver. 3. And I will bless them that bless thee.] Some there are that will curse those whom God blessed; but nothing so many as they that will rise up and call them blessed. These are expressed here in the plural number; those in the singular only. “For who is he that will harm you, if ye be followers of that which is good?” (1 Peter 3:13) But say there be some Balaams that would curse God’s Israel, (Numbers 23:2) or some Esaus that could wish them unblest again; yet God will turn Balaam’s curse into a blessing (which is reckoned as a great favour); and he will tell Esau (if not in his ear, yet in his conscience) that Jacob is blest, “and he shall be blest.” (Genesis 27:33) If Isaac, drawn aside by natural affection, would go about to reverse the blessing, God will cause him to “tremble very exceedingly,” and so overawe him that he shall not be able to do it. But see here (as in a mirror) the wonderful love of God to his children: so dear they are unto him, that he cannot but love all that love them, and bless those that bless them. They have a powerful speech in Spain, -He that wipes the child’s nose kisseth the mother’s cheek. Surely, as natural parents take the kindnesses and unkindnesses showed to their children as done to themselves, so doth God. And in thee shall all families, &c.] That is, “in thy seed,” as it is interpreted, Genesis 22:18. To wit, in Christ that shall take flesh of thee, as both Peter and Paul expound it, Acts 3:25 Ga 3:9,16. Hence Christ is called “the gift,” (John 4:10) and “the benefit,” (1 Timothy 6:2) by an excellency, “and the desire of all nations,” (Haggai 2:7) sent a purpose “to bless us, in turning every one of us from our iniquities”. (Acts 3:26)