Genesis 22:18 - Printer Friendly

ESV: and in your offspring shall all the nations of the earth be blessed, because you have obeyed my voice."

NIV: and through your offspring all nations on earth will be blessed, because you have obeyed me."

NASB: And in your seed all the nations of the earth shall be blessed, because you have obeyed My voice.'

CSB: And all the nations of the earth will be blessed by your offspring because you have obeyed my command."

NLT: And through your descendants all the nations of the earth will be blessed — all because you have obeyed me.'

KJV: And in thy seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed; because thou hast obeyed my voice.

NKJV: In your seed all the nations of the earth shall be blessed, because you have obeyed My voice.”

In the previous verses, the Lord declared that He had sworn "by Himself" to do for Abraham several very specific things. Those included blessing Abraham, multiplying his offspring enormously, and giving his offspring victory over their enemies.

Now the Lord adds one more promise that applies to everyone who might read these words. The Lord says that in Abraham's offspring, all the nations of the earth will be blessed. This promise, too, is repeated from previous interactions with the Lord (Genesis 12:3; 18:18), with the addition that this blessing on the peoples of the earth will come through Abraham's descendants and not merely through him.

How will this happen? Most significantly, the offspring of Abraham will lead through Isaac to Jacob and down through history to Jesus Himself. All the peoples of the earth have the opportunity to be saved from sin and included in God's family through faith in Abraham's offspring Jesus (Galatians 3:7).

This verse concludes that the Lord will do all of these things because Abraham has obeyed the Lord's voice. It's interesting that the Lord made all of these promises to Abraham without any condition in earlier encounters. Then, the promises were given merely because God wanted to give them. Now, Abraham's obedience is included as a reason for these gifts from the Lord.

It's beautiful circle. The gifts are given unconditionally by the grace of God. The receiver of the gift recognizes God's goodness and obeys God's commands. God now cites the receiver's obedience as reason to give the gifts He would have given, anyway.

Genesis 22:1–19 takes place over the course of a few days, when Isaac is perhaps a teenager. God commands Abraham to sacrifice his beloved son as a burnt offering. Abraham sets out to obey without hesitation, acting in complete trust that God, somehow, will make all things right. Abraham stops the sacrifice only when the Lord intervenes. For his deep trust and obedience, the Lord renews and emphasizes His blessing on Abraham and his offspring, as well as promising to bless all nations through Abraham's descendants.

In a test of Abraham's faith and obedience, God commands Abraham to do a terrible thing: kill and offer his son Isaac, whom he loves, as a burnt offering. Abraham sets out to obey without hesitation, having finally learned to trust God's goodness over his own misunderstandings. Instead of allowing the boy to be sacrificed, the Lord calls out to Abraham moments before he kills Isaac, laying bound on an altar. Because of Abraham's obedience, God renews and emphasizes His promises of blessing, multiplied offspring, and victory over future enemies.

In the previous chapter, the long-promised Isaac was finally born to Sarah and Abraham, while Abraham's other beloved son, Ishmael, was sent away to be cared for by God apart from them. Now God tests Abraham's faith and obedience by commanding him to offer his precious son Isaac as a burnt offering. Abraham sets out to obey without hesitation, stopping only when the Lord cries out to him. For Abraham's obedience, God renews and emphasizes the blessing on him and his offspring. This marks the beginning of the end of Abraham's story, as the book of Genesis transitions to focus on Isaac and his descendants.

The book of Genesis establishes fundamental truths about God. Among these are His role as the Creator, His holiness, His hatred of sin, His love for mankind, and His willingness to provide for our redemption. We learn not only where mankind has come from, but why the world is in its present form. The book also presents the establishment of Israel, God's chosen people. Many of the principles given in other parts of Scripture depend on the basic ideas presented here in the book of Genesis. Within the framework of the Bible, Genesis explains the bare-bones history of the universe leading up to the captivity of Israel in Egypt, setting the stage for the book of Exodus.