God promised to make Abram’s (Abraham’s) descendants into a great nation (12:2). God fulfilled this promise in the birth of Isaac and then later Jacob, through whom the twelve tribes of Israel were born (Joseph’s sons Ephraim and Manasseh became two of the tribes). Abraham’s descendants did indeed become great nations. More importantly, however, God Promised Abraham that “in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed” (12:3). Through the birth of Christ—direct descendant of Abraham through Isaac, Jacob, and Judah—God fulfilled this promise as well. In this way Abraham’s “seed” has indeed blessed all the nations of the earth. Earl D. Radmacher, Ronald Barclay Allen, and H. Wayne House, The Nelson Study Bible: New King James Version (Nashville: T. Nelson Publishers, 1997), Ge 12:15.
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