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Now, when Abraham and Lot had separated, and dwelt apart, owing to
the necessity of supporting their families, and not to vile discord,
and Abraham was in the land of Canaan, but Lot in Sodom, the Lord
said to Abraham in a third oracle, "Lift up thine eyes, and look
from the place where thou now art, to the north, and to Africa, and
to the east, and to the sea; for all the land which thou seest, to
thee will I give it, and to thy seed for ever. And I will make thy
seed as the dust of the earth: if any one can number the dust of the
earth, thy seed shall also be numbered. Arise, and walk through the
land, in the length of it, and in the breadth of it; for unto thee
will I give it." It does not clearly appear whether in this promise
that also is contained by which he is made the father of all nations.
For the clause, "And I will make thy seed as the dust of the
earth," may seem to refer to this, being spoken by that figure the
Greeks call hyperbole, which indeed is figurative, not literal. But
no person of understanding can doubt in what manner the Scripture uses
this and other figures. For that figure (that is, way of speaking)
is used when what is said is far larger than what is meant by it; for
who does not see how incomparably larger the number of the dust must be
than that of all men can be from Adam himself down to the end of the
world?
How much greater, then, must it be than the seed of Abraham, not
only that pertaining to the nation of Israel, but also that which is
and shall be according to the imitation of faith in all nations of the
whole wide world!
For that seed is indeed very small in comparison with the multitude of
the wicked, although even those few of themselves make an innumerable
multitude, which by a hyperbole is compared to the dust of the earth.
Truly that multitude which was promised to Abraham is not innumerable
to God, although to man; but to God not even the dust of the earth
is so. Further, the promise here made may be understood not only of
the nation of Israel, but of the whole seed of Abraham, which may be
fitly compared to the dust for multitude, because regarding it also
there is the promise of many children, not according to the flesh, but
according to the spirit. But we have therefore said that this does not
clearly appear, because the multitude even of that one nation, which
was born according to the flesh of Abraham through his grandson
Jacob, has increased so much as to fill almost all parts of the
world. Consequently, even it might by hyperbole be compared to the
dust for multitude, because even it alone is innumerable by man.
Certainly no one questions that only that land is meant which is called
Canaan. But that saying, "To thee will I give it, and to thy
seed for ever," may move some, if by "for ever" they understand
"to eternity." But if in this passage they take "for ever" thus,
as we firmly hold it means that the beginning of the world to come is to
be ordered from the end of the present, there is still no difficulty,
because, although the Israelites are expelled from Jerusalem, they
still remain in other cities in the land of Canaan, and shall remain
even to the end; and when that whole land is inhabited by Christians,
they also are the very seed of Abraham.
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