Genesis 28:14

Gen 28:14 And thy seed shall be as the dust of the earth, and thou shalt spread abroad to the west, and to the east, and to the north, and to the south: and in thee and in thy seed shall all the families of the earth be blessed.

Ver. 14, 15. And thy seed shall be as the dust.] Against his fourfold cross, here is a fourfold comfort, as Pererius well observeth, a plaster as broad as the sore, and sovereign for it. (1.) Against the loss of his friends, "I will be with thee": (2.) Of his country; "I will give thee this land": (3.) Against his poverty; "Thou shalt spread abroad, to the east, west," &c. (4.) His solitariness and aloneness; angels shall attend thee, and "thy seed shall be as the dust," &c. And "who can count the dust of Jacob?" {Num 23:10} saith Balaam, that spellman of the devil, as one calls him. Whereunto we may add that which surpasseth and comprehendeth all the rest; "In thee, and thy seed, shall all the families of the earth be blessed." Now whatsoever God spake here with Jacob, he spake with us, as well as with him, saith Hosea. {Hos 12:4}

John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Gen 28:14. In thy seed shall the families of the earth be blessed — All that are blessed, whatever family they are of, are blessed in Christ, and none of any family are excluded from blessedness in him, but those that exclude themselves.

Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

28:14 Jacob inherited Abraham’s entire covenant (see 22:17), which confirmed Isaac’s blessing (28:3-4) and stipulated a temporary exile (28:15; see 15:12-16).

Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Verse 14. Thy seed shall be as the dust] The people that shall descend from thee shall be extremely numerous, and in thee and thy seed-the Lord JESUS descending from thee, according to the flesh, shall all the families of the earth - not only all of thy race, but all the other families or tribes of mankind which have not proceeded from any branch of the Abrahamic family, be blessed; for Jesus Christ by the grace of God tasted death FOR EVERY MAN, Heb 2:9.

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

14. And thy seed shall be as the dust of the earth. The sum of the whole is this, Whatever the Lord had promised to Abraham, Jacob transmitted to his sons. Meanwhile it behoved the holy man, in reliance on this divine testimony, to hope against hope; for though the promise was vast and magnificent, yet, wherever Jacob turned himself, no ray of good hope shone upon him. He saw himself a solitary man; no condition better than that of exile presented itself; his return was uncertain and full of danger; but it was profitable for him to be thus left destitute of all means of help, that he might learn to depend on the word of God alone. Thus, at the present time, if God freely promises to give us all things, and yet seems to approach us empty-handed, it is still proper that we should pay such honor and reverence to his word, that we may be enriched and filled with faith. At length, indeed, after the death of Jacob, the event declared how efficacious had been this promise: by which example we are taught that the Lord by no means disappoints his people, even when he defers the granting of those good things which he has promised, till after their death.

And in thee, and in thy seed, shall all the families of the earth be blessed This clause has the greater weight, because in Jacob and in his seed the blessing is to be restored from which the whole human race had been cut off in their first parent. But what this expression means, I have explained above; namely, that Jacob will not only be an exemplar, or formula of blessing, but its fountain, cause, or foundation; for though a certain exquisite degree of happiness is often signified by an expression of this kind; yet, in many passages of Scripture, it means the same as to desire from any one his blessing, and to acknowledge it as his gift. Thus men are said to bless themselves in God, when they acknowledge him as the author of all good. So here God promises that in Jacob and his seed all nations shall bless themselves, because no happiness will ever be found except what proceeds from this source. That, however, which is peculiar to Christ, is without impropriety transferred to Jacob, in whose loins Christ then was. Therefore, inasmuch as Jacob, at that time, represented the person of Christ, it is said that all nations are to be blessed in him; but, seeing that the manifestation of a benefit so great depended on another, the expression in thy seed is immediately added in the way of explanation. That the word seed is a collective noun, forms no objection to this interpretation, (as I have elsewhere said,) for since all unbelievers deprive themselves of honor and of grace, and are thus accounted strangers; it is necessary to refer to the Head, in order that the unity of the seed may appear. Whoever will reverently ponder this, will easily see that, in this interpretation, which is that of Paul, there is nothing tortuous or constrained.

John Calvin's Commentaries (1540-1563) — public domain. Text from the Calvin Translation Society English edition (1840s-50s) via the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (ccel.org). Calvin's coverage is partial (roughly two-thirds of the Bible); uncommented books and verses are honest gaps, never fabricated. The 19th-century editor's footnotes and remarks are omitted so the notes are faithfully Calvin's own voice.

14. as the dust of the earth] Cf. Gen_13:16.

spread abroad] Heb. break forth. Cf. Gen_30:30, “increased,” 43, Exo_1:12.

to the west] Cf. Gen_13:14.

in thee … be blessed] See note on Gen_12:3.

The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

And thy seed shall be as the dust of the earth,.... Innumerable, see Gen 13:16,

and thou shalt spread abroad to the west; or "the sea", the Mediterranean sea, which was west of the land of Canaan:

and to the east, and to the north, and to the south; not of the whole world, but of the land of Canaan: the meaning is, that his posterity should be numerous, and break out and spread themselves like a flood of water, and reach to the utmost bounds of the land on all sides:

and in thee and in thy seed shall all the families of the earth be blessed; that is, in that eminent and principal seed that should spring from him, the Messiah, in whom some of all nations should, as they have been, be blessed with all spiritual blessings, as redemption, peace, pardon, justification, adoption, and eternal life; the same promise had been made to Abraham, was renewed to Isaac, and now confirmed to Jacob, see Gen 22:18.

John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

i.e. The nations of the earth, as that word is used.

Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

14. Thy seed shall be as the dust — Comp. Gen_12:2-3; Gen_13:16; Gen_18:18; Gen_22:17-18.

Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

And thy seed shall be as the dust of the earth, promised to Abraham, Gen_13:16; to Isaac, under a different emblem, Gen 26:4and thou shalt spread abroad (literally, break forth) to the west, and to the east, to the north, and to the south: (cf. Gen_13:14; Deu_12:20) In its ultimate significance this points to the world-wide universality of the kingdom of Christ (Murphy) and in thee and in thy seed shall all the families of the earth be blessed; (vide Gen_12:3 Gen_18:18 Gen_22:18) (Abraham) 26:4 (Isaac).

The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

In thy seed shall all the families of the earth be blessed - Christ is the great blessing of the world: all that are blessed, whatever family they are of, are blessed in him, and none of any family are excluded from blessedness in him, but those that exclude themselves.

John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.

General Information:

God continues to talk to Jacob in a dream.

Your descendants will be like the dust of the earth

God compares Jacob's descendants to the dust of the earth to emphasize their huge number. AT: "You will have more descendants than you can count" (See: Simile)

you will spread far out to the west

The word "you" is singular and refers to Jacob. Here Jacob represents his descendants. AT: "your descendants will spread out to the west" (See: Metonymy)

you will spread far out

This means the people will extend the borders of their land and occupy more territory.

to the west, to the east, to the north, and to the south

This phrases are used together to mean "all directions." AT: "in all directions" (See: Synecdoche)

Through you and through your descendants will all the families of the earth be blessed

This can be stated in active form. AT: "I will bless all families on the earth through you and your descendants" (See: Active or Passive)

Behold, I am

"Pay attention, because what I am about to say is both true and important: I am"

for I will not leave you. I will do all

"for I will not leave you until I have done all"

I will keep you

"I will keep you safe" or "I will protect you"

I will bring you into this land again

"I will bring you back to this land"

translationWords

descend

bless

promise

unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.

ופרצת means AND THOU SHALT BECOME STRONG, like (Exodus 1:12) “the more they became strong".

Rashi on the Tanakh — English translations: “The Judaica Press complete Tanach with Rashi, translated by A. J. Rosenberg” (CC BY 4.0); “Pentateuch with Rashi's commentary by M. Rosenbaum and A.M. Silbermann, 1929-1934” (public domain); “The Metsudah Tanach series, Lakewood, N.J” (CC BY 4.0); and “The Book of Joshua, Metsudah Publications, 1997” (CC BY 4.0). Text via Sefaria.

והיה...ופרצת, you and your descendants.

ונברכו בך, on your account and on account of your descendants all the families of the earth will experience Divine blessings. The reason for this is that He who performs G’d’s commandments and thereby acknowledges His existence and power, deserves that the world exist on his account. Everyone else who is alive and well on earth therefore owes his well being to the Jews keeping the Torah.

Radak on the Tanakh — English translations: “Sefaria Community Translation” (CC0 1.0 (public-domain dedication)); “Eliyahu Munk, HaChut Hameshulash” (CC BY 4.0); “Rabbi Mike Feuer, Jerusalem Anthology” (CC BY 4.0); and “R. David Kimhi on the first book of Psalms, Translated by R.G. Finch, London, 1919” (public domain). Text via Sefaria.