Avraham the father of many nations

There are a number of Scriptures which caught my attention as I was reading Parsha Lech Lecha.

Bereshit {13:14} HaShem said to Avram, after Lot was separated from him, "Now, lift up your eyes, and look from the place where you are, northward and southward and eastward and westward, {13:15} for all the land which you see, I will give to you, and to your offspring forever. {13:16} I will make your offspring as the dust of the earth, so that if an ish (man) can number the dust of the earth, then your seed may also be numbered.

Bereshit {15:4} Behold, the word of HaShem came to him, saying, "This ish will not be your heir, but he who will come forth out of your own body will be your heir." {15:5} HaShem brought him outside, and said, "Look now toward the sky, and count the stars, if you are able to count them." He said to Avram, "So shall your seed be." {15:6} He trusted in HaShem; and he reckoned it to him for tz'dakeh (rightousness).

Bereshit {16:10} The angel of HaSHEM said to her, "I will greatly multiply your seed, that they will not be numbered for multitude."

Bereshit {17:3} Avram fell on his face. G-D talked with him, saying, {17:4} "As for me, behold, my Brit is with you. You will be the 'ab of a multitude of nations. {17:5} Neither will your name any more be called Avram, but your name will be Avraham; for the 'ab of a multitude of nations have I made you. {17:6} I will make you exceeding fruitful, and I will make nations of you. Kings will come out of you.

Bereshit {17:15} G-D said to Avraham, "As for Sarai your wife, you shall not call her name Sarai, but her name will be Sarah. {17:16} I will bless her, and moreover I will give you a son by her. Yes, I will bless her, and she will be a 'em of nations. Kings of peoples will come from her."

Bereshit {17:20} As for Ishmael, I have heard you. Behold, I have blessed him, and will make him fruitful, and will multiply him exceedingly. He will become the 'ab of twelve princes, and I will make him a great nation.

What is it that ties these six passages together? In order for us to determine this, let us look at them one at a time. In the first passage HaShem promised to make Avram's descendants as plentiful as the dust of the earth. Now although HaShem did vastly increase Yisrael (Israel) I find no evidence in Scripture where He actually increased them to that extent. Yes Moshe (Moses) said that HaShem had multiplied the children into a mighty nation, however even to this day Jewish people number perhaps only 14-15 million people, hardly the equivalent of the all the dust of the earth.

In the next Scripture HaShem reaffirms His promise to Avram. His descendants we are told this time, will be as numerous as the stars in the sky. Have you ever tried to count the stars? It is an impossible task because we cannot even see them all with the naked eye therefore it is impossible to count them all.

It is with the next Scripture reference that it gets interesting. Read Bereshit 16:10 again.

Bereshit {16:10} The angel of HaSHEM said to her, "I will greatly multiply your seed, that they will not be numbered for multitude."

Here HaShem is making an almost identical promise to Hagar, the Mitzrayim (Egyptian) handmaiden of Sarai, that He made to Avram. How could HaShem do this, or even make this promise if as we know, it is through Yitzchak (Isaak) and not Yishmael (Ishmael) that Abram's posterity will come? The answer is revealed to us in the next three Scriptures. Let us read them again:

Bereshit {17:3} Avram fell on his face. G-D talked with him, saying, {17:4} "As for me, behold, my Brit is with you. You will be the 'ab of a multitude of nations. {17:5} Neither will your name any more be called Avram, but your name will be Avraham; for the 'ab of a multitude of nations have I made you. {17:6} I will make you exceeding fruitful, and I will make nations of you. Kings will come out of you.

Bereshit {17:15} G-D said to Avraham, "As for Sarai your wife, you shall not call her name Sarai, but her name will be Sarah. {17:16} I will bless her, and moreover I will give you a son by her. Yes, I will bless her, and she will be a 'em (mother) of nations. Kings of peoples will come from her."

Bereshit {17:20} As for Ishmael, I have heard you. Behold, I have blessed him, and will make him fruitful, and will multiply him exceedingly. He will become the 'ab of twelve princes, and I will make him a great nation.

First of all HaShem changes Avram's name from Avram (exalted father) to Avraham (father of many), but then He tells him that from him will come many nations. What is noteworthy is that in the next Scripture reference I have given above HaShem changes Sarai's name (mockery) to Sarah (princess) and makes the exact same promise to her as He made to Avraham. Only she will be the mother of many nations.

Here is where it gets interesting. Read the last Scripture reference, Bereshit 17.20. Can you noticed any difference between the promise HaShem made to Avraham and Sarah and the promise He made about Yishmael? To Avraham and Sarah HaShem promised that through them would come nations but through Yishmael only one nation.

You might be saying that G-d has been proven wrong. Yisrael, the descendants of Avraham are only one nation while the Arab nations, descendants of Yishmael are many nations and you would be right in your observation. However is that really the case? The answer of course is no! "Let G-d be right and every man a liar" Romim / Romans 3:4

Efesim/Ephesians {2:11} Wherefore remember, that ye being in time past Gentiles in the flesh, who are called Uncircumcision by that which is called the Circumcision in the flesh made by hands; {2:12} That at that time you were without Mashiach, being aliens from the commonwealth of Yisrael, and strangers from the covenants of promise, having no hope, and without G-d in the world:

From what Rav Shaul is telling us here we understand that every person who puts their faith in the G-d of Yisrael becomes part of the commonwealth of Yisrael. Some people interpret this phenomenon Shaul is describing as Gentiles becoming spiritual Yisrael as opposed to physical Yisrael. This is a form of replacement theology and it is not in keeping with the understanding of the passage. There is only one Yisrael and as believers in Mashiach we are Yisrael, that is both Jewish believers and non-Jewish believers who have become one in Yeshua HaMashiach. We are the true remnant of Yisrael, although the secular world may not acknowledge it. Remember however there will come a time when all the Jewish people left on the earth after the tribulation will come to faith in Mashiach Yeshua and thus also form part of Yisrael.

Galitim/Galatians {3:7} Know ye therefore that they which are of faith, the same are the children of Avraham.

As Rav Shaul said we are all descendants of Avraham through the blood of Mashiach. Seeing therefore that believers in Yeshua HaMashiach are found in every nation of the earth, the promise HaShem made to Avraham and Sarah, them being one flesh, is in the process of being fulfilled. The fullness of the fulfillment of this promise will be ultimately be achieved during the millennial reign of Mashiach when the whole earth will be one in Mashiach Yeshua and they will all be children of Avraham.

Maranatha Adonienu!!! Even so come quickly Lord Yeshua!

Rabbi Jack "Yaacov" Farber is the spiritual leader of Congregation Melech Yisrael in Toronto, Canada.

Copyright 2004