Franz Julius
Delitzsch
Abraham's Seed - Blessing of the Nations
"In
Genesis 9:24-27 we read how Noah in spirit penetrated the
moral and fundamental character, and consequently the
future, of the three groups of peoples springing from
Canaan, Shem, and Japheth; and how he awards to Canaan the
curse of servitude, to Japheth far-reaching political power,
and to Shem a central religious significance which also
draws Japheth to him.
The God of salvation is the God of Shem; Shem is therefore
for himself and the nations a bearer of the revelation of
this God. According to this it is a Shemite whom God, after
Noah, entrusts with the second epoch-making mediatorship.
Abraham is chosen out of the midst of the nations to become
a mediator of the revelation of salvation, and the promise
of the salvation of the entire race is connected with him
and his seed as centre, and starting point: "And all the
kindreds of the earth shall bless themselves in thee and in
thy seed."
...The promise makes Abraham and his seed possessors of a
divine blessing, which is to become the end of the desire of
all nations, and at the same time also their possession.
Israel is the seed of Abraham (Isa 41:9), as the people who
mediate salvation (Isa 19:24, Zech 8:13); but this mediation
of salvation comes to its final completion in Christ, the
one descendant of Abraham, according to his calling as
mediator of a blessing, finds its consummation."
Franz Julius
Delitzsch "The Messianic Prophecies in Historical
Succession" Lectures delivered at the Institutum
Judaicum, (Minneapolis: Klock & Klock, 1887) pp. 43-45
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