Abraham, blessing and the nations : a philological and exegetical study of Genesis 12:3 in its narrative context
The meaning of Genesis 12:3 is much controverted. This study, considering the final form of Genesis, argues that it is in the first place a promise of security and greatness to Abraham and Israel, but that in its context, following Genesis 1-11, it also indicates a divine plan to extend blessing to all the earth's peoples. In receiving God's blessing, Abraham/ Israel act as models and/ or pioneers of blessing for others. God's actions remain free, but also invite appropriate human response. Examination of the near-parallels to Genesis 12:3a in Genesis 27:29b and Numbers 24:9b shows that they are concerned more with the security of the person blessed than with the possibility of others gaining blessing. Detailed discussion of the Hebrew niphal concludes that it normally has either passive or 'middle' force (and is very rarely reflexive). No 'middle' sense found elsewhere for the niphal plausibly fits and hence the niphal in Genesis 12:3 (and 18:18 and 28:14) ispassive: analysis of these passages in their contexts supports this grammatical conclusion. The hithpael in general this study argues to be usually 'middle' in force, though sometimes passive and occasionally reflexive. The hithpael of V~[n2 when used
Gruneberg, Keith Nigel
Hebrew niphal; Old Testament
Abraham, blessing and the nations : a philological and exegetical study of Genesis 12:3 in its narrative context. The meaning of Genesis 12:3 is much controverted. This study, considering the final form of Genesis, argues that it is in the first place a promise of security and greatness to Abraham and Israel, but that in its context, following Genesis 1-11, it also indicates a divine plan to extend blessing to all the earth's peoples. In receiving God's blessing, Abraham/ Israel act as models and/ or pioneers of blessing for others. God's actions remain free, but also invite appropriate human response. Examination of the near-parallels to Genesis 12:3a in Genesis 27:29b and Numbers 24:9b shows that they are concerned more with the security of the person blessed than with the possibility of others gaining blessing. Detailed discussion of the Hebrew niphal concludes that it normally has either passive or 'middle' force (and is very rarely reflexive). No 'middle' sense found elsewhere for the niphal plausibly fits and hence the niphal in Genesis 12:3 (and 18:18 and 28:14) ispassive: analysis of these passages in their contexts supports this grammatical conclusion. The hithpael in general this study argues to be usually 'middle' in force, though sometimes passive and occasionally reflexive. The hithpael of V~[n2 when used
abraham bless nation philological exegetical_study genesis narrative context mean genesis much study consider final_form genesis argue first_place promise security abraham israel context follow genesis also_indicate divine plan extend bless earth people receive god blessing abraham israel act model and pioneer bless others god_action remain free also invite appropriate human response examination near parallels genesis genesis show concerned security person bless possibility others gain blessing detailed_discussion hebrew conclude normally either passive middle force rarely reflexive middle sense find elsewhere plausibly fit hence genesis analysis passage contexts support grammatical conclusion general study argue usually middle force though sometimes passive occasionally reflexive use