Genesis 13:14-18 comments: to thy seed for ever

Genesis 13:14 ¶  And the LORD said unto Abram, after that Lot was separated from him, Lift up now thine eyes, and look from the place where thou art northward, and southward, and eastward, and westward: 15  For all the land which thou seest, to thee will I give it, and to thy seed for ever. 16  And I will make thy seed as the dust of the earth: so that if a man can number the dust of the earth, then shall thy seed also be numbered. 17  Arise, walk through the land in the length of it and in the breadth of it; for I will give it unto thee. 18  Then Abram removed his tent, and came and dwelt in the plain of Mamre, which is in Hebron, and built there an altar unto the LORD.

Abram is the physical progenitor of the Jewish people, the Arab, and others as well as the spiritual ancestor of all Christians and he and his seed were promised a dwelling place on earth.

15  For all the land which thou seest, to thee will I give it, and to thy seed for ever.

God states that eventually Abram’s descendants will be innumerable and not able to be counted. The question asks itself whether or not this is referring to only Abram’s seed by the promise of descendants through a barren Sarai or does this include any and all of his descendants, his seed?

This is a physical promise of physical territory, land. This is a grant, a promise, and a covenant of land given to the descendants of a man who has pleased his Creator. This will become an important issue in a few chapters, one we must sort out to understand God’s future plans. The Bible leaves no question who receives this physical promise.

Genesis 25:5 And Abraham gave all that he had unto Isaac.

            However, before we get into a shouting match about whose land is whose let us also consider that Paul said this promise was from God through Abraham to Christ who will return to claim it all at the end of human-centered history.

Galatians 3:16  Now to Abraham and his seed were the promises made. He saith not, And to seeds, as of many; but as of one, And to thy seed, which is Christ.

            So, we have two applications to this passage; a physical, literal one where the land grant is made through Abraham to Isaac and his descendants, the Jews. It was a promise to them specifically as it narrowed down in time, and a spiritual application to the Jewish and Christian Messiah to come who would then claim and rule the earth from that territory.

Again, Abram builds an altar to the Lord.