As a side note, in verse 12, notice the
equivalence between the stars in the sky and the sand on the seashore.
Genesis 22:17
That in blessing I will bless thee, and in multiplying I will multiply
thy seed as the stars of the heaven, and as the sand which is upon the sea
shore; and thy seed shall possess the gate of his enemies;
Although we can never know this
number in this life scientists do approximate that there is a similar number of
both although many insist that there are more stars in the heavens than sand.
In any event, the point of this is not to engage in a scientific statement but
to underscore the concept of a lot of or
very many. This is done in other
places to signify a large amount.
Deuteronomy
28:62 And ye shall be left few in
number, whereas ye were as the stars of heaven for multitude; because thou
wouldest not obey the voice of the LORD thy God.
But if you insist that this does
refer to an exact number then you must also consider the possibility of
interpreting the Bible in such a way that in eternity the Jews, who some
commentators muse will inherit the physical earth while followers in Christ from
the church age will abide in the New Jerusalem, will reproduce fully populating
from their scant ten million roughly today on the earth to perhaps the entire
universe as Rebekah’s brother and mother prophesied a number in the billions
for them eventually. The following is more of a specific kind of number.
Genesis
24:60 And they blessed Rebekah, and said
unto her, Thou art our sister, be thou the mother of thousands of millions, and let thy seed possess the gate of those
which hate them.
Of course, this is
fun to just kick around mentally but the ultimate meaning of such a phrase is a
very large number or lots and lots of people. It doesn’t have to carry with it
an exact meaning.
On another side
note, look at verse 5.
5 By
faith Enoch was translated that he should not see death; and was not found,
because God had translated him: for before his translation he had this
testimony, that he pleased God.
The popular word, rapture, referring to the
removal of the church before the end is a belief of the early church as I have
noted elsewhere with numerous quotes of early church “fathers.” The Bible word
is translation as in the Medieval Relic Translation where the bones of a
saint were taken from one place to another. In verse 5 translation is mentioned
three times, which is significant in prophecy. But see my comments on
Revelation for more information on that.
Hebrews 11:32 ¶ And what shall I more say? for the time would
fail me to tell of Gedeon, and of Barak, and of Samson, and of
Jephthae; of David also, and Samuel, and of the prophets: 33 Who through faith subdued kingdoms, wrought
righteousness, obtained promises, stopped the mouths of lions, 34 Quenched the violence of fire, escaped the
edge of the sword, out of weakness were made strong, waxed valiant in fight,
turned to flight the armies of the aliens. 35
Women received their dead raised to life again: and others were
tortured, not accepting deliverance; that they might obtain a better
resurrection: 36 And others had trial of
cruel mockings and scourgings, yea, moreover of bonds and imprisonment:
37 They were stoned, they were sawn
asunder, were tempted, were slain with the sword: they wandered about in
sheepskins and goatskins; being destitute, afflicted, tormented; 38 (Of whom the world was not worthy:) they
wandered in deserts, and in mountains, and in dens and caves of
the earth. 39 And these all, having
obtained a good report through faith, received not the promise: 40 God having provided some better thing for us,
that they without us should not be made perfect.
There are many references here, some notably
not found in the Bible, but clearly were in the general historical memory of
the Jews taught through tradition. An example might be that some believed that
the prophet Isaiah was ordered murdered by being placed in a hollow log and
sawn in half by the wicked Manasseh. We don’t have any outside authorities
other than Jewish writers on some of these things. However, we can imagine the
lives of Christian martyrs after Hebrews was written facing the same types of
agony. I had such a list of tradition and fables to consider but realized that
such “nuggets of wisdom” don’t do anything for our understanding even if they
tickle our ears.
In Paul’s argument for the Jews he has called
them to the faith that many of their ancestors had, leading them to believe on
Christ as the Messiah. Perfect in verse 40 can be linked to the concept of
being finished or complete. What the Old Testament figures had faith in but did
not receive awaits for us.
2Chronicles 8:16 Now all the work of Solomon was prepared unto
the day of the foundation of the house of the LORD, and until it was finished.
So the house of the LORD was perfected.
James 1:4
But let patience have her perfect work, that ye may be perfect and
entire, wanting nothing.
One could say that the entire Old Testament
narrative points to Christ as the ultimate effort of God’s ministry of
reconciling mankind to Himself.
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