Continued from Chapter 4
(Genesis 3:15, 17:8)
God made two significant promises to Abraham concerning the everlasting possession of ’Eretz Yisrael, the Land of Israel, by his descendants: [F]or all the land which you see, to you will I give it, and to your seed forever. (Genesis 13:15)
And I will give to you, and to your seed after you, the land of your sojournings, all the land of Canaan, for an everlasting possession; and I will be their God. (Genesis 17:8) These verses are used by Paul to promote his claim that Jesus is the Messiah. In actuality they debunk his arguments. Focusing in on the word zer‘a (“seed”) he comments: “Now the promises were spoken to Abraham and to his seed. It does not say, ‘And to seeds,’ referring to many; but, referring to one, ‘And to your seed,’ who is Christ” (Galatians 3:16). Did Paul exploit this word for its homiletic possibilities, rather than adhering to grammatical convention? Homiletically, the preacher has wider latitude to hyperbolize in getting his point across, but if Paul meant that his comments are to be taken literally there is a problem. Whatever Paul’s intention, the fact is that there is no place in the Jewish Scriptures where the plural of “seed” (zer‘aim) is used so as to refer to human offspring. In every instance, the singular word “seed” is used in a plural sense (e.g., Genesis 13:16, 17:10, 22:17-18). Hence, Genesis 17:8 reads: “and I will be their God.” In this verse the third-person plural pronoun, “their,” refers to “your seed [singular].” Obviously, there is no valid theological statement that can be made by emphasizing that zer‘a is singular and, therefore, points to one individual. Grammatical convention negates any claim that these verses refer to Jesus, because of the appearance of the noun zer‘a in the singular.
Continued
.jpg)