And I will bless them that bless thee, and curse him that curseth thee: and in thee shall all families of the earth be blessed.
Ver. 3. And I will bless them that bless thee.] Some there are that will curse those whom God blessed; but nothing so many as they that will rise up and call them blessed. These are expressed here in the plural number; those in the singular only. "For who is he that will harm you, if ye be followers of that which is good?" 1Pe 3:13 But say there be some Balaams that would curse God's Israel, Num 23:2 or some Esaus that could wish them unblest again; yet God will turn Balaam's curse into a blessing (which is reckoned as a great favour); and he will tell Esau (if not in his ear, yet in his conscience) that Jacob is blest, "and he shall be blest." Gen 27:33 If Isaac, drawn aside by natural affection, would go about to reverse the blessing, God will cause him to "tremble very exceedingly," and so overawe him that he shall not be able to do it. But see here (as in a mirror) the wonderful love of God to his children: so dear they are unto him, that he cannot but love all that love them, and bless those that bless them. They have a powerful speech in Spain, - He that wipes the child's nose kisseth the mother's cheek. Surely, as natural parents take the kindnesses and unkindnesses showed to their children as done to themselves, so doth God.
And in thee shall all families, &c.] That is, "in thy seed," as it is interpreted, Genesis 22:18. To wit, in Christ that shall take flesh of thee, as both Peter and Paul expound it, Act 3:25 Galatians 3:9; Galatians 3:16. Hence Christ is called "the gift," Joh 4:10 and "the benefit," 1Ti 6:2 by an excellency, "and the desire of all nations," Hag 2:7 sent a purpose "to bless us, in turning every one of us from our iniquities". Act 3:26