And thy seed shall be as the dust of the earth, and thou shalt spread abroad to the west, and to the east, and to the north, and to the south: and in thee and in thy seed shall all the families of the earth be blessed.
Ver. 14, 15. And thy seed shall be as the dust.] Against his fourfold cross, here is a fourfold comfort, as Pererius well observeth, a plaster as broad as the sore, and sovereign for it. (1.) Against the loss of his friends, "I will be with thee": (2.) Of his country; "I will give thee this land": (3.) Against his poverty; "Thou shalt spread abroad, to the east, west," &c. (4.) His solitariness and aloneness; angels shall attend thee, and "thy seed shall be as the dust," &c. And "who can count the dust of Jacob?" Num 23:10 saith Balaam, that spellman of the devil, as one calls him. Whereunto we may add that which surpasseth and comprehendeth all the rest; "In thee, and thy seed, shall all the families of the earth be blessed." Now whatsoever God spake here with Jacob, he spake with us, as well as with him, saith Hosea. Hos 12:4