Promises Made by God to Men Concerning Their Seed

Promises were made by God to Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, David and Joseph concerning their physical seed.

Father Abraham

In Genesis 12:1-3, we read, “Now the Lord had said unto Abram, Get thee out of thy country, and from thy kindred, and from thy father’s house, unto a land that I will shew thee: ² And I will make of thee a great nation, and I will bless thee, and make thy name great; and thou shalt be a blessing: ³ 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.”

Abram is told by God that He will make of him a great nation [“goy”] (or people). And then a few verses later we read: “And the Lord appeared unto Abram, and said, Unto thy seed will I give this land: …” (verse 7a).

Then in chapter 15:2-5 we read, “² And Abram said, Lord God, what wilt thou give me, seeing I go childless, and the steward of my house is this Eliezer of Damascus? ³ And Abram said, Behold, to me thou hast given no seed: and, lo, one born in my house is mine heir. ⁴ And, behold, the word of the Lord came unto him, saying, This shall not be thine heir; but he that shall come forth out of thine own bowels shall be thine heir. ⁵ And he brought him forth abroad, and said, Look now toward heaven, and tell the stars, if thou be able to number them: and he said unto him, So shall thy seed be.“

God assures Abram that his heir would be a physical seed, coming forth from his bowels. And then he proceeds to show him how voluminous they’ll be. Then God proceeds to make a covenant with Abram, telling him what would come of his seed and the promised land.

Then in Genesis 17:1-14, When Abram is 99 years old, God changes Abram’s name to “Abraham”, stating he is a father of many nations. (At this point, Abram has only one son, by Hagar, who is named Ishmael.)

God tells him in verse 6, “And I will make thee exceeding fruitful, and I will make nations of thee, and kings shall come out of thee.”

Following this, God states in no uncertain terms that a covenant is being made with Abraham and his physical seed. He makes the circumcision of flesh of every male among his generations a token of that covenant.

While God does include those who are not born in the house of Abraham, which are bought with money of a stranger as potential participants in the covenant (provided they are circumcised as well), there is no denying that the covenant between Abraham and God is directly tied to (a) physical seed and (b) the male. (Females are not circumcised in the flesh.)

The Promised Son: Isaac

God then makes a promise concerning Abraham’s wife, Sarah, that she would bare him a son. And God says that a covenant would be established particularly with and through her son, whom Abraham is told to call “Isaac”, and with his seed.

Later in chapter 26:1-5 we read of God’s promise specifically made to Isaac and his seed, “And there was a famine in the land, beside the first famine that was in the days of Abraham. And Isaac went unto Abimelech king of the Philistines unto Gerar. ² And the Lord appeared unto him, and said, Go not down into Egypt; dwell in the land which I shall tell thee of: ³ Sojourn in this land, and I will be with thee, and will bless thee; for unto thee, and unto thy seed, I will give all these countries, and I will perform the oath which I sware unto Abraham thy father; ⁴ And I will make thy seed to multiply as the stars of heaven, and will give unto thy seed all these countries; and in thy seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed; ⁵ Because that Abraham obeyed my voice, and kept my charge, my commandments, my statutes, and my laws.“

Jacob and His Seed

In chapter 28, we read of the promise made by God to Isaac’s son, Jacob.

Verses 12-15 state, “¹² And he [Jacob] dreamed, and behold a ladder set up on the earth, and the top of it reached to heaven: and behold the angels of God ascending and descending on it. ¹³ And, behold, the Lord stood above it, and said, I am the Lord God of Abraham thy father, and the God of Isaac: the land whereon thou liest, to thee will I give it, and to thy seed; ¹⁴ 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. ¹⁵ And, behold, I am with thee, and will keep thee in all places whither thou goest, and will bring thee again into this land; for I will not leave thee, until I have done that which I have spoken to thee of.“

We read in the next chapter that Jacob had twelve sons.

In verses 11-12 in chapter 35, it states: “¹¹ And God said unto him (Jacob/Israel), I am God Almighty: be fruitful and multiply; a nation and a company of nations shall be of thee, and kings shall come out of thy loins; ¹² And the land which I gave Abraham and Isaac, to thee I will give it, and to thy seed after thee will I give the land.“

Judah and His Seed

Then in chapter 49, Jacob gathered his sons to tell them what would befall them in the last days. To Judah he stated…

“⁸ Judah, thou art he whom thy brethren shall praise: thy hand shall be in the neck of thine enemies; thy father’s children shall bow down before thee. ⁹ Judah is a lion’s whelp: from the prey, my son, thou art gone up: he stooped down, he couched as a lion, and as an old lion; who shall rouse him up? ¹⁰ The sceptre shall not depart from Judah, nor a lawgiver from between his feet, until Shiloh come; and unto him shall the gathering of the people be. ¹¹ Binding his foal unto the vine, and his ass’s colt unto the choice vine; he washed his garments in wine, and his clothes in the blood of grapes: ¹² His eyes shall be red with wine, and his teeth white with milk.“

David and His Seed

And then many generations later, David, son of Jesse, being of the house of Judah, while serving as king over the whole house of Israel was told by God (through Nathan the Prophet) this regarding his physical seed in 2 Samuel 7:12-16:

“¹² And when thy days be fulfilled, and thou shalt sleep with thy fathers, I will set up thy seed after thee, which shall proceed out of thy bowels, and I will establish his kingdom. ¹³ He shall build an house for my name, and I will stablish the throne of his kingdom for ever. ¹⁴ I will be his father, and he shall be my son. If he commit iniquity, I will chasten him with the rod of men, and with the stripes of the children of men: ¹⁵ But my mercy shall not depart away from him, as I took it from Saul, whom I put away before thee. ¹⁶ And thine house and thy kingdom shall be established for ever before thee: thy throne shall be established for ever.“

While many understand the above-mentioned “seed” after David to be a reference to Solomon, I believe it is more aptly a reference to a future seed of David.

Joseph and His Seed

Given all of the above, it makes no sense for Jesus/Yeshua to not be a physical offspring of these men –particularly since the author of Matthew makes a point at the very beginning of his book to lay out a physical genealogy tying Jesus back to Abraham through Isaac, Jacob, Judah, and David.

And at the conclusion of this list of fathers and sons, it clearly states that the genealogy belonged to Joseph.

“…And Jacob begat Joseph the husband of Mary, of whom was born Jesus, who is called Christ.”

Then, the author of Matthew proceeds to reveal that a promise was made to Joseph concerning his seed, stating “…for that which is in her is of the Holy Ghost¹. And she shall bring forth a son, and thou shalt call his name Jesus/Yeshua, for he shall save his people from their sins.” (Matthew 1:20b-21)

Virgin Birth advocates would have us believe the latter part of this chapter is featuring Mary and a supernatural conception apart from Joseph. However, it is Joseph and the promise made by God to him concerning his seed that is being featured here.

¹The English translation of “the Holy Ghost” in this passage masks the Greek words “pneumatos (noun=”spirit”) estin (verb=”is”) hagiou (adjective=”holy”). There is no Greek article adjective “o” used here which would warrant a translation of “the” in English. The passage is simply saying “…is of…holy spirit.”