Anf-03 iv.ix.i Pg 12
This promise may be said to have been given “to Abraham,” because (of course) he was still living at the time; as we see by comparing Gen. xxi. 5 with xxv. 7 and 26. See, too, Heb. xi. 9.
out of the womb of Rebecca “two peoples and two nations were about to proceed,”1131 1131 Or, “nor did He make, by grace, a distinction.”
—of course those of the Jews, that is, of Israel; and of the Gentiles, that is ours. Each, then, was called a people and a nation; lest, from the nuncupative appellation, any should dare to claim for himself the privilege of grace. For God ordained “two peoples and two nations” as about to proceed out of the womb of one woman: nor did grace1132 1132 Or, “nor did He make, by grace, a distinction.”
make distinction in the nuncupative appellation, but in the order of birth; to the effect that, which ever was to be prior in proceeding from the womb, should be subjected to “the less,” that is, the posterior. For thus unto Rebecca did God speak: “Two nations are in thy womb, and two peoples shall be divided from thy bowels; and people shall overcome people, and the greater shall serve the less.”1133 1133
Treasury of Scriptural Knowledge, Chapter 25
VERSE (7) - Ge 12:4
