Expositor's Bible Commentary Commentary Hebrews 11:12

"wherefore also there sprang of one, and him as good as dead, [so many] as the stars of heaven in multitude, and as the sand, which is by the sea-shore, innumerable." — Hebrews 11:12 (ASV)

“And so” introduces the inevitable result. Because God promised and Abraham believed him, the consequence necessarily followed. The smallness of the beginning is brought out: Abraham was but “one man.” Moreover, he was not one from whom a numerous progeny might be anticipated because he was “as good as dead” (an expression referring to his capacity for begetting offspring, not to his general state). By contrast his descendants would be as numerous as the stars in the sky or the sand on the seashore (cf. Genesis 15:5; 22:17; Exodus 32:13; Exodus 10:22). Both the stars and the sand were proverbial for multitude; so the general meaning is that Abraham’s descendants would be too many to count. God’s blessing is beyond human calculation.