John Calvin Commentary Genesis 28:3

"And God Almighty bless thee, and make thee fruitful, and multiply thee, that thou mayest be a company of peoples." — Genesis 28:3 (ASV)

And God Almighty bless you. Here follows the form of blessing, which differs slightly in words from the former, but nevertheless serves the same purpose. First, he desires that Jacob would be blessed by God; that is, that his own offspring would be so increased and multiplied as to grow into a multitude of nations. Or, in other words, he desires that Jacob would produce many peoples who would unite into one body under the same head, as if he had said that many tribes should arise from him, who would form one people.

And this truly was, in some measure, fulfilled when Moses distributed the people into thirteen divisions. Nevertheless, Isaac looked for a further result: namely, that many would eventually be gathered together from various nations into his son's family, so that, in this manner, one assembly might be formed from a vast and previously scattered multitude.

For there is no doubt that he wished to hand down what he had received, since he immediately afterwards celebrates the memory of the original covenant, deriving his present blessing from it as its source. It is as if he had said that he transferred whatever right he had from his father to his son Jacob, so that the inheritance of life might remain with him, according to the covenant God made with Abraham.

Those who interpret this as being said by way of comparison, as if Isaac wished for those benefits that God had previously conferred on Abraham to be granted in the same manner to his son, diminish the meaning of the words. For since God, in making His covenant with Abraham, had attached this condition (that it should descend to his posterity), it was necessary to trace its beginning to Abraham's person as its root.

Therefore, Isaac makes his son Jacob the heir of Abraham, as successor to the blessing entrusted to Abraham and promised to his seed. This also appears more clearly from the following context, where he assigns to Jacob the dominion over the land, because it had been given to Abraham.

Moreover, we perceive in this part of the sentence with what consistency of faith the holy fathers rested on the word of the Lord. For otherwise, they would have found it a significant temptation to be driven about as strangers and pilgrims in the very land whose possession had been divinely assigned to them a hundred years before.

But we see that in their wanderings and their unsettled way of life, they valued what God had promised them no less highly than if they had already been in full enjoyment of it. And this is the true test of faith: when, relying on the word of God alone, though tossed on the waves of the world, we stand as firmly as if our home were already fixed in heaven.

Isaac expressly strengthens his son against this temptation when he calls the land, of which he makes him lord, "the land of his wanderings." For by these words he teaches him that it was possible he might be a wanderer all the days of his life. But this did not prevent God's promise from being so confirmed that Jacob, content with that alone, could patiently wait for the time of its fulfillment.

The plural form even seems to express something significant: namely, that Jacob would be a wanderer not just once, but in various ways and continually. However, since the Hebrew plural does not always carry such emphasis, I do not insist on this interpretation.

It is more noteworthy that Jacob's faith was tested by a severe and demanding trial, seeing that, for this very reason, the land is promised to him in word only, while in fact, he is cast far away from it. For he seems to be an object of ridicule when he is commanded to possess the dominion of the land, and yet must leave it, bid it farewell, and depart into distant exile.