363 
thou be able to number them : so shall thy seed be ” (xv. 5).. 
“ I will make thee exceeding fruitful, and I will make nations 
of thee” (xvii. 6). cc Abraham shall surely become a great 
and mighty nation” (xviii. 18). “ In multiplying I will 
multiply thy seed as the stars of the heaven ; and as the 
sand which is upon the sea-shore” (xxii. 17). So, in turn, to 
Isaac : — ‘ f I will make thy seed to multiply as the stars of 
heaven” (xxvi. 4). And again to Jacob: — “ God Almighty 
bless thee, and make thee fruitful, and multiply thee ” 
(xxviii. 3). “ Thy seed shall be as the dust of the earth” 
(xxviii. 14). “ I am God Almighty : be fruitful and multiply; 
a nation and a company of nations shall be of thee ” (xxxv. 11). 
It may be objected that these promises of multiplication looked 
forth into the far-distant future, to be fulfilled in the mystic 
Seed. ^ While I admit the mystic application, I note that in 
most of these promises this item is immediately followed by the 
assurance that the seed so multiplied shall possess the very 
lands of the Patriarchs" sojourn ; which appears to limit the 
primary fulfilment, at least, to the Eisode into Canaan : while, 
in xlvi. 3, Jehovah expressly covenants to Jacob, that Egypt 
itself shall be the scene of the vast increase. “ Fear not to 
go down into Egypt ; for I will theke make of thee a qreat 
nation .” 
. Antagonists charge the stated increase of Israel with 
high improbability. Nay, there is the highest probability in 
its favour. If there were no other passage collaterally bearing 
on the point than the promise last quoted, it would alone be 
conclusive for the probability. For what are the conditions ? 
These:— the Omnipotent God, unimpeachable in truth, who 
possesses and wields all the resources of being, all the powers 
of nature and spirit, pledges His word that Jacob shall become 
not only a nation, but a great nation , in Egypt ; and that He 
Himself will make him this. Could the result be otherwise 
than it is narrated to have been ? 
39. And the infinite resources are presently put into opera- 
tion. The Patriarch, already, in two generations (which there 
is no reason to suppose complete, as his sons were still in the 
prime of life), has become seventy souls ; and they all migrate 
to Egypt. The next thing we read of them is as follows :— 
And the children of Israel were fruitful, and increased 
abundantly, and multiplied, and waxed exceeding mio-hty, and 
the land was filled with them " (Exod. i. 7.) (Let us not fail to 
note the emphasis that attaches to these phrases, in the very 
\ aney and cumulation of them). Their abnormal increase 
(swarming like the fry of fishes,"" pji, as Jacob had pre- 
dieted of the progeny of Joseph, Gen. xlviii. 16) excited the 
