- And he ends by Exodus 6:8 :A bad translations tells us that God Gave Abraham all of the land that he had walk upon and seen. However, Stephen in Acts 7 states that Abraham received no portion in the Land of Canaan, even to rest his foot upon. If we correctly understand the Hebrew text, then a very different conclusion is reached as how verse Genesis 13:14-15 should be paraphrased in English.
However, if we consider the Hebrew text and correctly translate into English so that the same context is found in both, then the English translation should read in this fashion: -
Genesis 13:14-15: - 14 And the Lord said to Abram, after Lot had separated from him: "Lift your eyes now and look from the place where you are — northward, southward, eastward, and westward; 15 for all the earth which you see, {that (entity)}, I will give to your descendants for a long period of time whose ending, which is beyond man’s comprehension, is at the vanishing point, {of this particular time period}, in the future.[1]
In Genesis 12:1-3 we find that God promised Abraham the whole earth and not a skimpy/small piece of ground.
"Get out of your country,From your familyAnd from your father's house,To an earth that I will show you.2 I will make you a great nation;I will bless youAnd make your name great;And you shall be a blessing. 3 I will bless those who bless you,And I will curse him who curses you;And through you all the families of the ground/land/fertile fields [3] shall be blessed."
How our understanding changes when we read a good/better translation.
[1] The Lord called Abram while he was in Ur (see Gen 15:7; Acts 7:2); but the sequence here makes it look like it was after the family left to migrate to Canaan (11:31-32). Genesis records the call of Abram at this place in the narrative because it is the formal beginning of the account of Abram. The record of Terah was brought to its end before the narrative of Abraham begins.
[2] The call of Abram begins with an imperative לֶךְ־ לְךָ֛ (lekh-l®kha, "go out") followed by three cohortatives (v. 2 a) indicating purpose or consequence ("that I may" or "then I will"). If Abram leaves, then God will do these three things. The second imperative (v. 2 b, literally "and be a blessing") is subordinated to the preceding cohortatives and indicates God's ultimate purpose in calling and blessing Abram. On the syntactical structure of vv. 1-2 see R. B. Chisholm, "Evidence from Genesis," A Case for Premillennialism, 37. For a similar sequence of volitive forms see Gen 45:18.
It would be hard to overestimate the value of this call and this divine plan for the theology of the Bible. Here begins God's plan to bring redemption to the world. The promises to Abram will be turned into a covenant in Gen 15 and 22 (here it is a call with conditional promises) and will then lead through the Bible to the work of the Messiah.
[3] The Hebrew Root of הָאֲדָמָֽה, H:0127, has the meaning of soil, and is akin to a fertile field/face of the land/world.
Genesis 2:7: –– 7 And the Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living being.
One could argue that what is being said here is that all of the peoples of the world that occupy God’s fertile field/ground will be blessed. The flip side of this covenant is that all of the people who do not occupy God’s fertile field/ground will be cursed.
[1] Another way of saying this verse might be: - “15 for all the earth which you see, that entity, I will give to your descendants for a long period of time where the end point of that time period, will be beyond your descendants capacity to comprehend when the possession of the described land will end.
And I will bring
וְהֵבֵאתִ֤י (wə·hê·ḇê·ṯî)
Conjunctive waw | Verb - Hifil - Conjunctive perfect - first person common singular
Strong's 935: To come in, come, go in, go
you
אֶתְכֶם֙ (’eṯ·ḵem)
Direct object marker | second person masculine plural
Strong's 853: Untranslatable mark of the accusative case
into
אֶל־ (’el-)
Preposition
Strong's 413: Near, with, among, to
the land
הָאָ֔רֶץ (hā·’ā·reṣ)
Article | Noun - feminine singular
Strong's 776: Earth, land
that
אֲשֶׁ֤ר (’ă·šer)
Pronoun - relative
Strong's 834: Who, which, what, that, when, where, how, because, in order that
I swore
נָשָׂ֙אתִי֙ (nā·śā·ṯî)
Verb - Qal - Perfect - first person common singular
Strong's 5375: To lift, carry, take
to give
לָתֵ֣ת (lā·ṯêṯ)
Preposition-l | Verb - Qal - Infinitive construct
Strong's 5414: To give, put, set
to Abraham,
לְאַבְרָהָ֥ם (lə·’aḇ·rā·hām)
Preposition-l | Noun - proper - masculine singular
Strong's 85: Abraham -- 'exalted father', the father of the Jewish nation
Isaac,
לְיִצְחָ֖ק (lə·yiṣ·ḥāq)
Preposition-l | Noun - proper - masculine singular
Strong's 3327: Isaac -- 'he laughs', son of Abraham and Sarah
and Jacob.
וּֽלְיַעֲקֹ֑ב (ū·lə·ya·‘ă·qōḇ)
Conjunctive waw, Preposition-l | Noun - proper - masculine singular
Strong's 3290: Jacob -- a son of Isaac, also his desc
I will give
וְנָתַתִּ֨י (wə·nā·ṯat·tî)
Conjunctive waw | Verb - Qal - Conjunctive perfect - first person common singular
Strong's 5414: To give, put, set
it
אֹתָ֥הּ (’ō·ṯāh)
Direct object marker | third person feminine singular
Strong's 853: Untranslatable mark of the accusative case
to you
לָכֶ֛ם (lā·ḵem)
Preposition | second person masculine plural
Strong's Hebrew
as a possession.
מוֹרָשָׁ֖ה (mō·w·rā·šāh)
Noun - feminine singular
Strong's 4181: A possession
I
אֲנִ֥י (’ă·nî)
Pronoun - first person common singular
Strong's 589: I
am the LORD!’”
יְהוָֽה׃ (Yah·weh)
Noun - proper - masculine singular
Strong's 3068: LORD -- the proper name of the God of Israel
- Then he will reveals to the israelites as YAH.WEH THAT IS THE GOD OF THE PROMISE OR OF THE PROMISES WHEN HE GIVES THEM THE LAND OF CANAAN AS A POSSESSION !