Jesus And Possessing The Enemies’ Gate (Genesis 22:17-18; 24:60)

By Andrew E. Steinmann

[Andrew E. Steinmann is Distinguished Professor of Theology and Hebrew, Concordia University, Chicago, Illinois.]

Abstract

Most modern scholars agree that the reference to “seed” (זרע) in the promise to Abraham (Gen. 22:17-18) refers collectively to all of Abraham’s descendants. However, this creates a conflict with Paul’s explanation in Galatians 3:16 that זרע refers to Christ. The syntax of Genesis 22:17-18 and the use of זרע elsewhere in the Old Testament suggest that Paul was indeed correct in his understanding of זרע as a singular reference to Christ. Moreover, Jesus himself claimed in Matthew 16:18 that the second part of the promise to Abraham was fulfilled in him.

I will bless you and make your seed great like the stars of heaven and like the sand that is on the seashore. Moreover, your seed will take possession of the gate of his enemies, and all nations of the earth will be blessed by your seed because you have listened to my voice (Gen. 22:17-18).

And I say to you, “You are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hades will not be victorious over it” (Matt. 16:18).

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When lecturing on Genesis 22:17-18, Luther began with this observation:

These words are the subject matter and the gushing fountain, as it were, of many of the prophecies and addresses of Isaiah, David, and Paul. Moreover, they agree with the preceding promises, which are found in Gen. 12:3: “In you all the families of the earth will be blessed” and in Gen. 15:5: “Look toward heaven, and number the stars, if you are able; so shall your descendants be.” But this promise is clearer and more explicit.

Above God said: “In you, Abraham, all the families of the earth will be blessed.” There his Seed is included, but it is not expressed. But in this passage it is expressly stated: “In your Seed.” In opposition to the nonsense of the Jews, however, Paul declares and explains that this Seed is Christ (Gal. 3:16).

Then all nations are mentioned. Hence this promise also pertains to us Gentiles and to all who will ever hear and accept it, not only to the Jews.[1]

Much scholarship in the twentieth and twenty-first century would take issue with a great deal of what Luther said. The Reformer clearly connected Paul’s statement in Galatians 3:16 with Genesis 22:17-18. However, there has been much debate as to which passage from Genesis Paul was referencing.[2] Moreover, Luther follows Paul’s insistence that the seed (זרע/σπέρμα) ought to be understood as referring to one person, Christ. Most modern scholarship understands this as a collective noun referring to Abraham’s descendants as a whole.[3] From Luther’s comments this also appears to have been the interpretation of Jewish authorities in the sixteenth century. However, recently some evangelical scholars—notably C. John Collins and T. Desmond Alexander—have begun to challenge the modern interpretation of Genesis 22:17-18 (and also Genesis 24:60). This challenge not only supports Luther’s statements, but as will be seen, also helps explains Jesus’s use of gate imagery in Matthew 16:18.

Before looking at the technical and grammatical aspects involved in analyzing Genesis 22:17-18 and 24:60 and what they imply for Paul’s (and Luther’s) understanding of them, it ought to be noted that the promise to Abraham is in three parts:

1. A blessing for Abraham—his seed will be like the stars and the sand (Gen. 22:17a).
2. Abraham’s seed will take possession of the gate of his enemies (Gen. 22:17b).
3. All nations will be blessed by Abraham’s seed (Gen. 22:18).

In addition, at Genesis 24:60 only the first two parts are repeated in the blessing wished for Rebekah by her relatives.[4]

The Problem With Understanding זרע As A Collective In The Second Part Of The Promise To Abraham

While much of contemporary scholarship takes the phrase “your seed will take possession of the gates of his enemies” as a collective referring to the military victories of Abraham’s descendants—they would prevail over the gates (i.e., the cities) of their enemies—this would make a very insipid promise. After all, Abraham’s descendants would be numerous, and it is difficult to imagine that a numerous people would not have at least some victories in war. Unless this was a promise of never having to face defeat, this second promise is not much of a guarantee. However, Abraham’s descendants did face multiple defeats.

Some might reply that this was a conditional promise of victory as long as Abraham’s offspring were faithful. Since defeat for Israel usually is linked by the biblical writers with Israel’s unfaithfulness, the promise could be said to have been real and potent (e.g., Josh. 7). However, this conditional interpretation of the promise flies in the face of the first part of the promise. Israel did become a numerous people, despite the repeated unfaithfulness of many of Abraham’s offspring. If the first part of the promise was apparently unconditional, why should the second part be conditional? Moreover, if Paul is correct in Galatians, the third part of the blessing—that of all nations being blessed through Abraham’s offspring (cf. Gal. 3:8)—also was unconditional, and since the blessing came through Abraham’s descendant Christ to all nations, Israel’s unbelief did not annul this promise. Thus, understanding זרע as a collective in the second and third parts of this promise to Abraham presents several difficulties, and this suggests that perhaps Paul and Luther were correct after all.

Genesis 22:17-18 And 24:60 As Messianic Promises Involving An Individual Meaning Of זרע

Galatians 3:8, 16—A Reference To Genesis 22:18

In an article published in 2003, C. John Collins presents a well-reasoned argument that at Galatians 3:8 and 16 Paul is alluding to Genesis 22:18.[5] In Galatians 3:8 Paul includes only a snippet from an Old Testament passage: ἐνευλογηθήσονται ἐν σοὶ πάντα τὰ ἔθνη, “In you all the nations of the earth will be blessed.”

As Collins notes, because of the phraseology ἐν σοὶ (“in you”) the first three Greek words appear to match Genesis 12:3 (or perhaps 28:14). However, the next three words do not. In the Septuagint of Genesis 12:3 the phrase is πᾶσαι αἱ φυλαὶ τῆς γῆς (“all the tribes of the earth”), a fair representation of כּל מִשְׁפְּחת הָאֲדָמָה in Genesis 12:3. However, Paul’s phrase πάντα τὰ ἔθνη (“all the nations”) provides a better match to the wording in Genesis 18:18; 22:18; 26:4 (LXX: πάντα τὰ ἔθνη τῆς γῆς, MT: כּל גּוֹיֵי הָאָרֶץ).[6] Clearly Paul’s allusion combines language from two passages, one of which is Genesis 12:3. But what is the other? When Paul continues his discussion of the promise to Abraham at Galatians 3:16, he quotes another snippet: καὶ τῷ σπέρματί σου, “and to your seed [singular].” While this exact phrasing could be taken to refer to either Genesis 13:15 or 17:8, those passages refer to the promise of the land, a topic that plays no part in Paul’s argument in Galatians 3.[7] Therefore, Paul must be referring to some other passage with a promise to Abraham, and the only remaining one with the dative noun σπέρματι is the Septuagint Genesis 22:18.

Thus, Paul in discussing Abraham’s seed at Galatians 3:16 is referring to the promise of Yahweh to Abraham in Genesis 22.

However, this raises another question. Is Paul correct in rejecting a collective meaning for בְזַרְעֲךָ/ἐν τῷ σπέρματί σου and insisting on an individual meaning that is a direct messianic reference?[8]

The Individual Meaning Of זרע/Σπέρμα At Genesis 22:17b–18

It is beyond contention that in Genesis 22:17a זרע is used with a collective sense, since Abraham’s seed is compared with the number of stars in the sky and the sand on the seashore. However, at Galatians 3:16 Paul is not referring to Genesis 22:17a, but to Genesis 22:17b, which contains the second occurrence of the noun זרע in this verse. Moreover, whatever meaning is assigned to זרע at Genesis 22:17b, that same meaning must also be understood for זרע in the following verse (i.e., “all nations of the earth will be blessed by your seed”). Is this the correct understanding of this verse or are scholars of all stripes correct in insisting that Paul is incorrect or that he is engaging some kind of typological exegesis?[9]

Two grammatical-syntactic observations demonstrate that Paul is most likely correct and most modern interpreters are wrong. The first observation concerns the difference in usage of זרע when it is used as a collective versus its use for an individual descendant. Most often זרע is used as a collective, and when it is the subject of a verb, the verb is usually singular (though it may be plural, e.g., Ps. 22:24; 69:37). However, as Collins has observed, when זרע is used for an individual descendant, the verb will be singular, as will be any modifying adjectives and any pronouns that refer to it.[10] For an example of a singular modifying adjective see Genesis 4:25, where Eve refers to Seth as “another seed” (זֶרַע אַחֵר) to replace Abel. For the use of a singular pronoun see Genesis 21:13, where God says to Hagar about Ishmael, “He is your seed” (זַרְעֲךָ הוּא). Concerning the passages from Genesis under discussion in this study, it ought to be noted that at Genesis 22:17b and 24:60 the pronouns are singular: “your seed will take possession of the gate of his enemies [איְבָיו]” and “may your seed take possession of the gate of his enemies [איְבָיו].”

The second observation was made by Alexander. He noted that there is a disjuncture in Genesis 22:17 that separates the first occurrence of זרע from the second and signals a change in use of this noun.[11] The disjuncture comes with the somewhat unexpected verb וְיִרַשׁ, which by form is an imperfect with prefixed conjunction. Were this a continuation of the promise about the numerous seed (the collective sense of זרע) in the first part of the verse, one would expect this verb to be a waw-consecutive perfect form (וְיָרַשׁ). Instead, the imperfect verb form signals a change. Alexander observes: “This syntactical arrangement leaves open the possibility that the זרע [sic] referred to in the final clause differs from that mentioned in the first part of the verse. Whereas the first זרע obviously refers to a very large number of descendants, the second would, following Collins’ approach, denote a single individual who is victorious over his enemies.”[12] He continues by noting that “this latter reading of 22:17 has implications also for 22:18a which states: . . . . ‘and all the nations of the earth will be blessed through your offspring.’ If the immediately preceding reference to ‘seed’ in 22:17 denotes an individual, this must also be the case in 22:18a, for there is nothing here to indicate a change in number. The blessing of ‘all the nations of the earth’ is thus associated with a particular descendant of Abraham, rather than with all those descended from him.”[13]

Alexander fails to mention that the verb that begins 22:18, וְהִתְבָּרֲכוּ, is a waw-consecutive perfect form, signaling a conjunctive relationship between the last statement in 22:17 and the first in 22:18. Thus, the imperfect form וְיִרַשׁseparates the first part of the promise to Abraham with its collective use of זרע in 22:17a from the second part of the promise with it individual use of זרע. Subsequently, the waw-consecutive form וְהִתְבָּרֲכוּ joins the second part of the promise in 22:17b with the third part in 22:18.

Alexander also notes a striking parallel to Genesis 22:18 in Psalm 72:17, which states of the individual royal figure of the psalm: “May all nations be blessed by him” (וְיִתְבָּרְכוּ בוֹ כָּלגּוֹיִם). This confirms that Genesis 22:18, and therefore also Genesis 22:17b, ought to be understood as referring to an individual seed of Abraham, just as Paul argues in Galatians. Thus, Paul’s analysis of Genesis 22:17-18 is not as far-fetched or typological as modern scholarship contends. Instead, Paul’s contention that the seed is Christ is aligned with the grammar and syntax used in the promises to Abraham.

Jesus’s Application Of The Promise Of Abraham To Himself—Matthew 16:18

While much attention has been paid to the promise to Abraham and Paul’s reference to it in Galatians, no one to my knowledge has connected it with Jesus’s words in Matthew 16:18: “I will build my church, and the gates of Hades will not be victorious over it.” This statement is clearly a promise that Jesus will grant his church victory over Hades, which is depicted as a city with gates. Jesus here claims that the church is his, and he is therefore the leader in the fight against the gates of Hades. Considering the argument that Genesis 22:17-18 contains a promise that an individual offspring (“seed”) of Abraham will conquer the gate of his enemies, Jesus’s claim that his church will prevail against the gates of Hades ought to be seen as a claim that he is the promised seed of Abraham. In him the promised victory will be won.

Jesus’s use of the phrase “gates of Hades” is not new to him. It is found in the Septuagint (ἐν πύλαις ᾅδου) as a translation of “gates of Sheol” (בְּשַׁעֲרֵי שְׁאוֹל) in the prayer of Hezekiah, when he sought more years of life in the face of Isaiah’s prophecy of his death (Isa. 38:10).[14] Jesus’s claim, then, appears to be that Hades/Sheol cannot have permanent victory over his church.

In Matthew 16:18 Hades is obviously the enemy that Jesus through his church will overcome. The metaphor of the gates of Hades, however, has been seen as enigmatic. Exactly what do the gates of Hades represent?[15] Some hold that Hades here is death depicted as the enemy.[16] Others, however, argue that the metaphor is that of the forces of Satan streaming out of the gates of Hades to attack the church.[17] While the devil is twice depicted in Scripture as the enemy of God and his people (Matt. 13:39; Acts 13:10), this second interpretation has little else to commend it.

For several reasons Hades here ought to be connected to death. First of all, the Greek word ᾅδης is commonly used in the Septuagint to translate שְׁאוֹל, the place associated with death (e.g., Gen. 37:35; 42:38; 44:29, 31; Ps. 16:10; 49:15; 89:48; Prov. 5:5; 7:27; 9:18; Song 8:6). Secondly, Hades is also associated with death in several passages in the Apocrypha and Pseudepigrapha (Wisd. 2:1; 16:13; Sir. 14:12; 28:21; 48:5; 51:6; Bar. 2:17; Pr. Azar. 1:66 [= LXX Dan. 3:88]; Pss. Sol. 16:2). Third, in the New Testament Hades is associated with death, but never with Satan (Rev. 1:18; 6:8; 20:13, 14). Fourth, there are two phrases in the Old Testament parallel to “gates of Sheol”—the “gates of death” (שַׁעֲרֵי־מָוֶת) and the “gates of deep darkness” (וְשַׁעֲרֵי צַלְמָוֶת), both used at Job 38:17. Neither is associated with Satan. Instead they are under God’s control. Fifth, and perhaps most important, is the precedent for Jesus’s phrase “the gates of Hades” at Isaiah 38:10. There, Hezekiah asks not to be sent to the gates of Sheol (LXX: Hades). Hezekiah’s prayer may have influenced the writer of the Wisdom of Solomon, who said to God, “For you have power of life and death. You lead down to the gates of Hades and you lead back” (Wisd. 16:13).[18] Clearly, the gates of Hades hold the dead inside the city, but Jesus promises that his church will burst the gates of Hades, since the gates cannot maintain their power over his people.

Finally, we ought to note that this victory of Christ and his church over the gates of Hades is the victory over Christ’s enemies. Paul writes, “If we have put our hope in Christ for this life only, we should be pitied more than anyone. But as it is, Christ has been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep. For since death came through a man, the resurrection of the dead also comes through a man. For just as in Adam all die, so also in Christ all will be made alive. But each in his own order: Christ, the firstfruits; afterward, at his coming, those who belong to Christ. Then comes the end, when he hands over the kingdom to God the Father, when he abolishes all rule and all authority and power. For he must reign until he puts all his enemies under his feet. The last enemy to be abolished is death (1 Cor. 15:19-26, CSB, italics added).

Thus, at Matthew 16:18 Jesus claims to be the one to fulfill the promise to Abraham of an offspring who will take possession of the gate of his enemies. This promise was both missional—through the church, which holds the keys that can open the gates of heaven and Hades[19]—and eschatological—throughout Christ’s reign until he has subdued the last enemy.[20]

Conclusion

The promise to Abraham concerning his offspring (זרע, “seed”) after the sacrifice of Isaac ought not be read simply as applying collectively to all of Abraham’s descendants. Instead, the second and third parts of the promise are specifically messianic and are fulfilled in Christ. Jesus himself claims that the second part of this promise is fulfilled in him through his church as the gates of the enemies—the gates of death and Hades—fail to sustain a victory over Christ and his people: “Death, where is your victory? Death, where is your sting? Now the sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ!” (1 Cor. 15:55-57, CSB).

Notes

1. Martin Luther, Lectures on Genesis, Chapters 21—25, ed. Jaroslav Pelikan and Walter A. Hansen, trans. George V. Schick, Luther’s Works 4 (Saint Louis: Concordia, 1964), 151-52.
2. See the excellent discussion of the possibilities in C. John Collins, “Galatians 3:16: What Kind of Exegete Was Paul?” Tyndale Bulletin 54 (2003): 80-86. Collins notes that Genesis 12:3; 18:18; 22:18; 26:4; 28:14; and Psalm 72:17 are all possibilities, though he argues persuasively that Paul was referencing Genesis 22:18.
3. John H. Sailhamer, “Genesis,” in The Expositor’s Bible Commentary, vol. 2, ed. Tremper Longman III and David E. Garland (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2012), 170; Bill T. Arnold, Genesis, New Cambridge Bible Commentary (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2009), 209; Kenneth A. Matthews, Genesis 11:27-50:26, New American Commentary (Nashville: B. & H., 2005), 298; Victor P. Hamilton, The Book of Genesis, Chapters 18-50, New International Commentary on the Old Testament (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1995), 98 (esp. note 11), 115; Gordon Wenham, Genesis 16-50, Word Biblical Commentary (Waco, TX: Word, 1994), 98, 116; Nahum M. Sarna, Genesis: The Traditional Hebrew Text with the New JPS Translation Commentary, JPS Torah Commentary (Philadelphia: Jewish Publication Society, 1989), 154, 169; Claus Westermann, Genesis 12-36, trans. John J. Scullion, Continental Commentary (Minneapolis: Augsburg Fortress, 1985), 364; E. A. Speiser, Genesis: Introduction, Translation, and Notes, Anchor Bible (Garden City, NY: Doubleday, 1964), 164. See also these English translations of Genesis 22:18 and 24:60: CSB, GW, NET, NIV, NRSV, JPS.
4. Unlike Genesis 22:17, the blessing at Genesis 24:60 is in the form of a wish using an imperative verb (הֲיִי) and a jussive verb (וְיִירַשׁ).
5. Collins, “Galatians 3:16, ” 75-86. The matter is complicated by the indications that Paul is not directly quoting an Old Testament passage, but is adapting or alluding to one.
6. One might be tempted to include Psalm 72:17, but it does not include τῆς γῆς/הָאָרֵץ nor does it speak of Abraham’s seed.
7. See Collins, “Galatians 3:16, ” 82-83. Collins notes that F. F. Bruce also made this point. See F. F. Bruce, Galatians, New International Greek Testament Commentary (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1982), 172-73.
8. I.e., οὐ λέγει· καὶ τοῖς σπέρμασιν, ὡς ἐπὶ πολλῶν ἀλλ᾽ ὡς ἐφ᾽ ἑνός·καὶ τῷ σπέρματί σου, ὅς ἐστιν Χριστός, “He does not say, ‘and to seeds’ [i.e., descendants], as referring to many, but as referring to one, ‘and to your seed’ [i.e., descendant], who is Christ” (Gal. 3:16b).
9. For a survey of the approaches that assume that זרע at Genesis 22:17b–18 must be a collective and that Paul is either wrong or engaging in exegetical gymnastics of some sort, see Collins, “Galatians 3:16, ” 76-79. For examples of the modern majority understanding of Genesis 22:17-18, see note 3 above.
10. C. John Collins, “A Syntactical Note (Genesis 3:15): Is the Woman’s Seed Singular or Plural?” Tyndale Bulletin 48 (1997): 139-48. Collins does not list all passages where this applies. They are Genesis 3:15; 4:25; 21:13; 22:17b (and by implication 22:18); 24:60; 1 Samuel 1:11; 2 Samuel 7:12; 1 Chronicles 17:11; Isaiah 6:13.
11. T. Desmond Alexander, “Further Observations on the Term ‘Seed’ in Genesis,” Tyndale Bulletin 48 (1997): 364-65.
12. Ibid., 365.
13. Ibid.
14. The phrase also occurs at Wisdom 16:13 (εἰς πύλας ᾅδου).
15. For a summary of the interpretations of this phrase, see W. D. Davies and Dale C. Allison Jr., A Critical and Exegetical Commentary on the Gospel according to Saint Matthew, 3 vols., International Critical Commentary (Edinburgh: T. & T. Clark, 1988-1997), 2.630-34.
16. R. T. France, The Gospel of Matthew, New International Commentary on the New Testament (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2007), 624; W. F. Albright and C. S. Mann, Matthew: Introduction, Translation, and Notes, Anchor Bible (Garden City: Doubleday, 1971), 196; R. V. G. Tasker, The Gospel according to St. Matthew: An Introduction and Commentary, Tyndale New Testament Commentary (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1962), 162.
17. Jeffrey A. Gibbs, Matthew 11:2-20:34, Concordia Commentary (Saint Louis: Concordia, 2010), 821-22; David E. Garland, Reading Matthew: A Literary and Theological Commentary (New York: Crossroad, 1993), 174; Davies and Allison, A Critical and Exegetical Commentary on the Gospel according to Saint Matthew, 2.632-33.
18. The Greek text reads: σὺ γὰρ ζωῆς καὶ θανάτου ἐξουσίαν ἔχεις καὶ κατάγεις εἰς πύλας ᾅδου καὶ ἀνάγεις.
19. Note Matthew 16:19: “I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatever you bind on earth will have been bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will have been loosed in heaven” (CSB).
20. Note Revelation 2:11: “Let anyone who has ears to hear listen to what the Spirit says to the churches. The one who conquers will never be harmed by the second death” (CSB).