Question of the day

Why does YHWH say “I will bless you” in verse 2 and “So let me bless those who bless you” in verse 3?

Weak-kneed translations hide the subtle textual facts, again.

אברכך

ואברכה

The short answer is: saying the nicer things about Abram (blessing him) has to leap past the entrenched tribalism to embrace all people without prejudice and acknowledge that all people are accepted by YHWH on the same basis.

If you think that is easy to get to, please read Acts 3, Romans 4:13, Galatians 2, and Hebrews 7.

For you first, God raised up His Servant and sent Him to bless you by turning every one of you from your wicked ways.

Acts 3:26

For the promise to Abraham or to his descendants that he would be heir of the world was not through the Law, but through the righteousness of faith

Romans 4:13

The Scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, preached the gospel beforehand to Abraham, saying, “All the nations will be blessed in you.  So then those who are of faith are blessed with Abraham, the believer.

Galatians 3:8-9

Now if perfection [the ending] was through the Levitical priesthood (for on the basis of it the people received the Law), what further need was there for another priest to arise according to the order of Melchizedek, and not be designated according to the order of Aaron?

Hebrews 7:11

A longer answer

Watch for consideration of the theories that tinker on the edges of the Biblical appreciation of the progenitor of the Hebrew people.