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the A.V. `multitude' thirty times, `company' once and `bundle' once.
Unfortunately the English word `multitude' has to stand for two very
different conceptions.
Plethos, is from the same root as pleroma and retains the idea of fulness or
filling, but there is another Greek word translated multitude, namely ochlos
which means rather `a crowd' or `a mob', the unruly nature of which is
reflected in the verbal forms which mean `to vex' or `to trouble' (Acts 5:16;
15:19; 17:5; Heb. 12:15). While, therefore, we are compelled to use the
English word multitude in these passages of Genesis, we must dismiss the
thought of a `mob' or of an unruly `crowd', and retain the idea of a properly
assembled gathering and a filling.
Returning to the usage of the word qahal, we observe that from Exodus
12:6 where we read `the whole assembly', the word is used of Israel as a
nation, but in Genesis, before Israel as a nation existed, it is used
prophetically, looking down the ages to the day when the seed of Abraham
shall indeed become `a filling of the nations' (Rotherham). The four
occurrences of qahal fall into their place in the structure, which can be
seen set out in full in The Companion Bible.
The following extract will be sufficient to demonstrate this fitness
here.
Gen. 27:42 to 28:5. Departure. Jacob to Padan -aram.
`that thou mayest be a multitude of people'.
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Gen. 35:1 -15. Return. Jacob from Padan -aram.
`a nation and a company of nations'.
Gen. 48:1 -20. Blessing of Joseph and his sons.
`I will make of thee a multitude of people'.
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Gen. 49:1 -28. Blessing of all his sons.
`unto their assembly, mine honour, be not thou united'.
It will be remembered that in the endeavour to obtain the birthright
and the Abrahamic blessing, Jacob, at the instigation of his mother who knew
that `the elder shall serve the younger' (Gen. 25:23), attempted by fraud to
make the prophecy sure, but failed. When Jacob as a consequence was obliged
to leave home, the coveted blessing for which both he and his mother had
schemed was given to him freely:
`And God Almighty bless thee, and make thee fruitful, and multiply
thee, that thou mayest be a multitude of people; and give thee the
blessing of Abraham, to thee, and to thy seed with thee; that thou
mayest inherit the land wherein thou art a stranger, which God gave
unto Abraham' (Gen. 28:3,4).
Not only is `the land' a definite feature of this promise, but a
peculiar character attaches to it, it is called `the land wherein thou art a
stranger'. This is repeated in Genesis 37:1, and in 47:9 Jacob uses the same
word where it is translated `pilgrimage'. The margin of Genesis 28:4, reads,
`the land of thy sojournings'. This term is used seven times in the law and