All of the Families of the Earth

Introduction
"I will bless those who bless you, and those who curse you I will curse, and all of the families of the earth shall be blessed by you." (Genesis 12:3)

If look more closely at this verse we can break it down into three parts:

• Phrase A - I shall bless those who bless you
• Phrase B - and those who curse you I shall curse
• Phrase C - and all of the families of the earth shall be blessed by you

The above verse is one of the promises that God gave to Abraham upon calling him to leave his household and to settle in Canaan.

At a glance, the message of the verse is simple and straightforward – those who bless Abraham will be blessed and those curse him will be cursed. A valid assumption can be that since Abraham is a source of blessing for the families (nations) of the earth, that those who bless him will be blessed and vice-versa. While that is true, a deeper glance shows an added dimension of complexity.

The verse clearly tells us that “all of the families of the earth shall be blessed by” Abraham , which has to include those who curse him as well. How can it be that those who curse Abraham will be blessed? If this is true, it seems that Phrases A and B are independent of Phrase C; Phrases A and B, which are particular, are true in and of themselves and have nothing to do with the information in Phrase C, which is universal in scope. In other words, the reward for blessing Abraham is a blessing and the consequence for cursing him is a curse – nothing more needs to be said. Phrase C is there to convey an additional piece of information, that all of the families of the earth will be blessed by Abraham regardless of their attitude or behavior towards him.

Further, for the people in Group A (those who bless Abraham ), the blessing of Phrase C simply heaps on an element of blessing in addition to the one they already receive for blessing him on their own accord. For the people in Group B (those who curse Abraham ), the blessing of Phrase C simply acts as a mitigating factor for the curse they receive for cursing Abraham . They too benefit from the universal blessing that Abraham has on the world even though as individuals they have cursed him.

A Useful Metaphor

The following metaphor can be used to explain this concept:

Imagine 20 people standing in a room full of cigarette smoke. Half of the people in the room are healthy individuals who eat, exercise and sleep well. The other half doesn’t take good care of its health. Now imagine that an individual enters and clears all of the smoke out of the room. The new presence of fresh air has a positive effect on everybody in the room, whether they take care of their health or don’t. His action benefits everybody in the room regardless of their individual decisions.[1]

The same is true of Abraham, who strived in and succeeded in embodying the attribute of giving, or chessed. The place that Abraham contributed in turning the world into benefits everybody, whether they bless him or curse him.

What is also interesting is the alternating order of the subjects mentioned in each phrase. The verse says, "I will bless those who bless you, and those who curse you I will curse…" In Phrase A, the active verb "bless" appears at the beginning of the phrase, while in Phrase B, the active verb "curse" appears at the end. If we keep in mind that God Himself is the speaker of these verses, we can suspect that the order indicates God's eagerness to bless rather than curse. Indeed, the Kli Yakar on this verse states the following:

An appreciative person feels and thinks about something in his heart and mind before expressing it with his mouth. This is because he expresses appreciation first in his heart and mind. In the same manner, God juxtaposes thought to deed only for the sake of good, but not for the sake of evil (Kiddushin 40a)…

This is the reason the verse says, “I will bless those who bless you,” because he who blesses you thinks in his heart before saying the blessing with this mouth, and a beneficent thought is considered equal to a deed, therefore, I will bless him before he even utters the blessing with his mouth. But such is not true with curses, rather, I will curse you only after you utter the curse with your mouth – only then will I curse him, and not before he utters the curse, because God doesn’t juxtapose an evil through to His deed.

In other words, a blessing comes to those who bless Abraham as if without delay. The placement of "I will curse" at the end seems to allow those who curse Abraham some time to change their ways.

The Kli Yakar also offers another explanation, as follows:

Emptying out a heaping container isn’t the same as emptying out an almost empty container. During Birkas Cohanim, the shaliach tzibur says the words before the Cohanim say them, which brings down inspiration to the Cohen, who then distributes it to the Jewish People. A person has to be blessed himself if he is to bless, which is why the verse says, “I will bless those who bless you.” Before they bless Abraham they themselves have to be blessed, so God blesses them first. The same is not true with curses, which is the reason the verse says, “and those who curse you I shall curse,” and not the other way around.

Conclusion
The larger picture comes together to suggest that God uses Abraham as an instrument of blessing in the world, which is supported by Abraham association with the attribute of giving. In order for Abraham to be able to bless others, he must first be blessed by them, hence completing this happy circle of blessing. This extremely intimate and unique relationship between God and Abraham is also conveyed in our praying, which says, "But you, Israel, My servant, Jacob whom I have chosen, the seed of Abraham, My beloved." (Isaiah 41:8) It also seems that this type of intimate language is seldom used in the Torah as a way to describe the relationship between God and a human being. A similar usage is used with regards to Moshe - "And God spoke to Moses face-to-face, as a man speaks to his friend." (Exodus 33:11)

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[1] The Kli Yakar notices that the subject of Phrase A is written in the plural and the subject of Phase B is written in the singular, which renders the verse as follows, “I shall bless those who bless you, and he who curses you I shall curse…” According to his explanation this means that, “Many will bless you, but those who curse will not be large groups, but rather marginal and scant individuals, such as Nimrod and his companions, and nobody cared what they believed.”