Bible Synapse
Were Abraham’s descendants to be countless, or few in number among the nations?
Hard question · Prophecy and its fulfilment · raised by 1 of the lists sceptics circulate
See the passages joined in the interactive mapThe passages
God promises to multiply Abraham’s seed “as the stars of the heaven, and as the sand which is upon the sea shore”.
That in blessing I will bless thee, and in multiplying I will multiply thy seed as the stars of the heaven, and as the sand which is upon the sea shore; and thy seed shall possess the gate of his enemies; And in thy seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed; because thou hast obeyed my voice.
God repeats the promise to Isaac: “I will make thy seed to multiply as the stars of heaven”.
And I will make thy seed to multiply as the stars of heaven, and will give unto thy seed all these countries; and in thy seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed;
Moses warns that if Israel turns to idols, God will scatter them and they will be “left few in number among the heathen”; yet if they seek him, he will not forget his covenant.
When thou shalt beget children, and children’s children, and ye shall have remained long in the land, and shall corrupt yourselves, and make a graven image, or the likeness of any thing, and shall do evil in the sight of the Lord thy God, to provoke him to anger: I call heaven and earth to witness against you this day, that ye shall soon utterly perish from off the land whereunto ye go over Jordan to possess it; ye shall not prolong your days upon it, but shall utterly be destroyed. And the Lord shall scatter you among the nations, and ye shall be left few in number among the heathen, whither the Lord shall lead you. And there ye shall serve gods, the work of men’s hands, wood and stone, which neither see, nor hear, nor eat, nor smell. But if from thence thou shalt seek the Lord thy God, thou shalt find him, if thou seek him with all thy heart and with all thy soul. When thou art in tribulation, and all these things are come upon thee, even in the latter days, if thou turn to the Lord thy God, and shalt be obedient unto his voice; …
“Ye shall be left few in number, whereas ye were as the stars of heaven for multitude.”
And ye shall be left few in number, whereas ye were as the stars of heaven for multitude; because thou wouldest not obey the voice of the Lord thy God.
The objection
God promised Abraham that his descendants would be as many as the stars of heaven and the sand on the seashore (Genesis 22:17; 26:4). But Moses told Israel, “ye shall be left few in number among the heathen” (Deuteronomy 4:27). Critics ask which it was to be: a countless people, or a few survivors.
The answer
Moses joins the two in a single sentence: “Ye shall be left few in number, whereas ye were as the stars of heaven for multitude” (Deuteronomy 28:62). By his day the first promise had already come true. Seventy had gone down to Egypt, “and now the Lord thy God hath made thee as the stars of heaven for multitude” (Deuteronomy 10:22; compare 1:10). Under Solomon, Judah and Israel were “as the sand which is by the sea in multitude” (1 Kings 4:20).
Deuteronomy 4:27 is not a second promise that cancels the first. It is a warning of what would happen if Israel, long settled in the land, turned to idols (4:25–26): war and exile would cut them down to a remnant scattered among the nations, as happened when Assyria and Babylon carried them away. Even then, Moses goes on, God would not forget “the covenant of thy fathers” (4:31). A people can be numberless at one time and few at another, and Scripture records both.
Other answers Christians give
Abraham’s children by faith
The New Testament also sees the promise fulfilled in all who share Abraham’s faith, “they which are of faith” (Galatians 3:7, 29). John saw them as “a great multitude, which no man could number, of all nations” (Revelation 7:9).
From the classic commentators
whereas ye were as the stars of heaven for multitude; and, as it is sometimes said, as the sand of the sea, as was promised to Abraham, Genesis 15:5; and was fulfilled in the days of Solomon 1 Kings 4:20John Gill, Exposition of the Bible, on Deuteronomy 28:62 (1746–1763)