‘Het u net een seën?’: Vrede as oorvloeiseën as tema in Genesis 12–50

Abstract

‘Have you but one blessing?’: Peace as overflow of blessings in Genesis 12–50. A theme often overlooked in the patriarchal history (Gn 12–50) is the blessings bestowed on individuals outside the covenantal lineage, for example Ishmael and Esau. This article considers how blessings, promised to the patriarchs, also brought peace and benefits to individuals who were assimilated into the covenant as well as to divarications of the covenantal lineage, and to individuals with whom the patriarchs interacted in civil society. Blessings, promised to Abraham’s descendants, had a spiralling effect and universal tendency.