The biblical expression "Abraham’s seed" is not merely about Abraham. It’s also about offspring who cling to hope or to hatred, who believe and live, or who doubt and die.

Seed is used theologically from the events of Genesis to the prophecies of Revelation. The many times that biblical writers mention seed are a clue to the writers’ understanding of an agricultural cycle and to their insight into the sublime.

Undoubtedly the figurative meanings of seed are rooted in plant propagation. Seed is alive. Each seed contains an embryo that with appropriate conditions will produce a fruitful harvest—or more weeds. Seed is without gender, neither male nor female. Neither one male person nor one female person is seed in a biologic sense although each is offspring.

We speak of seed as one seed or one group of seeds. The Hebrew counterpart as the noun zera from the verb "to sow" is used in Scripture to mean plant seed as well as one or a collective group of descendants: seed of the serpent, seed of the woman, Abraham’s seed.1

There was no "Abraham’s seed" when God foretold hostility between the seed of the snake and the seed of the woman. No baby had been born, but the seed of the serpent had been defined: deceivers all.

The first parents said their first child was of God, but one sibling killed another in spite of discussions between the Lord and the rebellious offspring. By the time of a grandchild through their third child, some people living amidst lies, murder, and defiance began to encounter God.

If human beings can be characterized as two groups, then the seed of the woman believe God. They are believers all! They were often few, however. At one time, only eight people remained alive who believed God enough to act on their belief. Those who disbelieved chose destruction. Later, one family, one, believed God enough to do as God asked—the family of Abraham and Sarah.

God told Abraham that his seed would be numberless, that he would father many nations, and that through him everyone would be blessed. Awesome trust! Abraham had several lines of biologic posterity. The child of Abraham and Sarah, his wife, and the child of Abraham and Hagar, as well as the children of Abraham and Keturah (Gen. 25:1–4) and of Abraham and his concubines (Gen. 25:5, 6) were Abraham’s blood descendants.

Only Isaac, the child of Abraham and Sarah, believed God in his generation. Only Jacob in the next generation believed God. Yet so many men and women in later generations followed God’s leading that the offspring of Jacob—the Israelites, the Jews, Abraham’s seed—carried a hope for the seed of the woman in each generation, like seed held to plant in season. Jesus was described as descended from Abraham, Rahab of Jericho, and Ruth the Moabitess, who adopted Abraham’s heritage, but when Immanuel came he said he was before Abraham—a concept not readily accepted (John 8)!

Paul, a descendant of Abraham through Abraham’s grandchild, Benjamin, says the Scriptures do not speak of Abraham’s seeds meaning many, but of Abraham’s seed meaning one, Christ (Rom. 11:1; Gal. 3; 4:28). People who are one in Christ believe God. They are the result of faith, as was Isaac! People who are faithful to God are Abraham’s seed, heirs according to promise, heirs not characterized by ethnic roots, social status, or gender!

Jesus said Abraham’s seed would do the works of Abraham, including loving God and loving Jesus, whom God sent (John 8, Matt. 13). Regardless of lineage, people whose behavior revealed destructive motives were seed of another sort. Diverse seed produce conflict!

Jesus made the point that beyond biology and unlike plant seed, human descendants choose their ultimate ancestor!

To be Sarah’s offspring is to do right and not fear (1 Pet. 3:6)—one generation turned the world upside down! To be Abraham’s seed is to respond to God and to be numberless—they may be our neighbors!

And what does "respond" entail? People can respond to the created world, thank a Higher Power, and live by an inner law (Rom. 1:18–20; 2:13–16). Three generations—Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob—demonstrated their response, their goals, through their lifestyle (Heb. 11:8–12). Our lifestyle testifies to something.

Some of Abraham’s seed didn’t believe God, for example, the descendants of Dan and Ephraim. To oversimplify their behavior, Dan was judgmental and Ephraim did everything except what God asked. Neither is named on one of the twelve pearly gates of the New Jerusalem. Neither is numbered in the end among the literal offspring of Abraham.2 But wait!

The redeemed are said to come from every tribe, every language, and every nation (Rev. 5:9). Does that include Samson who by faith subdued the enemies of God? He was Abraham’s seed through Dan (Jud. 13:1–5, 24)! If so, through what gate will Samson enter?

Do the redeemed include Joshua, Moses’ successor and Abraham’s seed through the tribe of Ephraim (Num. 13:8, 16; 14:6; Deut. 32:44)? Is Deborah, the prophetess of Ephraim, included? If so, will they and other descendants of Ephraim enter through the gate of their ancestral father, Joseph?13

Abraham’s seed as well as the seed of the woman and the seed of the serpent have a destiny. Some seed is reaped at Harvest. Some is not. Until then, seed has responsibility and opportunity whether planted or priestly, whether ripe or royalty. Recognizing one’s ultimate parent is not trivial! It is significant to Abraham and to Armageddon, to heaven and to history.

Notes and References

1. Laird Harris, Gleason L. Archer, Jr., Bruce K. Waltke, eds., Theological Wordbook of the Old Testament (Chicago: Moody Bible Institute, 1980).
2. Rev. 7:4–8, 21:10–14; Jer. 4:14, 15; 7:15; and Hos. 4 onward. Ephraim is replaced with Israel in some versions, but is differentiated in the Hebrew.
Num. 26:35–37, offspring of Ephraim are numbered, yet are named as offspring of Joseph.

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