And thy seed shall be as the dust of the earth
Innumerable, see ( Genesis 13:16 ) ( Numbers 23:10 ) ; and thou shalt spread abroad to the west;
or "the sea", the Mediterranean sea, which was west of the land of Canaan: and to the east, and to the north, and to the south;
not of the whole world, but of the land of Canaan: the meaning is, that his posterity should be numerous, and break out and spread themselves like a flood of water, and reach to the utmost bounds of the land on all sides: and in thee and in thy seed shall all the families of the earth be
blessed;
that is, in that eminent and principal seed that should spring from him, the Messiah, in whom some of all nations should, as they have been, be blessed with all spiritual blessings, as redemption, peace, pardon, justification, adoption, and eternal life; the same promise had been made to Abraham, was renewed to Isaac, and now confirmed to Jacob, see ( Genesis 22:18 ) ( 26:4 ) .