To these passages have to be added Isaac's blessing to Jacob: "God Almighty bless thee and make thee fruitful, and multiply thee, that thou mayest be a company--literally, 'a congregation' ( קְהַל עַמִּים ) of peoples" (Gen. xxviii. 3); and Jacob's forecast of Ephraim in his blessing of Joseph's sons, that his seed shall become "a multitude (or literally, 'a fulness,' מְלֹא הַגּוֹיִם ) of the nations." Now in reference to all these particular promises and forecasts, I would beg your attention to the following observations:-- I. There are expressions in them which must not be pressed to the extreme of literalness according to our Western ideas. We speak of "nations," and think of them as embracing populations of whole countries, and of "kings" as being sovereigns of States, but in the earlier books of the Bible we are introduced to many "nations" and "peoples" as comprised in one little country of Canaan, and of many "kings" who were no more than chiefs, or rulers of "cities," which in our modern times we would only class as "villages." As a matter of fact, the term גּוֹיִם , _goim_, generally standing for "_nations_," and usually for the _Gentile_ nations, is actually used for the _tribes_ or families of the Jewish people. Here is the Scripture: "And He said unto me, Son of Man, I send thee to the children of Israel, to nations ‎( גּוֹיִם , (_goim_--the word is in the plural) that are rebellious, which have rebelled against Me" (Ezek. ii. 3). The "Jews," or "Israel," as they are properly called are being spoken of as "nations," because they comprised different families or tribes. Already Moses could say of the Israel of his time: "_Jehovah your God hath multiplied you, and behold, ye are this day as the stars of heaven for multitude_" (Deut. i. 10; x. 22); and Solomon, in his prayer for wisdom, says: "_Thy servant is in the midst of Thy people which Thou hast chosen, a great people that cannot be counted for multitude_" (1 Kings iii. 8). The writer of the Epistle to the Hebrews knew nothing of a supposed identification of the millions in Britain and America with the "lost" Ten Tribes, but speaking of the descendants of Abraham and Sarah, he could say that because Abraham believed God, and Sarah herself, in spite of natural impossibilities, judged Him faithful who had promised: "_Wherefore also there sprang of one, and him as good as dead, so many as the stars of heaven for multitude, and as the sand which is by the seashore innumerable_" (Hebrews xi. 12); so that even if we view only the past it is not true to assert that the promises of God that the seed of Abraham should be a multitude which cannot be numbered, and constitute "a company of nations," has not been fulfilled in the "Jews" or "Israel," which has never been "lost."