Chee-Chiew Lee has an interesting article on the phrase “company of nations” in Genesis 35:11. She links the promise that Jacob will become a company of nations to the promise that Abraham would be a father of many nations in Genesis 17:4-5. But 35:11 adds an important gloss to the earlier promise:
“While the promise that Abraham will be the ‘father of many nations’ may still be fulfilled to some extent by his physical descendants, the promise that Jacob will become ‘a nation and a company of nations’ can only be fulfilled beyond his physical descendants.” The phrase thus indicates that Israel will include not only the physical descendants of Jacob but also other nations. Ultimately, the promise to Jacob is fulfilled in the new “Israel of God” that consists of Jews and Gentiles (Galatians 6:16b).
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