Therefore as many as the stars of the sky in multitude, and as innumerable as the sand which is by the sea shore, were fathered by one man, and him as good as dead.
Verse 12. Therefore sprang there even of one. From a single individual. What is observed here by the apostle as worthy of remark is, that the whole Jewish people sprang from one man, and that, as the reward of his strong faith, he was made the father and founder of a nation. And him as good as dead. So far as the subject under discussion is concerned.
These words acquaint us with that gratuitous remuneration and gracious reward which God gave Abraham and Sarah, as the fruit of the faith, namely, the blessing of a numerous posterity; there sprang of them, and both of them, as good as dead, with reference to the procreation of children, a numerous issue like the stars of heaven, and the sands of the sea.
as good as dead--literally, "deadened"; no longer having, as in youth, energetic vital powers. stars . . . sand-- (Gen 22:17).