God’s Covenant with Abram. And the LORD brought Abram outside [his tent into the night] and said, “Look now toward the heavens and count the stars–if you are able to count them.” Then He said to him, “So [numerous] shall your descendants be.” [Heb_11:12] Gen 15:5
On the same day the LORD made a covenant (promise, pledge) with Abram, saying, “To your descendants I have given this land, From the river of Egypt to the great river Euphrates– Gen 15:18
INTRODUCTION TO THE OLD TESTAMENT
II. GOD AND THE CHOSEN FAMILY, Genesis 12-50
1. The History of Abraham and His Son Isaac, Genesis 11:27-25:11
23. Explain the meaning of Abram’s vision. Why did God so highly value his faith?
GOD’S COVENANT WITH ABRAM
After these things the word of the LORD came to Abram in a vision, saying, “Do not be afraid, Abram, I am your shield; Your reward [for obedience] shall be very great.”
Abram said, “Lord GOD, what reward will You give me, since I am [leaving this world] childless, and he who will be the owner and heir of my house is this [servant] Eliezer from Damascus?”
And Abram continued, “Since You have given no child to me, one (a servant) born in my house is my heir.”
Then behold, the word of the LORD came to him, saying, “This man [Eliezer] will not be your heir but he who shall come from your own body shall be your heir.”
And the LORD brought Abram outside [his tent into the night] and said, “Look now toward the heavens and count the stars–if you are able to count them.” Then He said to him, “So [numerous] shall your descendants be.” [Heb_11:12]
Then Abram believed in (affirmed, trusted in, relied on, remained steadfast to) the LORD; and He counted (credited) it to him as righteousness (doing right in regard to God and man). [Rom_4:3, Rom_4:18-22; Gal_3:6; Jas_2:23]
And He said to him, “I am the [same] LORD who brought you out of Ur of the Chaldeans, to give you this land as an inheritance.”
But Abram said, “Lord GOD, by what [proof] will I know that I will inherit it?”
So God said to him, “Bring Me a three-year-old heifer, a three-year-old female goat, a three-year-old ram, a turtledove, and a young pigeon.”
So Abram brought all these to Him and cut them down the middle, and laid each half opposite the other; but he did not cut the birds.
The birds of prey swooped down on the carcasses, but Abram drove them away.
When the sun was setting, a deep sleep overcame Abram; and a horror (terror, shuddering fear, nightmare) of great darkness overcame him.
God said to Abram, “Know for sure that your descendants will be strangers [living temporarily] in a land (Egypt) that is not theirs, where they will be enslaved and oppressed for four hundred years. [Exo_12:40]
But on that nation whom your descendants will serve I will bring judgment, and afterward they will come out [of that land] with great possessions. [Exo_12:35-36; Act_7:6-7]
As for you, you shall [die and] go to your fathers in peace; you shall be buried at a good old age.
Then in the fourth generation your descendants shall return here [to Canaan, the land of promise], for the wickedness and guilt of the Amorites is not yet complete (finished).” [Jos_24:15]
When the sun had gone down and a [deep] darkness had come, there appeared a smoking brazier and a flaming torch which passed between the [divided] pieces [of the animals]. [Jer_34:18-19]
On the same day the LORD made a covenant (promise, pledge) with Abram, saying, “To your descendants I have given this land, From the river of Egypt to the great river Euphrates–
[the land of] the Kenites and the Kenizzites and the Kadmonites
and the Hittites and the Perizzites and the Rephaim,
the Amorites and the Canaanites and the Girgashites and the Jebusites.”
Comments by
F.B.Meyer
On
Genesis 15:1-21
ABRAM’S VISION OF THE FUTURE
Abram had good reason to fear the vengeance of the defeated kings; but the divine voice reassured him. For all of us there is need of a shield, because the world hates us; and for each God will be our compensation for every sacrifice we have made. Refuse to take even the shoe-latchets of Sodom, and God will be your exceeding great reward. The patriarch addressed God as Adonai Jehovah, which occurs only twice more in the Pentateuch. While he was pouring out the bitterness of his soul, the stars came out. Count these, said his Almighty Friend; and he believed. For the first time that mighty word occurs in Scripture, and the Apostle makes much of it. See Rom_4:9; Gal_3:6. It was as good as done. Henceforth the patriarch reckoned on God’s faithfulness. In olden times covenants were ratified by the parties passing between the pieces of the sacrifice. To give strong consolation, the Almighty confirmed His word with an oath. See Heb_6:18. But God must wait until the hour for interposition is fully come.
Comments by
WILLIAM MACDONALD
Believers Bible Commentary
On
Genesis 15:1-21
II. THE PATRIARCHS OF ISRAEL (Chaps. 12-50)
A. Abraham (12:1–25:18)
4. Abraham’s Promised Heir (Chap. 15)
15:1 The first verse is closely linked with the last part of chapter 14. Because the patriarch refused the rewards of the king of Sodom, Jehovah said to him, “Do not be afraid, Abram. I am your shield, your exceedingly great reward,” thus making Abram both protected and fabulously wealthy.
15:2-6 Being childless, Abram feared that their servant, Eliezer of Damascus, would be their heir, since that was the law at that time. But God promised him a son and descendants as numerous as the stars. Humanly speaking this was impossible, since Sarai had passed the time when she could bear a child. But Abram believed God’s promise, and God declared him to be righteous. The truth of justification by faith enunciated here is repeated in Rom_4:3, Gal_3:6, and Jas_2:23. In Gen_13:16 God had promised descendants as numerous as the dust, and here in 15:5 as numerous as the stars. The dust pictures Abram’s natural posterity—those who are Jews by birth. The stars depict his spiritual seed—those who are justified by faith (see Gal_3:7).
15:7-21 To confirm the promise of a seed (vv. 1-6) and of a land (vv. 7, 8, 18-21), God acted out a strange and significant symbolism (vv. 9-21). David Baron explains:
According to the ancient Eastern manner of making a covenant, both the contracting parties passed through the divided pieces of the slain animals, thus symbolically attesting that they pledged their very lives to the fulfillment of the engagement they made (see Jer_34:18-19). Now in Genesis 15, God alone, whose presence was symbolized by the smoking furnace and lamp of fire, passed through the midst of the pieces of the slain animals, while Abram was simply a spectator of this wonderful exhibition of God’s free grace.
This signified that it was an unconditional covenant, dependent for fulfillment on God alone.
According to another view of this passage, the sacrificial pieces represent the nation of Israel. The vultures speak of the Gentile nations. The land that is not theirs, of course, is Egypt. Israel would be delivered from Egyptian bondage and return to Canaan in the fourth generation. The smoking oven and the burning torch describe the national destiny of Israel—suffering and witness-bearing.
Israel’s deliverance would not come until the iniquity of the Amorites was complete. These pagan inhabitants of Canaan must eventually be exterminated. But God often allows evil to run its course, sometimes to the seeming detriment of His people, before He judges it. He is longsuffering, not willing that any should perish—even the depraved Amorites (2Pe_3:9). He also allows evil to come to fruition so that the awful consequences of wickedness can be clear to all. Thus His wrath is demonstrated to be completely righteous.
Verses 13 and 14 pose a chronological problem. They predict that Abram’s people would be in harsh servitude in a foreign land for 400 years, and that they would leave at the end of that time, carrying great wealth with them. In Act_7:6 this figure of 400 years is repeated.
In Exo_12:40-41 we read that the children of Israel, who dwelt in Egypt, were sojourners for 430 years, to the very day.
Then in Gal_3:17 Paul says that the period from the confirming of the Abrahamic Covenant until the giving of the Law was 430 years.
How can these figures be reconciled?
The 400 years mentioned in Gen_15:13-14 and in Act_7:6 refer to the time of Israel’s harsh affliction in Egypt. Jacob and his family were not in bondage when they first came to Egypt. On the contrary, they were treated quite royally.
The 430 years in Exo_12:40-41 refer to the total time the people of Israel spent in Egypt—to the very day. This is an exact figure.
The 430 years in Gal_3:17 cover approximately the same period as Exo_12:40-41. They are reckoned from the time that God confirmed the Abrahamic Covenant to Jacob, just as Jacob was preparing to enter Egypt (Gen_46:14), and they extend to the giving of the Law, about three months after the Exodus.
The four generations of Gen_15:16 can be seen in Exo_6:16-20 : Levi, Kohath, Amram, Moses. Israel has not yet occupied the land promised in verses 18-21. Solomon had dominion over it (1Ki_4:21, 1Ki_4:24), as over vassal states, but his people did not occupy it. The covenant will be fulfilled when Christ returns to reign. Nothing can stop its fulfillment. What God has promised is as sure as if it had already occurred!
The river of Egypt (v. 18) is generally believed to be a small stream south of Gaza now known as Wadi el Arish, and not the Nile.
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