FRAMEWORKS:
Genesis 15: The Lord's Covenant with Abram
v.1-3
Abram's first question
v.4-6
Abram's Righteousness
v.7,8
Abram's Second Question
v.9-12
A Serious Covenant (1)
v.13-16
The Lord reveals the Future of the Family
v.17-21
A Serious Covenant (2)
v.1-3
Abram's first question
v.1
After
this, the word of the Lord came to Abram in a vision:
“Do not be afraid, Abram. I am your shield, your
very great reward.”
v.2
But
Abram said, “Sovereign Lord, what can you give me since I remain
childless and the one who will inherit my estate is Eliezer of
Damascus?”
v.3
And
Abram said, “You have given me no children; so a servant in my
household will be my heir.”
[Notes:
This
passage is started by God coming in a vision to reassure Abram
but Abram questions such reassurance because he still hasn't had
any children and the years are passing.]
v.4-6
Abram's Righteousness
v.4
Then
the word of the Lord came to him: “This man will not be your heir,
but a son who is your own flesh and blood will be your heir.”
v.5
He
took him outside and said, “Look up at the sky and count the stars—if
indeed you can count them.” Then he said to him, “So shall your
offspring be.”
v.6
Abram
believed the Lord, and he credited it to him as righteousness.
[Notes:
Abram
is reassured by the Lord who reiterates that he will have many
children. At this point Abraham believes God and that belief is
decreed as righteousness, which the apostle Paul picks up on Romans
4, as the basis for our salvation.]
v.7,8
Abram's Second Question
v.7
He
also said to him, “I am the Lord, who brought you out of Ur of
the Chaldeans to give you this land to take possession of it.”
v.8
But
Abram said, “Sovereign Lord, how can I know that I will gain possession
of it?”
[Notes:
The
Lord reminds Abram that he's not there in this land by accident
but by His calling. Abram still questions and needs more assurance.
Perhaps because no one has trodden this path before the Lord simply
perseveres with him.]
v.9-12
A Serious Covenant (1)
v.9
So
the Lord said to him, “Bring me a heifer, a goat and a ram, each
three years old, along with a dove and a young pigeon.”
v.10
Abram
brought all these to him, cut them in two and arranged the halves
opposite each other; the birds, however, he did not cut in half.
v.11
Then
birds of prey came down on the carcasses, but Abram drove them
away.
v.12
As
the sun was setting, Abram fell into a deep sleep, and a thick
and dreadful darkness came over him.
[Notes:
In
those days when covenants were entered into [usually between kings]
then sacrifices would be cut in half and a pathway between them
created and the parties would pass between these signs of death
having been given to solemnize the agreement. This the Lord now
instructs and Abram does, and opens the way for the covenant.]
v.13-16
The Lord reveals the Future of the Family
v.13
Then
the Lord said to him, “Know for certain that for four hundred
years your descendants will be strangers in a country not their
own and that they will be enslaved and mistreated there.
v.14
But
I will punish the nation they serve as slaves, and afterward they
will come out with great possessions.
v.15
You,
however, will go to your ancestors in peace and be buried at a
good old age.
v.16
In
the fourth generation your descendants will come back here, for
the sin of the Amorites has not yet reached its full measure.”
[Notes:
The
Lord brings a prophecy for the future of Abram's people:
•
they
will leave this land for over four hundred years
•
they
will be made slaves in that other place
•
God will
punish that other people and deliver Abram's people
•
He
•
this
will not include Abram for he will die in peace in this land.
All
of this will be fulfilled as is seen in the end of Genesis and
the whole of Exodus.]
v.17-21
A Serious Covenant (2)
v.17
When
the sun had set and darkness had fallen, a smoking firepot with
a blazing torch appeared and passed between the pieces.
v.18
On
that day the Lord made a covenant with Abram and said, “To your
descendants I give this land, from the Wadi of Egypt to the great
river, the Euphrates—
v.19
the
land of the Kenites, Kenizzites, Kadmonites, 20 Hittites,
Perizzites, Rephaites,
v.21
Amorites,
Canaanites, Girgashites and Jebusites.”
[Notes:
A
supernatural torch appeared and the Lord reiterates His promise
that Abram's people will inherit this extensive land to confirm
the covenant.]
Continue to Chapter 16