The First Book of Moses, called Genesis
Genesis 15
Chapter XV · Vol. I, pp. 236–238
1 God encourageth Abram, who complaineth for want of an heir. 4 God promiseth him a son, and a multiplying of his seed. 6 Abram is justified by his faith. 7 Canaan is promised again, and confirmed to him by a sign and a vision.
1 After these things the word of the LORD came unto Abram in a avision, saying, Fear not, bAbram: I am thy shield, and thy exceeding great reward.4
B.C. 1911.
a Nu. 1.6. 1 Sa. 9.9. Da. 10.1-16. Ac. 10.10. He. 1.1.
b ch. 26.24; 46.3. Ex. 14.13. 1 Ch. 28.20. Is. 35.4; 41.10,13; 43.1,5; 44.2,8. He. 13.5.
4 This is the first time in the Scriptures that the Word of the Lord is employed as a descriptive title of him 'that was with God, and was God,' see Jn. 1.1. It is impossible to read and believe this chapter, and deny that the 'Word' is Jehovah. In ver. 1 the Word of the Lord comes, saying:—I am thy shield; and here (ver. 2) Abram addresses him as the Lord God; see also ver. 4, 8.—C.
2 And Abram said, Lord GOD, cwhat wilt thou give me, seeing I go childless, and the steward of my house is this Eliezer of Damascus?
A.M. 2093. B.C. 1911.
c Ps. 127.3. ch. 30.2; 25.21. 1 Sa. 1.11.
3 And Abram said, dBehold, to me thou hast given no seed: and, lo, eone born in my house is mine heir.
d With ch. 12.2; 13.16. Pr. 13.12. He. 10.35,36.
4 And, behold, the word of the LORD came unto him, saying, This shall not be thine heir; but fhe that shall come forth out of thine own bowels shall be thine heir.
f 2 Sa. 7.12. ch. 17.16; 21.12.
5 And he brought him forth abroad, and said, Look now toward heaven, and tell the stars, if thou be able to number them. And he said unto him, gSo shall thy seed be.
g See ch. 12.2; 13.16. Ro. 4.18.
6 And he hbelieved in the LORD; and he counted it to him for righteousness.5
h See Ro. 4.3. Ga. 3.6. Ja. 2.23.
5 Righteousness, according to the composition of the word, signifies a full performance of what is ordered—a fulfilling of the whole will of God. Abram believed in the Lord, and it was counted to him, not as standing instead of righteousness, nor as becoming righteousness, but as conducting unto righteousness, that is, to Christ, the promised Seed, whose day Abram saw afar off and was glad, Jn. 8.56, and who alone is 'the end of the law for righteousness to every one that believeth,' Ro. 10.4.—C.
7 And he said unto him, I am the LORD ithat brought thee out of Ur of the 6Chaldees, to give thee this land to inherit it.
i ch. 11.31; 12.1. Ne. 9.7. Ac. 7.3,4. He. 11.8.
6 See ch. 12.7; 13.15,17. Ps. 105.11. Ne. 9.8.
9 And he said unto him, Take me an heifer of three years old, and a she-goat of three years old, and a ram of three years old, and a turtledove, and a young pigeon.7
7 All the animals here enumerated were afterwards appointed for sacrifice by the law; of which Abram, by anticipation, now receives an outline.—C.
10 And he took unto him all these, and divided them in the midst, and laid each piece one against another: but the birds divided he not.
11 And when the fowls came down upon the carcases, Abram drove them away.
12 And when the sun was going down, a ldeep sleep fell upon Abram; and, lo, an horror of great darkness fell upon him.8
l ch. 2.21. 1 Sa. 26.12. Job 4.13; 33.15.
8 The effect of these miraculous interpositions was to isolate Abram's mind entirely from earthly scenes and thoughts, and to bring him into immediate communication with God. God alone was seen; his voice alone was heard; the mind was filled with the one subject to the exclusion of all else. Thus the divine promise had a reality and a vividness which impressed it indelibly on the mind of the patriarch.—P.
13 And he said unto Abram, Know of a surety thatm thy seed shall be a stranger in a land that is not theirs, and shall serve them; and they shall afflict them four hundred years.
A.M. 2093. B.C. 1911.
m Ac. 7.6. Ps. 105.13-43. He. 11.8-13. Ex. i. ii. v.; 12.40,41.
14 And nalso that nation, whom they shall serve, will I judge: and afterward shall they come out with great substance.
n ch. xlvi. Ex. vii.-xiv.; 12.35,36. De. 4.20; 7.18,19; 11.2-4. Jos. 24.4-7,17. 1 Sa. 12.8. Ne. 9.9-11.
15 And thou oshalt go to thy fathers7 in peace; thou shalt be buried in a good old age.
o ch. 25.8. Job 5.26.
7 It has been incautiously admitted by some Christian writers, and maliciously asserted by infidels, that Moses makes no mention of immortality. That Moses never uses the word immortality, is admitted; but the fact is taken for granted and asserted throughout all that he wrote. To Abram it was promised, thou shalt go to thy fathers; but his fathers were buried in Mesopotamia, and Abram was buried at Mamre, ch. 25.9,10. His going, therefore, to his fathers, declares the separate state of spirits, who concentre around the throne of the Lamb, no matter how their bodies may be scattered. See 2 Co. 5.1-8; Re. 6.9-11.—C.
16 But in the fourth8 generation they shall come hither again: for the iniquity of the Amorites is not yet full.
8 Eleazar and Caleb were the fourth generation from those who left Canaan, ch. xlvi.
17 And it came to pass, that, when the sun went down, and it was dark, behold a smoking furnace, and a burning9 lamp that passed between those pieces.
9 Heb. a lamp of fire.
18 In that same day the LORD made a covenant with Abram, saying, pUnto thy seed have I given this land, from the river of Egypt unto the great river, the river Euphrates.
p ch. 12.7; 13.15; 26.4; 17.8; 28.4,13,14; 35.12; 46.4; 48.24; 50.24. Ex. 3.8; 23.23,27-31; 34.11. De. 1.9; 7.1; 11.23-25,31. Jos. 1.4, with ch. 10.15-19. Jos. xii.-xix. De. 34.4. Ex. 23.31, with ch. 10.15-19.
19 The Kenites, and the Kenizzites, and the Kadmonites,
20 And the Hittites, and the Perizzites, and the Rephaims,
21 And the Amorites, and the Canaanites, and the Girgashites, and the Jebusites.
Notes
Ver. 1. Fear not, indulge no slavish or excessive terror on account of thine enemies, wants, or dangers; or on account of the awful appearances of God, Is. 43. 1; 41. 10; Mat. 28. 5; Re. 1. 18. I am thy shield, infallibly to protect thee, Ps. 3. 3; 84. 11; 91. 4, and thy exceeding great but gracious reward of thy piety and love, giving myself, in all that I am and have, to thee, as thine everlasting all and in all, Pr. 11. 18; Ps. 19. 11; 16. 5, 6; 142. 5; De. 33. 26-29; Is. 41. 10; 1 Co. 3. 22; 15. 28, 58; Col. 2. 9, 10.
Ver. 2, 3. What avails it what outward comforts be promised me, so long as I have no child of my own, but only this Syrian servant, to be my heir.——[Ver. 3. The full force and meaning of Abram's words can only be seen by considering his position in connection with the promise originally given to him. He was not only childless, but to all human appearance hopelessly so. God had promised him that his seed should be as the stars of heaven for multitude. As yet there was no sign, and as he thought, no hope of its fulfilment. Consequently when the Lord now says, 'I am thy shield,' &c., Abraham replies in the bitterness of hopelessness, 'What wilt thou give me?' What can make up for the want of a child? 'The heir of my house is this Damascus-Eliezer'—my slave must be my heir. Abram's complaint just amounts to this: All gifts and promises are nothing to me since a child is withheld. P.]
Ver. 8-15. Moved by the Spirit of God, he asked this sign. The beasts he presented to God were emblems of his seed: the heifer prefigured them in their patience, labour, and proneness to backsliding, Ho. 4. 16; the goat in their mischievousness and lust, Je. 5. 7, 8; the ram in their strength and fortitude, Nu. 24. 8, 9; the doves in their simplicity and harmlessness in their purest state, Ps. 74. 19. The division of the four-footed animals (1) represented the torn condition of his seed, by the division of their kingdom, &c., 1 Ki. 11. 12, 13; (2) ratified the covenant made with him and his seed, in God's passing between the pieces, in the symbol of the burning lamp. The pieces being laid over against one another, imported that God would in due time join the separated and scattered Hebrews into one body, Eze. 37. 15-22. The fowls which attempted to light on the pieces, denoted the Egyptians, and other enemies of Israel, which should in vain attempt to devour them, Eze. 17. 3, 7, 12. The horror of great darkness which fell upon Abram, signified their great distress and vexation in Egypt, and under their subsequent oppressors, Ps. 55. 3-5; Da. 10. 8, 9; and hence they are like to a bush burning and not consumed, Ex. 3. 2, 3. The burning lamp denoted their manifest and joyful deliverance, Ju. 6. 21; Is. 62. 1; the smoking furnace, their affliction in Egypt, De. 4. 20; Je. 11. 4. Abram went to his fathers in death, his soul to the world of spirits, and his body to the grave, where they were gone before him, He. 12. 23; Ec. 12. 7; ch. 25. 8, 17; 49. 29; Nu. 20. 21; 27. 13; Ju. 2. 10; 1 Ch. 23. 1; 29. 28; Job 42. 17; Je. 8. 2. And it was in peace, without remarkable trouble; and in peace with God and his own conscience, and with his neighbours, Ps. 37. 37; Is. 57. 2; 2 Ki. 22. 20. It was also in a good old age; when he was full of years, weary of this world, and ready and longing for heaven, yet free from any of the infirmities of old age, and falling like ripe fruit in the time of gathering, ch. 25. 8; 1 Ch. 29. 28; Job 5. 26.
Ver. 16. Iniquity is full, when it is arrived at such a number of acts, such a degree of aggravation, and time of continuance, that God, in consistence with his purpose or honour, can no longer forbear to punish it, Je. 51. 13; Da. 8. 23; Joel 3. 12; Mat. 12. 32; 1 Th. 2. 16.
Ver. 17. [Those pieces. The first emblem, a smoking furnace, was an apt representation of the state of Abram's seed under the Egyptians and the Gentiles, see Je. 11. 4; Zec. 13. 9. The second, a burning lamp, was a no less expressive emblem of that word of which they were made the preservers (see Ps. 119. 105; Ro. 3. 7; 9. 4), of that Light of the world (Jn. 1. 9) that was to arise amongst them, and of that finally glorious state of light, that, in the promise of truth and mercy, still awaits them, Is. 60. 1-3; 62. 1. C.]
Ver. 18. Through their sloth and wickedness they never, but in the reign of David and Solomon, possessed the whole territory here assigned them, Ju. i. ii. iii. iv., with 2 Sa. viii. x.; 1 Ki. 4. 21, 24; 2 Ch. 9. 26.—[The river of Egypt is the Nile. The Hebrew word is different from that employed in Nu. 34. 5; Jos. 35. 4; 1 Ki. 8. 65, though in the English version the same phrase is used. In the latter passages the Hebrew word signifies 'torrent-bed,' and not river; and Wady el-Arîsh is meant. National sin prevented the Israelites from possessing the whole country originally promised to Abraham, Ex. 23. 20-33, with Jos. 23. 13-16; Ju. 2. 20-23. The country as promised here to Abraham was much more extensive than that described by Moses in Nu. xxxiv. P.]
Ver. 19, 20. It seems the Kenites, Kenizzites, Kadmonites, and Rephaims had either been mostly extirpated before the time of Moses, or were blended with the seven nations which he mentions, De. 7. 1, 17-24; Ex. 23. 23; 33. 2; 34. 11.
Reflections.—Blessed indeed are they whose God is the Lord! There is no woe, no want, to them that fear him! How happy the issue of familiar intimacy with God! Before they call, he answers; and whilst they are yet speaking, he saith, Here I am. Scarcely will he do anything important without revealing his secrets to them. How he condescends to our weakness, in giving us signs in ordinances, signs in providence, for the confirmation of our faith in his promises! But even his faithful ones must often wait long for the beginning or the full accomplishment of these promises; and through manifold trials it must be obtained. Meanwhile, then, let me wait with patient expectation; and, with the patriarch, look beyond a numerous seed, and an earthly Canaan, to Jesus, and the travail of his soul, and to the better country above, the everlasting pleasures of which shall more than balance all the discouragements I can meet with by the way.