American King James Version - AKJV - 1999
Genesis 15
1
After these things the word of the LORD came to Abram in a vision, saying, Fear not, Abram: I am your shield, and your exceeding great reward.
Reference
Parallel theme
Isaiah 41:10
Luke 12:32
References Lord
Psalm 84:11
Genesis 26:24
Isaiah 41:14
Lamentations 3:24
Psalm 5:12
Psalm 18:2
Ruth 2:12
Word
Psalm 119:114
2
And Abram said, LORD God, what will you give me, seeing I go childless, and the steward of my house is this Eliezer of Damascus?
People
3
And Abram said, Behold, to me you have given no seed: and, see, one born in my house is my heir.
Reference
4
And, behold, the word of the LORD came to him, saying, This shall not be your heir; but he that shall come forth out of your own bowels shall be your heir.
Reference
5
And he brought him forth abroad, and said, Look now toward heaven, and tell the stars, if you be able to number them: and he said to him, So shall your seed be.
Reference
7
And he said to him, I am the LORD that brought you out of Ur of the Chaldees, to give you this land to inherit it.
Reference
8
And he said, LORD God, whereby shall I know that I shall inherit it?
Reference
Parallel theme
Luke 1:18
Luke 1:34
References God
Isaiah 7:11
References Lord
2 Kings 20:8
Psalm 86:17
9
And he said to 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.
Reference
10
And he took to him all these, and divided them in the middle, and laid each piece one against another: but the birds divided he not.
Reference
Parallel theme
Leviticus 1:17
11
And when the fowls came down on the carcasses, Abram drove them away.
Reference
Parallel theme
Matthew 13:4
12
And when the sun was going down, a deep sleep fell on Abram; and, see, an horror of great darkness fell on him.
Reference
13
And he said to Abram, Know of a surety that your seed shall be a stranger in a land that is not their's, and shall serve them; and they shall afflict them four hundred years;
Reference
14
And also that nation, whom they shall serve, will I judge: and afterward shall they come out with great substance.
Reference
15
And you shall go to your fathers in peace; you shall be buried in a good old age.
Reference
Good
1 Chronicles 29:28
Parallel theme
Job 5:26
Numbers 27:13
Acts 13:36
Job 42:17
Ecclesiastes 12:7
Genesis 49:29
Daniel 12:13
Judges 2:10
Peace
2 Chronicles 34:28
16
But in the fourth generation they shall come here again: for the iniquity of the Amorites is not yet full.
Reference
17
And it came to pass, that, when the sun went down, and it was dark, behold a smoking furnace, and a burning lamp that passed between those pieces.
Reference
18
In the same day the LORD made a covenant with Abram, saying, To your seed have I given this land, from the river of Egypt to the great river, the river Euphrates:
Reference
Covenant
Nehemiah 9:8
Hebrews 13:20
Parallel theme
Genesis 13:15
Deuteronomy 11:24
Exodus 23:23
Genesis 26:4
References Egypt
Numbers 34:5
References Lord
Genesis 12:7
Genesis 24:7
Isaiah 27:12
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.
Summary of Genesis 15
Genesis chapter fifteen is where God's promises to Abram become significantly more formal. Previously there have been verbal promises and blessings, and a few altars to mark the journey. In chapter fifteen, God establishes a covenant with Abram through a ceremony that is bound to have seemed strange to us, but that would have had a certain logic for an ancient audience.
The chapter begins with the word of the Lord coming to Abram in a vision, telling him 'not to be afraid, Abram. I am your shield, your very great reward.' Abram answers in a way that shows that there is something that has been troubling him, that he feels that he is not getting what he needs to have peace. He argues that no matter what he has, if he does not have a son, it will all go to Eliezer of Damascus, a servant who was born in his household. 'You have given me no children,' says Abram, 'so a servant born in my house will be my heir.'
It is a deeply human moment, showing Abram as a man who is getting great promises from God, but who still faces the daily reality of a life that shows no sign of producing a son. God does not dismiss him, but answers the unspoken question in Abram's heart when he says, 'This man will not be your heir, but a son who is your own body will be your heir.' God then leads Abram out and tells him to look up at the sky and to try to count the stars if he can, and then says, 'So shall your offspring be.'
Then we are told that Abram believed the Lord, and that it was credited to him as righteousness, a sentence that becomes enormously important later on in the New Testament, where Paul draws on this story to argue that what God wants from us is not that we should try desperately to live up to some standard of our own choosing, but to believe in what God tells us and for Abram to do this is something that makes him righteous. God then reassures Abram that He will give him this land, saying that he had brought him out of Ur of the Chaldees to give it to him. Abram asks for some sign of this, saying, 'How can I know that I will actually gain possession of it?'
God tells him to take a heifer, a goat, a ram, each three years old, with a dove and a young pigeon, and he is to cut the animals in half and lay the halves opposite one another, but he is not told to cut up the birds. This is obviously a covenant ceremony, but it is worth remembering that in such matters the Israelites were not innovators, and that the practices described in the Torah were those that had been adopted locally. In such a covenant ceremony, people would walk between the split animals, in token of the judgement that would come upon them if they broke their word, and we are told that birds of prey came down on the carcasses, and that Abram had to drive them away.
As the sun went down Abram was overcome by a deep sleep and a thick and dreadful darkness came upon him, as God said to him, 'Know this, your descendants will be strangers in a foreign land; they will be enslaved and maltreated for four hundred years. But I will bring judgement on the nation that enslaved them, and afterwards they shall come out with great possessions. You yourself, however, shall die in peace, and you shall be buried in a good old age. It will be in the fourth generation that they shall return to this land, for the iniquity of the Amorites has not yet reached its full measure.'
It is worth noting that God does not say here that the Amorites have committed any sin at all, only that He is waiting for the iniquity to reach its full measure before bringing judgement on them. It is a sign of the grace of God that He always gives people time to repent, and to turn away from evil.
Then as the sun went down, and it was night, the smoking firepot with the glowing coal came between the split animals, and we are told that God passed between the opposites as a sign of the covenant that He was making with Abram, but this is interesting because it is not Abram who passes between the opposing halves, but rather God. In a normal covenant, both sides take part, and each puts something on the line, but in this case, it is God who is making the covenant with Abram, and it is He who puts Himself on the line.
On the day that this took place, the Lord made a covenant with Abram, saying that He would give this land to Abram's descendants, and the chapter ends by giving details of the borders of the territory. It goes from the river of Egypt to the great river, the Euphrates, and includes the Kenites, Kenizzites, Kadmonites and many others.
Taken together, these make up chapter fifteen of Genesis, and it is an important chapter because Abram's unspoken fears are aired and answered. What God has promised, Abram will receive, and it becomes clear that God has made it so that it is not us who put ourselves on the line before God, but rather it is He who puts Himself on the line for us.
The chapter begins with the word of the Lord coming to Abram in a vision, telling him 'not to be afraid, Abram. I am your shield, your very great reward.' Abram answers in a way that shows that there is something that has been troubling him, that he feels that he is not getting what he needs to have peace. He argues that no matter what he has, if he does not have a son, it will all go to Eliezer of Damascus, a servant who was born in his household. 'You have given me no children,' says Abram, 'so a servant born in my house will be my heir.'
It is a deeply human moment, showing Abram as a man who is getting great promises from God, but who still faces the daily reality of a life that shows no sign of producing a son. God does not dismiss him, but answers the unspoken question in Abram's heart when he says, 'This man will not be your heir, but a son who is your own body will be your heir.' God then leads Abram out and tells him to look up at the sky and to try to count the stars if he can, and then says, 'So shall your offspring be.'
Then we are told that Abram believed the Lord, and that it was credited to him as righteousness, a sentence that becomes enormously important later on in the New Testament, where Paul draws on this story to argue that what God wants from us is not that we should try desperately to live up to some standard of our own choosing, but to believe in what God tells us and for Abram to do this is something that makes him righteous. God then reassures Abram that He will give him this land, saying that he had brought him out of Ur of the Chaldees to give it to him. Abram asks for some sign of this, saying, 'How can I know that I will actually gain possession of it?'
God tells him to take a heifer, a goat, a ram, each three years old, with a dove and a young pigeon, and he is to cut the animals in half and lay the halves opposite one another, but he is not told to cut up the birds. This is obviously a covenant ceremony, but it is worth remembering that in such matters the Israelites were not innovators, and that the practices described in the Torah were those that had been adopted locally. In such a covenant ceremony, people would walk between the split animals, in token of the judgement that would come upon them if they broke their word, and we are told that birds of prey came down on the carcasses, and that Abram had to drive them away.
As the sun went down Abram was overcome by a deep sleep and a thick and dreadful darkness came upon him, as God said to him, 'Know this, your descendants will be strangers in a foreign land; they will be enslaved and maltreated for four hundred years. But I will bring judgement on the nation that enslaved them, and afterwards they shall come out with great possessions. You yourself, however, shall die in peace, and you shall be buried in a good old age. It will be in the fourth generation that they shall return to this land, for the iniquity of the Amorites has not yet reached its full measure.'
It is worth noting that God does not say here that the Amorites have committed any sin at all, only that He is waiting for the iniquity to reach its full measure before bringing judgement on them. It is a sign of the grace of God that He always gives people time to repent, and to turn away from evil.
Then as the sun went down, and it was night, the smoking firepot with the glowing coal came between the split animals, and we are told that God passed between the opposites as a sign of the covenant that He was making with Abram, but this is interesting because it is not Abram who passes between the opposing halves, but rather God. In a normal covenant, both sides take part, and each puts something on the line, but in this case, it is God who is making the covenant with Abram, and it is He who puts Himself on the line.
On the day that this took place, the Lord made a covenant with Abram, saying that He would give this land to Abram's descendants, and the chapter ends by giving details of the borders of the territory. It goes from the river of Egypt to the great river, the Euphrates, and includes the Kenites, Kenizzites, Kadmonites and many others.
Taken together, these make up chapter fifteen of Genesis, and it is an important chapter because Abram's unspoken fears are aired and answered. What God has promised, Abram will receive, and it becomes clear that God has made it so that it is not us who put ourselves on the line before God, but rather it is He who puts Himself on the line for us.