We left off with Abram not compromising with the king of Sodom after battling to regain “custody” of his nephew, Lot. Chapter 15 begins with the Lord coming to Abram in a vision. Jan and Cindy asked that when God speaks in dreams, visions and/or through an audible voice that we might want to discuss it more in depth. There isn’t a lot of background written about the fact that God spoke to Abram at this point. As I mentioned previously, once the Holy Spirit was given at Pentecost, we read less about these personal encounters with God. Don’t mistake what I am saying, please. God still speaks today, but He speaks through the Holy Spirit which is given freely to each believer. It is interesting that written in scripture when God speaks, it says, “the word of the Lord came to him…
The words spoken to Abram probably reconfirm Abram’s action with the king of Sodom. Abram might have feared retaliation, but God assures Abram of His protection. But in verse 2, Abram returns to the fact that the initial promise of an heir, made approximately ten years prior, has not occurred. As was the practice for childless couples, if they did not have an heir of their own blood, the law permitted them to take a servant of their household as their heir, hence, the mention of Eliezer of Damacus.
God reminds Abram that the promised heir would come from his own body. I enjoy reading in verse 5, “He took him outside and said, …” Wow, God has this personal encounter with Abram to show him the stars He, God, created in order to demonstrate a visual lesson! And then the lesson….can you count all the stars you see? Well, that’s how many descendents you will be given! Last description of the numerous descendents was dealing with the dust of the earth. Can dust or stars be counted?? Commentaries mention that the reference to stars depicts Abram’s natural posterity, those individuals who are Jews by birth. The stars reference Abram’s spiritual seed, those who are justified by faith in Jesus.
A question was asked last week as to why Abram is having such a hard time believing the promise/covenant made by God concerning a seed coming from his own body. Let’s explore three reasons that might be in Abram’s mind. 1) Abram’s age; 2) Sarai’s age and 3) it’s been ten years since the initial covenant promise of an heir.
In verse 8, Abram again asks for a sign that this promise will transpire. Although I want to shout out to Abram, “this is God standing before you, Abram…God can do anything! He just showed you all the stars in the sky…personally…and you are still asking for more signs??” But God answers Abram by asking for animals to be used in an animal sacrifice.
When Abram falls asleep, God once again comes to him in a dream and bestows prophecy concerning Abram’s descendents. The foretelling of the Jews in Egypt for 430 years, the slavery they will encounter, the punishment of their captors and their exodus with wealth is communicated. Afterwards, the covenant promise is “sealed” with a symbolic animal sacrifice. I would like to share the explanation given in my commentary, the Believer’s Bible Commentary by William MacDonald, page 53:
“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. 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.”
Another explanation of the sacrifice: the pieces used for the sacrifice represent the nation of Israel; the vultures are the Gentile nations; the land not their own is Egypt; they would be delivered from bondage and return to Canaan in the fourth generation; the smoking oven and burning torch is the suffering of Israel as a nation.
Interestingly, the commentary also notes that verses 18-21 have not come to pass. The prophecy given will be fulfilled when Christ returns. However, the boundaries of the Promised Land are described for the first time.
Abram has been provided a lot of information during this encounter with God. Could he possibly understand the full impact of God’s covenant promise? Dust of the earth, stars in the sky, grains of sand by the shore are descriptions given as they relate to the numerous descendents Abram will be granted. But as we continue with Chapter 16 we will soon learn of Abram’s continuing attempts to help God fulfill this covenant promise of an heir.
Father, thank you for the lessons learned in Chapter 15 of Genesis. Thank you for the example of Abram. In spite of his human frailties, Father, Abram was used of God. May we be astute to recognize the Holy Spirit’s guidance which will equip us with faith to strengthen our resolve; faith to aid us with patience concerning on Your timing and faith that fills us with hope. Fill us with peace, fill us with patience, fill us with an unswerving faith to do what You have deemed is best. In Jesus’ name, Amen.
For next week: Read Chapter 16 of Genesis. Questions to consider during your study time:
1. Abram is now 85 years old. We have just read in Chapter 15 a beautiful depiction of an animal sacrifice in which God Himself passed through the midst of the pieces of slain animals as a visual exhibition of God’s grace to Abram and the covenant promise made to him. What happened?
2. It’s never good when we take matters into our own hands. We’re way too human. Let’s explore some of the fallouts of this human plan.
a. Why did Hagar begin despising Sarai as written in verse 4?
b. Why is Sarai blaming Abram in verse 5?
c. Why did Abram simply turn Hager over to Sarai in verse 6?
3. The name of the child born to Abram and Hagar?
4. The child’s destiny as told by the “angel of the Lord”
The words spoken to Abram probably reconfirm Abram’s action with the king of Sodom. Abram might have feared retaliation, but God assures Abram of His protection. But in verse 2, Abram returns to the fact that the initial promise of an heir, made approximately ten years prior, has not occurred. As was the practice for childless couples, if they did not have an heir of their own blood, the law permitted them to take a servant of their household as their heir, hence, the mention of Eliezer of Damacus.
God reminds Abram that the promised heir would come from his own body. I enjoy reading in verse 5, “He took him outside and said, …” Wow, God has this personal encounter with Abram to show him the stars He, God, created in order to demonstrate a visual lesson! And then the lesson….can you count all the stars you see? Well, that’s how many descendents you will be given! Last description of the numerous descendents was dealing with the dust of the earth. Can dust or stars be counted?? Commentaries mention that the reference to stars depicts Abram’s natural posterity, those individuals who are Jews by birth. The stars reference Abram’s spiritual seed, those who are justified by faith in Jesus.
A question was asked last week as to why Abram is having such a hard time believing the promise/covenant made by God concerning a seed coming from his own body. Let’s explore three reasons that might be in Abram’s mind. 1) Abram’s age; 2) Sarai’s age and 3) it’s been ten years since the initial covenant promise of an heir.
In verse 8, Abram again asks for a sign that this promise will transpire. Although I want to shout out to Abram, “this is God standing before you, Abram…God can do anything! He just showed you all the stars in the sky…personally…and you are still asking for more signs??” But God answers Abram by asking for animals to be used in an animal sacrifice.
When Abram falls asleep, God once again comes to him in a dream and bestows prophecy concerning Abram’s descendents. The foretelling of the Jews in Egypt for 430 years, the slavery they will encounter, the punishment of their captors and their exodus with wealth is communicated. Afterwards, the covenant promise is “sealed” with a symbolic animal sacrifice. I would like to share the explanation given in my commentary, the Believer’s Bible Commentary by William MacDonald, page 53:
“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. 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.”
Another explanation of the sacrifice: the pieces used for the sacrifice represent the nation of Israel; the vultures are the Gentile nations; the land not their own is Egypt; they would be delivered from bondage and return to Canaan in the fourth generation; the smoking oven and burning torch is the suffering of Israel as a nation.
Interestingly, the commentary also notes that verses 18-21 have not come to pass. The prophecy given will be fulfilled when Christ returns. However, the boundaries of the Promised Land are described for the first time.
Abram has been provided a lot of information during this encounter with God. Could he possibly understand the full impact of God’s covenant promise? Dust of the earth, stars in the sky, grains of sand by the shore are descriptions given as they relate to the numerous descendents Abram will be granted. But as we continue with Chapter 16 we will soon learn of Abram’s continuing attempts to help God fulfill this covenant promise of an heir.
Father, thank you for the lessons learned in Chapter 15 of Genesis. Thank you for the example of Abram. In spite of his human frailties, Father, Abram was used of God. May we be astute to recognize the Holy Spirit’s guidance which will equip us with faith to strengthen our resolve; faith to aid us with patience concerning on Your timing and faith that fills us with hope. Fill us with peace, fill us with patience, fill us with an unswerving faith to do what You have deemed is best. In Jesus’ name, Amen.
For next week: Read Chapter 16 of Genesis. Questions to consider during your study time:
1. Abram is now 85 years old. We have just read in Chapter 15 a beautiful depiction of an animal sacrifice in which God Himself passed through the midst of the pieces of slain animals as a visual exhibition of God’s grace to Abram and the covenant promise made to him. What happened?
2. It’s never good when we take matters into our own hands. We’re way too human. Let’s explore some of the fallouts of this human plan.
a. Why did Hagar begin despising Sarai as written in verse 4?
b. Why is Sarai blaming Abram in verse 5?
c. Why did Abram simply turn Hager over to Sarai in verse 6?
3. The name of the child born to Abram and Hagar?
4. The child’s destiny as told by the “angel of the Lord”
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