ABRAHAM SERIES: THE PROMISED HEIR AND COVENANT

Years have passed since God first spoke to Abram and told him, “I will make of thee a great nation” and, “Unto thy seed will I give the land,” yet he and his wife Sarai remained childless. Therefore, when the Lord spoke to Abram in a vision and told him He was his shield and exceeding great reward, Abram questioned Him about being childless. Abram wondered if his steward, Eliezer of Damascus, was supposed to fulfill that position. God responded, “This shall not be thine heir; but he that shall come forth out of thine own bowels shall be thine heir.”

God also told Abram that his descendants would be as numerous as the stars in the sky. Hearing this, Abram believed that which God spoke to him, and God considered him righteous on account of his faith.

God rehearsed with Abram what He did for him. Because He planned for Abram to inherit the land of Canaan, He brought him out of the city of Ur of the Chaldees. Wanting to be assured, Abram asked, “Lord God, whereby shall I know that I shall inherit it?” As an answer, God tells Abram to prepare an offering of a three-year-old heifer, she goat, and ram, a turtledove, and a young pigeon. In his preparation, Abram divided the larger animals in half and laid them side by side; however, he placed the birds whole. Eventually, vultures attempted to devour portions of the offering; however, Abram scared them away.

When evening time came, a dreadful feeling came upon Abram as he slept. Furthermore, God revealed to Abram that for four hundred years, his posterity would be in a foreign land where they would experience oppression, and God would judge the oppressors. After four generations, Abram’s posterity would leave that place with a great bounty. Abram would die peacefully at an old age.

When darkness increased, a smoking furnace and a burning lamp passed between the sacrificial offering, and God made a covenant with Abram. From the Nile River in Egypt to the River Euphrates in Assyria, the land belonging to the Kenites, the Kenizzites, the Kadmonites, the Hittites, the Perizzites, the Rephaim, the Amorites, the Canaanites, the Girgashites, and the Girgashites would be given to Abram’s seed.

Historically, after returning from successfully battling the four Eastern kings in the previous chapter, the king of Sodom offered Abram a reward, which he rejected. In this chapter, God tells him that He will be his reward.

This was the second recorded instance of God making a covenant with humanity. Typically, when a covenant was made between two individuals in ancient times, the sacrifice was cut in half, and the individuals would pass between the halves. This covenant was a one-sided (unilateral) covenant for Abram watched while God acted on behalf of both of them. Abram could not break this covenant because he was a recipient and not a co-signer. God did it all.

Now, here are the nuggets I gained from Genesis 15:

God can bring hope into what appears to be a hopeless situation.

God does not want His children to fear, for He protects them from dangers seen and unseen.

God is the greatest reward an individual can receive.

Drive away the unwanted forces that would devour your sacrifices.

God shares with us both the good and the bad.

Receiving land is a blessing from God.