The Cutting of the Covenant
15:1 After these things the word of the Lord came to Abram in a vision: “Fear not, Abram! I am your shield and the one who will reward you in great abundance.”
15:2 But Abram said, “O sovereign Lord, what will you give me since I continue to be childless, and my heir is Eliezer of Damascus?” 15:3 Abram added, “Since you have not given me a descendant, then look, one born in my house will be my heir!”
15:4 But look, the word of the Lord came to him: “This man will not be your heir, but instead a son who comes from your own
body will be your heir.” 15:5 The Lord took him outside and said, “Gaze into the sky and count the stars – if you are able to count them!” Then he said to him, “So will your descendants be.”
15:6 Abram believed the Lord, and the Lord considered his response of faith as proof of genuine loyalty.
15:7 The Lord said to him, “I am the Lord who brought you out from Ur of the Chaldeans to give you this land to possess.” 15:8 But Abram said, “O sovereign Lord, by what can I know that I am to possess it?”
15:9 The Lord said to him, “Take for me a heifer, a goat, and a ram, each three years old, along with a dove and a young pigeon.” 15:10 So Abram took all these for him and then cut them in two and placed each half opposite the other, but he did not cut the birds in half. 15:11 When birds of prey came down on the carcasses, Abram drove them away.
15:12 When the sun went down, Abram fell sound asleep, and great terror overwhelmed him. 15:13 Then the Lord said to Abram, “Know for certain that your descendants will be strangers in a foreign country. They will be enslaved and oppressed for four hundred years. 15:14 But I will execute judgment on the nation that they will serve. Afterward they will come out with many possessions. 15:15 But as for you, you will go to your ancestors in peace and be buried at a good old age. 15:16 In the fourth generation your descendants will return here, for the sin of the Amorites has not yet reached its limit.”
15:17 When the sun had gone down and it was dark, a smoking firepot with a flaming torch passed between the animal parts. 15:18 That day the Lord made a covenant with Abram: “To your descendants I give this land, from the river of Egypt to the great river, the Euphrates River – 15:19 the land of the Kenites, Kenizzites, Kadmonites, 15:20 Hittites, Perizzites, Rephaites, 15:21 Amorites, Canaanites, Girgashites, and Jebusites.”
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I am beginning to get very confused. I need to go and read the notes in my study bible before commenting on this chapter. I'll be back!
ReplyDelete15:6 is an interesting translation in this version. I think it is normally translated as "credited as righteousness." Either way here is the first example of "by faith" and not "by works" in the Bible. This is before the Law is introduced to Moses. So in essence it has always been by faith that we are saved from punishment for our sins.
ReplyDeleteAnother interesting note is earlier in 15:4-5 when the word of the Lord is mentioned. (is this Jesus?). I'll have to do some research on this one but I beleive I have heard that the word of the Lord was a physical person (or representation of God). That is why John refered to Jesus as the Word.
Okay this author is fabulous. Here is another link.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.bible.org/page.php?page_id=94
A covenant was quite literally a "cut in half." In Abram's time an agreement was binding through a covenant or an animal or series of animals cut in half. Then the two parties would walk between the to halves to signify agreement. If they broke the promise the implication was that they to would be cut in half. God walked through the sacrifice (verse 15:17).
How much of the last couple of chapters is simply some background history about what/where Abram came, and how he would become of the greatest men of God that we know? A sort of bio to help ligitimize his (obvious) significance...
ReplyDeleteI appreciate everyone else's insight, as it is helping me to see a bit deeper...