NOTE.—Before entering upon the study of this lesson, the student should read carefully chapter 14:1 to 15:4. As the last lesson comprised chapter 13, the introduction of the present one is abrupt and in a measure incomprehensible without a knowledge of the intervening scripture, which gives an account of Abraham’s great victory over the five kings. After this victory, the vision was given him which includes this lesson.
Golden Text.—“I am thy shield, and thy exceeding great reward.” Gen. 15:1.
5 “And He brought him forth abroad, and said, Look now toward heaven, and tell the stars, if thou be able to tell them: 6 and He said unto him, So shall thy seed be. And he believed in the Lord; and He counted it to him for righteousness. And 7 He said unto him, I am the Lord that brought thee out of Ur 8 of the Chaldees, to give thee this land to inherit it. And he said, O Lord God, whereby shall I know that I shall inherit it? 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. And he took him all these, and divided them in the midst, and laid each half 11 over against the other; but the birds divided he not. And the birds of prey came down upon the carcasses, and Abram drove 12 them away. And when the sun was going down, a deep sleep fell upon Abram; and, lo, an horror of great darkness fell upon 13 him. And He said unto Abram, Know of a surety that 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; 14 and also that nation, whom they shall serve, will I judge; and 15 afterward shall they come out with great substance. But thou shalt go to thy fathers in peace; thou shalt be buried in 16 a good old age. And in the fourth generation they shall come hither again; for the iniquity of the Amorite is not yet full. 17 And it came to pass, that, when the sun went down, and it was dark, behold a smoking furnace, and a flaming torch that 18 passed between these pieces. In that day the Lord made a covenant with Abram, saying, Unto thy seed have I given this land, from the river of Egypt unto the great river, the river Euphrates.”
Suggestive Questions.
(1) What promise is here repeated to Abraham? Verse 5. Note 1. (2) How did Abraham receive this promise? How was his faith rewarded? Verse 6. Note 2. (3) What further assurance did the Lord give him? Verse 7. (4) What then did Abraham ask of the Lord? Verse 8. Note 3. (5) What did the Lord tell him to do? Verse 9. (6) When he had procured these sacrificial creatures, what did he do with them? Verses 10, 11. (7) What occurred as the sun was going down? Verse 12. (8) What did the Lord say should befall the seed of Abraham? Verse 13. Note 4. (9) What would follow this affliction? Verse 14. (10) What was told Abraham concerning his death? Verse 15. Note 5. (11) What was the cause of delay in occupying the land? Verse 16. (12) What token indicated that this covenant with Abraham, was confirmed on the Lord’s part? Verse 17. (13) What covenant was now made in regard to land? Verse 18. Note 6.
Notes.
1. The reminders of the promise are very striking and such as would be continually before Abraham. In Ch. 13:16 his seed is likened to “the dust of the ‘earth’” for number, and in Ch. 22:17 it is to be “as ‘the sand which is upon the seashore.’” So that, night or day, wherever Abraham might be, there were all around him the symbols of the promise of a multitudinous offspring.
2. Abraham believed at a time when all human reason and human understanding would fail to grasp the situation. Yet that which God counted to him for righteousness, is too often counted as fanaticism by those who claim to be more enlightened. But “the wisdom of this world is foolishness with God.”
3. Abraham’s asking for a sign was not skepticism. God has challenged His servants to prove Him, and has not shunned to give them extraordinary signs to support the weakness of the flesh; as, for instance, Moses (Exodus 4), Gideon (Judges 6:11-24), Elijah (1 Kings 19), and John the Baptist (Luke 7:19-23).
4. Four Hundred Years.—From the time of the mocking of Isaac by the son of the bondwoman, to the deliverance from Egypt. Compare Gen. 21:9-12; Gal. 4:27, 30. The 430 years of Gal. 3:17 and Ex. 12:40 date from Abraham’s call to Canaan and the promise connected therewith, B.C. 1921 to 1491. Gen. 12:1-5. According to the Samaritan and the Alexandrian Septuagint, Ex. 12:40 should read: “Now the sojourning of the children of Israel and of their fathers, which they sojourned in the land of Canaan and in the land of Egypt, was four hundred and thirty years.”
5. “Go to Thy Fathers.”—This refers to the death of Abraham, and is a strong remonstrance against the doctrine that the dead are in any state of consciousness. Abraham’s fathers were idolaters, and could not be in heaven, where some suppose Abraham to be; nor could righteous Abraham be in the reputed torment of the wicked, or even in the Roman purgatory. He could go to his fathers “in peace” only in the sense that he was dead and buried just as they were. And there, like Job, he awaits his change. See Job 14:13-15; 17:11-16; 19:23-27.
6. This part of the promises to Abraham was fulfilled in Solomon’s time. See 2 Chron. 9:26, with margin; Neh. 9:7, 8.
