And the Hittites, and the Perizzites, and the Rephaims,
The verse belongs to God's covenant with Abraham confirmed over divided sacrificial victims, and names the Hittites, Perizzites and Rephaims among the peoples then occupying the land promised to his descendants. The promise fixed the boundaries of earthly Canaan from the Euphrates to the border of Egypt. Its possession was to come after four hundred years of wandering and Egyptian bondage, in the fourth generation, when the iniquity of its inhabitants was full and Israel was numerous enough to occupy it. God fulfilled that oath in Israel's later victories and possession under Solomon, though transgression delayed it and it was not fulfilled in Abraham's lifetime. The earthly land was distinct from yet represented the larger promise of inheriting the world renewed as the new earth through the righteousness of faith, which true faith lays hold of by doing its part and waiting on God's time even through darkness.
Setting and Peoples Named
Genesis 15:20 stands in the Abraham section of Genesis, chapters 12-20, at the covenant stage of his life after his call, his sojourn in Egypt, and his experience with Lot, and before circumcision. In that place it continues the history of beginnings by recording God's providential dealings with Abraham as the chosen progenitor of the promised Seed against the enemy's efforts to thwart His plan. Genesis 15:1-21 records one of the Lord's appearances to Abraham in which the special promise made to and confirmed to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob was given. That record gives the Scripture reason why they were called to be pilgrims and strangers in a strange land and gives proof of the covenant under which the patriarchs lived.
The verse belongs to the account of God's covenant with Abraham made firm over dead sacrificial victims, illustrating the Hebrew method of making a covenant. It was an offering made by divine direction, evidencing that God had revealed the way of redemption in the early history of humanity. Abraham did his part by killing the sacrifice, dividing the pieces, driving away the fowls that came to devour them, and waiting for God's token that he would inherit the land.
The verse names the Hittites, the Perizzites, and the Rephaims among the peoples then living in and occupying the land designed for Abraham's family and promised to Abraham's descendants. They were among the nations, some stronger than Israel, whose land was to be dispossessed under that covenant when Israel took possession. The promise connected their dispossession with affliction that Abraham's descendants would endure before possessing the promised land, and Israel's later possession of Canaan fulfilled that covenant.
The naming of the Hittites shows they were a real and powerful ancient nation. Denial that they ever existed is false, for ruins of Assyrian and Egyptian temples and palaces with cylindrical tomes and brick records confirm the Bible account. That confirmation establishes the truthfulness of the Word, helping doubters and manifesting the folly of disputing its ancient history.
Promise Terms and Fulfillment
Genesis 15:20 belongs to the promise that fixes the boundaries of earthly Canaan, extending from the Euphrates to the border of Egypt. That territorial promise was recorded as fulfilled after Israel entered the Promised Land, in Solomon's day, though Israel's transgressions had delayed its fulfillment.
The promise also makes clear when Abraham's descendants would possess the land: in the fourth generation, after four hundred years in which his seed would be pilgrims and wanderers in the promised land as in a strange country and in Egyptian bondage and slavery. At the end of that time God would judge the merciless slave-owners and bring His seed into the promised land. The promise drew near to fulfillment at the time of the Exodus from Egypt.
The land could not be possessed until the iniquity of its inhabitants, called the Amorites, was full and reached its measure so that they should be thrust out and driven out before Israel. Israel also had to become numerous enough to occupy the land, and the time required for these things was spent in Egypt. There the family of Abraham must go down through brief prosperity followed by long and terrible oppression. The horror of great darkness and the smoking furnace seen by Abraham in vision foreshadowed the iron furnace and bitter servitude of Egypt.
God performed this covenant promise to give Abraham's seed the land of the peoples named, including the Hittites, Perizzites, and Rephaims, whose land was to be dispossessed under the covenant made with Abraham. Israel's later possession of Canaan and victories in the land, dispossessing its enemies, fulfilled that covenant and the Lord's oath to the fathers. The conquest also punished the Canaanites' idolatry.
The promise was that Abraham and his seed would possess the land as an everlasting inheritance. That promised rest involved peaceable possession of the land after its enemies were driven out. It was not fulfilled during Abraham's lifetime.
Covenant Hope and Faith
Genesis 15 is where the subject of the two covenants begins in the family of Abraham with the two women Hagar the bondwoman and Sarah the freewoman and their two sons. It must be read repeatedly together with Genesis 16, Genesis 17, and Genesis 21:1-21 in order to truly study the two covenants.
Genesis 15:18-21 records the everlasting covenant made with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob and the fathers, whose benefits are salvation, redemption, and recreation by Christ the Creator as Deliverer. Israel's deliverance from Egypt gave that generation its first historical opportunity to enter into and receive the benefits of that same everlasting or new covenant, so the covenant then spoken with Israel rested on that deliverance while its underlying principles were old. The covenant with Israel re-established the everlasting covenant and added features peculiar to that dispensation, with special statutes and judgments regulating social and national conduct given through Moses and the enlargement, centralization, and embodiment of the typical sacrificial system in the sanctuary and its services. This was not because Israelites were favored over Jebusites or Ammonites, but because through Israel the promised Seed, the Redeemer, was being brought in with a special work of education and revelation.
The earthly land promise fixing the boundaries of Canaan is distinct from the larger promise of inheriting the world, which comes through the righteousness of faith and points to the new earth. The land promised to Abraham and possessed by Israel represented the earth and the final inheritance, or rest, remaining for God's people. That assurance to Abraham included the world restored to its Eden beauty by the power of God, to be entered after four hundred years in which his seed would be pilgrims and wanderers in the promised land as in a strange country and in Egyptian bondage and slavery, at the end of which God would judge the merciless slave-owners and bring His seed into the promised land. In this context the naming of the peoples in the land is part of the promise of the kingdom fulfilled through Christ. The peaceable possession after its enemies had been driven out fulfilled the oath to the fathers, but the promised rest's full antitype remains future, when God's people are delivered from their enemies and can serve Him without fear.
Genesis 15 shows Abraham grieving that he has no child to inherit his household, though God has promised him descendants and the land, and foretells that his descendants will suffer affliction and oppression before possessing the promised land. This taught Abraham, when called to offer Isaac, that death and resurrection would precede his seed's inheritance, so his faith reached beyond earthly blessings to the life to come. The offering itself, made by divine direction over the divided sacrifice, evidences that God had revealed the way of redemption in the early history of humanity. True faith does its part and then waits upon God's time, laying hold not on appearance but on the Word of God, as Abraham killed the sacrifice, divided the pieces, drove away the fowls that came to devour them, and kept waiting though the Lord did not come at once. At evening he suffered the agonies of the Egyptian bondage until in darkness God came, and blessed are those who having done their part can so wait upon God. The verse belongs to the most blessed and comprehensive promise ever made, given immediately before a horror of great darkness fell upon Abraham, and the darkness following the promise is not evidence of forfeited favor, but the promise and communion before it were given to strengthen for the trial, for God was in the darkness with Abraham and repeated the promise in the midst of it, and darkness does not hide from Him.
The verse belongs to God's covenant with Abraham confirmed over divided sacrificial victims, and names the Hittites, Perizzites and Rephaims among the peoples then occupying the land promised to his descendants. The promise fixed the boundaries of earthly Canaan from the Euphrates to the border of Egypt. Its possession was to come after four hundred years of wandering and Egyptian bondage, in the fourth generation, when the iniquity of its inhabitants was full and Israel was numerous enough to occupy it. God fulfilled that oath in Israel's later victories and possession under Solomon, though transgression delayed it and it was not fulfilled in Abraham's lifetime. The earthly land was distinct from yet represented the larger promise of inheriting the world renewed as the new earth through the righteousness of faith, which true faith lays hold of by doing its part and waiting on God's time even through darkness.
Setting and Peoples Named
Genesis 15:20 stands in the Abraham section of Genesis, chapters 12-20, at the covenant stage of his life after his call, his sojourn in Egypt, and his experience with Lot, and before circumcision. In that place it continues the history of beginnings by recording God's providential dealings with Abraham as the chosen progenitor of the promised Seed against the enemy's efforts to thwart His plan. Genesis 15:1-21 records one of the Lord's appearances to Abraham in which the special promise made to and confirmed to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob was given. That record gives the Scripture reason why they were called to be pilgrims and strangers in a strange land and gives proof of the covenant under which the patriarchs lived.
The verse belongs to the account of God's covenant with Abraham made firm over dead sacrificial victims, illustrating the Hebrew method of making a covenant. It was an offering made by divine direction, evidencing that God had revealed the way of redemption in the early history of humanity. Abraham did his part by killing the sacrifice, dividing the pieces, driving away the fowls that came to devour them, and waiting for God's token that he would inherit the land.
The verse names the Hittites, the Perizzites, and the Rephaims among the peoples then living in and occupying the land designed for Abraham's family and promised to Abraham's descendants. They were among the nations, some stronger than Israel, whose land was to be dispossessed under that covenant when Israel took possession. The promise connected their dispossession with affliction that Abraham's descendants would endure before possessing the promised land, and Israel's later possession of Canaan fulfilled that covenant.
The naming of the Hittites shows they were a real and powerful ancient nation. Denial that they ever existed is false, for ruins of Assyrian and Egyptian temples and palaces with cylindrical tomes and brick records confirm the Bible account. That confirmation establishes the truthfulness of the Word, helping doubters and manifesting the folly of disputing its ancient history.
Promise Terms and Fulfillment
Genesis 15:20 belongs to the promise that fixes the boundaries of earthly Canaan, extending from the Euphrates to the border of Egypt. That territorial promise was recorded as fulfilled after Israel entered the Promised Land, in Solomon's day, though Israel's transgressions had delayed its fulfillment.
The promise also makes clear when Abraham's descendants would possess the land: in the fourth generation, after four hundred years in which his seed would be pilgrims and wanderers in the promised land as in a strange country and in Egyptian bondage and slavery. At the end of that time God would judge the merciless slave-owners and bring His seed into the promised land. The promise drew near to fulfillment at the time of the Exodus from Egypt.
The land could not be possessed until the iniquity of its inhabitants, called the Amorites, was full and reached its measure so that they should be thrust out and driven out before Israel. Israel also had to become numerous enough to occupy the land, and the time required for these things was spent in Egypt. There the family of Abraham must go down through brief prosperity followed by long and terrible oppression. The horror of great darkness and the smoking furnace seen by Abraham in vision foreshadowed the iron furnace and bitter servitude of Egypt.
God performed this covenant promise to give Abraham's seed the land of the peoples named, including the Hittites, Perizzites, and Rephaims, whose land was to be dispossessed under the covenant made with Abraham. Israel's later possession of Canaan and victories in the land, dispossessing its enemies, fulfilled that covenant and the Lord's oath to the fathers. The conquest also punished the Canaanites' idolatry.
The promise was that Abraham and his seed would possess the land as an everlasting inheritance. That promised rest involved peaceable possession of the land after its enemies were driven out. It was not fulfilled during Abraham's lifetime.
Covenant Hope and Faith
Genesis 15 is where the subject of the two covenants begins in the family of Abraham with the two women Hagar the bondwoman and Sarah the freewoman and their two sons. It must be read repeatedly together with Genesis 16, Genesis 17, and Genesis 21:1-21 in order to truly study the two covenants.
Genesis 15:18-21 records the everlasting covenant made with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob and the fathers, whose benefits are salvation, redemption, and recreation by Christ the Creator as Deliverer. Israel's deliverance from Egypt gave that generation its first historical opportunity to enter into and receive the benefits of that same everlasting or new covenant, so the covenant then spoken with Israel rested on that deliverance while its underlying principles were old. The covenant with Israel re-established the everlasting covenant and added features peculiar to that dispensation, with special statutes and judgments regulating social and national conduct given through Moses and the enlargement, centralization, and embodiment of the typical sacrificial system in the sanctuary and its services. This was not because Israelites were favored over Jebusites or Ammonites, but because through Israel the promised Seed, the Redeemer, was being brought in with a special work of education and revelation.
The earthly land promise fixing the boundaries of Canaan is distinct from the larger promise of inheriting the world, which comes through the righteousness of faith and points to the new earth. The land promised to Abraham and possessed by Israel represented the earth and the final inheritance, or rest, remaining for God's people. That assurance to Abraham included the world restored to its Eden beauty by the power of God, to be entered after four hundred years in which his seed would be pilgrims and wanderers in the promised land as in a strange country and in Egyptian bondage and slavery, at the end of which God would judge the merciless slave-owners and bring His seed into the promised land. In this context the naming of the peoples in the land is part of the promise of the kingdom fulfilled through Christ. The peaceable possession after its enemies had been driven out fulfilled the oath to the fathers, but the promised rest's full antitype remains future, when God's people are delivered from their enemies and can serve Him without fear.
Genesis 15 shows Abraham grieving that he has no child to inherit his household, though God has promised him descendants and the land, and foretells that his descendants will suffer affliction and oppression before possessing the promised land. This taught Abraham, when called to offer Isaac, that death and resurrection would precede his seed's inheritance, so his faith reached beyond earthly blessings to the life to come. The offering itself, made by divine direction over the divided sacrifice, evidences that God had revealed the way of redemption in the early history of humanity. True faith does its part and then waits upon God's time, laying hold not on appearance but on the Word of God, as Abraham killed the sacrifice, divided the pieces, drove away the fowls that came to devour them, and kept waiting though the Lord did not come at once. At evening he suffered the agonies of the Egyptian bondage until in darkness God came, and blessed are those who having done their part can so wait upon God. The verse belongs to the most blessed and comprehensive promise ever made, given immediately before a horror of great darkness fell upon Abraham, and the darkness following the promise is not evidence of forfeited favor, but the promise and communion before it were given to strengthen for the trial, for God was in the darkness with Abraham and repeated the promise in the midst of it, and darkness does not hide from Him.