15:1 AFTER THESE THINGS THE WORD OF THE LORD CAME UNTO ABRAM IN A VISION, SAYING, FEAR NOT, ABRAM: I [AM] THY SHIELD, [AND] THY EXCEEDING GREAT REWARD.
A.Abram would be wondering about the fulfillment of 12:1-3.
B.This is reassurance from God that all is well, and will con-tinue to be well, with protection from God (SHIELD), and blessings from God (REWARD).
15:2 AND ABRAM SAID, LORD GOD, WHAT WILT THOU GIVE ME, SEEING I GO CHILDLESS, AND THE STEWARD OF MY HOUSE [IS] THIS ELIEZER OF DAMASCUS?
15:3 AND ABRAM SAID, BEHOLD, TO ME THOU HAST GIVEN NO SEED: AND, LO, ONE BORN IN MY HOUSE IS MINE HEIR.
**Abram was CHILDLESS, and his estate would go to Eliezer -- Was he the one through whom the promises of Chapter Twelve would be fulfilled?
15:4 AND, BEHOLD, THE WORD OF THE LORD [CAME] UNTO HIM, SAYING, THIS SHALL NOT BE THINE HEIR; BUT HE THAT SHALL COME FORTH OUT OF THINE OWN BOWELS SHALL BE THINE HEIR.
A.The answer is NO: Eliezer is not the "seed" promised, but rather the "seed" is to be a fleshly relation.
B.Note that Abram did not yet know whom the mother would be.
15:5 AND HE BROUGHT HIM FORTH ABROAD, AND SAID, LOOK NOW TOWARD HEAVEN, AND TELL THE STARS, IF THOU BE ABLE TO NUMBER THEM: AND HE SAID UNTO HIM, SO SHALL THY SEED BE.
A.HEAVEN: The second sense in which the word is used (1.Atmo-sphere; 2.Stars/planets; 3.Throne of God).
B.TELL THE STARS: Declare them, count them. Where would he start? Where would he stop? They are innumerable.
15:6 AND HE BELIEVED IN THE LORD; AND HE COUNTED IT TO HIM FOR RIGHTEOUSNESS.
A.What God promised would seem impossible: Abram and Sarai had been married for many years and were now old, but they had never been able to have a child; But Abram trusted in God to give him a child and to send the Deliverer as one of his descendents; And he believed that through this Heir his spiritual seed would be innumerable.
B.All of which is to say that Abraham believed in Christ Who was to come, and in His gospel -- Compare Jn 8:56.
C.COUNTED IT TO HIM FOR RIGHTEOUSNESS: It was "put down in the ledger" (placed to his account) that God justified him; that is, gave him credit for being right or acceptable with God.
D.This Verse is used in the false argument of denominational-ists who try to prove "saved by faith only" -- But this is the justification of a servant of God, and not that of an alien sinner, because Abram was already God's faithful ser-vant - See Gen 12:1-8; Heb 11:8; Gen 13:3-4; 15:1-5.
E.This Verse is quoted in Rom 4:3; Gal 3:6; Jas 2:23.
15:7 AND HE SAID UNTO HIM, I [AM] THE LORD THAT BROUGHT THEE OUT OF UR OF THE CHALDEES, TO GIVE THEE THIS LAND TO INHERIT IT.
**This repeats the land promise (12:7 tells how Abram would re-ceive it -- not personally, but through his descendents).
15:8 AND HE SAID, LORD GOD, WHEREBY SHALL I KNOW THAT I SHALL INHERIT IT?
**What assurance could he have that he would have descendents? And that the promise indeed would be fulfilled?
15:9 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.
15:10 AND HE TOOK UNTO HIM ALL THESE, AND DIVIDED THEM IN THE MIDST, AND LAID EACH PIECE ONE AGAINST ANOTHER: BUT THE BIRDS DIVIDED HE NOT.
15:11 AND WHEN THE FOWLS CAME DOWN UPON THE CARCASES, ABRAM DROVE THEM AWAY.
15:12 AND WHEN THE SUN WAS GOING DOWN, A DEEP SLEEP FELL UPON ABRAM; AND, LO, AN HORROR OF GREAT DARKNESS FELL UPON HIM.
15:13 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;
A.We don't understand the details of this process, but it was a covenant giving assurance to Abram (called A COVENANT - v18).
B.Part of the assurance (KNOW OF A SURETY) was the 400 years of bondage - cf Ex 12:40.
C.Abram did not know what foreign nation this was to be; We know that it was Egypt.
D.Note that God knew all that would happen to Abram's descendents before they were ever born.
15:14 AND ALSO THAT NATION, WHOM THEY SHALL SERVE, WILL I JUDGE: AND AFTERWARD SHALL THEY COME OUT WITH GREAT SUBSTANCE.
15:15 AND THOU SHALT GO TO THY FATHERS IN PEACE; THOU SHALT BE BURIED IN A GOOD OLD AGE.
15:16 BUT IN THE FOURTH GENERATION THEY SHALL COME HITHER AGAIN: FOR THE INIQUITY OF THE AMORITES [IS] NOT YET FULL.
A.The time in Egypt was to cover four generations: We assume this would be Abram, Isaac, Jacob, and Joseph.
B.Abram's desendents would come out of that bondage with great possessions, and Abram would live in peace to A GOOD OLD AGE.
C.Some wonder why God did not give Abram the land then -- Why did he wait until hundreds of years later.
D.The promise in Chapter 12 and Chapter 15 to Abram is later given to Isaac (26:3-4), and then to Jacob (28:14).
15:17 AND IT CAME TO PASS, THAT, WHEN THE SUN WENT DOWN, AND IT WAS DARK, BEHOLD A SMOKING FURNACE, AND A BURNING LAMP THAT PASSED BETWEEN THOSE PIECES.
A.This is the way God confirmed his promises to Abram.
B.We don't understand all about it, but perhaps we do not fully understand how our own custom works when we bind agreements with a handshake.
15:18 IN THE SAME 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:
15:19 THE KENITES, AND THE KENIZZITES, AND THE KADMONITES,
15:20 AND THE HITTITES, AND THE PERIZZITES, AND THE REPHAIMS,
15:21 AND THE AMORITES, AND THE CANAANITES, AND THE GIRGASHITES, AND THE JEBUSITES.
A.This was A COVENANT regarding the land promise; Note that the boundaries of the land were given in Verse 18.
B.See the map for RIVER OF EGYPT (not the Nile, but a short river which just about splits the Sinai Peninsula).
C.Premillennialists (which is just about everybody) make a distinction between the "Lesser Land Promise" (which they say is Canaan) and the "Greater Land Promise" (which they say is described by the boundaries here).
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