Or, Faith in the Sovereign Future-Maker
Scripture: Genesis 15:1-21
Date: May 15, 2016
Speaker: Sean Higgins
We regularly make agreements. Part of the human reality is that we can’t do everything by ourselves and neither do we need to. We are made in the image of a relational God who made us for relationship, and in these relationships we often make contracts to serve or provide for one another.
If the contract involves significant stakes, we sign documents binding each party to terms. Most of the time, we simply agree verbally. Our comfort in the contract depends on the character of the other party. It’s one reason we read seller ratings on Amazon and do background checks. The more dependable we deem the other person to be, the more dependent we allow ourselves to be.
In Genesis 15 God makes a covenant with Abram and it could not be more bona fide. God obligates Himself to fulfill the terms, Abram has only to believe. His belief is justified because God is faithful. There are good grounds to believe because God is the sovereign Future-Maker.
Abram’s belief is justified in another sense as well. Not only does it make sense—there is every reason for Abram to be confident in the other party—Abram’s believing is “counted to him as righteousness” by God. God justified Abram based on his faith. This is because God wants, most of all, for us to depend on Him. Our trust in Him honors Him and straightens the path for His glory to be displayed when He does what He said He would.
Abram trusted the One who is faithful to make the future He promises. Abram’s faith is reasonable considering the One making the covenant, though unreasonable from the this-worldly context of the covenant. The promises are too amazing and too unlikely except for the power of God “who gives life to the dead and calls into existence the things that do not exist” (Romans 4:17).
Abram moved from Ur to Canaan in chapter 12, then left Canaan for Egypt when the famine hit. Abram and Lot separated in chapter 13 because their prosperity was too much for their property. Then Abram rescued Lot in chapter 14 by defeating the eastern overlords.
Chapter 15 contains two main concerns: offspring in verses 1-6 and land in verses 7-21. Each section includes a promise from the LORD, a question from Abram, and a reassurance from the LORD. The LORD unconditionally obligates Himself in covenant and Abram has shows faith in the Future-Maker.
After these things the word of the LORD came to Abram in a vision: “Fear not, Abram, I am your shield; your reward shall be very great.” (15:1)
After these things refers to the rout in chapter 14.
The word of the LORD came…in a vision suggests nighttime (see verse 5), and the vision ends as Abram makes preparations for a ceremony during the next day, followed by another evening when “the sun was going down” (verse 12).
Fear not seems an odd way to start. Perhaps it was intended to relieve Abram of potential fears of Chedolaomer’s return. He may also have started receiving suspicious or even hateful glances from the people. No victory under the sun is without (subsequent) problems. It may also relieve Abram of being addressed by God Himself, though God had spoken to him previously.
Here is the foundation for no fear: God Himself. I am is an important identifier.
The LORD is shield (connected with “God Most High who has delivered” in 14:20) and the LORD is reward or “inheritance.” He protects and He gives good, more than can be taken for ourselves. Abram refused to take the spoil of his victory, but he will get better. Abram’s safety and satisfaction were in the LORD.
God is great, we still have questions. So did Abram.
But Abram said, “O Lord GOD, what will you give me, for I continue childless, and the heir of my house is Eliezer of Damascus?” And Abram said, “Behold, you have given me no offspring, and a member of my household will be my heir.” (15:2-3)
These are the first words from Abram to God written in Genesis. Previously it was only God speaking to him (Genesis 12:1ff; 13:14ff).
This could appear to be a “yeah, but” response from Abram, even a bit unthankful. Nevertheless, God receives our cares. In this case, the LORD’s promises to Abram depended on offspring, so there is some specificity in the question. Abram could not get this one thing out of his mind and, from his perspective, he was unable to own the benefits of the more general promise. His address, O Lord GOD , Adonai Yahweh or “Sovereign LORD” (used again in verse 8) shows respect.
The reality of Sarai’s barrenness and a promise of a multitude of descendants have been reported three times before now. How can those facts fit? From Abram’s perspective his heir would have to come some other way. Eliezer of Damascus was likely a servant, someone close (since Abram had other servants) enough to adopt, as it were, to become heir.
The question in verse 2 becomes more like an accusation in verse 3, repeating himself with more vigor.
The LORD does not condemn Abram’s questions. Presumably this means Abram’s attitude was right when asking.
And behold, the word of the Lord came to him: “This man shall not be your heir; your very own son shall be your heir.” (15:4)
Abram will have his very own son but the LORD still provides no timetable. Abram still must wait. In fact, Abram will wait over two decades and we will wait six more chapters to learn about it.
And he brought him outside and said, “Look toward heaven, and number the stars, if you are able to number them.” Then he said to him, “So shall your offspring be.” (15:5)
Consideration of the stars not only brings to mind a numerical thought, but a creative thought; the same power that created the stars promises to make Abram’s offspring. He wasn’t looking for constellation patterns he was just supposed to count. It would have caused him to ask himself:
He who by his word alone suddenly produced a host so numerous, by which he might adorn the previously vast and desolate heaven; shall not He be able to replenish my desolate house with offspring? (Calvin, 403-404)
And he believed the LORD, and he counted it to him as righteousness. (15:6)
Abram believed . He trusted in the LORD . He heard the word of the LORD, accepted it as true and obeyed because he believed.
He , the Lord, counted or calculated. When sins and blood are “counted” it means that a man is guilty. Here Righteousness is “counted” meaning that Abram was innocent. He was received into the group of just persons.
This verse is quoted four times in the New Testament (Romans 4:3, 22; Galatians 3:6; James 2:23).
Two things are needed for a nation: people and a place.
And he said to him, “I am the Lord who brought you out from Ur of the Chaldeans to give you this land to possess.” (15:7)
Here is the second I am promise in the scene. The formula “connotes unimpeachable authority of the declaration that follows” (Waltke, 242). “This kind of identification formula legitimizes the credentials of the one introducing himself, and speaks particularly to the availability and resources of the vision speaker to the vision receive” (Hamilton, 429). Here, the Lord reminds Abram of His past work as a basis for trust going forward.
But he said, “O Lord God, how am I to know that I shall possess it?” (15:8)
As Abram asked about offspring so he asks about the land.
He said to him, “Bring me a heifer three years old, a female goat three years old, a ram three years old, a turtledove, and a young pigeon.” And he brought him all these, cut them in half, and laid each half over against the other. But he did not cut the birds in half. And when birds of prey came down on the carcasses, Abram drove them away. (15:9-11)
Usually the explanation for this ritual connects to contract ceremonies of the time. The two sides would half the larger animals and then walk together between the halves. The liturgy communicated, “May the same (death) happen to me if I do not fulfill my agreement.” This may sound too good to be true. Nevertheless Abram prepares animals for this covenant according to God’s direction.
As the sun was going down, a deep sleep fell on Abram. And behold, dreadful and great darkness fell upon him. Then the Lord said to Abram, “Know for certain that your offspring will be sojourners in a land that is not theirs and will be servants there, and they will be afflicted for four hundred years. But I will bring judgment on the nation that they serve, and afterward they shall come out with great possessions. As for yourself, you shall go to your fathers in peace; you shall be buried in a good old age. And they shall come back here in the fourth generation, for the iniquity of the Amorites is not yet complete.” (15:12-16)
Sojourners…afflicted for four hundred years (Exodus 12:40-41), which actually ends up being 430 until the Jews exit Egypt.
you shall go to your fathers in peace; you shall be buried in a good old age means that Abram himself will die after a full life.
the iniquity of the Amorites is not yet complete explains that Israel’s “conquest and settlement of Canaan is based on God’s absolute justice, not on naked aggression” (Waltke, 244). God was patient with them and gave them four centuries to repent, which they did not.
When the sun had gone down and it was dark, behold, a smoking fire pot and a flaming torch passed between these pieces. On that day the Lord made a covenant with Abram, saying, “To your offspring I give this land, from the river of Egypt to the great river, the river Euphrates, the land of the Kenites, the Kenizzites, the Kadmonites, the Hittites, the Perizzites, the Rephaim, the Amorites, the Canaanites, the Girgashites and the Jebusites.” (15:17-21)
When the sun had gone down brings us to the second night.
a smoking fire pot and a flaming torch were symbols of the LORD’s presence.
The land of Canaan, occupied by various -ites, has never been in Israel’s possession and even when the boundaries were close to this, it was only held “as an empire rather than a homeland” (Kidner) during David and Solomon’s reign. Many commentators assume that the size is more ideal than concrete, even hyperbole. But what if it means that the promise is still to be fulfilled?
There are no requirements put on Abram in this chapter. Every obligation is taken by God, “and that is the obligation to implement His promise of descendants, and especially of land, to Abram and to his descendants.” (Hamilton, 438).
The LORD’s covenant (verse 18) is:
Abram is the prototype, the model of faith in the Future-Maker. His imagination was shaped and expanded by God’s Word. Those who read this story know that his belief was justified because God did give offspring (Isaac) and did bring a multitude back from sojourning in Egypt (Exodus).
We are the people who believe. Abram is “the father of all who believe” (Romans 4:11). He is our father in one sense. We are believers. That’s how we’re known. That’s our people. We receive the word of the LORD and count on it. The righteous shall live by faith.