GOD’S Covenant With Abraham

Again, Abram is a very practical man. He believes in dealing with reality, and I think we need to do that. We need reality today in our Christian lives.

If reality is not in your life, there is nothing there. A great many people just play church today.

Abram is very practical. He wants to know something, and he would like to have something in writing.

Genesis 15:7-21 KJV

[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.

[8] And he said, 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.

[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.

[11] And when the fowls came down upon the carcases, Abram drove them away.

[12] And when the sun was going down, a deep sleep fell upon Abram; and, lo, an horror of great darkness fell upon him.

[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;

[14] And also that nation, whom they shall serve, will I judge: and afterward shall they come out with great substance.

[15] And thou shalt go to thy fathers in peace; thou shalt be buried in a good old age.

[16] But in the fourth generation they shall come hither again: for the iniquity of the Amorites 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 burning lamp that passed between those pieces.

[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:

[19] The Kenites, and the Kenizzites, and the Kadmonites,

[20] And the Hittites, and the Perizzites, and the Rephaims,

[21] And the Amorites, and the Canaanites, and the Girgashites, and the Jebusites.

Genesis 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.

Do you know what God is probably going to tell him?

Genesis 15:8

And he said, Lord GOD, whereby shall I know that I shall inherit it?

God is going to say, “Abram, I’m glad you asked Me, because I am going to meet you down at the courthouse; I will go before a notary public, and I will make real this contract which I am making with you. You are going to have a son. Meet Me down there, and I will sign on the dotted line.”
Now, before you protest, let me say that you are right, that the Bible says nothing about God meeting Abram at the courthouse, and it says nothing about going to a notary public, but in the terms of the law of our day, that is exactly what God said to Abram.

Genesis 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.

God told Abram to prepare a sacrifice. He was to get a heifer, a she goat, and a ram and divide or split them down the middle and put one half on one side and one half on the other.

Genesis 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.

The turtledove and the pigeon he did not divide, but put one over here and one over there.
Notice Abram got everything ready according to God’s instructions.

Genesis 15:11

And when the fowls came down upon the carcases, Abram drove them away.

This is a very human scene.
Abram gets everything ready, and while he is waiting for the Lord, the fowls of the air come down—the buzzard and the crow come down upon the carrion.
Abram is there shooing them away, for they are ready to swoop down upon the sacrifice.
If you had been there and had seen all this display of the sacrifices, knowing the custom of the day, you might have said, “Well, brother Abram, apparently the one you’re making a contract with hasn’t shown up. I guess he’s late!”
Abram would have said, “No, I don’t think He’s late. He just told me to get things ready and that He would be here to make the contract.”

Genesis 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.

After God confirms His promise and acknowledges Abram’s faith, Abram asks how he can be sure (Genesis 15:8, not in today’s text).
In response, God initiates a ceremony to affirm the covenant. This involves animal sacrifice (15:9–11).
Yet the ceremony is not quite complete. God brings a deep sleep on Abram, perhaps one like Adam experienced before God fashioned Eve from his rib (Genesis 2:21, 22).
But Adam’s “deep sleep” is not described as coming with the horror we see here.
The language used perhaps reflects that what Abram is about to learn may not be pleasant.

Genesis 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;

Indeed, the news is not pleasant. Abram’s descendants will not possess the land of Canaan in any real sense for hundreds of years.
First, they will be strangers in someone else’s land. Not only that, their hosts in that land will subjugate them for four centuries.
This is an important lesson for Abram to learn: he must show patience with God. Abram must operate on God’s timetable. God has long-term plans.
Sadly, Abram won’t learn this lesson fully, as we see him try to “push” God’s plan along with regard to having an heir (Genesis 16).

Genesis 15:14

And also that nation, whom they shall serve, will I judge: and afterward shall they come out with great substance.

Abram probably does not welcome this news of long-term enslavement.
Yet God’s justice and concern for His people will be made evident when He resolves this ominous development.
God will bring justice on the oppressors and will use those oppressors to prosper His people with material abundance.
At the end of Genesis and beginning of Exodus, we learn that the Egyptians are those oppressors.
Abram is learning what Paul affirms many centuries later in Romans 8:28: “All things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose.”
This does not mean that our every experience will be enjoyable.
But it does mean that God is sovereign and that ultimately He will keep all of His promises to us.

Genesis 15:15

And thou shalt go to thy fathers in peace; thou shalt be buried in a good old age.

It is not for Abraham to experience personally the enslavement of God’s people.
Though there will be additional struggles ahead, Abram will live many more decades and die peacefully at the age of 175 (Genesis 25:7).

Genesis 15:16

But in the fourth generation they shall come hither again: for the iniquity of the Amorites is not yet full.

The reason that God allows His people to suffer prolonged hardship is stated in this verse.
Apparently, the sin of those currently inhabiting the promised land has not yet reached a point that warrants their removal from the land.
We should note that the term Amorites is used interchangeably with Canaanites in Joshua 7:7–9.
Canaan is described as the father of the Amorites in Genesis 10:15, 16.
Here again God shows His justice.
It is a mistake to assume that God so favors His people that He is willing to bulldoze whoever may be in their way in order to accomplish what He wants.
God so honors the dignity of the people living in Canaan that He refuses to punish them prematurely.
Even though God knows He will eventually drive them from the land, He does not “cut to the chase” in order to execute His edict before it is justified.
Thus God is in no rush with Abram and Sarai. God has a long time to work out His plans for His people.
Of course, God could simply leave Abram and his descendants in Ur or Haran for another 400 years before the time is ripe.
But God deems this faith-building process, this long, drawn out struggle, as essential to their formation as a people.
God has infinite wisdom.
God knows that a people that wanders without a home and that suffers the shackles of slavery will be best suited to be the kind of blessing to all nations that He is calling them to become.

Genesis 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.

God now provides Abram the sign he requested in Genesis 15:8.
According to ancient practice, the two parties of a covenant or treaty split animals in two, and then both pass through the middle of the animals as a sign to one another that they will not forsake their commitment.
In passing between the parts, each party is essentially saying, “If I drop my end of the bargain, may I become like these animals here” (compare Jeremiah 34:18).
It is noteworthy that Abram does not pass between the pieces; only the symbols of God’s presence do so.
The symbol of a smoking furnace resembles the oven used for baking offerings in Leviticus 2:4.
The symbol of a burning lamp might reflect God’s judgment as in Job 41:19 and Zechariah 12:6.
Though Abram has an important part to play, the primary role for him and his descendants is to bear witness to God’s fulfillment of His promises for His people and the world.
This serves as an important reminder to Abram that it is not his job to engineer the fulfillment of God’s promise to him, but to wait on God’s timing and God’s strategy for fulfilling it.
God and Abram are not equal partners, as in human-to-human covenants.
And so it is yet today: our primary role is to respond faithfully to the tasks that God has given us and not try to remake the Great Commission (Matthew 28:19, 20) according to our liking.

Genesis 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:

God reiterates His commitment to Abram: God will give the promised land to Abram’s seed. This is all that Abram needs to know.
Though he may want more, he will have to take God at His word—first spoken orally and now enacted in human terms with the kind of covenant ceremony with which Abram is familiar.
Directly to the east of the promised land is a massive desert that separates Babylon from Canaan. Directly to the west is the Mediterranean Sea.
So the only two borders Abram needs in order to identify the land of promise is one to the north, which is the river Euphrates, and one to the south, which is the river of Egypt.
The river mentioned likely does not refer to the Nile River, but to a smaller, seasonal river.
This is perhaps Wadi el-Arish, which serves as the traditional Egyptian border (see also Numbers 34:5; Joshua 15:4).

Genesis 15:19

The Kenites, and the Kenizzites, and the Kadmonites,

God now marks out the land that He is promising to Abram.

Genesis 15:20

And the Hittites, and the Perizzites, and the Rephaims,

By the way, what did Abram promise to do?
Nothing. He believed God.

Genesis 15:21

And the Amorites, and the Canaanites, and the Girgashites, and the Jebusites.

And God will save you—save you by grace—if you will believe what He has done for you.

I hope that you have really enjoyed this post,

GOD’S COVENANT WITH ABRAHAM