Genesis 15

The Lord’s Covenant with Abram

1 *Afterward the LORD **spoke to Abram in a ***vision and said to him, "Do not be afraid, Abram, for ****I will protect you, and your *****reward will be great."

*Afterward - And now comes the reaction, mental and physical from this “war” – as happens to us sometimes when we have won a great victory with the Lord. Abram had good reason to believe that the remaining followers of the King of Elam (Persia) would return and get revenge. In defeating Kedorlaomer and his allies, Abram had made some bitter and powerful enemies. It was not likely that they would rest until the memory of their reverse had been wiped out with blood. They who had been strong enough to capture the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah were too powerful to be permanently defeated by Abram and his little colony who had taken them by surprise. Thus alarmed and apprehensive Abram now receives a special word of reassurance from God.

**spoke – Literally, the Word of the Lord came to Abram. This is the first place where God is represented as revealing himself by his word. God’s Word to man is of unique importance. Psalm 138:2 (King James) - will worship toward thy holy temple, and praise thy name for thy lovingkindness and for thy truth: for thou hast magnified thy word above all thy name. 1st occurrence for the word “word” in the Bible – the Hebrew word “dabar”.

***vision – 1st occurrence of the word “vision” in the Bible.

****I will protect you – Literally, I will be your shield. 1st occurrence of the word “shield” in the Bible.

*****reward – refers to the pay soldiers receive from the spoil, but Abram had refused to take any of the spoil from his defeat of the kings of the East. So, God rewarded Abram’s generosity in paying a tithe to Melchizedek and giving back the spoils to the cities of the plain. God promised to be his protector and to make sure that Abram was well paid.

2 But Abram replied, "O *Sovereign LORD, what good are all your blessings when I don't even have a son? Since I don't have a son, Eliezer of Damascus, a servant in my household, will inherit all my wealth.

*Sovereign LORD - The 1st occurrence of the Divine title "Adonai Jehovah" — Lord God or Sovereign God.

Do you sense some complaining here or his frustration? His response to God seems to be sarcastic. He feels that God isn’t keeping his promise. What good are God’s gifts and promises if they pass on to someone else?

3 *You have given me no children, so one of my servants will have to be my heir."

*You have given me no children – Abram believes that only God can supply the son of the inheritance – so, he blames God for the problem!

4 Then the LORD said to him, "No, your servant will not be your heir, for you will have a son of your own to inherit everything I am giving you."

God reminds Abram of the promise originally recorded in Genesis 12:2 and 13:15-16.

5 Then the LORD brought Abram outside beneath the night sky and told him, "Look up into the heavens and count the stars if you can. Your descendants will be like that--too many to count!"

And one of those descendants would be the Bright and Morning Star (Revelation 22:16)

6 And Abram believed the LORD, and the LORD declared him righteous because of his faith.

Literally - And he stayed himself upon the Lord; and He counted it to him for righteousness.

First mention in the Bible of the condition for Salvation - by faith.

Romans 4:1-3 - Abraham was, humanly speaking, the founder of our Jewish nation. What were his experiences concerning this question of being saved by faith? Was it because of his good deeds that God accepted him? If so, he would have had something to boast about. But from God's point of view Abraham had no basis at all for pride. For the Scriptures tell us, "Abraham believed God, so God declared him to be righteous."

Galatians 3:6-7 - In the same way, "Abraham believed God, so God declared him righteous because of his faith." The real children of Abraham, then, are all those who put their faith in God.

Abram’s case was a representative one. Today justification (to be declared righteous) is by faith, but with this important difference - Abram believed God would give him a son through quickening his body, we believe that God has given us His Son, and through His death and quickening from the dead a Savior is ours through faith.

There are essentially two types of righteousness: righteousness we accomplish by our own efforts, and righteousness accounted to us by the work of God when we believe.

Since none of us can be good enough to accomplish perfect righteousness, we must have God's righteousness accounted to us by doing just what Abram did: he believed in the Lord. God's accounting is not pretending. God does not account to us a pretended righteousness, but a real one in Jesus Christ.

Romans 4:9-10 makes much of the fact this righteousness was accounted to Abram before he was circumcised (Genesis 17). No one could say Abram was made righteous because of his obedience or fulfillment of religious law or ritual. It was faith and faith alone that caused God to account Abram as righteous.

7 Then the LORD told him, "I am the LORD who brought you out of Ur of the Chaldeans to give you this land."

8 But Abram replied, "O Sovereign LORD, how can I be sure that you will give it to me?"

God proceeds to go through what in those days was the classic ritual for a very serious contract. The terms of the covenant:
• Declared eternal and unconditional
• Reconfirmed by an oath:
Genesis 22:15-18 -
Then the angel of the LORD called again to Abraham from heaven, "This is what the LORD says: Because you have obeyed me and have not withheld even your beloved son, I swear by my own self that I will bless you richly. I will multiply your descendants into countless millions, like the stars of the sky and the sand on the seashore. They will conquer their enemies, and through your descendants, all the nations of the earth will be blessed--all because you have obeyed me."
• Confirmed to Isaac and to Jacob (despite their acts of disobedience): Genesis 26:2-5
The LORD appeared to him there and said, "Do not go to Egypt. Do as I say, and stay here in this land. If you do, I will be with you and bless you. I will give all this land to you and your descendants, just as I solemnly promised Abraham, your father. I will cause your descendants to become as numerous as the stars, and I will give them all these lands. And through your descendants all the nations of the earth will be blessed. I will do this because Abraham listened to me and obeyed all my requirements, commands, regulations, and laws."
• New Testament declares it irrevocable and unchangeable:
Hebrews 6:13-18
For example, there was God's promise to Abraham. Since there was no one greater to swear by, God took an oath in his own name, saying: "I will certainly bless you richly, and I will multiply your descendants into countless millions” Then Abraham waited patiently, and he received what God had promised. When people take an oath, they call on someone greater than themselves to hold them to it. And without any question that oath is binding. God also bound himself with an oath, so that those who received the promise could be perfectly sure that he would never change his mind. So God has given us both his promise and his oath. These two things are unchangeable because it is impossible for God to lie. Therefore, we who have fled to him for refuge can take new courage, for we can hold on to his promise with confidence.

9 Then the LORD told him, "Bring me a three-year-old heifer, a three-year-old female goat, a three-year-old ram, a turtledove, and a young pigeon."

10 Abram took all these and killed them. He cut each one down the middle and laid the halves side by side. He did not, however, divide the birds in half.

11 Some *vultures came down to eat the carcasses, but Abram chased them away.

*vultures – Who or what do you suppose these vultures represent?

Abram waited all day to see what God would do.

Abram understood God was telling him to get a contract ready for signing.
1. In those days, contracts were made by the sacrificial cutting of animals, with the split carcasses of the animals lying on the ground. Then both parties to the covenant would walk through the animal parts together, repeating the terms of the covenant. Genesis 15:18 is literally, "the Lord cut a covenant."
Jeremiah 34:18-19: Because you have refused the terms of our covenant, I will cut you apart just as you cut apart the calf when you walked between its halves to solemnize your vows. Yes, I will cut you apart, whether you are officials of Judah or Jerusalem, court officials, priests, or common people--for you have broken your oath.
2. The symbolism was plain: first, this is a covenant so serious it is sealed with blood; second, if I break this covenant, let this same bloodshed be poured out on my animals and me!
3. There is no mistake about it: when Abram has his doubts, and wants assurance from the Lord, God says to him plainly, "let's sign a contract and settle this once for all."

As Abram waits for the Lord to appear and walk through the carcasses with him (to sign the covenant), God doesn't come right away, but the vultures do. Abram fully expects God to come down and walk through the animal parts with him, because God had previously appeared to him (Genesis 12:7).

Note that death passed upon them all, for without shedding of blood is no remission and where no remission is there can be no inheritance. The "dividing" of the animals indicated that this sacrifice was to form the basis for a covenant.

12 That evening, as the sun was going down, Abram fell into a *deep sleep. He saw a terrifying vision of **darkness and horror.

Abram didn’t just simply fall asleep – God put him to sleep. By this deep sleep we learn how God was showing Abram that he wouldn’t inherit the land during his natural life; instead, he must go down into the grave and inherit it together with the Promised Seed. In his awaking from this "deep sleep" Abram received a picture of resurrection from the dead and the horror of great darkness as of the grave from which he was recalled again to the light of day. In a word, the way to the inheritance was through death and resurrection.

*deep sleep - This is the same Hebrew word, “tardemah”, that was used to describe Adam's sleep while God fashioned Eve. (Genesis 2:21)

**darkness - The darkness was the Hebrew way of saying Abram was terrified. He knew God was going to make a covenant with him and his descendants, one that they could never keep. It involved his descendants keeping God's commandments and their 400-year journey in another land, and then going to the Promise Land.


13 Then the LORD told Abram, "You can be sure that your descendants will be strangers in a foreign land, and they will be oppressed as slaves for four hundred years.

14 But I will punish the nation that enslaves them, and in the end they will come away with great wealth.

15 (But you will die in peace, at a *ripe old age.)

*ripe old age – literally, “having silvery white hair”.

16 After *four generations your descendants will return here to this land, when the sin of the **Amorites has run its course."

*four generations - By comparing Exodus 6:16-26 we find that it was exactly in the "fourth generation" that the children of Israel left Egypt and returned to Canaan. In this particular example the first generation was Levi, the son of Jacob, who entered Egypt at the time his father and brethren did (Exodus 6:16). The second generation was Kohath (Exodus 6:16), who was a son of Levi. The third generation was Amran, son of Kohath (Exodus 6:18). And the fourth generation brings us to Moses and Aaron, who were the sons of Amram (Exodus 6:20), and these were the ones who led Israel out of Egypt!

**Amorites – The Amorites stand for all the occupants of Canaan. Their sin is why God can dispossess them and give the land to the Israelites.

Exodus 12:40 views the entire "sojourning" of the children of Israel in Egypt. They "dwelt" in Egypt four hundred and thirty years, but were "afflicted" for only four hundred years of that time.

17 As the sun went down and it became dark, Abram saw a smoking firepot and a flaming torch pass between the halves of the carcasses.

This is the Shekinah glory.

The smoking firepot reminds us of the pillar of cloud representing the presence of God (Exodus 13:21-22), the smoke on Mount Sinai (Exodus 19:18), and the cloud of God's Shekinah glory (1 Kings 8:10-12).

The burning torch reminds us of the pillar of fire representing the presence of God (Exodus 13:21-22), of the burning bush displaying the presence of God before Moses (Exodus 3:4), and of the fire from heaven which sometimes consumed sacrifices God was well pleased with (1 Kings 18:38, 1 Chronicles 21:26, 2 Chronicles 7:1).

God, represented by the smoking oven and the burning torch, passed through the animal parts by Himself. God showed this was a unilateral covenant. Abram never "signed" the covenant, because God "signed" it for both of them.

Therefore, the certainty of the covenant God makes with Abram is based on who God is, not on who Abram is or what Abram does. This covenant cannot fail, because God cannot fail. This is like salvation by faith apart from works.

God signed this covenant alone. Abram cannot break a contract he has never signed!

THE "CUTTING OF THE COVENANT"

In the culture of that day, if the contract being made was a conditional covenant, there were certain things that the parties to the agreement would do. In a situation (like that described in Genesis 15) where a conditional covenant was being made, both parties making the contract would walk together between the pieces of the animals. This meant that the terms of the covenant would be mandatory on both parties. If one party became guilty of violating any single term of the covenant, it would free the other party from the necessity of fulfilling his own promises contained in the covenant.

But in Genesis 15, Abraham and God did not walk together between the pieces of the animals. God put Abraham in a deep sleep and only God -- in the form of a smoking firepot and a flaming torch -- walked between the pieces of the animals. This meant that the fulfillment of the covenant was based purely upon God's grace, in spite of how often Abraham or his descendants may fail. Abraham could not be a participant in the covenant, but could only be a recipient of a covenant.

Following the Chaldeans' practice, Abram cut the three animals in two and stood the two halves against the walls of a trench he had earlier dug. He did not cut the birds in two. The animals' blood flowing down the trench formed a blood-path the two parties would walk down to confirm the covenant.

What happened was the way Chaldeans made a covenant. By passing through the blood between the animal's bloody carcasses, the two parties promised to uphold their agreement. And if they didn't, it would cost the failing party blood; the failing party would be cut in two just like the animals were.


18 So the LORD made a covenant with Abram that day and said, "I have given this land to your descendants, all the way from the border of Egypt to the great Euphrates River—

19 the land of the Kenites, Kenizzites, Kadmonites,

20 Hittites, Perizzites, Rephaites,

21 Amorites, Canaanites, Girgashites, and Jebusites."

This is an unconditional covenant.

By quoting the specific lands Abram's descendants will inherit, God makes it plain this is not a "pie in the sky" spiritual promise. It is real, and through it, Israel will inherit real land.

Romans 8:29-30 - For God knew his people in advance, and he chose them to become like his Son, so that his Son would be the firstborn, with many brothers and sisters. And having chosen them, he called them to come to him. And he gave them right standing with himself, and he promised them his glory.






THE BLOOD COVENANT



In ancient times the blood covenant was common among almost all of the people of the Middle East. It was a way of establishing a binding contract between two men. What we call the Old and New Testaments could easily be called the Old and New Covenants. The typical blood covenant contained nine parts, or steps.


These steps are as follows,
1. The two people exchange coats or robes. To a Hebrew, the coat or robe represented the person himself; so when he offered the other person his robe, he was offering himself; even his very life itself.

2. They take off their belt and offer it to the other person. The belt, also called the girdle, was used to hold your sward, your knife, and other fighting instruments. In this way you were saying to the other person that you were offering him your protection. If someone attacks you, they also have me to deal with. Your battles are my battles.

3. "CUT THE COVENANT". In this part, an animal is killed and cut down the middle and the two halves are laid opposite each other. The two parties to the covenant pass between the two halves of the animal and are saying, "May God do so to me and more if I break this covenant. This is a blood covenant, and can not be broken.

4. Raise the right arm and cut the palm of the hand and clasp each other's hand and mingle your blood. This is saying to the other person, "We are becoming one with each other. To intermingle the blood is to intermingle the very life of both people.

5. Exchange names. Each one takes part of the others name and incorporates it into their own.

6. Make a scar or some identifying mark. The scar was the outward evidence of the covenant that others could see and know that the covenant was made. Sometimes they would rub the cut in the hand to make the scar, then anyone who wanted to fight you would know that he not only had to fight you but another as well.

7. Give terms of the covenant. Both parties to the covenant stand before a witness and list all of their assets and liabilities, because each one takes all of these upon himself. You are saying, "Everything I have is yours and everything you have is mine. If something happens to you, your covenant partner will see to it that your wife and children are taken care of.

8. Eat the memorial meal. A loaf of bread is broken in half. Each feeds his half to the other saying, "This is my body, and I am now giving it to you." Then they take wine as a symbol of his blood and say, "This is my blood which is now your blood."

9. Plant a memorial tree. The two then plant a tree as a memorial to the covenant and sprinkle it with the blood of the animal that was killed for the covenant offering.

These nine steps do not have to take place in the same order that they are listed here. There are a lot of covenants listed in the Bible and there is not great detail about them because everyone is familiar with the procedure and the writer assumes that we know what was done.


In our Bible we have the old and new testament (or covenant). The old covenant was made with Abram and we have a record of it in the Bible. We can look in on it starting in the fifteenth chapter of Genesis. In verse one we read; "After these things the word of the Lord came to Abram in a vision, saying, `Do not fear, Abram, I am a shield to you; Your reward shall be very great.'."

Here we see God offering His robe and belt to Abram. He offers to be his shield and His rewards. He cuts the covenant in Genesis 15:7-21 "And He said to him, `I am the Lord who brought you out of Ur of the Caldeans, to give you this land to possess it.' So He said to him, `Bring Me a three year old heifer, and a three year old male goat, and a three year old ram, and a turtle dove, and a young pigeon.' Then he brought all these to Him and cut them in two, and laid each half opposite the other; but he did not cut the birds. And the birds of prey came down upon the carcasses, and Abram drove them away. Now when the sun was going down, a deep sleep fell upon Abram; and behold, terror and great darkness fell upon him." And God said to Abram, `Know for certain that your descendants will be strangers in a land that is not theirs, where they will be enslaved and oppressed four hundred years. But I will also judge the nation whom they will serve; and afterward they will come out with many possessions. And as for you, you shall go to your fathers in peace; you shall be buried at a good old age. Then in the fourth generation they shall return here, for the iniquity of the Amorite is not yet complete.' And it came about when the sun had set, that it was very dark, and behold, there appeared a smoking oven and a flaming torch which passed between these pieces. On that day the Lord made a covenant with Abram, saying, `To your descendants I have given this land, from the river of Egypt as far as the great river, the river Euphrates; the Kenite and the Kenizzite and the Kadmonite and the Hittite and the Perizzite and the Rephaim and the
Amorite and the Canaanite and the Girgashite and the Jebusite.'."

Here God is giving the terms of the covenant to Abram. But who are the ones passing between the pieces while Abram is in the deep sleep? I submit to you that it is the pre-incarnate Christ. In the Revelation 1:14-15 we see a description of Christ as follows, "And His head and His hair were white like wool, like snow, and His eyes were like a flame of fire; and His feet were like burnished bronze, when it has been caused to glow in a furnace, and His voice was like the sound of many waters,"

Here we see Christ, a descendant of Abram, standing in for Abram in the covenant procession. In Genesis 17:4-5+15 we see the exchange of names as follows, "As for Me, behold, My covenant is with you, and you shall be the father of a multitude of nations. No longer shall your name be called Abram, But your name shall be Abraham; for I will make you the father of a multitude of nations....Then God said to Abraham, as for Sarai your wife, you shall not call her name Sarai, but Sarah shall be her name."

In Hebrew, God was called YHWH. Here we see Him taking part of His name and combining it with that of Abram and Sarai. From that time on God was known as, "The God of Abraham". Next we see the making of a scar or symbol of the covenant. In Genesis 17:10-12 we see, "This is My covenant, which you shall keep, between Me and you and your descendants after you; every male among you shall be circumcised. And you shall be circumcised in the flesh of your foreskin; and it shall be the sign of the covenant between Me and you. And every male among you who is eight days old shall be circumcised throughout your generations, a servant who is born in the house or who is bought with money from any foreigner, who is not of your descendants."

The scar of circumcision bears witness of the covenant. Abraham was tested when God told him to sacrifice his only son Isaac on a small mountain called mount Mariah near the town of Salem. Abraham passed the test. Two thousand years ago, the other party to the covenant was to sacrifice His only Son. The names had been changed by then; Salem was then called Jerusalem, and Mariah had been changed to Calvary, but the places were the same.

The new covenant took place in the same area of the world and contained some of the same players. God was there, of course, and Jesus; now incarnate, and the descendants of Abraham. This time Jesus was not only the representative of Abraham's descendants but He was also the offering; the Lamb that was slain. This time it was God's only Son and not Abraham's.

Let us see how the new covenant was completed in Christ.

1. EXCHANGE COATS OR ROBES. We come to this covenant clothed in sin and unrighteousness. He comes clothed in holiness and righteousness. We put on His righteousness. II Corinthians 5:21, "He made Him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him." He takes our sins upon Him and we take His holiness for ours. What an exchange!

2. TAKE OFF BELT: He protects us and provides us with protection. Luke 10:19, "Behold, I have given you authority to tread upon serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy, and nothing shall injure you." Ephesians 6:13-17 "Therefore, take up the full armor of God, that you may be able to resist in the evil day, and having done everything, to stand firm. Stand firm therefore, having girded your loins with truth, and having put on the breastplate of righteousness, and having shod your feet with the preparation of the gospel of peace; in addition to all, take up the shield of faith with which you will be able to extinguish all the flaming missiles of the evil one. And take the helmet of salvation, and the sward of the Spirit, which is the word of God."

3. CUT THE COVENANT: Hebrews 10:14-18, "For by one offering He has perfected for all time those who are sanctified. And the Holy Spirit also bears witness to us; for after saying, `This is the covenant that I will make with them after those days, says the Lord: I will put my laws upon their heart, and upon their mind I will write them, And their sins and their lawless deeds I will remember no more. Now where there is forgiveness for these things, there is no longer any offering for sin." Jesus was not only the one making the covenant, but he was also the sacrificial lamb.

4. RAISE RIGHT ARM & MIX BLOOD: Jesus was both man and God. He was holy and also human. As we have the shed blood of Jesus Christ applied to our hearts, His blood cleanses us from all sin and we are also made holy. Our lives are forever intermingled with His.

5. EXCHANGE NAMES: Jesus took on the name, "Son of Man" and we take on the name Christian. We are forever in the family of God.

6. MAKE A SCAR: Jesus has the scars of the nails in His hands and the feet and the spear in His side. We have the circumcision of the heart. Romans 2:29, "But he is a Jew who is one inwardly; and circumcision is that which is of the heart, by the Spirit, not by the letter; and his praise is not from men, but from God."

7. GIVE THE COVENANT TERMS: Jesus gives the terms of the covenant in the whole Bible. It is our responsibility to know it so that we can live by it.

8. EAT MEMORIAL MEAL: I Corinthians 11: 23-26, "For I received from the Lord that which I also delivered to you, that the Lord Jesus in the night in which He was betrayed took bread; and when He had given thanks, He broke it, and said, `This is my body, which is for you; do this in remembrance of Me.' In the same way He took the cup also, after supper, saying, `This cup is the new covenant in My blood; do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of Me.' For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord's death until He comes."
9. PLANT A MEMORIAL TREE: The cross that Jesus died on was the tree that the blood of the sacrifice was sprinkled on and it still is a memorial of His covenant with us to this day. This is our covenant with the God of the universe. He will live up to His end and He expects us to live up to ours.

Paul Ziegler