‘And Yahweh said to Abram after Lot had separated from him, “Lift up your eyes now and look from the place where you are northward and southward, and eastward and westward. For all the land which you see, to you I will give it and to your seed for ever. And I will make your seed as the dust of the earth, so that if a man can count the dust of the earth then shall your seed also be countable.'
Note the deliberate contrast with verse 10. Lot lifted up his eyes with his main concern being how to extend his wealth and ensure his future, and beheld the Circle of Jordan, the way that finally led to sin. Abram must now lift up his eyes, but it is at the command of God, and he will see prosperity and blessing and a glorious future, for he has walked before God. The land that surrounds him will one day belong to his descendants who will be numberless, and it will be theirs ‘for ever' that is, into the distant future. By leaving his future in the hands of God Abram has triumphed, and his future is secure.
Once again we are aware that God has appeared to Abram in awesome holiness, and renewed with him the covenant of grace between them. And this is the reason why this whole history is preserved in writing, because it was the background to these promises. Why did this man and his family tribe carry with them these heavy tablets? Because they were the evidence and assurance of God's promises about what mattered to them most.
To be abundantly fruitful was the longing of every man in those times. Men lived on in their sons. Yet Abram's wife was barren, a grief of heart to them both. And the land on which he sojourns belongs to others. So God promises that his seed will one day be beyond counting, and that the land will one day be his.
It is noteworthy throughout that Abram is faced with these two continual questions in his mind. (1). Why is my wife barren so that I have no children? And (2). What does the future hold for me in this land? Yahweh reveals His goodness and concern by continually reassuring him about them both.
That both these promises were fulfilled in part we know from the Bible. But who today can count the seed of Abram? And as for his seed, both Jew and Arab, they now possess the land that was given to him. They may at present misuse it, but who can now doubt that God has been faithful to Abram?