From some unnamed cause Abraham is afraid; Yahweh encourages him in a vision with the assurance of Divine protection; some deed is deemed worthy of the promise, thy reward shall be exceeding great (mg.). But what reward, he answers, O Lord Yahweh, wilt thou give that can be of value to me? since I go hence (mg.) childless, and my heir is a home-born slave. To die without a child was to have one's name rooted out on earth. In Sheol there was continuance of bare existence, but no life in any real sense of the term (Isaiah 14:9-15 *); hence the ancient Hebrew felt that if he did not live in his posterity death meant the end of life. Yahweh tells him that a son of his own begetting shall be his heir, and, bringing him out of his tent to look at the starry sky, affirms that his seed shall be similarly innumerable. The faith of Abraham rises to meet the promise, and this faith is counted to him for righteousness, a theme which Paul developed in his great expositions of justification by faith (Romans 4, Galatians 3).
Genesis 15:2. The closing words are, it can hardly be doubted, corrupt; the restoration is a matter of great uncertainty. No discussion is here possible; the latest emendation is by Procksch, the son of the ruler of my house, Eliezer, will be my heir.
Genesis 15:5. tell: i.e. count (cf. the tellers in a division in the House of Commons).