CRITICAL NOTES.—
Genesis 15:9. Take me.] Heb. Take for me, i.e., Take and offer for me. Three years old. Denoting, say Kalisch, “the perfection of their species.”
Genesis 15:10. Divided them.] In this manner animals were prepared for the ratification of a covenant. Hence the Heb. for to make a covenant is, to cut a covenant. The custom was to cut the animals intended for sacrifice in two, and then to pass between the parts (Jeremiah 34:18-19, Psalms 50:5). “It consisted in cutting the throat of the victim, and pouring out its blood. The carcass was then divided length-wise, as nearly as possible into two equal parts, which being placed opposite to each other at a short distance, the covenanting parties approached at the opposite ends of the passage thus formed, and meeting in the middle, took the customary oath.” (Bush). Laid each piece one against another. Heb. Gave every one’s part, or piece, against his fellow, i.e., laid head against head, shoulder against shoulder, etc., so that the covenanting parties might pass between them. The birds divided he not. As there were two birds, they could be separated so as to make a space between them, without the necessity of their division. It was afterwards commanded in the Law not to divide birds in sacrifices. (Leviticus 1:17). Fowls were regarded as mere appendages to the sacrifices.
Genesis 15:11. Fowls came down upon the carcases.] Ravenous birds of prey, such as eagles, vultures, kites, etc., which feed upon dead bodies.
Genesis 15:12. Deep sleep.] The same expression is used of Adam: Genesis 2:21. The LXX has ecstasy—a supernatural trance.
Genesis 15:13. Know of a surety.] Heb. Knowing know. A stranger. This refers chiefly to Egypt; but their sojourn in Canaan, where they lived as strangers, is also included. Four hundred years. “400 years is the manner of speech of prophecy, taking the greater and round numbers. It was really 430; see Exodus 12:40. The devices resorted to in order to produce exact agreement are beneath notice.” (Alford).
Genesis 15:16. Fourth generation.] “The fourth generation of the Isaaelites who went down to Egypt should return and possess Canaan. This was the result. Caleb was the fourth from Judah, Moses was the fourth from Levi; or Isaac, Levi, Amram, Eleazar, may represent the four generations.” (Jacobus). “In the fourth, age. An age here means the average period from the birth to the death of one man. This age or generation ran parallel with the life of Moses, and therefore consisted of 120 years. Joseph lived 110 years. Four such generations amount to 480 or 440 years.” (Murphy). Amorites. The general name for the Canaanitish tribes.
Genesis 15:18. River of Egypt.] Some suppose the Nile is meant; but to this others object that the region from the Nile to the Euphrates includes a wider dominion than Israel ever attained. Hence it has been conjectured that the reference is to the Wady el Arisch, which is called the “Brook of Egypt.” “It is true that the domain of Israel never reached exactly to the river Nile. But nothing between them and the Nile was independent of them. Virtually this was the extent; and as Kurtz remarks, these two rivers are considered here as the representatives of the two great powers of the East and the West; and the meaning of the promise is, that the land and commonwealth of the descendants of Abram should be independent, and continue by the side of and between these two empires, and that no other empire or nation should permanently bear independent sway in the districts which lay between Judea and these two great empires.” (Jacobus).
MAIN HOMILETICS OF THE PARAGRAPH.— Genesis 15:7-21
THE CONFIRMATION OF FAITH
Abram had now that faith by which he was regarded righteous in the sight of God. But faith is only the beginning of the spiritual life, which, as in the case of all life, is a season of weakness. Therefore it must be strengthened and encouraged and brought into further development. God graciously confirmed the faith of His servant, so that he might have entire confidence in His ability to accomplish the word of promise. He who gives spiritual life to the soul is ready to give it more abundantly. We may learn from the instance of Abram how, when once we have faith, we may reasonably look to God for the further assurance of it. How was Abram’s faith confirmed? The answer to this question will be a guide and comfort to believers in all ages.
I. Faith is confirmed by the remembrance of God’s past dealings. The soul that has believed has already passed through some stages of spiritual history in all which the Divine goodness and leading were manifest. When faith wavers, or its life is in danger of growing feeble, it is well for us to review the past and to remember what God has been to us. We may use memory to stimulate both faith and hope. This was the use the Psalmist made of the past mercies of God: “Because thou hast been my help, therefore in the shadow of thy wings I rejoice” (Psalms 63:7). The several parts of this act of remembrance may be gathered from God’s dealings with Abram in this solemn transaction.
1. We should call to mind what God is. Abram was reminded of the majesty, the glory, and unchangeable nature of that Being with whom he had to do. The Lord announced His own awful name, “I am JEHOVAH” (Genesis 15:7). God’s name is Himself, and could we learn and know the mysterious secret of it, we should see an end to all our soul’s fears. God is the All-sufficient One, and if we but know that, we need want no more. But such is the frailty of our nature that we are under the necessity of ever reminding ourselves of fundamental truths. If the life of faith is to be maintained, the soul must frequently cast itself upon God. In the presence of His power and unchangeable purpose of goodness, we can have no fear that His promise shall fail.
2. We should consider the steps by which we have arrived at what we are already. Abram, now, for several years was conscious of God’s dealings with him. He had ordered his life by God’s direction. He had experienced many proofs of His favour, and of His power to deliver in the time of danger. The Lord reminded him of these things. “I am JEHOVAH, that brought thee out of Ur of the Chaldees” (Genesis 15:7). That journey was long, leading through various prospects, and through paths of chequered experience; but God was with him and led him on. Abram may now confirm his faith by looking at the steps which God had already taken to secure to him the land of promise. Part of the Divine plan had been already accomplished, for God brought him out of Ur that he might give him possession of Canaan. This was surely enough. Will God now falter or fail in the midst of His work, and not go on unto the end? The believer can look back upon all that God has done, and upon all the way by which he has been led, and take courage.
3. We should keep that purpose of God before us in reference to which we first exercised our faith. “I am the Lord that brought thee out of Ur of the Chaldees, to give thee this land to inherit it” (Genesis 15:7). Abram’s attention is called to the purpose which God intended for him from the very first. God had promised him the land, and on that word he had ventured to hope and trust. All God’s dealings were tending towards the fulfilment of this promise. “I called thee, and promised to bless thee; and whatever may be the darkness of the troubled scene now to be set before thee, it is thy privilege still to know that He who brought thee out of Ur to inherit this land is ‘the same yesterday, to-day, and for ever’ ” (Candlish). All God’s dealings with believers now tend to the working out of His original purpose concerning them, which is to unite them to Himself and bring them to glory. If we remember what is the end of our high calling of God, we have no cause to fear. We have no need to be discouraged because of the way. Our faith, like that of Abram, rests upon the promise of God that He hath provided for us a better place.
II. Faith is confirmed by covenant. The Lord had entered into covenant with Adam and with Noah, but this is the first time that He makes a covenant with Abram. The patriarch needed encouragement. He was not yet in possession of the land which was promised, and the disclosures of the future of his race, which were shortly to be submitted to him, were not altogether cheering. A covenant is granted, not that God requires it for Himself, but for our sakes. We require the definite word, and that it should be confirmed by some act. God thus makes agreement with man, and ties Himself down to conditions. Consider the exact place which this covenant held in the spiritual history of Abram.
1. It was a token and pledge of God’s promises, not a concession to unbelief. Abram desires that his faith should be confirmed by some sign or token. “And he said, Lord God, whereby shall I know that I shall inherit it?” (Genesis 15:8). This request was made after he had exercised genuine faith, and had been accounted righteous and accepted in the sight of God. This was not the demand of doubt or of unbelief, made in the spirit of an evil and adulterous generation which seeked after a sign. To require a sign before believing, and as a necessary condition of that act, is a sin. It is presuming to dictate to God, as if we had made up our minds not to agree to His terms until we heard them, or until He should come round to ours. But when we first rest our faith upon God’s bare word, we then may humbly hope for some token and pledge of His promises. That living thing called faith yet needs an atmosphere constantly renewed, fresh and invigorating. The fitting frame of mind for every child of God is, “Lord, I believe, help thou mine unbelief.” So it was with Abram. He believed, and had acceptance and peace; but the future was dark and he was compassed about with infirmity. “Whereby shall I know that I shall inherit the land?”
2. It was a covenant made by sacrifice (Genesis 15:9-10). In every covenant, some token or sign must be given as a common point of meeting for God and man. Thus, in the case of Noah there was a sign or token, but this is the first time in which God prepares for a covenant with man with all the formality of a sacrificial transaction. This shows that the gospel idea had now reached a farther stage of development. This transaction pointed to the sacrifice of Christ. Abram’s sacrifice was to consist of animals of three years old, which was the time of full vigour. They were to be unblemished, and of the best. Such was “the Lamb of God that taketh away the sin of the world.” He was cut off in the time of his full strength. He was holy, and without spot. He was the flower and perfection of the race—the new and better beginning of humanity. In the tokens of this covenant there are two principles recognised, as bearing upon the great sacrifice for sin.
(1.) That life comes through death. These animals were slain, as plainly to set forth that death is the consequence of sin. It is also the means of life, for God’s covenants convey the gifts of mercy and salvation. Through the death of God’s Great Sacrifice we have life. In human experience we have some imperfect analogies to this. The sufferings, and even the death of men, are often the hard conditions securing the good of the race. The death of the mother is often the life of the child. Death for death is the stern requirement of our salvation, but He who saved us had strength beyond the power of death, and rose again for our justification. He brought life from the dead.
(2.) That this sacrifice pointed to a greater whose intent was to bring man into union with God. The animals were divided, according to the custom in such solemnities (Genesis 15:10). The parties were to pass together between the parts of the sacrifice, as denoting that they were thus at one. “The unity laid down in the covenant is hereby expressed. The division of the sacrifices into two portions represents the two parties to the covenant. As these portions constitute in reality one animal, so these two parties to the covenant are joined into one” (Kurtz). The form of the word “atonement” shows that it signifies that we are made one with God. To knit together again the broken relations between God and man is the great work of Christ.
3. It was a covenant which was so ordered as to give a further exercise to faith. When the sacrifice was all made ready, there followed a time of silence and suspense. Abram can only with difficulty keep off the devouring birds of the air which fall upon the divided fragments. He watches anxiously till the close of day, when he becomes weary and falls into a heavy slumber. A mysterious darkness surrounds him. Light at last shines forth out of it, and the symbols of the Divine glory appear, but still the waiting for them was a trial. While mankind was waiting for Christ, it was a time of darkness, suspense, and trial. While the Deliverer was only promised, it was difficult to keep even the most prophetic souls always awake.
III. Faith is confirmed by a further discovery of the Divine will. Abram was a prophet, and it was necessary that he should know what was the mind of God, that he might be able to interpret it for the benefit of the Church. It was necessary that God should reveal His will. But the principle still holds good in the case of each believer, that God always rewards obedience by a further discovery of His will. “If any man,” says Jesus, “will do His will, he shall know of the doctrine.”
1. This discovery was preceded by a revelation of the awful majesty of God. There was an “horror of great darkness” upon Abram (Genesis 15:12). This produced a state of mind which is proper when God is about to grant an audience with His creature. This feeling of awe and horror was often an attendant upon special prophetic revelations (Job 4:13-14; Daniel 10:8).
2. The future was unfolded. Not for the benefit of Abram alone, as an individual, but for that of the Church. Israel for four hundred years afterwards would have these words to ponder, and even after that to contemplate the still further issues which would be prepared. Of the future, which was here unfolded to the prophet, it may be observed—
(1) That it was not altogether a cheering prospect. Abram’s seed were to be strangers in a land that is not their own, to be condemned to a debasing and cruel servitude for four hundred years. The immediate future of his race was drawn in sad colours. Prosperity would only be granted after many years of grievous trouble. This is a picture of what the Church is, and will be throughout history. Her life is a transcript of that of her Lord’s. It was necessary that He should first suffer, and afterwards enter into His glory, and so His church must pass through weary seasons of darkness and trial before she sees full prosperity and enters into her joyful reward. God’s revelation does not hide from believers the troubles they may expect in this life. But—
(2). It would be bright in the end. After a previous affliction for four hundred years Abram’s posterity were to be delivered from the House of Bondage (Genesis 15:14). The afflictions of God’s saints are intended to issue in blessing. The “horror of great darkness” which fell upon the patriarch was a picture of the prospects of his race, which at first were discouraging, but afterwards joyous. God was about to create a people for Himself, and as in the creation of the world so it was here, there was darkness first and then light. This is also the order of the spiritual history of the individual. The new life of souls begins in sorrow, but ends in blessedness. In that prophetic picture of the afflictions of his posterity there were two things which would comfort and assure the mind of Abram. One was that God would punish the instruments of their affliction, “Also that nation whom they shall serve will I judge” (Genesis 15:14). Those who afflict God’s people bring down upon themselves His judgments in the end. Such is the terrible law of retributive providence as seen in the course of human history. God may use a nation as a rod to afflict His people, but afterwards He breaks the rod in pieces. No weapon that is formed against them can prosper. The Church is too strong to be broken by the powers of this world, for those who have opposed her have either been brought to submission, or have been blotted out of the family of nations. Another consolatary thought was that there were reasons for the delay of the promised blessings. “For the iniquity of the Amorites is not yet full” (Genesis 15:16). He who is Lord of all must rule over the wicked as well as the righteous. His longsuffering towards sinners is often a reason why He delays the deliverance of His people. They must abide the time of God’s forbearance with those who afflict them. It should reconcile us to the prosperity of the wicked to remember that God allows evil in this world sufficient time to work out its own recompense. It is enough for us to know that what is right and true shall triumph in the end, and what is wrong and false shall be destroyed after it has had a fair trial. The Church cannot enter into her complete reward until the measure of the world’s iniquity is full.
IV. Faith is confirmed by the display of the Divine glory. “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” (Genesis 15:17). Here was a twofold symbol of the glory of God.
1. The Divine glory in the overthrow of evil. The smoking furnace was a symbol of the Divine wrath, and would represent God’s vindictive judgments upon their oppressors. This was the smoke of destruction—the consuming fire of God’s anger which burns up all evil. When the Lord comes it will be to take vengeance upon sinners as well as to reward His saints. God is true to His nature when He punishes, for nothing that is unholy can live in His sight.
2. The Divine glory in salvation. The burning lamp was a symbol of the light of salvation—of Christ, the Saviour of the world. This is that glory of God, the contemplation of which gives joy. Without this the thought of God would be terrible to the soul. We might admire God’s wisdom, and stand in awe of His power and justice; but it is only when we know Him as the God of Salvation that our meditation of Him can be sweet. Our souls could not endure under the awful majesty of God unless we had the comforting light of His salvation. It is observable that God alone passed between the sacrifice. Abram had but to stand by and do nothing. He had asked a sign, and must wait for God. The covenant was one of grace, and God must first give before He requires any work on man’s part. He alone will have the glory of our salvation.
V. Faith is confirmed by the prospect of a peaceful death, and of re-union with the spirits of the just. Faith in God cannot content itself with the present life. He who is our covenant God is ours for ever, and holds an eternal relation to our souls. Those to whom God gives Himself can never die. The words spoken to Moses, “I am the God of Abram, and of Isaac, and of Jacob,” are quoted by our Lord as a proof of the immortality of man. They imply that the real life of these men had not been extinguished by death; they were all living in the sight of Him from whose eye no human being could wander. “God is not the God of the dead, but of the living, for all live unto Him.” To Abram, God gave the promise, “Thou shalt go to thy fathers in peace” (Genesis 15:15). To go from one place to another, and there to join companionship with others, is not annihilation. It may imply a change in the mode of existence, but the continuity of it is not broken. The Fathers were still living, and Abram was to join their company when God had prolonged his life to a “good old age.” He would come slowly and late to the grave, but his end would be peace, and that rest which God grants His people when they have laid down the burden of this life. God confirmed the faith of Abram by promising him this blessedness hereafter. Faith must fasten upon the future. To every faithful believer God gives the promise of a peaceful end, and of reunion with the spirits of the just.
1. This prospect renders the life of the believer independent of the earthly fortunes of the Church. The children of Abram, after much affliction, were at length to see prosperity. Abram would not live to enjoy it, and that melancholy thought may have oppressed him. But now he is assured that it shall all be well with himself. His own being was safe amidst all the varied fortunes of his people’s history. It is but poor comfort if we only believe in the immortality of the race, and not of the individual soul. Unless we have the blessed prospect of seeing the goodness of the Lord in what is truly “the land of the living,” our souls may well faint under the mystery of an existence, which without that blessed hope is meaningless and vain.
2. This prospect deprives the grave of its terrors. Abram, like all his fathers before him, must go to the grave, but it would be in peace. He would enter the assembly of those who were living in God’s sight. No alarm on meeting God in that world where the soul must be conscious of His presence. Thus faith transfigures that terrible thing, death, and makes it the gate of life. This, the first mention of the grave in the Bible, is cheerful and friendly, because the promise of God lighted it up with the life beyond.
SUGGESTIVE COMMENTS ON THE VERSES
Genesis 15:7. In that early age of the world the name of God was no mere designation of some mysterious Power, of which men were vaguely conscious, nor was it a convenient abstraction, but a solemn reality to those simple-minded but earnestly religious souls who used it. That name signified what God was, and who.
Enough for faith to know that God is by necessity what He is. This knowledge affords a stable centre where the heart can rest, and the intellect can afford to wait for such increase of knowledge as God may be pleased to grant.
He saith unto him—God expressly making out his mind to Abram—I am Jehovah who now speak unto thee, who was, is, and is to come, who calls that which is not as if it were, and can make to be what and when I please; so that thy faith need not stagger concerning anything that I speak unto thee. All being is within the compass of mine.—(Hughes.)
In this passage, God does seem to lay emphasis on his name, Jehovah, notwithstanding what is said afterwards: “I appeared unto Abraham, unto Isaac, and unto Jacob, by the name God Almighty, but by my name Jehovah was I not known to them” (Exodus 6:3). Nor is there any real inconsistency here. It cannot be meant in that passage that the name Jehovah was literally unknown to the patriarchs, or that God in his intercourse with them never appealed to it. The idea rather is, that as God appeared in their days chiefly in the giving of promises, whereas in the time of Moses He appeared to fulfil them, His attribute of power was that principally concerned in the former case, and His attribute of faithfulness in the latter. The patriarchs had to look to Him as God Almighty, able, in due time, to accomplish all His promises which He was then giving them. Moses and the Israelites were to know Him as Jehovah, unalterably faithful after the lapse of ages, and fulfilling His promises given long before. Still, it does not follow that the view of God implied in His name Jehovah was altogether concealed from Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob; or, that it was never used to impart to their souls strong consolation and good hope through grace. On the contrary, the Apostle, writing to the Hebrews, expressly tells us that to Abraham God sware by Himself; or, as he explains it, in support of His unchangeable word, appealed to His unchangeable nature or name. (Hebrews 6:13-18.) And if, on any occasion, His name of immutability was likely to be thus used, it was at the opening of such a revelation as this.—(Candlish.)
The record of God’s gracious dealings with His saints is an encouragement to all who shall hereafter believe. Hence the value of sacred biography.
What God had already done for Abram ought to strengthen and confirm his faith.
1. God brought him out of the land of his birth, which was defiled by idolatry.
2. All the events of his life were working towards the end contemplated by the promise.
3. God had deposited in his mind the seeds of religion, which would grow into a church.
Let the remembrance of what I have done for thee confirm thy confidence, since every former mercy is a pledge of a future. God giveth after He hath given, as the spring runneth after it hath run. And as the eye is not weary of seeing, nor the ear of hearing, no more is God of doing good to His people. “Draw out thy loving kindness,” saith David (Psalms 36:10, marg.), as a continued series or chain, where one link draws on another to the utmost length.—(Trapp.)
Genesis 15:8. The same request may be made with two different minds. Zacharias (Luke 1:18) asked this in unbelief; the Blessed Virgin (Luke 1:34), as Abram here, in faith, humbly yearning for further assurance. God, who sees the heart, answers accordingly.—(Alford.)
Abram grants God to be Jehovah, showing that his faith was still strong. The sign was needed, not for his own sake, but for the sake of his posterity, who might be tempted to despair on account of the slow realisation of the promise. In His dealings with individual saints God has often in view the future welfare of His Church.
Many instances are recorded where God has been graciously pleased to give signs to His people for the confirmation of their faith when there was not any doubt upon their minds respecting either His faithfulness or power. When He appeared to Gideon (Judges 6:14-21), and told him that He should deliver his country from the yoke of Midian, Gideon said, “If now I have found grace in Thy sight, then show me a sign that Thou talkest with me.” In answer to which, God caused a fire to come out of the rock and consume the kid and cakes which Gideon had prepared for Him; and presently afterwards (Judges 6:36-40) He gave him another sign, making the dew to fall alternately on the fleece and on the ground, while the other remained perfectly dry. In the same way He gave to Hezekiah a choice of signs, offering to make the shadows on the sundial go backwards or forwards ten degrees, according as he should desire. (2 Kings 20:8-11.) From hence it appears that the inquiries which proceed from faith are good and acceptable to God.—(Bush.)
Even where faith is real it has a right to seek for its full assurance.
He desires a sign, not that he believed not before, but that he might better believe. How great is God’s love in giving us sacraments, and therein to make Himself to us visible as well as audible.—(Trapp.)
We should be anxious to make our inheritance in the heavenly Canaan sure. It shall be given to those for whom it is prepared, but we may well be concerned as to whether we ourselves shall have part or lot in it.
Genesis 15:9. Abram must be prepared for the revelation which God was about to give him, by being reminded that he was not fit to approach God, except through an appointed way of mercy.
The outward signs of our faith, and the means of our redemption, are not left to man’s device. God Himself appoints them.
The animals prescribed are of the three kinds afterwards allowed by the law for sacrifice; and the birds are those repeatedly mentioned in the law as those to be brought for offerings. The animals were to be each three years old, denoting the perfection of their species. But we Christians cannot shut our eyes to a deeper symbolism in this sacred number, especially when we remember that this part of the covenant symbolism was to be “for ME,” i.e., to signify God’s part of it. (Alford.)
The soul believes that it shall be even as God has promised, but it does not yet understand how or through what experiences the blessing is to come. In answer, therefore, to the promise it says, “Whereby shall I know,” etc. The Lord replies by a command to sacrifice, and in this worship and sacrifice His way is manifested. Beside the altar light breaks in. Faith may be strong while yet in outward things; but light comes while we stand before the Lord, by the holy altar of burnt-offering. At every stage we prove this. Noah is taught much beside his offering. (Ch. Genesis 8:20-22.) So, too, is David in later days. (Psalms 73:16-17.) Abram, no less, by the altar learns the reasons for the delay in the possession of the inheritance. There is opened the experience of his seed; there again the covenant is renewed and added to. (Jukes: “Types of Genesis.”)
Genesis 15:10. The universal Eastern custom was to divide the sacrifices, as Abram did, and both the contracting parties passed between the halves. Here one alone of the parties, Jehovah, thus passed. Abram’s part of the covenant was the obedience of faith; and God on account of this entered, He, the righteous God, into bond with Abram, thus made a contracting party with God, and therefore accounted righteous. (Alford.)
In the Gospel covenant the only-begotten Son passes through between God and us. Christ gathers together in one all those things which sin has sundered and scattered.
Genesis 15:11. Having made ready the sacrifices, he waited, perhaps, for the fire of God to consume them, which was the usual token of acceptance. But meanwhile the birds of prey came down upon them, which he was obliged to drive away. Interruptions, we see, attend the Father of the Faithful in his most solemn approaches to God; and interruptions, though of a different kind, attend believers in their devotions. How often do intruding cares, like unclean birds, seize upon that time and those affections which are devoted to God? Happy is it for us, if by prayer and watchfulness we can drive them away, so as to worship Him without distraction.
Evil thoughts have a terrible power to come down upon us and enter our minds, even when we are able to shut out other influences.
Evil thoughts, unless we make an effort to drive them away, must spoil our sacrifice, which should be kept pure.
No sooner are the bodies of the beasts offered, and the parts laid open before the eye of God and the worshipper, than the fowls came down to mar the offering. So when the believer has set before him the sacrifice, and in the contemplation of it would fain learn to see and feel with God, the fowls, “evil spirits in heavenly places,” powers within or without subject to the wicked one, messengers of “the prince of the power of the air,” come to distract our communion. He that has stood beside his offering knows what distractions these winged messengers cause, while we rise up like Abram to drive them away.—(Jukes: “Types of Genesis.”)