SCRIPTURE: GENESIS 15
IMPORTANT VERSE:
“Abram believed the Lord, and he credited it to him as righteousness.” (Genesis 15:6)
GOD’S COVENANT WITH ABRAM (vs. 1-21)
After this, the word of the Lord came to Abram in a vision: “Do not be afraid, Abram. I am your shield, your very great reward.”
But Abram said, “O sovereign Lord, what can you give me since I remain childless and the one who will inherit my estate is Eliezer of Damascus?” And Abram said, “You have given me no children; so a servant in my household will be my heir.”
The word of the Lord came to him: “This man will not be your heir, but a son coming from your own body will be your heir.” He took him outside and said, “Look up at the heavens and count the stars – if indeed you can count them.” Then he said to him, “So shall your offspring be.”
Abram believed the Lord, and he credited it to him as righteousness. He also said to him, “I am the Lord, who brought you out of Ur of the Chaldeans to give you this land to take possession of it.”
But Abram said, “O Sovereign Lord, how can I know that I will gain possession of it?” So the Lord said to him, “Bring me a heifer, a goat and a ram, each three years old, along with a dove and a young pigeon. Abram brought all these to him, put them in two and arrange the halves opposite each other; the birds, however, he did not cut in half. Then birds of prey came down on the carcasses but Abram drove them away.
As the sun was setting, Abram fell into a deep sleep, and a thick and dreadful darkness came over him. Then the Lord said to him, “Know for certain that your descendants will be strangers in a country not their own, and they will be enslaved and mistreated for four hundred years. But I will punish the nation they serve as slaves, and afterward they will come out with great possessions. You, however, will go to your fathers in peace and be buried at a good old age. In the fourth generation your descendants will come back here, for the sin of the Amorites has not yet reached its full measure.”
When the sun had set and darkness had fallen, a smoking firepot with a blazing torch appeared and passed between the pieces. On the day the Lord made a covenant with Abram and said, “To your descendants I give this land, from the river to Egypt to the great river, the Euphrates – the land of the Kenites, Kenizzites, Kadmonites, Hittites, Perizzites, Rephaites, Amorites, Canaanites, Girgashites and Jebusites.”
THOUGHTS: (From Life Application Study Bible)
Eliezer was the most trusted servant of Abram. According to custom, If Abram were to die without a son, his eldest servant would become his heir. Although Abram loved his servant, he wanted a son to carry on the family line.
Abram was not promised wealth or fame because he already had them. Instead, God promised descendants like the stars in the sky or the grains of sand on the seashore, too numerous to count. Just when Abram was despairing of ever having an heir, God promised descendants too numerous to imagine. He also promised the land of the Amorites will be given to his descendants. God’s blessings are beyond our imagination!