God’s Covenant with Abram
(Romans 4:1–12; Hebrews 11:8–19)
God made a covenant (a special agreement) with...
God made a covenant (a special agreement) with Abram. In this covenant, God confirmed the promises he had made earlier when he summoned Abram to leave his country (12:1–3). Abram's descendants would experience a long period of slavery before God made these promises come true.
1After these events, the word of the LORD came to Abram in a vision:
“Do not be afraid, Abram.I am your shield,your very great reward.”
Using a wordplay, Abram expressed his concern that...
Using a wordplay, Abram expressed his concern that Eliezer of Damascus (Hebrew dammeseq), a man in Abram’s household, would be his heir (Hebrew ben-mesheq, “son of possession”), as was customary when there was no son.
2But Abram replied, “O Lord GOD, what can You give me, since I remain childless, and the heir of my house is Eliezer of Damascus?” 3Abram continued, “Behold, You have given me no offspring, so a servant in my household will be my heir.”
God affirmed that the promise was for Abram’s...
God affirmed that the promise was for Abram’s own offspring and showed him the stars as a promise of the vast number of descendants that he would have (22:17; 26:4). Paul quotes this promise in Rom 4:18 to underscore the strength of Abram’s faith.
4Then the word of the LORD came to Abram, saying, “This one will not be your heir, but one who comes from your own body will be your heir.” 5And the LORD took him outside and said, “Now look to the heavens and count the stars, if you are able.” Then He told him, “So shall your offspring be.”†
6Abram believed the LORD, and it was credited to him as righteousness.†
With a solemn ceremony, God made a binding...
With a solemn ceremony, God made a binding covenant with Abram that guaranteed the fulfillment of God’s promises to him.
7The LORD also told him, “I am the LORD, who brought you out of Ur of the Chaldeans to give you this land to possess.”
God Confirms His Promise
(Numbers 34:1–15; Romans 4:13–25)
8But Abram replied, “Lord GOD, how can I know that I will possess it?”
9And the LORD said to him, “Bring Me a heifer, a goat, and a ram, each three years old, along with a turtledove and a young pigeon.”
10So Abram brought all these to Him, split each of them down the middle, and laid the halves opposite each other. The birds, however, he did not cut in half. 11And the birds of prey descended on the carcasses, but Abram drove them away. 12As the sun was setting, Abram fell into a deep sleep, and suddenly great terror and darkness overwhelmed him.
Not even 400 years of bondage could interfere...
Not even 400 years of bondage could interfere with God’s plan to fulfill the covenant.
13Then the LORD said to Abram, “Know for certain that your descendants will be strangers in a land that is not their own, and they will be enslaved and mistreated four hundred years. 14But I will judge the nation they serve as slaves, and afterward they will depart with many possessions.† 15You, however, will go to your fathers in peace and be buried at a ripe old age. 16In the fourth generation your descendants will return here, for the iniquity of the Amorites is not yet complete.”
smoking firepot... flaming torch: Fire represented the Lord’s...
smoking firepot . . . flaming torch: Fire represented the Lord’s cleansing, consuming zeal and unapproachable holiness (cp. Isa 6:3–7). The holy God made (literally cut) a unilateral covenant with Abram; its promises were absolutely sure because they did not depend on what Abram or his descendants might do.
17When the sun had set and darkness had fallen, behold, a smoking firepot and a flaming torch appeared and passed between the halves of the carcasses.
God specified the boundaries of the Promised Land....
God specified the boundaries of the Promised Land. His clear message to Abram was that despite prospects of death and suffering (enslavement), he and his descendants would eventually receive the promises, for God had sworn an oath (see Heb 6:13–14). Nothing can separate God’s people from his love or the fulfillment of his plans (see Rom 8:18–39; 2 Pet 1:3–4).
18On that day the LORD made a covenant with Abram, saying, “To your descendants I have given this land—from the river of Egypt to the great River Euphrates— 19the land of the Kenites, Kenizzites, Kadmonites, 20Hittites, Perizzites, Rephaites, 21Amorites, Canaanites, Girgashites, and Jebusites.”