CHAPTER 15
. DIVINE
ENCOURAGEMENT.
1. After these things—the
conquest of the invading kings.
the word of the Lord—a
phrase used, when connected with a vision, to denote a prophetic
message.
Fear not, Abram—When
the excitement of the enterprise was over, he had become a prey to
despondency and terror at the probable revenge that might be
meditated against him. To dispel his fear, he was favored with this
gracious announcement. Having such a promise, how well did it become
him (and all God's people who have the same promise) to dismiss
fears, and cast all burdens on the Lord ().
2. Lord God, what wilt thou give?—To
his mind the declaration, "I am thy exceeding great reward"
[Genesis 15:1], had but one meaning,
or was viewed but in one particular light, as bearing on the
fulfilment of the promise, and he was still experiencing the sickness
of hope deferred.
3. Eliezer of Damascus . . . one
born in my house is mine heir—According to the usage of nomadic
tribes, his chief confidential servant, would be heir to his
possessions and honors. But this man could have become his son only
by adoption; and how sadly would that have come short of the parental
hopes he had been encouraged to entertain! His language betrayed a
latent spirit of fretfulness or perhaps a temporary failure in the
very virtue for which he is so renowned—and absolute submission to
God's time, as well as way, of accomplishing His promise.
4. This shall not be thine heir—To
the first part of his address no reply was given; but having renewed
it in a spirit of more becoming submission, "whereby shall I
know that I shall inherit it" [], he was delighted by a most explicit promise of Canaan,
which was immediately confirmed by a remarkable ceremony.
9-21. Take me an heifer, c.—On
occasions of great importance, when two or more parties join in a
compact, they either observe precisely the same rites as Abram did,
or, where they do not, they invoke the lamp as their witness.
According to these ideas, which have been from time immemorial
engraven on the minds of Eastern people, the Lord Himself
condescended to enter into covenant with Abram. The patriarch did not
pass between the sacrifice and the reason was that in this
transaction he was bound to nothing. He asked a sign, and God was
pleased to give him a sign, by which, according to Eastern ideas, He
bound Himself. In like manner God has entered into covenant with us
and in the glory of the only-begotten Son, who passed through between
God and us, all who believe have, like Abram, a sign or pledge in the
gift of the Spirit, whereby they may know that they shall inherit the
heavenly Canaan.
CHAPTER 15
. DIVINE ENCOURAGEMENT.
1. After these things—the conquest of the invading kings.
the word of the Lord—a phrase used, when connected with a vision, to denote a prophetic message.
Fear not, Abram—When the excitement of the enterprise was over, he had become a prey to despondency and terror at the probable revenge that might be meditated against him. To dispel his fear, he was favored with this gracious announcement. Having such a promise, how well did it become him (and all God's people who have the same promise) to dismiss fears, and cast all burdens on the Lord ().
2. Lord God, what wilt thou give?—To his mind the declaration, "I am thy exceeding great reward" [Genesis 15:1], had but one meaning, or was viewed but in one particular light, as bearing on the fulfilment of the promise, and he was still experiencing the sickness of hope deferred.
3. Eliezer of Damascus . . . one born in my house is mine heir—According to the usage of nomadic tribes, his chief confidential servant, would be heir to his possessions and honors. But this man could have become his son only by adoption; and how sadly would that have come short of the parental hopes he had been encouraged to entertain! His language betrayed a latent spirit of fretfulness or perhaps a temporary failure in the very virtue for which he is so renowned—and absolute submission to God's time, as well as way, of accomplishing His promise.
4. This shall not be thine heir—To the first part of his address no reply was given; but having renewed it in a spirit of more becoming submission, "whereby shall I know that I shall inherit it" [], he was delighted by a most explicit promise of Canaan, which was immediately confirmed by a remarkable ceremony.
9-21. Take me an heifer, c.—On occasions of great importance, when two or more parties join in a compact, they either observe precisely the same rites as Abram did, or, where they do not, they invoke the lamp as their witness. According to these ideas, which have been from time immemorial engraven on the minds of Eastern people, the Lord Himself condescended to enter into covenant with Abram. The patriarch did not pass between the sacrifice and the reason was that in this transaction he was bound to nothing. He asked a sign, and God was pleased to give him a sign, by which, according to Eastern ideas, He bound Himself. In like manner God has entered into covenant with us and in the glory of the only-begotten Son, who passed through between God and us, all who believe have, like Abram, a sign or pledge in the gift of the Spirit, whereby they may know that they shall inherit the heavenly Canaan.