--- title: "Genesis 15 - Study King James Bible with clarkes commentary" description: "Read Genesis 15 with clarkes commentary commentary. 1 After these things the word of the LORD came unto Abram in a vision, saying, Fear not, Abram: I am thy shield, and thy exceeding great reward. 2 And Abr" image: "/_app/immutable/assets/missing.C7wGMEZ6.jpg" url: "https://realbiblebelievers.com/study/clarkes-commentary/genesis/15" --- [ Read](/kjv/genesis/15)[ Commentary](/study/genesis/15)[ Interlinear](/interlinear/genesis/15) Audio 1 After these things the word of the LORD came unto Abram in a vision, saying, Fear not, Abram: I *am* thy shield, *and* thy exceeding great reward. 2 And Abram said, Lord GOD, what wilt thou give me, seeing I go childless, and the steward of my house *is* this Eliezer of Damascus? 3 And Abram said, Behold, to me thou hast given no seed: and, lo, one born in my house is mine heir. 4 And, behold, the word of the LORD *came* unto him, saying, This shall not be thine heir; but he that shall come forth out of thine own bowels shall be thine heir. 5 And he brought him forth abroad, and said, Look now toward heaven, and tell the stars, if thou be able to number them: and he said unto him, So shall thy seed be. 6 And he believed in the LORD; and he counted it to him for righteousness. 7 And he said unto him, I *am* the LORD that brought thee out of Ur of the Chaldees, to give thee this land to inherit it. 8 And he said, Lord GOD, whereby shall I know that I shall inherit it? 9 And he said unto him, Take me an heifer of three years old, and a she goat of three years old, and a ram of three years old, and a turtledove, and a young pigeon. 10 And he took unto him all these, and divided them in the midst, and laid each piece one against another: but the birds divided he not. 11 And when the fowls came down upon the carcases, Abram drove them away. 12 And when the sun was going down, a deep sleep fell upon Abram; and, lo, an horror of great darkness fell upon him. 13 And he said unto Abram, Know of a surety that thy seed shall be a stranger in a land *that is* not theirs, and shall serve them; and they shall afflict them four hundred years; 14 And also that nation, whom they shall serve, will I judge: and afterward shall they come out with great substance. 15 And thou shalt go to thy fathers in peace; thou shalt be buried in a good old age. 16 But in the fourth generation they shall come hither again: for the iniquity of the Amorites *is* not yet full. 17 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.* 18 In the same day the LORD made a covenant with Abram, saying, Unto thy seed have I given this land, from the river of Egypt unto the great river, the river Euphrates: 19 The Kenites, and the Kenizzites, and the Kadmonites, 20 And the Hittites, and the Perizzites, and the Rephaims, 21 And the Amorites, and the Canaanites, and the Girgashites, and the Jebusites. [Genesis 14](/study/genesis/14) [Genesis 16](/study/genesis/16) ## Commentary To verse 1 Verse [Genesis 15:1](/kjv/genesis/15/1). ***The word of the Lord came unto Abram*** — This is the first place where God is represented as revealing himself by his *word*. Some learned men suppose that the דבר יהוה *debar Yehovah*, translated here *word of the Lord*, means the same with the λογος του Θεου of St. John, [John 1:1](/kjv/john/1/1), and, by the Chaldee paraphrases in the next clause, called מימרי *meimeri*, "my word," and in other places מימרא דיי *meimera daiya*, the word of *Yeya*, a contraction for *Jehovah*, which they appear always to consider as a *person*; and which they distinguish from פתגמא *pithgama*, which signifies merely a *word* spoken, or any *part of speech*. There have been various conjectures concerning the manner in which God revealed his will, not only to the patriarchs, but also to the prophets, evangelists, and apostles. It seems to have been done in different ways. 1. By a *personal appearance* of him who was afterwards incarnated for the salvation of mankind. 2. By an *audible voice*, sometimes accompanied with emblematical appearances. 3. By *visions* which took place either in the night in ordinary sleep, or when the persons were cast into a temporary trance by daylight, or when about their ordinary business, 4. By the *ministry of angels* appearing in human bodies, and performing certain miracles to accredit their mission. 5. By the powerful agency of the *Spirit* *of God upon the mind*, giving it a strong conception and supernatural persuasion of the truth of the things perceived by the understanding. We shall see all these exemplified in the course of the work. It was probably in the third sense that the revelation in the text was given; for it is said, *God appeared to* *Abram in a vision*, מחזה machazeh, from חזה *chazah*, to *see*, or according to others, to *fix, fasten, settle*; hence *chozeh,* a SEER, the person who *sees Divine things*, to whom *alone* they are revealed, on whose mind they are *fastened*, and in whose memory and judgment they are *fixed* and *settled*. Hence the *vision* which was mentally perceived, and, by the evidence to the soul of its Divine origin, *fixed* and *settled* in the mind. ***Fear not*** — The late Dr. Dodd has a good thought on this passage; "I would read, says he, "the second verse in a parenthesis, thus: *For Abram* HAD *said, Lord God, what wilt thou give me, seeing I* *go childless, c. Abram had said this* in the *fear* of his heart, upon which the Lord vouchsafed to him this prophetical *view*, and this strong renovation of the covenant. In this light all follows very properly. Abram had said so and so in [Genesis 15:2](/kjv/genesis/15/2), upon which God appears and says, *I am thy shield, and thy exceeding great* *reward*. The patriarch then, [Genesis 15:3](/kjv/genesis/15/3), freely opens the anxious apprehension of his heart, *Behold, to me thou hast given no seed,* *&c.*, upon which God proceeds to assure him of posterity." **I am*****thy shield, &c.*** — Can it be supposed that Abram understood these words as promising him *temporal* advantages at all corresponding to the magnificence of these promises? If he did he was disappointed through the whole course of his life, for he never enjoyed *such* a state of worldly prosperity as could justify the strong language in the text. Shall we lose sight of Abram, and say that his posterity was intended, and Abram understood the promises as relating to them, and not to himself or immediately to his own family? Then the question recurs, Did the Israelites ever enjoy such a state of temporal affluence as seems to be intended by the above promise? To this every man acquainted with their history will, without hesitation, say, No. What then is intended? Just what the words state. GOD was *Abram's portion*, and he is the *portion* of every *righteous soul* for to *Abram*, and the *children* *of his faith*, he gives not a *portion in this life*. Nothing, says Father Calmet, proves more invincibly the immortality of the soul, the truth of religion, and the eternity of another life, than to see that in this life the righteous seldom receive the reward of their virtue, and that in temporal things they are often less happy than the workers of iniquity. *I am*, says the Almighty, *thy shield*- thy constant covering and protector, *and thy exceeding great reward*, שכרך הרבה מאד sekarcha *harbeh meod*, "THAT superlatively multiplied reward of thine." It is not the Canaan I promise, but the *salvation* that is to come through the promised seed. Hence it was that *Abram rejoiced to* *see his day*. And hence the Chaldee Targum translates this place, *My* WORD *shall be thy strength, &c*. ```json {"@context":"https://schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/#website","url":"https://realbiblebelievers.com","name":"Real Bible Believers","description":"RBB","publisher":{"@id":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/#/schema/person/e966585dde703268e7f6ae890ea98509"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/search?q={search_term_string}","query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"ImageObject","@id":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/study/clarkes-commentary/genesis/15#primaryimage","inLanguage":"en-US","url":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/_app/immutable/assets/missing.C7wGMEZ6.jpg","contentUrl":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/_app/immutable/assets/missing.C7wGMEZ6.jpg","width":672,"height":448,"caption":"Real Bible Believers"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/study/clarkes-commentary/genesis/15#webpage","url":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/study/clarkes-commentary/genesis/15","name":"Genesis 15 - Study King James Bible with clarkes commentary","isPartOf":{"@id":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/study/clarkes-commentary/genesis/15#primaryimage"},"author":{"@id":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/#/schema/person/e966585dde703268e7f6ae890ea98509"},"description":"Read Genesis 15 with clarkes commentary commentary. 1 After these things the word of the LORD came unto Abram in a vision, saying, Fear not, Abram: I am thy shield, and thy exceeding great reward. 2 And Abr","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/study/clarkes-commentary/genesis/15#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https://realbiblebelievers.com/study/clarkes-commentary/genesis/15"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/study/clarkes-commentary/genesis/15#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/","url":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/","name":"Home"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/study","url":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/study","name":"Study Bible"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/study/clarkes-commentary","url":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/study/clarkes-commentary","name":"clarkes commentary"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":4,"item":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/study/clarkes-commentary/genesis","url":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/study/clarkes-commentary/genesis","name":"Genesis"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":5,"item":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/study/clarkes-commentary/genesis/15","url":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/study/clarkes-commentary/genesis/15","name":"15"}}]},{"@type":["Person","Organization"],"@id":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/#/schema/person/e966585dde703268e7f6ae890ea98509","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","@id":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/#personlogo","inLanguage":"en-US","url":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/android-chrome-512x512.png","contentUrl":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/android-chrome-512x512.png","width":512,"height":512},"logo":{"@id":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/#personlogo"},"sameAs":["https://twitter.com/RBiblebeliever","https://www.facebook.com/RBibleBelievers"]}]} ```