GOD'S COVENANT WITH ABRAHAM.-- Genesis 15:5-18. GOLDEN TEXT. --_ Fear not, Abram,. am thy shield and thy exceeding great reward._ -- Genesis 15:1. TIME. --About B. C. 1913. PLACE. --By the oaks of Mamre in Hebron. HELPFUL READINGS. -- Genesis 12:1-7; Genesis 13:14-17; Genesis 17:1-14; Galatians 3:6-... [ Continue Reading ]
AND HE BELIEVED IN THE LORD. Let it be noted that it is not said only that he believed what the Lord said, but that be believed _in_ the Lord. There was. submissive trust,. complete yielding to the divine will,. placing of himself in the hands of God. It was not the mere act of faith on this occasio... [ Continue Reading ]
II. THE COVENANT RATIFIED. 7.. AM THE LORD THAT BROUGHT THEE OUT OF UR OF THE CHALDEES. A night had passed away and another day had come (see verse 12) and on this day the Lord reminds Abraham that it was he who had brought him out of Ur of the Chaldeans; that he had led him from that home of his... [ Continue Reading ]
LORD GOD, WHEREBY SHALL. KNOW THAT. SHALL INHERIT IT? This is not. demand of unbelief, but the request for some visible sign upon which he can rest as. seal of the covenant. Man has always needed these. When God declared to Noah that there would never be. deluge he set the bow as. reminder of his p... [ Continue Reading ]
TAKE ME. HEIFER OF THREE YEARS OLD. As Noah in the covenant entered into between him and the Lord, stood forth as the representative of the human race; as Abraham, in the "covenant of Christ," which is recorded in Genesis 12:1-5, stood forth as the representative of all who are saved through Christ;... [ Continue Reading ]
HE TOOK UNTO HIM ALL THESE, AND DIVIDED THEM IN THE MIDST. This was the well-known method of preparing the animal for the ratification of. covenant. The Hebrew phrase, to make. covenant, means, etymologically, to "cut. covenant." The sacrificed victims were cut into two pieces, when ancient nations... [ Continue Reading ]
AND WHEN THE FOWLS CAME DOWN UPON THE CARCASSES, ABRAM DROVE THEM AWAY. He prepared his sacrifices, and divided them, and stood by watching for the manifestation of the Lord, fully expecting it, as he was acting under the Lord's direction. The birds of prey, vultures and other rapacious birds, whic... [ Continue Reading ]
AND WHEN THE SUN WAS GOING DOWN. The sunset of the day following the vision (compare verse. with 12);. day that had been spent in preparation for the ratification of the covenant, had come without the manifestation of God as. ratifying party. Then as the twilight came, the solemn, sweet and impress... [ Continue Reading ]
III. THE CURTAIN OF THE FUTURE LIFTED. 13. KNOW OF. SURETY THAT THY SEED, ETC. From this verse to the 17th we have the divine prophecy and promise, and outline of the history of Abraham's descendants for several centuries. While God has just assured him that the land shall be his, and is about to... [ Continue Reading ]
THAT NATION... WILL. JUDGE. This prediction was literally fulfilled. God condemned Egypt for its affliction of his people, and sent judgment after judgment upon them, culminating in the death of the first born and the destruction of Pharaoh and his host.... [ Continue Reading ]
AND THOU SHALT GO TO THY FATHERS IN PEACE. The preceding verse spoke of Abraham's seed; this verse of Abraham himself. He shall end. prosperous and peaceful life by dying in peace. Since his fathers slept in Mesopotamia and he was buried at Hebron in Canaan, the phrase, "Go to thy fathers," must re... [ Continue Reading ]
IN THE FOURTH GENERATION THEY SHALL COME HITHER. Some hold that this means the same as four hundred years, but it is more likely to mean the four generation after the children of Israel went down into Egypt. Caleb was the fourth from Judah; Moses the fourth from Levi. FOR THE INIQUITY OF THE AMORI... [ Continue Reading ]
BEHOLD. SMOKING FURNACE. After the sun had disappeared and the darkness fully come there came the expected manifestation. His voice had been heard, but the symbol of his presence had not been seen. The smoking furnace and the flame of fire symbolized the divine presence. God appeared to Moses as. f... [ Continue Reading ]
IN THE SAME DAY GOD MADE. COVENANT WITH ABRAM. The covenant was God's guarantee that the land should belong to Abraham's seed. It should extend from the "river of Egypt," or the eastern mouth of the Nile, to the "river Euphrates." These dimensions the kingdom of Israel reached under the reigns of D... [ Continue Reading ]