Genesis 15:5

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 3:6-18; James 2:20-24. LESSON ANALYSIS. --1. A Patriarch's Faith; 2. The Covenant Ratified; 3. The Curtain of the Future Lifted.

INTRODUCTION.

Not long after the separation of Abraham and Lot and the settlement of the latter in Sodom, there came. great invasion of the valley of the Jordan led by Chedorlaomer, King of Elam, aided by various subject kings from the Mesopotamian valley. These overcame in battle the kings of the cities around the Dead Sea, ravaged the valley and carried off prisoners and property. Among the unfortunate captives was Lot who was taken with all his property.. fugitive carried the intelligence to Abraham, and gathering at once 318 trained servants, skilled in the use of arms, and calling to his aid some Amorite chieftains, he pursued the invaders and fell upon them like. thunderbolt, in the darkness of the night, near the headwaters of the Jordan. The surprise was complete, the invaders were scattered, Lot and all the spoil were recaptured, and on the return Abraham offered tithes to Melchizedek, King of Salem, priest of the most high God,. type of Christ, and one of the most mysterious characters in the Bible. It is soon after the return that God appears to Abraham in. vision and bids him "Fear not." In order to understand the force of these words we must bear in mind that Abraham was. sojourner in. strange land, that he had just incurred the enmity of the greatest king of the time by attacking him for the rescue of Lot, that he might naturally expect that this king would seek to be avenged and would return with stronger forces. Such thoughts and fears would occur to the patriarch and it needed the divine word, "Fear not,. am thy shield and exceeding great reward," to quiet all apprehension. God again assures him of offspring and that his descendants shall be. numerous people.

I.. PATRIARCH'S FAITH.

5. Brought him forth abroad.

It was in. "vision" that the word of the Lord came to Abraham, and evidently of the night. Some have thought that all related in this section occurred in. vision, but the language does not carry out this idea. There was the vision of the night and the word of the Lord. Next day there were victims slain and watched until night for the ratification of the covenant by sacrifice. Then after the sun went down "a horror of great darkness," and the word of the Lord in revelation of the future. The events seem to have extended over. part of two nights and one day.

Look now toward heaven, and tell the stars.

The stars were first studied by shepherds. Abraham had, no doubt, passed many. night in contemplation while caring for his flocks. As they glittered in the clear sky, to the eye they seemed. countless host. As he gazed upon them the Lord said, "So shall thy seed be." It must be kept in mind that he was over eighty years old, already an old man with the diminished span of human life after the flood. He had waited, longed and prayed for an heir, with all the yearning characteristic of the East. It seemed as though his prayers were not answered and when he is assured that his descendants shall be as the stars of heaven it requires. strong exercise of faith to accept the divine assurance. Certainly, after this, whenever he looked upon the mighty sky thickly set with stars, it must have had an interest that had not existed before as it reminded him of the divine promise.