_A.M. 2093. B.C. 1911._ In this chapter we have a solemn treaty between God and Abram. (1,) _ A general assurance of God's kindness and goodwill to Abram, Genesis 15:1._ (2,) _ A particular declaration of the purposes of his love concerning him, in two things: 1, That he would give him a numerous... [ Continue Reading ]
_After these things_ 1st, After that act of generous charity which Abram had done, in rescuing his neighbours, God made him this gracious visit. 2d, After that victory which he had obtained over four kings: lest Abram should be too much elevated with that, God comes to tell him he had better things... [ Continue Reading ]
_Behold, to me thou hast given no seed_ Not only no son, but _no seed._ If he had had a daughter, from her the promised Messias might have come, who was to be the seed of the woman; but he had neither son nor daughter.... [ Continue Reading ]
_And he brought him forth_ It seems, early in the morning; _and said, Look now toward heaven, and tell the stars: so shall thy seed be_ 1st, So _innumerable_, for so the stars seem to a common eye. Abram feared he should have no child at all, but God tells him his descendants should be so many as no... [ Continue Reading ]
_And he believed in the Lord_ That is, believed the truth of that promise which God had now made him, resting upon the power and faithfulness of him that made it: see how the apostle magnifies this faith of Abram, and makes it a standing example; Romans 4:19, “He was not weak in faith; he staggered... [ Continue Reading ]
_I am the Lord that brought thee out of Ur of the Chaldees_ Thence God brought him by an effectual call; brought him by a gracious violence; snatched him as a brand out of the burning. Observe how God speaks of it as that which he gloried in. _I am the Lord that brought thee out _ He glories in it a... [ Continue Reading ]
_Whereby shall I know that I shall inherit it_? This inquiry did not proceed from distrust of God's power or promise, but he desired a token for the strengthening of his own faith, and for the ratifying of the promise to his posterity, that they also might believe it.... [ Continue Reading ]
_Take me a heifer_ Perhaps Abram expected some sign from heaven, but God gives him a sign upon a sacrifice. Those that would receive the assurances of God's favour, must attend instituted ordinances, and expect to meet with God in them.... [ Continue Reading ]
_And when the sun was going down_ About the time of the _evening oblation;_ for, he _abode by them_, praying and waiting till toward evening; _a deep sleep fell upon Abram_ Not a common sloop through weariness or carelessness, but a divine ecstasy, that, being wholly _taken off_ from things sensible... [ Continue Reading ]
_Thy seed shall be strangers_ So they were in Canaan first, Psalms 105:12, and afterward in Egypt: before they were lords of their own land, they were strangers in a strange land. The inconveniences of an unsettled state make a happy settlement the more welcome. Thus the heirs of heaven are first _s... [ Continue Reading ]
_That nation whom they shall serve_, even the Egyptians, _will I judge_ This points at the plagues of Egypt, by which God not only _constrained_ the Egyptians to release Israel, but _punished_ them for all the hardships they had put upon them. The punishing of persecutors is the _judging_ of them; i... [ Continue Reading ]
_Thou shalt go to thy fathers_ At death we _go to our fathers_, to _all_ our fathers that are gone before us to the state of the dead, to our _godly_ fathers that are gone before us to the state of the blessed. The former helps to take off the terror of death, the latter puts comfort into it. _Thou... [ Continue Reading ]
_They shall come hither again_ Hither to the land of Canaan, wherein thou now art. The reason why they must not have the land of promise in possession till the _fourth generation_, is, because “the iniquity of the Amorites was not yet full.” The righteous God has determined that they shall not be cu... [ Continue Reading ]
_Behold a smoking furnace_ This signified the affliction of his seed in Egypt: they were there in the _furnace of affliction_, and labouring in the very fire. They were there in the _smoke_, their eyes darkened that they could not see to the end of their troubles. _And a burning lamp_ This speaks co... [ Continue Reading ]
_Unto thy seed have I given this land, from the river of Egypt_, &c. In David's time and Solomon's, their jurisdiction extended to the utmost of those limits, 2 Chronicles 9:26. And it was their own fault that they were not sooner and longer in possession of all these territories. They forfeited the... [ Continue Reading ]