After these things athe word of the LORD came to Abram in a vision, saying,“bDo not be afraid, Abram,I am your cshield;Your dreward for obedience shall be very great.”Gen 15:4; 46:2; 1 Sam 15:10Gen 21:17; 26:24; Is 41:10Deut 33:29Num 18:20; Ps 58:11 2 Abram said, “Lord 1GOD, what reward will You give me, since I am leaving this world childless, and he who will be the owner and heir of my house is this servant Eliezer from Damascus?”Heb YHWH, usually rendered LORD. 3 And Abram continued, “Since You have given no child to me, one aborn in my house is my heir.”Gen 14:14 4 Then behold, the word of the LORD came to him, saying, “This man Eliezer will not be your heir abut he who shall come from your own body shall be your heir.”Gal 4:28 5 And the LORD brought Abram outside his tent into the night and said, “Look now toward the heavens and acount the stars—if you are able to count them.” Then He said to him, “bSo numerous shall your descendants be.” Heb 11:12Gen 22:17; 26:4; Deut 1:10Ex 32:13; Rom 4:18; Heb 11:12 6 aThen Abram believed in the LORD; and He counted it to him 1as righteousness . Rom 4:3, 18-22; Gal 3:6; James 2:23This was crucial to God’s plan of salvation, as can be seen in Rom 4. There was simply no way that anyone except Christ could ever be sufficiently righteous to meet God’s standards and avoid condemnation. Having faith in God and placing one’s trust in Him was not in itself something that could be a substitute for perfect righteousness, but God graciously determined to accept faith as an equivalent for that righteousness nonetheless. So in a sense, Abraham—and all believers since him, who are his spiritual descendants—received righteousness on credit, and the bill for that righteousness was paid by the death of Christ on the cross.Rom 4:3, 20-22; Gal 3:6; James 2:23 7 And He said to him, “I am the same LORD who brought you out of aUr of the Chaldeans, to bgive you this land as an inheritance.”Gen 11:31Gen 13:15, 17 8 But Abram said, “Lord 1GOD, aby what proof will I know that I will inherit it?”Heb YHWH, usually rendered LORD.Judg 6:36-40; Luke 1:18 9 So God said to him, “Bring Me a three-year-old heifer, a three-year-old female goat, a three-year-old ram, a turtledove, and a young pigeon.” 10 So Abram brought all these to Him and 1acut them down the middle, and laid each half opposite the other; but he bdid not cut the birds.This was preparation for an ancient ceremony that formally bound two parties to an agreement or covenant (v 18). Reference is made to the ceremony in Jer 34:18, but details are not given elsewhere in Scripture.Gen 15:17Lev 1:17 11 The birds of prey swooped down on the carcasses, but Abram drove them away.
12 When the sun was setting, aa deep sleep overcame Abram; and a horror of great darkness overcame him.Gen 2:21; 28:11; Job 33:15 13 God said to Abram, “Know for sure that ayour descendants will be strangers living temporarily in a land that is not theirs, where bthey will be enslaved and oppressed for cfour hundred years. Ex 12:40Acts 7:6, 17Ex 1:11; Deut 5:15Ex 12:40; Gal 3:17 14 But on that nation whom your descendants will serve I will bring judgment, and afterward they will come out of that land awith great possessions. Ex 12:35, 36; Acts 7:6, 7Ex 12:32-38 15 As for you, ayou shall die and go to your fathers in peace; you shall be buried at a good old age.Gen 25:8; 47:30 16 Then in athe 1fourth generation your descendants shall return here to Canaan, the land of promise, for bthe wickedness and guilt of the 2Amorites is not yet complete .” Josh 24:15This prophecy was fulfilled when Moses led the Israelites back to Canaan after their four hundred years in Egypt. He was “in the fourth generation” from Jacob—Levi, Kohath, Amram, Moses.The most important and powerful group of that region. The name “Amorite” later became virtually synonymous with that of the inhabitants of Canaan. They were known for their many superstitious practices (according to the Talmud).Gen 15:13Lev 18:24-28
17 When the sun had gone down and a deep darkness had come, there appeared a smoking 1brazier and a flaming torch which apassed between the divided pieces of the animals. Jer 34:18, 19I.e. a large bowl or pan holding burning coals.Jer 34:18, 19 18 On the same day the LORD made a covenant with Abram, saying,“aTo your descendants I have given this land,From bthe river of Egypt to the great river Euphrates—Gen 17:8; Josh 21:43; Acts 7:5Ex 23:31; Num 34:1-15; Deut 1:7, 8 19 the land of athe Kenites and the Kenizzites and the KadmonitesEx 3:17; 23:28; Josh 24:11; Neh 9:8 20 and the Hittites and the Perizzites and the Rephaim, 21 the Amorites and the Canaanites and the Girgashites and the Jebusites.”