Children are promised to Abram
1 Now when these things were done, the word of the Lord came to Abram by a vision, saying: Fear not, Abram, I am your protector, and your reward exceeding great. 2 And Abram said: Lord God, what will you give me? I shall go without children: and the son of the steward of my house is this Damascus Eliezer. 3 And Abram added: But to me you have not given seed: and lo my servant, born in my house, shall be my heir. 4 And immediately the word of the Lord came to him, saying: He shall not be your heir: but he that shall come out of your bowels, him shall you have for your heir. 5 And he thought him forth abroad, and said to him: Look up to heaven and number the stars, if you can. And he said to him: So shall your seed be. 6 Abram believed God, and it was reputed to him unto justice. 7 And he said to him: I am the Lord who brought you out from Ur of the Chaldees, to give you this land, and that you might possess it. 8 But he said: Lord God, whereby may I know that I shall possess it?
Abram's descendants to receive great rewards
9 And the Lord answered, and said: Take me a cow of three years old, and a she goat of three years, and a ram of three years, a turtle also, and a pigeon. 10 And he took all these, and divided them in the midst, and laid the two pieces of each one against the other; but the birds he divided not. 11 And the fowls came down upon carcasses, and Abram drove them away. 12 And when the sun was setting, a deep sleep fell upon Abram, and a great and darksome horror seized upon him. 13 And it was said to him: Know beforehand that your seed shall be a stranger in a land not their own, and they shall bring them under bondage, and afflict them four hundred years. 14 But I will judge the nation which they shall serve, and after this they shall come out with great substance. 15 And you shall go to your fathers in peace, and be buried in a good old age. 16 But in the fourth generation they shall return here: for as yet the iniquities of the Amorrhites are not at the full until this present time.
The sign of the covenant
17 And when the sun was set, there arose a dark mist, and there appeared a smoking furnace and a lamp of fire passing between those divisions. 18 That day God made a covenant with Abram, saying: To your seed will I give this land, from the river of Egypt even to the great river Euphrates. 19 The Cineans and Cenezites, the Cedmonites, 20 And the Hethites, and the Pherezites, the Raphaim also, 21 And the Amorrhites, and the Chanaanits, and the Gergesites, and the Jebusites.
Commentary on Genesis 15
15:2-3 Now what he is saying is this: I am dying without children, and the son of my steward and bailiff who distributes everything and apportions rations for my household, and who is called Damascus Eliezer, shall be my heir. Furthermore, Eliezer can be explained as meaning 'God is my helper'. From this episode they say that Damascus was founded and so named. (St. Jerome Heb Ques 15:2-3)
15:5 So shall your seed be: This referred to his carnal descendants, but it was particularly verified in the spiritual children of Abraham; and this principally referred to in the promise then given. (John McEvilly Com Rom 4:18)
15:6 Abraham believed God: Although the apostle Paul preached that we are justified by faith without works (Rom 4; Gal 3:6), those who understand by this that it does not matter whether they live evil lives or do wicked and terrible things, as long as they believe in Christ, because salvation is through faith, have made a great mistake. James (2:23) expounds how Paul’s words ought to be understood. This is why he uses the example of Abraham, whom Paul also used as an example of faith, to show that the patriarch also performed good works in the light of his faith. It is therefore wrong to interpret Paul in such a way as to suggest that it did not matter whether Abraham put his faith into practice or not. What Paul meant was that no one obtains the gift of justification on the basis of merit derived from works performed beforehand, because the gift of justification comes only from faith. (St. Bede Com Jm 2:23)
Faith without works is dead, and works without faith are dead also. For if we have sound doctrine but fail in living, the doctrine is of no use to us. Likewise if we take pains with life but
are careless about doctrine, that will not be any good to us either. It is therefore necessary to shore up the spiritual edifice in both directions. (St. John Chrysostom Ser Gen)
15:10 Abraham knew that God was to give him a sign or token. Since this must have been a common way of drawing up a |
solemn contract, Abraham knew how to prepare the animals properly. (Bishop Challoner)
15:12-13 This is most clearly a prophecy about the people of Israel which was to be in servitude in Egypt. Not that this people was to be in that servitude under the oppressive Egyptians for 400 years, but it is foretold that this should take place in the course of those 400 years. The years are said to be 400 in round numbers, although they were a little more—whether you reckon from this time, when these things were promised to Abraham, or from the birth of Isaac, as the seed of Abraham, of which these things are predicted. (St. Augustine Ct God 16.24)
15:17 The vision showed acceptance of the God of the universe that would occur at the end of the prophesied time, for He appeared in fire to Moses the lawgiver (Ex 3:2-6) and later to all the people (Ex 19:16-18). (Theodoret of Cyrus Ques Gen. 67) Or, this signifies that at the end of the world the carnal shall be judged by fire. For just as the affliction of the city of God, such as never was before, which is expected to take place under Antichrist, was signified by Abraham's horror of great darkness about the going down of the sun, that is, when the end of the world draws near—so at the going down of the sun, that is, at the very end of the world, there is signified by that fire the day of judgment, which separates the carnal who are to be saved by fire from those who are to be condemned in the fire. (St. Augustine Cit God 16.24)
15:18-21 And then the covenant made with Abraham particularly sets forth the land of Canaan, and names eleven tribes in it from the river of Egypt even to the great river Euphrates. It is not then from the great river of Egypt, that is, the Nile, but from a small one which separates Egypt from Palestine, where the city of Rhinocorura is. (St. Augustine Cit God 16.24) |
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