1God encourageth Abram, who complaineth for want of an heir. 4God promiseth him a son, and a numerous seed. 6He is justified by his faith. 7The promise of Canaan is renewed, and confirmed to him by a sign and a vision.
1AFTER these things the word of the LORD came unto Abram 1in a vision, saying, Fear not, Abram: 2Iaam thy shield, and thy exceeding great reward.
1 A certain kind of Divine revelation whereby a man, who is not asleep, has either outwardly something represented unto him by God, or his spirit taken up, thereby to see or understand inwardly that which the Lord is pleased to make known to him. Num. 12:6, 7, 8; 24:4; Isa. 1:1; Acts 10:10, 11. It seems that God, in this vision, appeared likewise outwardly to Abram. See verse 5, etc.
2 These words comprehend the fullness of all happiness which God does promise and give unto His children in the Messiah, consisting in the protection against all evil, and the grant of all good, to begin here, and to be completed hereafter.
a Psalm 16:6; 18:2; 19:11.
2And Abram said, Lord GOD, 3what wilt thou give me, 4seeing I go childless, and the 5steward of my house is this 6Eliezer of 7Damascus?
3 That is, what gift shall I take pleasure or comfort in as long as I do not see the fulfillment of Thy promise, touching my seed from which the Messiah is to proceed?
4 Other, yet I go without children.
5 Hebr. the son of the errand, or managing, or stewardship of my house, that is, the steward of my house. So a son of worthiness is put in 1 Kings 1:52, for a devout man. And sons of the captivity, Ezra 4:1, for those who were in captivity, sons of oppression, Prov. 31:5, for oppressed ones; and Jer. 48:45, sons of uproar, for men making uproar.
6 The name of Abram’s steward.
7 Hebr. Dammeseck, that is, of Damascus, Damasco-man. This is an imperfect speech which Abram completes in the next verse.
3And Abram said, Behold, to me thou hast given no 8seed: and, lo, 9one born in my house 10is mine heir.
8 That is, son. See Gen. 4 on verse 25.
9 That is, my servant, who was born in my house, compare Gen. 14:14. By this expression the home-born servants are distinct from the sons of one’s body, or proper children, as Job 19:17; Prov. 31:2; Jer. 2:14.
10 Hebr. shall inherit me, as also verse 4.
4And, behold, the word of the LORD came unto him, saying, 11This shall not be thine heir; but he that shall come forth 12out of thine own bowels shall be thine heir.
11 That is, Eliezer of Damascus.
12 Hebr. out of thy bowels. See 2 Sam. 7:12; compare Gen. 35:11; 2 Chron. 6:9.
5And 13he brought 14him forth 15abroad, and said, Look now toward heaven, and tellb the stars, if thou be able to number them: and he said unto him, 16Soc shall thy seed be.
13 God namely.
14 Namely, Abram.
15 Outside the tent.
b count*
16 Compare Gen. 13:16; 1 Kings 4:20.
c Exod. 32:13; Deut. 10:22; Rom. 4:18; Heb. 11:12.
6Andd17he believed in the LORD; and 18he counted it to him 19for righteousness.
d Rom. 4:3, 9, 18, 22; Gal. 3:6; James 2:23.
17 Not as if Abram had but then had begun to believe, but that he grew stronger in his faith, overcoming the doubts of his flesh, and more and more embracing and relying on the great promises which God had made him, verse 1, 4, 5 concerning his seed, and principally the Messiah, to his own soul’s comfort and salvation.
18 That is, God, of His mere grace, held him righteous and justified, who had no righteousness in himself, whereby to be able to stand before His judgment seat, and that through faith in His promises, and in the promised Mediator, Rom. 4:2, 3, etc.
19 See Psalm 106:31; Rom. 4:3; Gal. 3:6; James 2:23.
7And he said unto him, I am the LORD that brought thee 20out of Ur of the Chaldees, toe give thee this land to inherit it.
20 See Gen. 11:31.
e Psalm 105:11.
8And he said, Lord GOD, whereby shall I know 21that I shall inherit it?
21 Abram, though he believed, yet he desires further information and confirmation from God, as other believers likewise have done in their times. Judges 6:37; 2 Kings 20:8.
9And he said unto him, 22Take me an heifer of three years old, and a she goat of three years old, and a ram of three years old, and a turtledove, and a young pigeon.
22 It is remarkable, that here such beasts or creatures only are made use of, as were mostly used for sacrifices.
10And he took unto 23him all these, and 24divided them in the midst, and laid 25each piece one against another: but the birds divided he not.
23 Namely, unto God, Who, previous in verse 9, had said, take Me, that is, take to bring unto Me.
24 Abram namely, being doubtless instructed by God.
25 Hebr. the man of his part over against his neighbor, or, friend; that is to say, he laid the pieces that belonged together, right over against one another, as the right side of the heifer over against the left, etc.
11And when the fowls came down upon the carcases, Abram 26drove them away.
26 By blowing, as the property of the Hebrew word implies.
12And when the sun was going down, a deep sleep fell upon Abram; and, lo, an horror of great 27darkness fell upon him.
27Darkness does often in Scripture signify affliction, adversity, tribulation, Psalm 35:14; 38:6, etc.
13And he said unto Abram, 28Know of a surety thatf thy seed shall be a stranger in a land 29that is not theirs, and shall serve 30them; and they shall afflict them 31four hundred years;
28 Hebr. knowing thou shalt know.
f Exod. 12:40; Acts 7:6; Gal. 3:17.
29 Understand the land of Canaan, but principally Egypt.
30 The inhabitants or owners thereof.
31 The number of these four hundred years (after the plainest sense) is here set down in gross, not in the exactness; the round number being made use of, and the odd number left out, as this is often done in such accounts. See Judges 11:26; 20:46; 2 Sam. 5:4, 5; 1 Kings 15:25. The full number is four hundred and thirty years, Exod. 12:41; Gal. 3:17, beginning from the time of the covenant made here by God with Abram, in confirmation of His former promises, as does appear by the words of Paul, Gal. 3:17. The end of the foresaid years is the going forth of the children of Israel out of Egypt, or the giving of the law. Others begin these years from Abram’s going forth out of Ur in Chaldees, or out of Haran, or from the birth of Isaac, or from that time when Ishmael mocked Isaac, which mocking is termed a persecution by Paul, Gal. 4:29.
14And also that nation, whom they shall serve, will I 32judge: and afterward shall they come out withg great substance.
32To judge, implies many times as much as to judge and show or determine a man’s cause, either to his damage by punishing him, as here and Psalm 51:4, or to his advantage, by protecting him, as Gen. 30:6; Psalm 7:8; Jer. 5:28; 22:16.
g Exod. 3:22; 11:2; 12:35, 36.
15Andh33thou shalt go to thy fathers in peace; thou shalt be buried in a 34good old age.
h Gen. 25:7, 8.
33 That is, thou shalt die a physical death, whilst thy soul shall be gathered to the state of another life. Compare Gen. 25:8, 17.
34 Hebr. in good grayness. A good age properly consists not only in length of life, and temporal happiness, but in a life passed and transacted in piety before God, justice towards men, sobriety and contentedness in and by oneself. So Gen. 25:8; Judges 8:32; 1 Chron. 29:28.
16Buti in 35the fourth generation they shall come hither again: for the iniquity 36of the Amorites 37is not yet full.
i Exod. 12:40.
35 Other, in the fourth generation they shall return, that is, after the end of four hundred years, the age of a man being at that time ordinarily reckoned about a hundred years.
36 And those other wicked nations, mentioned below in verses 19, 20, 21. Also Gen. 48:22; 1 Kings 21:26; 2 Kings 21:11.
37 While God has given this land to the Amorites, and had determined not to drive them out thence until they would have deserved it in the highest degree, He has resolved to let them spend and make up that time accordingly, and in the interim to prove and exercise His own people. Jer. 51:13; Mat. 23:32.
17And it came to pass, that, when the sun went down, and it was dark, behold a 38smoking furnace, and a 39burning lamp that 40passed between those pieces.
38 Hebr. furnace of smoke. The oppression of the people of Israel in Egypt is compared to an iron furnace, Deut. 4:20; 1 Kings 8:51; Jer. 11:14.
39 Hebr. torch of fire, signifying the presence of God, and the future deliverance from the oppression. See Judges 6:21; Isa. 62:1; Zech. 12:6.
40 God makes up His covenant here with Abram in a most peculiar and solemn, though very friendly manner, like as the custom was to do at that time between one man, friend and confederate with the other; namely, by slaying of beasts, and dividing of the parts or pieces, the confederates passing through the middle of them, unto a sign, that the covenant breaker deserved thus to be cut in pieces. See Jer. 34:18, 19.
18In the same day the LORD 41made a covenant with Abram, saying, Unto thyj seed have I 42given this land, 43from the river of Egypt unto the great river, the river 44Euphrates:
41 Hebr. cut or stroke. A borrowed phrase from the slaying of the beasts and dividing of the pieces, mentioned in verse 17.
j Gen. 12:7; 13:15; 24:7; 26:4; Exod. 32:13; Deut. 1:8; 34:4.
42 Namely, by My determined purpose and declared promise, Gen. 13:15, however the performance and execution thereof must be deferred yet until the time aforesaid, verse 13.
43 Hereby is understood the river of Sichor, which divides Egypt from Canaan; Num. 34:5; Joshua 13:3; 1 Chron. 13:5. Others do understand here the river Nile.
44 See Gen. 2:14, and the fulfillment thereof 2 Sam. 8:3; 1 Kings 4:21; 9:21; 1 Chron. 18:3; 2 Chron. 9:26.
1945The Kenites, and the Kenizzites, and the Kadmonites,
45 The register of the nations which did possess the land of Canaan before the Israelites. Compare the same with Gen. 10:15, 16, etc. and the annotations there.
20And the Hittites, and the Perizzites, and the 46Rephaims,
46 See of these, Gen. 14:5.
21And the Amorites, and the Canaanites, and the Girgashites, and the Jebusites.