Genesis 13:15

For all the land which thou seest, to thee will I give it,.... Not only so much of it as his eye could reach, but all of it, as far as it went, which way soever he looked; and this he gave him to

For all the land which thou seest, to thee will I give it, and to thy seed for ever. No JFB commentary on these verses.

Object. Abram could see but a little part of the land. Answ. 1. He might now possibly be upon a mountain, from whence he might have a large prospect every way. 2. He gave him all that he saw, but not only that, but also the rest of the land, and therefore he bids him walk through and view the whole land, . Quest. How was the land given to Abram, when it is expressly said: He, i.e. God, gave him none inheritance in it, no, not so much as to set his foot on, . 1. God gave Abram the right to it, though not the actual possession of it, until the time that God appointed; as God gave the right of the kingdom to David, but not the possession till Saul’ s death. 2. God explains himself, To thee and to thy seed, i.e. to thee, that is, to thy seed, and that for thy sake; the particle and being put oft for that is, as , compared with , and in many other plaecs, as we shall see. Quest. How was this for ever, when after some hundreds of years they were turned out of it? Answer. 1. This promise was made to them upon condition of their obedience, which is oft expressed in other places, as ,26 Isaiah 48:18,19. 2. The word olam, rendered for ever, doth not always signify eternity, but a long continuance, as is evident from 48:4 , and many other places of Scripture; and in particular, when it is applied to the Jewish rites and privileges, it commonly signifies no more than during the standing of that commonwealth, or until the coming of the Messias; and so it may here be understood.

Genesis 13:15 For all the land which thou seest, to thee will I give it, and to thy seed for ever.Ver. 15. For all the land which thou seest is thine.] "God gave him no inheritance in it, no, not so much as a foot breadth"; yet he promised that he would give it to him: and that Abram took for good freehold. Men use to reckon their wealth, not by what ready money they have only, but by the good bonds and leases they can produce. A great part of a Christian’ s estate lies in bonds and bills of God’ s hand.

Verse 15. To thee will I give it, and to thy seed for ever.] This land was given to Abram, that it might lineally and legally descend to his posterity; and though Abram himself cannot be said to have possessed it, Acts 7:5, yet it was the gift of God to him in behalf of his seed; and this was always the design of God, not that Abram himself should possess it, but that his posterity should, till the manifestation of Christ in the flesh. And this is chiefly what is to be understood by the words for ever, אד עולם ad olam, to the end of the present dispensation, and the commencement of the new. עולם olam means either ETERNITY, which implies the termination of all time or duration, such as is measured by the celestial luminaries: or a hidden, unknown period, such as includes a completion or final termination of a particular era, dispensation, c. therefore the first is its proper meaning, the latter its accommodated meaning. See Clarke on Genesis 17:7. See Clarke on Genesis 21:33.

15. to thee will I give it, and to thy seed for ever] The gift to Abram is one of promise and prediction. The gift to his “seed” was to be fulfilled in history. If the words “for ever” are to have their fullest meaning, the land is a pledge symbolic of God’s mercy and goodness towards the people. Their expansion and discipline will be in Palestine. The land and the people will be identified.