Genesis 15:2

And Abram said, Lord God, what wilt thou give me, seeing I go childless,.... As if he should say, what signifies what thou givest me of temporal blessings, if thou withholdest from me the blessing of

And Abram said, Lord GOD, what wilt thou give me, seeing I go childless, and the steward of my house is this Eliezer of Damascus?

What pleasure can I take in any other gifts, so long as thou dost withhold from me that great and promised gift of that blessed and blessing Seed, in the giving of whom thy honour and the world’ s happiness is so highly concerned? . Seeing I go childless; either, 1. I pass the time of my life, going on and growing in years, and hastening to my long home. Or, 2. I die, i.e. am about to die, or likely to die. Going is ofttimes put for dying, as , compared with 14:20 . What good will the world do me, if I have no heir to possess it? If God lose the glory of his truth in making good his promise, and I lose the comfort of my long hoped-for child, and that such a child the effect of a Divine promise, one out of whose loins he must come, in whom all nations shall be blessed? The steward of my house; Heb. The son of the care, or government, or management of my house, i.e. he who manageth the affairs of my house. A usual Hebraism, as captives are called children of captivity, , and afflicted persons, children of affliction, . Others read the verse thus, And the steward of my house, this Eliezer of Damascus, understand, shall be my heir; which words may easily be supplied out of . And such supplements of a word or short sentence out of a member or verse either foregoing or following, are frequent in Scripture, as . Damascus may be the name either of a man, or of a place so called.

Genesis 15:2 And Abram said, Lord GOD, what wilt thou give me, seeing I go childless, and the steward of my house [is] this Eliezer of Damascus?Ver. 2. Lord God, what wilt thou give me, &c.] Dominator Iehovah. Adonai cum Camets sonat Dominator . A stately style. We must magnify God when we have got him into our hearts, and enlarge his room there when we conceive of him, as much as may be: do our utmost, and then say, Claudicat ingenium, delirat linguaque, mensque . Seeing I go childless.] He had no great joy of his former victory, or the present promise, because childless. His mouth was so out of taste with the sense of his want that he could relish no comfort. This was his fault, and is often ours: like children, if we have not that piece we would have, we grow sullen, and will have none. Had not God been to Abram instead of ten children? Is he not all in all to his? And the steward of my house.] Filius discursitationis, vel derelictionis domus meae . He that now runs about my business, and to whom I am likely to leave all. A faithful steward he was, and fearing God, and therefore might look not to live long in a low place. This Eliezer of Damascus.] Or Eliazar, as Exodus 6:25. Whence Lazarus, said in the parable to be in Abraham’ s bosom, as dear to him, and set next him in heaven. Lucret.

(2) Lord God.—Not Jehovah Elohim, but Lord Jehovah, “Lord” being the ordinary title of respect. Usually Jehovah takes the vowels of ‘donai, “lord,” but as the two words occur here together, it takes the vowels of Elohim, whence the translation in our version, in obedience to a superstition of the Jews (Genesis 4:1). What wilt thou give me?—There is a slight tone of complaint in these words. Jehovah promised Abram a “reward great exceedingly.” He answers that no reward can really be great so long as he has no heir. I go childless.—Either, I am going to my grave childless (Psalms 39:13), or better, I continue to be, pass my days, in childlessness.The steward of my house.—Heb., the benmeshek of my house. Ben-meshek is generally explained as meaning “the son of possession,” that is, the possessor, owner of my. house when I die. Other authorities derive meshek from a verb signifying “to run about,” as if it was Eliezer’s business to go to and fro in execution of Abram’s orders. The term is rare, and has evidently been chosen for the play of words upon Dammesek= Damascus. Perhaps this may also explain the last words, which literally are, he is Damascus Eliezer. Grammatically it should have been, “he is the Damascene Eliezer,” but this would have spoiled the assonance between ben-meshek (probably pronounced bemmeshek) and Dammesek.

Verse 2. What wilt thou give me, seeing I go childless] The anxiety of the Asiatics to have offspring is intense and universal. Among the Hindoos the want of children renders all other blessings of no esteem. See Ward. And the steward of my house] Abram, understanding the promise as relating to that person who was to spring from his family, in whom all the nations of the earth should be blessed, expresses his surprise that there should be such a promise, and yet he is about to die childless! How then can the promise be fulfilled, when, far from a spiritual seed, he has not even a person in his family that has a natural right to his property, and that a stranger is likely to be his heir? This seems to be the general sense of the passage; but who this steward of his house, this Eliezer of Damascus, was, commentators are not agreed. The translation of the Septuagint is at least curious: ὉδευἱοςΜασεκτηςοικολενουςμου, οὑτοςΔαμασκοςΕλιεζερ. The son of Masek my homeborn maid, this Eliezer of Damascus, is my heir; which intimates that they supposed משק meshek, which we translate steward, to have been the name of a female slave, born in the family of Abram, of whom was born this Eliezer, who on account of the country either of his father or mother, was called a Damascene or one of Damascus. It is extremely probable that our Lord has this passage in view in his parable of the rich man and Lazarus, Lu 16:19. From the name Eliezer, by leaving out the first letter, Liezer is formed, which makes Lazarus in the New Testament, the person who, from an abject and distressed state, was raised to lie in the bosom of Abraham in paradise.

2. Lord God] God = Heb. Jehovah, as in other places where it is put in capitals. “Adonai Jehovah”: this combination of sacred names occurs only here, Genesis 15:8, and Deuteronomy 3:24; Deuteronomy 9:26, in the Pentateuch. It is, however, not uncommon in the prophetical writings; and is especially frequent in Ezekiel. The Hebrew student will notice that the sacred name JHVH receives here the vowel points “e” “o” “i” of Elohim, because the word “Adonai,” whose pronunciation it generally receives, immediately precedes it. Where the full word “Adonai” precedes JHVH, the Jewish scribes, in order to prevent profane repetition of the word “Adonai,” punctuate and pronounce JHVH as if it were “Elohim”; hence they would read here Adonai Elohim, not Adonai Adonai. seeing I go childless] R.V. marg. go hence. LXX ἀπολύομαι, Lat. ego vadam. “I go” is generally understood to mean here, “I depart this life.” Cf. “Lord, now lettest thou thy servant depart,” Luke 2:29 (νῦνἀπολύειςτὸνδοῦλόνσου, δέσποτα). But it might mean, “I take my ordinary path in life, childless.” The misfortune of having no children was acutely felt by the Israelite: see Numbers 27:4, “Why should the name of our father be taken away from among his family, because he had no son?” possessor of my house] i.e. my heir. The conclusion of this verse, in the original, gives no sense. The R.V. probably furnishes the general meaning. The confusion is apparent in LXX, ὁδὲυἱὸςΜάσεκτῆςοἰκογενοῦςμου, οὗτοςΔαμασκὸςἘλιέζερ = “And the son of Masek, my slave born in the house, this is Damascus Eliezer.” Dammesek Eliezer] R.V. marg., Targum of Onkelos, and Syriac, have Eliezer the Damascene. The text is corrupt. Literally the sentence runs: “and the son of the possession of my house is Damascus Eliezer.” Dammesek is the usual Hebrew word for “Damascus.” Attempts to restore the text have not been successful. Ball conjectures, “And he who will possess my house is a Damascene, Eliezer.” Eliezer is probably the same as the faithful servant of Abram mentioned in Genesis 24:2, where the name is not given. The possible reference to Damascus in this verse gave rise to the traditions connecting Abram with the conquest of Damascus; see Josephus (Ant. i. 7, 2), quoting Nicolaus of Damascus, who wrote in the days of Herod the Great; cf. note on Genesis 12:5.

2. Abram said — Abram’s words here betray a sort of doubt and some trouble. Lord God — Hebrews, Adonai Jehovah, words occurring in this connexion here for the first time.