05.020. Chapter 15
Genesis 15:1 is closely linked with the last three verses of the previous chapter. Because die patriarch refused the rewards of the King of Sodom, Jehovah said, “I am thy shield, and thy exceeding great reward,” thus making Abram fabulously wealthy. Being childless, Abram and Sarai feared that their servant, Eliezer, would be their heir, since that was the law at that time (Genesis 15:2-3). But God promised them a son and a posterity as numerous as the stars (Genesis 15:4-5). Humanly speaking this was impossible, since Sarai had passed the time when she could bear a child. But Abram believed God’s promise, and God declared him to be righteous (Genesis 15:6). The truth of justification by faith enunciated here is repeated in Romans 4:3, Galatians 3:8, and James 2:23. In Genesis 13:18 God had promised seed as numerous as the dust, and here in Genesis 15:5 as numerous as the stars. The dust pictures Abram’s natural posterity—those who are Jews by birth. The stars depict his spiritual seed—those who are justified by faith (see Galatians 3:7). To confirm the promise of a seed (Genesis 15:1-6) and of a land (Genesis 15:7-8, Genesis 15:18-21), God acted out a strange and significant symbolism (Genesis 15:9-21). “According to the ancient Eastern manner of making a covenant, both the contracting parties passed through the divided pieces of the slain animals, thus symbolically attesting that they pledged their very lives to the fulfillment of the engagement they made (see Jeremiah 34:18-19). Now in Genesis 15:1-21, God alone, whose presence was symbolized by the smoking furnace and lamp of fire, passed through the midst of the pieces of the slain animals, while Abram was simply a spectator of this wonderful exhibition of God’s free grace.”8 This signified that it was an unconditional covenant, dependent for fulfillment on God alone.
According to another view of this passage, the sacrificial pieces represent the nation of Israel (Genesis 15:9-10). The fowls speak of the Gentile nations (Genesis 15:11). The land, of course, is Egypt (Genesis 15:13). Israel would be delivered front Egyptian bondage and return to Canaan in the fourth generation (Genesis 15:16). The smoking furnace and the burning lamp describe the national destiny of Israel—suffering and witness-bearing (Genesis 15:17).
Israel’s deliverance would not come until the iniquity of the Amorites was full. These pagan inhabitants of Canaan must eventually be exterminated. But God often allows evil to run its course, sometimes to the seeming detriment of His people, before He judges it. He is longsuffering, not willing that any should perish—even the depraved Amorites (2 Peter 3:9). He also allows evil to come to fruition so that the awful consequences of wickedness can be manifested to all. Thus His wrath is demonstrated to be completely righteous.
Genesis 15:13-14 pose a chronological problem. They predict that Abram’s people would be in harsh servitude in a foreign land for 400 years, and that they would leave at the end of that time, carrying great wealth with them. In Acts 7:6 this figure of 400 years is repeated. In Exodus 12:40-41 we read that the children of Israel, who dwelt in Egypt, were sojourners for 430 years, to the very day.
Then in Galatians 3:17 Paul says that the period from the confirming of the Abrahamic Covenant until the giving of the Law was 430 years.
How can these figures be reconciled? The 400 years mentioned in Genesis 15:13-14 and in Acts 7:6 refer to the time of Israel’s harsh affliction in Egypt. Jacob and his family were not in bondage when they first came to Egypt. On the contrary, they were treated quite royally. The 430 years in Exodus 12:40-41 refer to the total time the people of Israel spent in Egypt—to the very day. This is an exact figure. The 430 years in Galatians 3:17 cover approximately the same period as Exodus 12:40-41. They are reckoned from the time that God confirmed the Abrahamic Covenant to Jacob, just as Jacob was preparing to enter Egypt (Genesis 46:1-4), and they extend to the giving of the Law, about three months after the Exodus. The four generations of Genesis 15:16 can he seen in Exodus 6:18-20 : Levi, Kohath. Amram, Moses.
Israel has not vet occupied the land promised in Genesis 15:18-21. Solomon had dominion over it (1 Kings 4:21; 1 Kings 4:24), as over vassal states, but his people did not occupy it. The covenant will be fulfilled when Christ returns to reign. Nothing can stop its fulfillment. What God has promised is as sure as if it had already occurred! The river of Egypt (Genesis 15:18) is generally believed to be a small stream south of Gaza known as Wadi el Arish, and not the Nile.