A STUDY IN GENESIS
Today, we continue in chapter 15 of Genesis and we have a valuable moment in the workings of Christ and the foreshadowing of a principle with salvation and with Israel. Abram and God are making a covenant together and we see something rather outside of our modern day understanding.
Genesis 15:8-21 “And he said, “Lord GOD, how shall I know that I will inherit it?” 9 So He said to him, “Bring Me a three-year-old heifer, a three-year-old female goat, a three-year-old ram, a turtledove, and a young pigeon.” 10 Then he brought all these to Him and cut them in two, down the middle, and placed each piece opposite the other; but he did not cut the birds in two. 11 And when the vultures came down on the carcasses, Abram drove them away. 12 Now when the sun was going down, a deep sleep fell upon Abram; and behold, horror [and] great darkness fell upon him. 13 Then He said to Abram: “Know certainly that your descendants will be strangers in a land [that is] not theirs, and will serve them, and they will afflict them four hundred years. 14 “And also the nation whom they serve I will judge; afterward they shall come out with great possessions. 15 “Now as for you, you shall go to your fathers in peace; you shall be buried at a good old age. 16 “But in the fourth generation they shall return here, for the iniquity of the Amorites [is] not yet complete.” 17 And it came to pass, when the sun went down and it was dark, that behold, there appeared a smoking oven and a burning torch that passed between those pieces. 18 On the same day the LORD made a covenant with Abram, saying: “To your descendants I have given this land, from the river of Egypt to the great river, the River Euphrates-- 19 “the Kenites, the Kenezzites, the Kadmonites, 20 “the Hittites, the Perizzites, the Rephaim, 21 “the Amorites, the Canaanites, the Girgashites, and the Jebusites.”
In the time of Abram when a covenant was made, there was a certain ceremonial aspect to represent the seriousness of the promise that was being placed. They would take specific animals, such as mentioned in verse nine, and they would kill them and cut them down the middle. Then both parties would walk through them. This would signify that if one side didn’t keep their promise, this would happen to them. When God tells Abram to bring the animals we see that in verse 10, Abram immediately starts cutting them up for the ceremony. This was common practice for mankind to do, and yet this had never been done by God with man.
Many people would skip past verse 11 and go right to the next part. However, if it is in the Bible we need to take it seriously. Now many might try to dig deeper into this then what is being said, and I might not have caught a deeper meaning which is more symbolic or prolific to what is being said here, but I believe there are two points that verse 11 identifies. First, that God will use us as He sees fit. Abram was tasked to chase birds away, so he did what was commanded. Second, vultures is commonly identified as bad, Abram’s seed would deal with the bad. Let us not lose sight on the bigger picture, but we should not skip the simplicity that is God’s Word at times.
In verse twelve, we see a sleep come over Abram, this is not natural but supernatural. God is identifying to Abram that this covenant cannot be done through Abram, but God Himself only. God further identifies that Abram’s descendants will live in land not of their own for four hundred years. We can identify their exodus from Egypt captured in the book of Moses commonly known as the book of Exodus.
Now we see something rather remarkable that the world does not recognize. God’s ability to give the land He created to whomever He chooses. From the Nile to the Euphrates is Israel’s land. Look at the small scrap of land that they are fighting over! God has given so much more and yet, due to unbelief, they are currently cursed to struggle and have strife until they come corporately and full fill Matthew 23:37-39 “O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the one who kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to her! How often I wanted to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under [her] wings, but you were not willing! 38 “See! Your house is left to you desolate; 39 “for I say to you, you shall see Me no more till you say, ‘Blessed [is] He who comes in the name of the LORD!’ ” While some call this advance Bible study, God intended to connect salvation to this very cause of Israel. Through Israel, and the land, salvation would come. We can take God’s Word seriously due to what He has done for the Jewish people. Nevertheless, we have wolves in sheep’s clothing tearing down institutions that once stood strong for the cause of Jesus’ blood kinsmen as we are commanded. Let us once again be about that work.
Hold until relieved, our Blessed Hope is coming,
JL