The Lord Enlarges His Covenant (Genesis 15)

Often in the spiritual life, the reaction to a great triumph of faith is not increased confidence, but a loss of it. And we have an example of such a loss here in Abram. We might have imagined that after his great victory over the kings of the east Abram would be strong in faith for all aspects of his religious life. Perhaps he was not apprehensive of these kings any more. Nevertheless he was very concerned that there was no sign of the fulfilment of a crucial detail of God’s great promise to him. Several years have passed since Abram arrived in Canaan, yet there is no sign of the promised seed.

One of the intriguing features of this incident is the manner of dialogue between God and his servant. The first detail to note is that the Lord takes the initiative in the interaction. He draws near to Abram in a sovereign manner. The Lord was aware of the concerns of Abram and in compassion he comes with great delight to give further information to his loyal friend. This is how we should regard times of fellowship with God. It is not only the human participant who gets pleasure from times of communion between God and man.

Further, this delight of the Lord involves listening to what his servant has to say. God is already fully aware of Abram’s concerns and of the divine answer that will meet his needs. Still the Lord wants to hear the voice of his child and often he delays his answer until the human request is made. It is the case that we have very little awareness of the joy that the Lord experiences when we pray. We tend to focus so much on ourselves, and fail to consider the thoughts of God.

Another detail to note in this interaction is the patience of God. He was willing to wait while Abram specified his concerns. The Lord did not answer them all at once but responded to each in turn. This tells us that God wanted his friend Abraham to know in a clear way that the Lord was stilled committed to the promises that he had made many years before. In a sense we can see the patience of God in the way that he repeats promises and instructions throughout the Bible. He goes to great lengths to ensure that we understand who he is.

The description of God

The Lord informs Abram that he has a divine shield and a great reward. In other words, God says that he is the protector and provider of his people. They reveal that Abram was in a situation of permanent conflict in which he would be the recipient of divine supplies. It may have been the case that Abram had pondered what had happened to Lot, how he had been easily captured and lost all that he had when the invading kings defeated Sodom and its allies. Whether he did or not, Abram was reassured by God that such a defeat would not happen to him. Here is a divine promise to a faithful believer. This is the reward of grace.

When we apply this promise to ourselves, we need to ask ourselves this question, How often do I need God’s protection? The answer to that question is obvious – we need his protection all day long, every day, because we face spiritual enemies that are determined to destroy us. ‘For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places’ (Eph. 6:12). We are not to imagine that it was any different for Abraham – he too had to deal with temptation and other forms of Satanic assault. Yet the same promise that was given here to faithful Abraham is also given to us as long as we too are faithful to our calling.

Similarly, we should ask ourselves a question regarding God’s resources: How much can God give to us? The answer to this question is given in Philippians 4:19: ‘And my God will supply every need of yours according to his riches in glory in Christ Jesus.’

It is important to note that when we speak of defence and reward here we are actually speaking about God. They don’t refer to something apart from God. If we put it this way: a king could build a castle to defend his people, but the castle was separate from him. That is not how we are to think of God. Instead he is our castle. Similarly, a king could give out of his wealth to his needy subjects, but he would not be given with the gifts. But God is with the resources that he gives. For example, the peace that we receive is the peace of God; the joy that we can know is the joy of God; the power we can experience is the power of God. Obviously he does not give us these blessings in their fullness at any given time because we could not cope with such an amount. Yet what is given to us is really God himself.

The question of descendants

The story informs us that Abram was very concerned about the fact that he was childless. And according to the custom of the times, his heir would his servant, Eliezer of Damascus. There seems to be a pause between what Abram said in verse 2 and his next words in verse 3. Perhaps he weeps in between his statements or maybe he repeats himself in order to stress the great concern that he has. In any case, the Lord assures Abram that he will have a son who will be his heir.

In addition, God gives to Abram a sign in order to confirm his faith. He asks Abram to look at the stars of the sky and see in them a picture of his descendants. Of course, it was not possible for Abram to count the actual stars because he could not see most of them. Yet we can see how every night Abram would receive assurance as he looked at the God-given signs in the heavens. The Lord gives signs because he knows that we need memory aids, sources of comfort that will help us as we wait for his promises to be fulfilled. He has given us many signs: baptism is a sign that sinners can be cleansed from their sins and join his people; the Lord’s Supper is a sign that we can have fellowship with the crucified Christ who is now risen from the dead; each Christian is a sign that God is at work in the lives of sinners. We have been given clear signs of God’s presence with us as we wait for him to fulfil his promises in the new heavens and new earth.

The Lord did something else for Abram at this time in response to Abram’s correct use of the God-given sign of the stars. He responded to the sign in faith and the Lord re-confirmed to Abram the standing he had before God: ‘And he believed the LORD, and he counted it to him as righteousness’ (v. 6). We are not to imagine that this was the moment when Abram was justified. Rather he had been justified when he first believed in God. But here is Abram in need of assurance of his standing with God and it was given to him because he made a spiritual use of the sign. It is similar with us. If we make the biblical response of faith to the signs we have. When we use the Lord’s Supper as we should as a means of recalling the substitution of Jesus for us at Calvary, or as an anticipation of his return in the future, or as a place where we receive heavenly graces, we will discover that God strengthens our assurance and we become convinced of our standing with him.

The question of the land

Again God takes the initiative in the conversation and reminds Abram that he has been promised the land of Canaan as his possession. Despite having received a sign shortly before, Abram asks for another one. His request is not necessarily a sign of unbelief. Instead it could have been prompted by him realising that God-given signs were a means of discovering more about God. We have to remember that Abram did not have a Bible and he was dependant on ways such as visions and signs in order to find out what God was like and what he would do. And Abram did learn more important truths about God as a result of asking this second question.

The Lord asked Abram to arrange three animals and two birds as a sacrifice. He cut the animals in two and placed them in such a way that there was a gap down the middle. Then he was to stand guard over the sacrifices, protecting it from birds of prey. At sunset he fell asleep and had an unusual dream or vision, and it was then that he was given further details by God concerning his descendants and himself.

Commentators regard this occasion as the time when the Lord made Abram a prophet. The phraseology ‘the word of the Lord came’ is usually used in the Old Testament of messages that were given by God to prophets. We can see that this is the case because the Lord gave to Abram several predictions concerning his descendants. This means that this new information was not only for Abram’s benefit, but also for subsequent generations because it would give them a framework by which they could understand what happened to them. So what would they have discovered from this prophecy?

First, they discovered that it was God’s plan that their ancestors should be in Egypt for four hundred years. The reason for this long period of time concerned the sinful practices of the people in the land. Despite the presence of godly rulers like Melchizedek and devout people like Abram, the sinful practices of the inhabitants would get worse. Eventually their culture would have to be destroyed. Often new readers to the Bible are surprised at the divine requirement given to Joshua to slay the inhabitants of Canaan, imagining that it was an act of barbarism that reduces the God of the Bible to the level of pagan idols. A little knowledge of Canaanite practices will quickly dispel that notion. Among these practices were those of child sacrifice and other horrid practices. What were the alternatives facing the children of Israel? They would either have to tolerate or destroy such practices, and God wanted them removed from his land. Sometimes a society becomes so evil that the only remedy is to remove it completely.

There were other reasons for the captivity of the children of Israel. One is connected to the previous comment and it is that it was likely better for Abram’s descendants to be in trouble in Egypt than to be tempted by the false religions of Canaan. This principle is often true at an individual level – God allows problems and suffering to happen in order that we will not fall into sinful practices.

A third reason for the time in Egypt was to teach the children of Israel not to trust in the great powers of the earth. Initially, they had been well-treated in Egypt, but eventually they became slaves. The descendants of those rescued by Joseph persecuted his descendants. Instead of seeing human powers as their defenders, the Israelites would have to depend on the supernatural power of God to protect them.

Fourth, they would also learn from the experience of Egypt that God judges sinful practices. Although Egypt persisted in enslaving the Israelites, they eventually were punished by God in a very costly way. Power that is abused will be judged eventually by God, but he will not do it until the time is right. Often the difficulty we have is connected to the length of the delay. We cannot see when God will rise, but we will see when he does arise. Revenge was not to be part of the outlook of Israel.

Fifth, the Lord revealed to Abram another important principle, which is that times of testing are enriching times. Perhaps the Israelites would have wondered how they could possible become a great nation, given that they were enslaved in poverty. Yet when the Lord arose to deliver them, they were assured that they would leave Egypt with great riches.

We may ask ourselves, what does this experience have to do with us? Initially it seems to be irrelevant for our daily living in the modern world. Yet there is a very important lesson, which is that the framework by which we make sense of our world must be the revealed will of God. When we realise this to be the case, we will also discover that this word to Abram becomes part of God’s word for us in making sense of life in a sinful world.

In the midst of these dire predictions, Abram received another word of assurance. Remember he was almost on his own in a strange land in which there were many enemies. Perhaps he feared sudden assassination. Whatever his thoughts may have been, the Lord assured him that he would defend him throughout a long life (be his shield), and give him a peaceful end (from his resources) when he would be united with the family of God in heaven.

Does God not do the same for us? Often he sends words of heavenly assurance to comfort us in the midst of our troubles. Great and precious promises are given to the suffering and tempted people of God. Whatever the pathway, they can know the protection and the provision of the Lord in many unexpected ways. We are not like Abram, needing visions and unusual visits to bolster our comfort. We have the word of God, and Paul reminds us that the Old Testament, including this story about Abram, is given for our spiritual benefit. ‘For whatever was written in former days was written for our instruction, that through endurance and through the encouragement of the Scriptures we might have hope’ (Rom. 15:4).

Before we leave this incident, we should note the significance of the Lord, under the symbols of smoking fire pot and flaming torch, passing between the pieces of the slain animals. In Abram’s time, two people making a covenant would walk through that path as a sign of commitment to their promises and indicating by doing so that if one of them showed disloyalty he too could be torn in pieces like the animals. Yet in this instance, the Lord alone walked through the pieces. I think he did so for at least two reasons. First, the Lord knew that Abram in himself, despite his good intentions, did not have the power or the wisdom to bring about the promises of God. Second, the Lord indicated to Abram a very solemn reality – God would be finished if he did not keep his promises to Abram. What greater evidence could the Lord give of his determination to bless Abram with a seed and an inheritance! In fact, there is only one greater Sign and that took place when the One who spoke that night with Abram became the curse on the cross. But the meaning is the same. Jesus died to ensure that the seed of Abram would have an inheritance.