48 | Genesis 14:20
“ Blessed be Abram by God Most High, Creator of heaven and earth. x
20 And praise be to God Most High, y who delivered your enemies into your hand.”
Then Abram gave him a tenth of ev ery thing. z 21 The king of Sodom said to Abram,“ Give me the peo ple and keep the goods for yourself.”
22 But Abram said to the king of Sodom,“ With raised hand a I have sworn an oath to the Lord, God Most High, Cre a tor of heaven and earth, b 23 that I will ac cept noth ing be long ing to you, c not even a thread or the strap of a san dal, so that you will never be able to say,‘ I made Abram rich.’ 24 I will ac cept noth ing but what my men have eaten and the share that be longs to the men who went with me— to Aner, Esh kol and Mamre. Let them have their share.”
The Lord’ s Covenant With Abram
15 Af ter this, the word of the Lord came to Abram d in a vision:
“ Do not be afraid, e Abram. I am your shield, a f your very great reward. b”
2 But Abram said,“ Sovereign Lord, what can you give me since I re main child less g and the one who will in herit c my estate is Eliezer of Damascus?” 3 And Abram said,“ You have given me no chil dren; so a ser vant h in my house hold will be my heir.”
4 Then the word of the Lord came to him:“ This man will not be your heir, but a son who is your own flesh and blood will be your heir. i” 5 He took him out side and said,“ Look up at the sky and count the stars j— if in deed you can count them.” Then he said to him,“ So shall your offspring d be.” k 6 Abram be lieved the Lord, and he cred ited it to him as righ teous ness. l 7 He also said to him,“ I am the Lord, who brought you out of Ur of the Chal de ans to give you this land to take pos ses sion of it.” 8 But Abram said,“ Sovereign Lord, how can I know m that I will gain pos ses sion of it?” 9 So the Lord said to him,“ Bring me a heifer, a goat and a ram, each three years old, along with a dove and a young pi geon.”
10 Abram brought all these to him, cut them in two and ar ranged the halves op po site each other; n the birds, how ever, he did not cut in half. o 11 Then birds of prey came down on the car casses, but Abram drove them away.
12 As the sun was set ting, Abram fell into a deep sleep, p and a thick and dread ful darkness came over him. 13 Then the Lord said to him,“ Know for cer tain that for four hun dred years q your de scen dants will be strang ers in a coun try not their own and that they will be a 1 Or sovereign b 1 Or shield; / your reward will be very great c 2 The meaning of the Hebrew for this phrase is uncertain. d 5 Or seed
14:19 x ver 22
14:20 y Ge 24:27 z Ge 28:22; Dt 26:12;
Heb 7:4
14:22 a Ex 6:8; Da 12:7; Rev 10:5-6 b ver 19
14:23 c 2Ki 5:16
15:1 d Da 10:1 e Ge 21:17; 26:24;
46:3; 2Ki 6:16; Ps 27:1; Isa 41:10, 13-14 f Dt 33:29; 2Sa 22:3,
31; Ps 3:3 15:2 g Ac 7:5 15:3 h Ge 24:2, 34 15:4 i Gal 4:28
15:5 j Ps 147:4; Jer 33:22 k Ge 12:2; 22:17; Ex 32:13; Ro 4:18 *; Heb 11:12
15:6 l Ps 106:31; Ro 4:3 *, 20-24 *; Gal 3:6 *; Jas 2:23 *
15:8 m Lk 1:18
15:10 n ver 17; Jer 34:18 o Lev 1:17
15:12 p Ge 2:21
15:13 q ver 16; Ex 12:40; Ac 7:6, 17
14:20 a tenth. In order to affirm Melchizedek’ s remarks, Abram gives him a tithe, or tenth, of the recovered goods. 14:22 – 24 Abram swiftly dismisses the king of Sodom’ s offer. He will not become indebted to the king of Sodom in order to fulfill God’ s plan that he become a“ great nation”( 12:2). Although Abram has demonstrated that he is more than the equal of earthly kings, he recognizes that such greatness comes from God and is not the product of merely human effort.
15:1 – 21 The Lord’ s Covenant With Abram. The related issues of descendants and land dominate this chapter; both are essential to the future creation of a great nation. Whereas vv. 1 – 6 focus on Abram’ s childlessness, vv. 7 – 21 address the issue of how Abram can be certain that his descendants will possess the land of Canaan. The earlier conditional promise of nationhood( 12:2) is now strengthened by a covenant that guarantees unconditionally a future fulfillment centuries after Abram’ s death. 15:1 very great reward. The events of ch. 15 are a sequel to Abram’ s rejection of the plunder taken from the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah. Rather than place his hope in wealth acquired by force, Abram looks to God. Possibly, Abram’ s vision occurs at night, for v. 5 indicates that numerous stars are visible. 15:2 Eliezer of Damascus. His identity is uncertain; he is mentioned by name only here. He is highly trusted by Abram and is perhaps a slave who came originally from Damascus. During his journey to Canaan, Abram probably acquired men to look after his herds and flocks( 17:23,27). Ancient Near Eastern texts provide examples of childless couples adopting a member of their household to be their heir. Because the meaning of the Hebrew text is slightly obscure( see NIV text note), the interpretation of this verse should be approached cautiously. 15:6 This verse is highly significant within the episode. Descriptive comments like this are very rare in OT narratives and are all the more important when they occur. Abram’ s trust in God becomes the basis upon which God views him as righteous. Only later is Abram circumcised( 17:23 – 27). The concept of righteousness based on faith becomes an important biblical principle for how people are brought into a right relationship with God. In the NT Paul quotes this verse three times( Rom 4:3,22; Gal 3:6) to argue that Gentile Christians can be righteous through faith without being circumcised( Rom 4:1 – 25; Gal 3:1 – 9). The apostle James observes that Abram’ s faith later expresses itself in good works( Jas 2:21 – 24). 15:9 – 17 The ritual described here has been interpreted in different ways. Based on possible parallels with Jer 34:18 – 19, this may be a self-curse in which God indicates that he will become like the dead animals if he breaks his promise to Abram. Alternatively, the“ smoking firepot”( v. 17) may represent God; the animals, Abram’ s descendants; and the birds of prey, their enemies. If we adopt the symbolism of this second alternative, this unusual event anticipates the future presence of God among the Israelites after their exodus from Egypt. 15:13 four hundred years. God indicates clearly to Abram that his descendants will take possession of the land of Canaan only after a long period of time has elapsed. This figure, which may refer to all of the time spent in the foreign land and not just the period of oppression, is probably best understood as a