LESSON VII.--FEBRUARY 13.

GOD'S COVENANT WITH ABRAHAM.--GEN. 15:5-18.

      GOLDEN TEXT.--Fear not, Abram, I am thy shield and thy exceeding great reward.--GEN. 15:1.
      TIME.--About B. C. 1913.
      PLACE.--By the oaks of Mamre in Hebron.
      HELPFUL READINGS.--Gen. 12:1-7; Gen. 13:14-17; Gen. 17:1-14; Gal. 3:6-18; James 2:20-24.
      LESSON ANALYSIS.--1. A Patriarch's Faith; 2. The Covenant Ratified; 3. The Curtain of the Future Lifted. [52]

INTRODUCTION.

      Not long after the separation of Abraham and Lot and the settlement of the latter in Sodom, there came a great invasion of the valley of the Jordan led by Chedorlaomer, King of Elam, aided by various subject kings from the Mesopotamian valley. These overcame in battle the kings of the cities around the Dead Sea, ravaged the valley and carried off prisoners and property. Among the unfortunate captives was Lot who was taken with all his property. A fugitive carried the intelligence to Abraham, and gathering at once 318 trained servants, skilled in the use of arms, and calling to his aid some Amorite chieftains, he pursued the invaders and fell upon them like a thunderbolt, in the darkness of the night, near the headwaters of the Jordan. The surprise was complete, the invaders were scattered, Lot and all the spoil were recaptured, and on the return Abraham offered tithes to Melchizedek, King of Salem, priest of the most high God, a type of Christ, and one of the most mysterious characters in the Bible. It is soon after the return that God appears to Abraham in a vision and bids him "Fear not." In order to understand the force of these words we must bear in mind that Abraham was a sojourner in a strange land, that he had just incurred the enmity of the greatest king of the time by attacking him for the rescue of Lot, that he might naturally expect that this king would seek to be avenged and would return with stronger forces. Such thoughts and fears would occur to the patriarch and it needed the divine word, "Fear not, I am thy shield and exceeding great reward," to quiet all apprehension. God again assures him of offspring and that his descendants shall be a numerous people.

      I. A PATRIARCH'S FAITH.--5. Brought him forth abroad. It was in a "vision" that the word of the Lord came to Abraham, and evidently of the night. Some have thought that all related in this section occurred in a vision, but the language does not carry out this idea. There was the vision of the night and the word of the Lord. Next day there were victims slain and watched until night for the ratification of the covenant by sacrifice. Then after the sun went down "a horror of great darkness," and the word of the Lord in revelation of the future. The events seem to have extended over a part of two nights and one day. Look now toward heaven, and tell the stars. The stars were first studied by shepherds. Abraham had, no doubt, passed many a night in contemplation while caring for his flocks. As they glittered in the clear sky, to the eye they seemed a countless host. As he gazed upon them the Lord said, "So shall thy seed be." It must be kept in mind that he was over eighty years old, already an old man with [53] the diminished span of human life after the flood. He had waited, longed and prayed for an heir, with all the yearning characteristic of the East. It seemed as though his prayers were not answered and when he is assured that his descendants shall be as the stars of heaven it requires a strong exercise of faith to accept the divine assurance. Certainly, after this, whenever he looked upon the mighty sky thickly set with stars, it must have had an interest that had not existed before as it reminded him of the divine promise.

      6. And he believed in the Lord. Let it be noted that it is not said only that he believed what the Lord said, but that be believed in the Lord. There was a submissive trust, a complete yielding to the divine will, a placing of himself in the hands of God. It was not the mere act of faith on this occasion that assured the divine favor, but the faith of a life devoted to the divine service ever since he left Haran in obedience to the divine voice. His was not an abstract faith, but faith that was a moving power. Such a faith, having within itself the beginning and promise of unquestioning submission to the will of God, was "counted for righteousness," because it is the very foundation of right doing. Paul, in Rom. 4:3 and Gal. 3:6, quotes this passage in his argument against justification by the works of the law. He shows that Abraham was justified before the law was given, was justified while yet uncircumcised, hence that the keeping of the rite of circumcision or Jewish ceremonies is not necessary to justification. Paul does not, as many have insisted, argue for justification by faith alone, but for justification by faith. The faith that justifies is an obedient faith and is never alone. It always leads those who possess it to do. Just as soon as it exists in the heart there is an entire submission to the will of God. The faith that causes us to cast ourselves at the feet of the Lord and to cry, "Speak Lord, thy servant heareth: what wilt thou have me to do?" always justifies, and none other. Such was Abraham's faith. Indeed Paul, in his argument in Galatians, shows that it was the faith of Abraham's life which was the basis of his justification, for he refers to "the covenant, that was confirmed before God in Christ," 430 years before the giving of the Law. This covenant is the one described in Gen. 12:1-4, which was made exactly 430 years before the law was given at Sinai.

      Much has been written on this passage by the theologians which has only served to obscure its meaning. There is nothing said about Abraham being saved by trusting in the merits of Christ; only that he believed in God; he believed whatever God said; when God said that he should become a great nation he believed it; when God said that "in his seed all the families of the earth should be blessed" he believed it. This promise referred to Christ, but was, no doubt, only dimly understood by Abraham. His faith was in Jehovah, for thus God revealed himself in Abraham's time; [54] ours must be in Christ, for "in these last days God has spoken to the world by his Son."

      II. THE COVENANT RATIFIED.--7. I am the Lord that brought thee out of Ur of the Chaldees. A night had passed away and another day had come (see verse 12) and on this day the Lord reminds Abraham that it was he who had brought him out of Ur of the Chaldeans; that he had led him from that home of his forefathers to far-off Canaan with great purposes in mind; that to the accomplishment of these purposes it was needful that his posterity should possess and occupy the land of Canaan. He had been removed in order that he might possess Canaan. This assurance is made that Abraham may understand the constancy of the divine purpose.

      8. Lord God, whereby shall I know that I shall inherit it? This is not a demand of unbelief, but the request for some visible sign upon which he can rest as a seal of the covenant. Man has always needed these. When God declared to Noah that there would never be a deluge he set the bow as a reminder of his promise; when Hezekiah asked a sign the Lord gave it; to the penitent sinner he still places baptism as a sign that his sins are pardoned; when asked for some token by which he may be reminded of the Lord's assurance that the land would belong to his seed, the Lord consents to the ratification of the covenant in the manner usual in that ancient period.

      9. Take me a heifer of three years old. As Noah in the covenant entered into between him and the Lord, stood forth as the representative of the human race; as Abraham, in the "covenant of Christ," which is recorded in Gen. 12:1-5, stood forth as the representative of all who are saved through Christ; so here he stands as the representative of his seed according to the flesh who should possess the land of Canaan. The sacrifices offered are, therefore, the legal sacrifices of the Jewish law. It is worthy of remark that every animal allowed or commanded to be offered under the Mosaic law is to be found in the list. It seems as though while God was ratifying a charter for the possession of this land by his seed that he gave to Abraham an epitome of that law and its sacrifices which were to be fully given through Moses and observed by his descendants. The animals chosen were of the class that constituted Abraham's wealth and were three years old, [55] matured, but not decrepit, in the prime of life, as near perfect in age as they were required to be in other features.

      10. He took unto him all these, and divided them in the midst. This was the well-known method of preparing the animal for the ratification of a covenant. The Hebrew phrase, to make a covenant, means, etymologically, to "cut a covenant." The sacrificed victims were cut into two pieces, when ancient nations entered into a covenant, and the covenanting parties passed between them. "The division of the sacrifice into two is supposed to represent the two parties to the covenant; and their passing between the divided pieces to signify their union into one. In this case Abraham was there in person to pass between the pieces, and the manifested presence of God passed between them under the semblance of fire." But the birds he divided not. Again the custom of the law was set. According to the law (see Lev. 1:17), fowls were not to be divided, but only cleft open that their intestines might be removed.

      11. And when the fowls came down upon the carcasses, Abram drove them away. He prepared his sacrifices, and divided them, and stood by watching for the manifestation of the Lord, fully expecting it, as he was acting under the Lord's direction. The birds of prey, vultures and other rapacious birds, which still abound in that region, hastened to pounce down upon the carcasses, but were driven away by the faithful and devout watcher. Some who seek symbols in everything and often run to extremes, make these birds of prey symbols of the oppressors who preyed upon the people who were embraced in the covenant with Abraham, the Egyptians and other persecuting nations. I think, however, that a simple historical fact is stated.

      12. And when the sun was going down. The sunset of the day following the vision (compare verse 5 with 12); a day that had been spent in preparation for the ratification of the covenant, had come without the manifestation of God as a ratifying party. Then as the twilight came, the solemn, sweet and impressive hour, a deep sleep, divinely sent, fell upon Abraham. A deep sleep. The same term is used of the preternatural sleep that fell upon Adam before the creation of Eve. The Septuagint version, which is often more reliable than the. Hebrew text, and which received the endorsement of Christ and his apostles, has here "ecstasy" or trance, which, I suspect, is the idea. The trance was a release of the mind from attention to earthly things in [56] order that it might be fixed on divine things. A horror of great darkness. The prophets were frequently appalled at the manifestation of the presence of God. There was a sense of dread, awe, and divine fear. A great darkness gathered around Abraham before the burst of light which always accompanied a manifestation of God. Some think that the darkness that environed Israel, now embraced in the person of Abraham, was prophetic of the long bondage of the Abrahamic race in Egypt, which is immediately after foretold.

      III. THE CURTAIN OF THE FUTURE LIFTED.--13. Know of a surety that thy seed, etc. From this verse to the 17th we have the divine prophecy and promise, and outline of the history of Abraham's descendants for several centuries. While God has just assured him that the land shall be his, and is about to ratify a covenant of guarantee, he forewarns Abraham that many tribulations must be undergone before his seed shall come into possession. They even shall be strangers in another land, "a land that is not theirs," for a long period, and shall be enslaved. A stranger in a land that is not theirs. This refers principally to the long sojourn in Egypt that ended with the exodus, but the time mentioned shows that it also includes the period passed in Canaan without a home or settled habitation in a country where they were strangers. They shall afflict them four hundred years. In Exod. 12:40, it is said, "The sojourning of the children of Israel who dwelt in Egypt was four hundred and thirty years." Paul says, Gal. 3:17, that it was 430 years from the covenant containing Christ to the giving of the law. This fixes the meaning of Exod. 12:40, and shows that the "sojourning" covers the whole period from the time Abraham left Haran to the giving of the law, which was just 430 years. From the birth of Isaac to the exodus was 405 years. Since the prediction in verse 13 is concerning the "seed," the period begins with the birth of Isaac and is in round numbers 400 years.

      14. That nation . . . will I judge. This prediction was literally fulfilled. God condemned Egypt for its affliction of his people, and sent judgment after judgment upon them, culminating in the death of the first born and the destruction of Pharaoh and his host.

      15. And thou shalt go to thy fathers in peace. The preceding verse spoke of [57] Abraham's seed; this verse of Abraham himself. He shall end a prosperous and peaceful life by dying in peace. Since his fathers slept in Mesopotamia and he was buried at Hebron in Canaan, the phrase, "Go to thy fathers," must refer to the spirits rather than the bodies. It is a promise that he shall go to the abode where, they were resting. He was "buried in a good old age." He lived to be 175 years old, a greater age than was reached by any of his descendants.

      16. In the fourth generation they shall come hither. Some hold that this means the same as four hundred years, but it is more likely to mean the four generation after the children of Israel went down into Egypt. Caleb was the fourth from Judah; Moses the fourth from Levi. For the iniquity of the Amorites is not yet full. Though the Amorites, the chief nation of Palestine, were wicked, they had not yet reached that extreme which would call for their destruction as unfit to cumber the earth. God's long suffering toward the wicked causes him to postpone his judgments until they have become so depraved that all hope of reformation is gone. God would not, therefore, now, displace the Amorites to make room for Israel.

      17. Behold a smoking furnace. After the sun had disappeared and the darkness fully come there came the expected manifestation. His voice had been heard, but the symbol of his presence had not been seen. The smoking furnace and the flame of fire symbolized the divine presence. God appeared to Moses as a flame in a burning bush, to Israel as a pillar of fire.

      18. In the same day God made a covenant with Abram. The covenant was God's guarantee that the land should belong to Abraham's seed. It should extend from the "river of Egypt," or the eastern mouth of the Nile, to the "river Euphrates." These dimensions the kingdom of Israel reached under the reigns of David and Solomon. See 2 Chron. 9:26.

PRACTICAL AND SUGGESTIVE.

      God's promises are sure, but he fulfills them in his own time, not in the times that we would choose. A faith that is powerless to control the life is not a living, saving faith. [58]

      A faith that trusts wholly in God and obeys his word in all things is "counted for righteousness." A living faith cannot but be a working faith, and hence cannot be separated from obedience, and therefore cannot be "alone." A "dead faith" may be alone. The plans of God are unchangeable. He had a plan when he brought Abraham from Ur, that never wavered during Abraham's time, nor until Christ came.

      Human weakness is such that we need tokens or signs of the will of God. True men of God, like Abraham, Moses, Hezekiah, Zacharias, have always asked for signs. God gives baptism as a sign of pardoned sin. He who is not baptized has no sign.

      THE INIQUITY OF THE AMORITES.--We are taught, 1. That God foreknows the moral character of men; 2. In his providence he administers the affairs of nations on the principle of moral rectitude; 3. Nations are spared until their iniquity is full; 4. They are then cut off in retributive justice; 5. The Amorites were to be the chief nation extirpated, extirpated on account of a full cup of iniquity, when Israel returned. They did disappear from history after the time of Joshua.

POINTS FOR TEACHERS.

      1. Draw the picture of an old couple, eighty years old, far away from friends and home, childless and lonely; children needed in home. 2. Point out the great hopes that had been kindled in a son. A nation. 3. All families to be blessed. No wonder he prays God for the fulfilment of his promise! 4. Ask the class if they have looked at the starry sky and tried to count the stars. Then bring out the promise. 5. Show that Abraham was a man of faith; how it was demonstrated. 6. Describe a covenant, show what it is, point out other covenants, that with Noah, the covenant of Christ with Abraham, the covenant of Sinai, show that every saved person must enter into covenant with God. 7. Describe the ratification of this covenant and what the various parts signified. 8. Show how God predicts the history of the "seed," and of Abraham himself, and how all was fulfilled. 9. Ask how it shall be known whether each member of the class "believes in God."

Source: Barton Warren Johnson. The Christian International Lesson Commentary for 1887. Des Moines, IA: