Genesis 15

John Dummelow's Commentary on the Bible - Genesis 15:1-21

God Promises an Heir to Abraham and the Land of Canaan for his Descendants. The Promise is Ratified by a CovenantThe passage is from the Primitive source. A somewhat similar account from the Priestly narrative is given in Genesis 17. The repetition shows the importance attached by the compiler of Genesis to these records of the promises as testifying to the divine purposes for the Hebrew people.1. Vision] probably a trance, with the senses dormant, but the mind awake to spiritual impressions:... read more

Charles John Ellicott

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers - Genesis 15:1

XV.JEHOVAH’S COVENANT WITH ABRAM.(1) After these things.—After the war with Chedorlaomer.The word of the Lord came (Heb., was) unto Abram.—This phrase, used so constantly afterwards to signify revelation, occurs here for the first time. The revelation on this occasion is made by night (Genesis 15:5), not however in a dream, but in a trance, in which the senses of Abram were closed to all earthly impressions and he became passive in the hands of the Almighty. Up to this time Abram had received... read more

Charles John Ellicott

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers - Genesis 15:2

(2) Lord God.—Not Jehovah Elohim, but Lord Jehovah, “Lord” being the ordinary title of respect. Usually Jehovah takes the vowels of ‘donai, “lord,” but as the two words occur here together, it takes the vowels of Elohim, whence the translation in our version, in obedience to a superstition of the Jews (Genesis 4:1).What wilt thou give me?—There is a slight tone of complaint in these words. Jehovah promised Abram a “reward great exceedingly.” He answers that no reward can really be great so long... read more

Charles John Ellicott

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers - Genesis 15:3

(3) One born in my house.—This is a mistake. Those born in Abram’s house were his servants (Genesis 14:14). The Hebrew is, the son of my house, my house-son, not born of me, but the chief of the house next to myself, and its representative. Eliezer was probably born at Damascus. read more

Charles John Ellicott

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers - Genesis 15:5

(5) He brought him forth.—There is no reason for regarding this as a poetical description of a merely mental emotion. With his senses dormant, but alive to every spiritual impression, Abram feels himself led forth from the tent into the open space around, and is there commanded to count the stars. As a matter of fact, the stars visible to the naked eye are not very numerous, but they have ever been a received metaphor for an infinite multitude, probably because, as men gaze, they perpetually... read more

Charles John Ellicott

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers - Genesis 15:6

(6) He believed in the Lord (in Jehovah) . . . —We have here the germ of the doctrine of free justification. Abram was both a holy man and one who proved his faith by his works; but nevertheless the inspired narrator inserts this reflection, not after the history of the offering of Isaac, but in the account of this vision, where all that Abram did was to believe, and for that belief’s sake was accounted righteous before God. For the definite conclusions deduced from this verse by St. Paul see... read more

Charles John Ellicott

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers - Genesis 15:8

(8) Lord God.—Heb., Lord Jehovah, as in Genesis 15:2.Whereby shall I know that I shall inherit it?—Jehovah had required Abram to leave his home in Ur of the Chaldees on a general promise of future endowment with the land of Canaan. Abram now asks this question, not from want of faith, but from a desire for a more direct confirmation of the promise and fuller knowledge of the details. What Abram, therefore, receives is an exact and circumstantial prophecy, made in the form of a solemn covenant. read more

Charles John Ellicott

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers - Genesis 15:9-10

(9, 10) Take me an heifer . . . —This form of making a covenant was probably that usual in Babylonia, and thus Abram received the assurance of his inheritance by means of a ceremonial with which he was familiar. But in most ancient languages men are said to cut or strike a covenant, because the most solemn formula involved either the cutting of victims in two, or striking them dead, as was the Roman manner. The severing of the bodies was not, as some suppose, to represent the two parties; but,... read more

Charles John Ellicott

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers - Genesis 15:11

(11) And when the fowls . . . —Heb., And the birds of prey came down upon the carcases, and Abram scared them away. Had there been a sacrifice the fire would have kept the vultures from approaching; but the bodies lay exposed, and Abram therefore kept guard over them, lest the purpose of the ceremonial should be frustrated by any want of respect shown to the outward symbols. read more

Charles John Ellicott

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers - Genesis 15:12

(12) When the sun was going down.—The time described was the evening following the night on which he had received the assurance that his seed should be countless as the stars. He had then, in his trance, also asked for some security that Canaan should be the heritage of his posterity, and in answer had received the command to arrange, upon a large scale, the ceremonial of a solemn treaty-making. The morning had been spent in the performance of the command, and after wards he had watched,... read more

John Dummelow's Commentary on the Bible - Genesis 15:1-21

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers - Genesis 15:1

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers - Genesis 15:2

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers - Genesis 15:3

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers - Genesis 15:5

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers - Genesis 15:6

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers - Genesis 15:8

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers - Genesis 15:9-10

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers - Genesis 15:11

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers - Genesis 15:12

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