Genesis 15

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers - Genesis 15:13

(13) Four hundred years.—The exact duration of the sojourn in Egypt was 430 years (Exodus 12:40-41), and with this agrees the genealogy of Jehoshua (1 Chronicles 7:23-27). read more

Charles John Ellicott

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers - Genesis 15:14

(14) That nation.—Had it been expressly revealed that the country that would afflict them was Egypt, the patriarchs might have been unwilling to go thither; but the reference to the plagues in the denunciation of judgment, and to the spoiling of the Egyptians in the promise that they should “come out with great substance” (Exodus 12:36), gave detail sufficient for future guidance, and for their assurance in time to come that the promise had been fulfilled. read more

Charles John Ellicott

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

(15) Thou shalt go to thy fathers in peace.—Abram’s ancestors had died in Babylonia, but the phrase, used here for the first time, evidently involves the thought of the immortality of the soul. The body may be buried far away, but the soul joins the company of its forefathers in some separate abode, not to be absorbed, but still to enjoy a personal existence. (Comp. Genesis 25:8.) A similar, but more exact, distinction between the body and the spirit is drawn in Ecclesiastes 12:7. read more

Charles John Ellicott

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers - Genesis 15:16

(16) The fourth generation.—Heb., dôr. (See Note on Genesis 6:9.) As the four generations are identical with the four centuries of Genesis 15:13, we have here an undesigned testimony to the long duration of human life. So Abram was 100 years old when Isaac was born, and Isaac was 60 at the birth of his children, and Jacob 64 years of age at his marriage. But the word dôr had probably come down from a remote antiquity, and, like the Latin word seculum, signified a century.The iniquity of the... read more

Charles John Ellicott

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers - Genesis 15:17

(17) A smoking furnace.—The word really means the circular firepot which Orientals use in their houses to sit round for purposes of warmth. This one was wreathed in smoke, out of which shot “a burning lamp” (Heb., a torch of flame). For not two symbols, but only one, passed between the divided carcases. Abram had probably passed between them immediately after arranging them, and now Jehovah does the same. Fire is the recognised symbol of the Deity, as in the burning bush, the pillar of fire,... read more

Charles John Ellicott

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers - Genesis 15:18

(18) The Lord made a covenant.—Heb., Jehovah cut a covenant. Abram had divided the slaughtered animals, and Jehovah, by passing between them, made the whole act His own.The river of Egypt.—That is, the Nile. In the Hebrew the Wady-el-Arish, on the southern border of Simeon, is always distinguished from the Nile. though the distinction is neglected in our version. Thus in Numbers 34:5; Joshua 15:4; Isaiah 27:12 (where alone an attempt is made at accuracy by translating stream), the Hebrew has,... read more

Charles John Ellicott

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers - Genesis 15:19

(19) The Kenites.—An Arab race, found both among the Amalekites in the south (1 Samuel 15:6) and among the tribes of Naphtali and Zebulon in the north (Judges 4:11), and even in Midian, as Jethro, the father-in-law of Moses, is called a Kenite (Judges 1:16). Balaam speaks of them as being a powerful nation (Numbers 24:21), and this wide dispersion of them into feeble remnants seems to show that they were a race of early settlers in Canaan, who, like the Rephaim, had been overpowered and... read more

William Nicoll

Expositor's Dictionary of Texts - Genesis 15:1-21

Genesis 15:0 'Read the fifteenth chapter with extreme care. If you have a good memory, learn it by heart from beginning to end; it is one of the most sublime and pregnant passages in the entire compass of ancient literature.' Ruskin, Fors Clarigeva (lxiv). References. XV. 1. J. Parker, Adam, Noah, and Abraham, p. 120. J. Thomas, Myrtle Street Pulpit, vol. ii. p. 341. Spurgeon, Sermons, vol. xlix. No. 2814. XV. 2. J. Kelly, Christian World Pulpit, vol. xviii. p. 165. XV. 5, 6. Archbishop... read more

William Nicoll

Expositor's Bible Commentary - Genesis 15:1-21

COVENANT WITH ABRAMGenesis 15:1-21OF the nine Divine manifestations made during Abram’s life this is the fifth. At Ur, at Kharran, at the oak of Moreh, at the encampment between Bethel and Ai, and now at Mamre, he received guidance and encouragement from God. Different terms are used regarding these manifestations. Sometimes it is said "The Lord appeared unto him"; here for the first time in the course of God’s revelation occurs that expression which afterwards became normal, "The word of the... read more

Arno Clemens Gaebelein

Arno Gaebelein's Annotated Bible - Genesis 15:1-21

CHAPTER 15 The Fourth Communication and the Covenant and the Vision 1. The fourth communication (Genesis 15:1 ) 2. Abram’s answer (Genesis 15:2-3 ) 3. The promised seed (Genesis 15:4-5 ) 4. Abram counted righteous (Genesis 15:6 ) 5. Continued communication (Genesis 15:7-8 ) 6. The divided animals (Genesis 15:9-11 ) 7. The vision (Genesis 15:12-17 ) 8. The covenant made (Genesis 15:18-21 ) The connection with the previous chapter is extremely precious. Abram had honored the Lord... read more

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers - Genesis 15:13

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers - Genesis 15:14

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

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers - Genesis 15:16

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers - Genesis 15:17

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers - Genesis 15:18

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers - Genesis 15:19

Expositor's Dictionary of Texts - Genesis 15:1-21

Expositor's Bible Commentary - Genesis 15:1-21

Arno Gaebelein's Annotated Bible - Genesis 15:1-21

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