Genesis 15:9. Take me a heifer Perhaps Abram expected some sign from heaven, but God gives him a sign upon a sacrifice. Those that would receive the assurances of God’s favour, must attend instituted ordinances, and expect to meet with God in them. read more
Click image for full-size versionGod’s covenant with Abram (15:1-21)Earlier God had promised Abram a people and a land (see 12:2; 13:15). Abram’s faith concerning the promised land had been tested through drought and conflict, and his faith concerning the promised people was constantly being tested through his wife’s inability to have children. According to a custom of the time, a childless couple could adopt a person and make him heir to the family property. Abram therefore decided to adopt... read more
Take me = take for me: i.e. an offering for me, heifer. See App-15 . read more
these. Five, the No. of Grace, because Covenant was unconditional. See App-10 . divided. So Covenants were made (Jeremiah 34:18-20 ), midst, i.e. in half. read more
"And he said unto him, Take me a heifer three years old, and a she-goat three years old, and a ram three years old, and a turtle dove, and a young pigeon. And he took all these, and divided them in the midst, and laid each half over against the other: but the birds divided he not. And the birds of prey came down upon the carcasses, and Abram drove them away."The function of the slaughtered animals here was not that of a sacrifice, but of the ratification (confirmation) of a covenant. The ritual... read more
Genesis 15:9. He said unto him, take me an heifer, &c.— i.e.. says Mede, offer unto me the following creatures; the only ones appointed to be offered under the Mosaic law; which strengthens their opinion (and I confess it is mine) who believe, that animals were divided into clean and unclean for sacrifice before the law, and that the whole apparatus of sacrifice was not then first instituted, but renewed and confirmed. It has much perplexed commentators to find out the reason, why these... read more
Genesis 15:10. He took and divided, &c.— We have here the first and most ancient account of the manner by which many nations of the world entered into and ratified their covenants. It is alluded to again in Jeremiah 34:18-19. The method was to divide the victims, and lay the parts divided asunder, when the covenanting parties passed between them, and used some expressions perhaps to this purpose: "Thus let me be divided and cut in pieces, if I violate the oath or break the covenant into... read more
9-21. Take me an heifer, c.—On occasions of great importance, when two or more parties join in a compact, they either observe precisely the same rites as Abram did, or, where they do not, they invoke the lamp as their witness. According to these ideas, which have been from time immemorial engraven on the minds of Eastern people, the Lord Himself condescended to enter into covenant with Abram. The patriarch did not pass between the sacrifice and the reason was that in this transaction he was... read more
The animals used were standard types of sacrificial animals and may have represented the nation of Israel, "a kingdom of priests" (Exodus 19:6)."The use of five different kinds of sacrificial animals on this occasion underlines the solemnity of the occasion." [Note: Gordon J. Wenham, "The Symbolism of the Animal Rite in Genesis 15 : A Response to G. F. Hasel, JSOT 19 (1981):61-78," Journal for the Study of the Old Testament 22 (1981):135.] "We suggest that the animal cutting in Genesis 15:9-10;... read more
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Albert Barnes' Notes on the Whole Bible - Genesis 15:1-21
- The Faith of Abram1. דבר dābār, “a word, a thing;” the word being the sign of the thing.2. אדני 'ǎdonāy, “Adonai, the Lord;” related: “bring down, lay down.” This is the name usually read in place of Yahweh; but when, as in the present case, יהוה yehovâh and אדני 'ǎdonāy are in apposition, אלהים 'ĕlohı̂ym is read instead of the former. The Jews from a feeling of reverence avoided the utterance of this sacred name except on the most solemn occasions. This is said to have arisen from a... read more