Genesis 15:1

"After these things the word of Jehovah came unto Abram in a vision, saying, Fear not, Abram: I am thy shield, and thy exceeding great reward."

"After these things ..." is a reference to the events of the previous chapter. It was not until Abram had at last "left" his father's house that the covenant was specifically renewed and expanded, as here. Therefore, the events of Genesis 14 were a necessary prelude to what is written here. Also, it was important that the great Christ-Type, Melchizedek, should appear, for the purpose of removing any impression that Abram, in any sense whatever, either invented, or discovered God!

"The word of Jehovah came unto Abram ..." God is the author of the Abrahamic promises; and we can only marvel at the arrogant denial of this in the affirmation that, "Abram evolved the phases of this promise through wishful thinking, or some act of inner compulsion!"[5] Our Lord repeatedly referred to the Genesis record in the words, "God hath said," and no believer in the Lord Jesus Christ could set that aside.

"In a vision ..." We believe this whole chapter is therefore a vision, as stated here, and that any limitation of the vision to some particular portion of this chapter is erroneous. The mingling of day scenes and night scenes (Genesis 15:5,12), the passing, evidently, of many hours, the slaughter of animals, the darkness, the deep sleep, and other factors of this chapter are best understood, and all difficulties removed by strict attention to what this chapter is, "a vision." As Leupold bluntly stated it, "This vision covers the whole chapter."[6] Keil also agreed that:

"The expression in a vision applies to the whole chapter. There is no pause anywhere, nor any sign that the vision ceased, or that the action was transferred to the sphere of the senses and of external reality."[7]

Of course, some critics proceed to tell us what parts of the chapter could be in the vision, and which could not be in it. But what do they know, or what does any man know, about what should be or should not be in a vision that God gave?

"Fear not, Abram ..." What fears were in Abram's heart that God should have thus reassured him? Willis thought the fear might have sprung from the Palestinian invasion just described, raising an "uncertainty"[8] Abram had regarding the future and the danger of reprisals against himself; Unger believed that Abram might have been afraid that he had done the wrong thing in refusing the "goods and the patronage of Sodom."[9] Aalders mentioned Abram's being a "stranger in a hostile environment."[10] However, it appears to us that the principal thing on Abram's mind was that the years were slipping away, and that, as yet, he had NO child. At least, that was the thing that Abram brought up at once.

"I am thy Shield, and thy exceeding great reward ..." This statement at the head of the chapter removes all possibility that this chapter gives clues as to how a sinner is saved from sin. Abram, in this chapter, does not correspond in any sense to an alien sinner. He had been following God ever since he left Ur of the Chaldees; and again, and again, he had strictly obeyed the commandments of Jehovah, in leaving Ur, in leaving Haran, in going to Canaan, and (probably) in the return to Bethel; and, as we have already noted, the expedition to rescue Lot could not have been undertaken without prayer for God's aid. Abram's obedient faith was the grounds upon which God had accounted Abram righteous, long before the events of this chapter. Could God possibly have said, "I am thy shield, etc.," if this had not been so? Was God in the business of being the shield and exceeding great reward of unforgiven sinners?