Genesis 15.8-11-Abram's Request For A Guarantee

Tuesday December 13, 2005

Genesis: Genesis 15:8-11-Abram’s Request For A Guarantee

Lesson # 76

Please turn in your Bibles to Genesis 15:1.

This evening we will study Genesis 15:8, which records Abram’s request for a guarantee as to the means by which the Lord will give him the land of Canaan.

We will also study Genesis 15:9-11, which records the provisions prescribed by the Lord and the preparations made by Abram for the ceremony in which the Lord will establish His covenant with Abram guaranteeing the land of Canaan to him and his descendants.

Genesis 15:1, “After these things the word of the LORD came to Abram in a vision, saying, ‘Do not fear, Abram, I am a shield to you; Your reward shall be very great.’”

Genesis 15:2, “Abram said, ‘O Lord GOD, what will You give me, since I am childless, and the heir of my house is Eliezer of Damascus?’”

Genesis 15:3, “And Abram said, ‘Since You have given no offspring to me, one born in my house is my heir.’”

Genesis 15:4, “Then behold, the word of the LORD came to him, saying, ‘This man will not be your heir; but one who will come forth from your own body, he shall be your heir.’”

Genesis 15:5, “And He took him outside and said, ‘Now look toward the heavens, and count the stars, if you are able to count them.’ And He said to him, ‘So shall your descendants be.’”

Genesis 15:6, “Then he believed in the LORD; and He reckoned it to him as righteousness.”

Genesis 15:7, “And He said to him, ‘I am the LORD who brought you out of Ur of the Chaldeans, to give you this land to possess it.’”

Genesis 15:8, “He said, ‘O Lord GOD, how may I know that I will possess it?’”

Abram’s question recorded in Genesis 15:8 was motivated by faith and was simply a question asking for more details or more accurately the specific means by which the Lord would accomplish giving him the land of Canaan.

The phrase “how I may I know” is incorrectly translated since it does “not” accurately convey the meaning of the Hebrew prepositional phrase bammah (hM*B^) and should actually be translated “by what specific means may I confirm.”

“How” is used to translate the Hebrew preposition be (B+) (pronounced beth), which means, “by means of” and is followed by the definite article ha (h^) and the interrogative mah (hm*), which means, “what.”

The preposition be denotes the instrument or means by which the Lord will accomplish giving the land of Canaan to Abram and which means is identified in Genesis 15:9-21.

The interrogative mah when employed with the preposition be means, “by what means.”

The definite article ha, which precedes the interrogative mah indicates that Abram is asking the Lord to “specify” the means by which he can confirm that he will possess the land of Canaan as promised to him by the Lord.

“I will know” is the verb yadha (ud^y*), which in the context of Genesis 15:7-21 means, “to confirm” since Abram is attempting to seek confirmation from the Lord as to the means by which he can be assured that he will possess the land of Canaan.

To “confirm” means, “to acknowledge with definite assurance,” thus, Abram is seeking to “acknowledge with definite assurance” the specific means by which or how he will possess the land of Canaan.

To “confirm” also means, “to establish the truth, accuracy, validity or genuineness of, corroborate; verify,” thus, Abram is seeking “to verify” the specific means by which he will possess the land of Canaan.

Therefore, Abram’s question in Genesis 15:8 does not indicate that Abram doubted that the Lord would fulfill His promise but rather he simply asked for confirmation as to the specific means He would employ to accomplish giving Abram the land.

In Genesis 15:9-21, the Lord gives Abram quite a few details surrounding the specific means by which the Lord would bring about Abram possessing the land of Canaan.

The specific means by which the Lord will give Abram the land of Canaan would be through the unconditional covenant that the Lord initially made with Abram in Genesis 12:1-3 and 13:14-17, which would be enlarged and amplified and confirmed as demonstrated in the covenant ceremony recorded in Genesis 15:9-21.

Also, the specific means by which the Lord will give Abram the land of Canaan would be through suffering as indicated by the Lord’s prophecy in Genesis 15:13-16 that Abram’s descendants, specifically, the nation of Israel would suffer in Egypt for four hundred years before they would finally leave Egypt and then enter the land of Canaan to possess it.

Also, although not specifically mentioned but it is implied, is that it would be through resurrection from the dead that Abram would personally enter into possessing the land of Canaan, which will take place during the millennial reign of Christ.

Furthermore, the fulfillment of the Lord’s promise to Abram, which would be fulfilled during the millennial reign of Christ, would be accomplished by means of the sacrifice of Jesus Christ on the Cross, which is portrayed in the sacrifice of the animals in the covenant ceremony.

The curse of sin could only be removed by the death of Christ, which was taught through blood animal sacrifices, which Abram practiced and thus acknowledged his need of a Savior, a Redeemer to approach God in fellowship.

This covenant with Abram in Genesis 15:7-8 is dependent upon the Lord Jesus Christ and His death and resurrection, without which, this covenant could never be fulfilled.

Genesis 15:9, “So He said to him, ‘Bring Me a three year old heifer, and a three year old female goat, and a three year old ram, and a turtledove, and a young pigeon.’”

In the Bible, five is the number of “grace.”

Thus, the five animals Abram has to sacrifice are a picture of God’s grace, which by way of definition, is all that God is free to do in imparting unmerited blessings to members of the human race based upon merits of the Person and Work of Christ on the Cross.

The fact that the heifer, female goat and ram had to be three years old indicated that they would have to be mature and the best from the flocks representing the fact that God gave His best when He sacrificed His Son on the Cross.

There were no age stipulations for the birds since they do not portray the sacrificial aspect of Jesus Christ but rather that He is resurrected and this is the reason why the birds are not cut in two like the heifer, female goat and ram.

These five animals are those that were later used in the sacrifices prescribed in Leviticus 1-7: a heifer, a goat and a ram, a dove and a young pigeon.

The animals represent all the offerings mentioned in Leviticus, starting with the guilt offering, the sin offering, the fellowship offering to the burnt offering, which are given in the reversed order in Leviticus and also emphasize the social status from poor to rich.

Each of these animals portrays or foreshadows a distinctive aspect of Christ’s perfection and the perfection of His work on the Cross.

“Heifer” is the noun `eghlah (zu@) (eg-law), which means, “young cow, heifer,” which were used for plowing and threshing (Judg. 14:18; Jer. 50:11; Hos. 10:11) and portrayed the servanthood of Jesus Christ.

Mark 10:45. “For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life a ransom for many.”

“Female goat” is noun `ez (zu@) (aze), which portrayed the sinless human nature of the Lord Jesus Christ who is the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world (Lev. 16:20-22; Jn. 1:29).

John 1:29, “The next day he saw Jesus coming to him and said, ‘Behold, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!’”

“Ram” is the noun ‘ayil (ly!a^) (ah-yil), which refers to a mature male sheep and portrays the Lord Jesus Christ as our Substitute who died in our place on the Cross.

Romans 5:6-8, “For while we were still helpless, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly. For one will hardly die for a righteous man; though perhaps for the good man someone would dare even to die. But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died as a substitute for all of us.”

“Turtledove” is the noun tor (rw{T) (tore), which were sacrificed by those who were poor and could not afford an ox or a lamb and represented the fact the Jesus Christ is unique since He is both God and Man, undiminished deity and true humanity one Person forever.

2 Corinthians 8:9, “For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though He was rich (God), yet for your sake He became poor (a Man), so that you through His poverty (Christ’s humanity) might become rich (become partakers of the divine nature).”

“Young pigeon” is the noun gozal (lz*w{G) (go-zawl), which is correctly translated and was also sacrificed by those too poor to afford an ox or lamb and represented the fact that since Jesus Christ in His person is unique as the God-Man, so was His death and that He alone would be raised and seated at the Father’s right hand.

Genesis 15:10, “Then he brought all these to Him and cut them in two, and laid each half opposite the other; but he did not cut the birds.”

One each of the five acceptable sacrificial animals (cow, sheep, goat, pigeon, dove) was to be slain by Abram and laid on the altar.

The animals sacrificed on the altar were placed in two rows, one bird in each, along with a half-portion of each of the other animals.

This arrangement was evidently intended to conform to the custom of the day, when a covenant was made between two parties.

Each would pass between the rows, as a sign that he was bound by the terms of the contract (cf. Jer. 34:18-19).

But in this ceremony recorded in Genesis 15:9-21, only the Lord passes between the rows informing Abram that the fulfillment of this covenant to give the land of Canaan to Abram was “unconditional” meaning that its fulfillment was totally and completely dependent upon the faithfulness of the Lord.

The fact that only the Lord passed through the rows indicates that God alone would accomplish the fulfillment of this covenant through the death, resurrection, session and millennial reign of His Son Jesus Christ.

The fact that Abram did not have to hunt these animals down and kill them but were ready to be used for sacrificial purposes portrays the Father’s predetermined plan to send His Son Jesus Christ to the Cross.

Acts 2:22, “Men of Israel, listen to these words: Jesus the Nazarene, a man attested to you by God with miracles and wonders and signs which God performed through Him in your midst, just as you yourselves know.”

Acts 2:23, “this Man, delivered over by the predetermined plan and foreknowledge of God, you nailed to a cross by the hands of godless men and put Him to death.”

Genesis 15:11, “The birds of prey came down upon the carcasses, and Abram drove them away.”

The birds of prey coming down upon the carcasses of the animals portrayed the attempts of Satan and his kingdom to prevent the death of Christ and God’s plan of salvation for mankind and the fulfillment of this covenant being fulfilled during Christ’s millennial reign (cf. Rev. 12:1-6).

The fact that Abram had to drive them away portrays the need of the believer to put on the full armor of God and take up the shield of faith and be alert for the attacks of Satan and the kingdom of darkness.

1 Peter 5:8, “Be of sober spirit, be on the alert. Your adversary, the devil, prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour.”