GRIFFIN COMMENTS GEN 15

GRIFFIN COMMENTS—GEN 15 (Gen 15:1) After these things the word of the LORD came unto Abram in a vision, saying, Fear not, Abram: I am thy shield, and thy exceeding great reward.

It is interesting to see what these two; God and Abraham had on their minds. God was interested in Abraham understanding who He is, and Abraham was interested in having a son and the posterity that goes with it. God promised to protect Abraham and be his posterity. God will be all we desire when our desire is on Him. This was a vision Abraham had, but it was given by the Lord.

(Gen 15:2) And Abram said, Lord GOD, what wilt thou give me, seeing I go childless, and the steward of my house is this Eliezer of Damascus?

He had been promised a son and never had received it so it looked bleak to Abraham as Eliezer was the one who was over all he had now and when he died this would then naturally go to him since Abraham had left his family behind.

Abram was afraid, so he addressed God with his problem but while he was talking the stars came out more and more, all of them; millions of silvery eyes, throng upon throng, glowing overhead, sparkling over the distant hills, glittering in the east, throbbing like hearts on the western horizon, the singing Pleiades, the mighty Arcturus and his sons, Venus and Mars, and the Milky Way (names unknown then), there they were, angels talking in light, servants watching the King's city. It was in that the Lord said to Abram, "Look up"; and Abram looked; and God said, "Count them"; and Abram said, "My Lord, who can count that host?" And the Lord said, "So shall thy seed be."

(Joseph Parker, D. D.) (Gen 15:3) And Abram said, Behold, to me thou hast given no seed: and, lo, one born in my house is mine heir.

This tells us that Eliezer had been with Abraham all his life and surely was the servant in Gen_24:1-3 that went to find a wife for Isaac,

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though the Bible does not name him there. Abraham was looking at circumstances from a very human perspective. He could not see into the future, and like all of us he had to make his judgment on what his senses told him.

(Gen 15:4) And, behold, the word of the LORD came unto him, saying, This shall not be thine heir; but he that shall come forth out of thine own bowels shall be thine heir.

Since He did not say at this particular time that the child would be born of Sarah, it may have been that Sarah would use this fact later to justify allowing Hagar to be the mother of the promised child. It is interesting that here it did not say, “And the Lord spoke to Abram,” but that the word of the Lord came to him. Very likely it was the audible voice in both cases, yet it could also have been a voice within.

(Gen 15:5) And he brought him forth abroad, and said, Look now toward heaven, and tell the stars, if thou be able to number them: and he said unto him, So shall thy seed be.

Again the Lord used this proof, that as he could not count the stars of the heavens, so he would not be able to count the number of his own children. That promise has been fulfilled, though it did not look like it would be that day. But as with Jesus, that one mustard seed became a tree that the birds could roost in its branches (Mat_13:31-32).

(Gen 15:6) And he believed in the LORD; and he counted it to him for righteousness.

Here is the statement of faith that Paul used later to show the greatness of the faith of Abraham over his works (Rom_4:3). In spite of all the setbacks and his temporary doubts, Abraham retained his faith in God and the promise of God. Paul said he did not stagger at the promise of God when he was a hundred (Rom_4:20). He did some staggering before that though.

(Gen 15:7) And he said unto him, I am the LORD that brought thee out of Ur of the Chaldees, to give thee this land to inherit it.

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Again it is clear that God gave Abraham this land. In doing so it would naturally belong to his seed after him, but at this point God says to Abraham that the land is his. God said that this was the purpose for which He brought him out of Ur of the Chaldees. The Jews claim he escaped from a furnace there, but the scripture gives only this account that God brought him out.

(Gen 15:8) And he said, Lord GOD, whereby shall I know that I shall inherit it?

There was certainly no evidence observable to Abraham that this land would ever be his. It was presently being run by several nations, all of which were pagan and getting worse until over four hundred years later God would destroy them by means of the seed of Abraham.

Notice also he was looking forward to inheriting it himself, and not just understanding that his seed would inherit.

(Gen 15:9) And he said unto him, Take me an heifer of three years old, and a she goat of three years old, and a ram of three years old, and a turtledove, and a young pigeon.

Nothing is said of his offering this on an altar of fire, though he laid them out here to be viewed as part of a covenant. Each is three years old to show that they had reached full maturity, apparently to indicate to Abraham the perfection or maturity of the covenant.

It is worthy of remark, that every animal allowed or commanded to be sacrificed under the Mosaic law is to be found in this list. (Adam Clarke) (Gen 15:10) And he took unto him all these, and divided them in the midst, and laid each piece one against another: but the birds divided he not.

He laid them out in divided form. When someone made a covenant, they said they "cut" the covenant, instead of saying they made it. The side of an animal represents each party and the two parts make a whole. One part here was to represent Abraham, and the other was to represent Jehovah-Elohim. Jeremiah also refers to this dividing of the animal so the parties can go between the pieces (Jer_34:18-19).

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(Gen 15:11) And when the fowls came down upon the carcases, Abram drove them away.

We must keep the vultures off our sacrifice. There is always something that wants to ruin your sacrifice and thus make void your covenant with God. You have to keep some implement handy to drive away all vultures from your sacrifice.

CHASE THE VULTURES AWAY (Gen_15:11) When the fowls came down upon the carcasses, Abram drove them away.

WELL KNOWN INTRUDERS WHICH ARE PERPETUALLY MOLESTING OUR PEACE AND DISTURBING OUR SERVICE. 1.

Wicked thoughts—the sons of satan.

2.

Worldly thoughts, which spring from the force of habit. They may come as dreams of ambition; the cares of life; temptations to sin, or idleness.

3.

Anxious thoughts, the fruits of our unbelief. There will be doubts as to eternal things; doubts as to whether there even is a God to serve; doubts as to whether there is a heaven, an eternal future, a blessed reward for all this toil; doubts as to whether you should give up this world for the next.

4.

Annoying thoughts, the offspring of our vanity. There will be thoughts as about your wisdom in giving up yourself to God.

6.

Ecclesiastical anxieties: Church business, or Church differences.

DRIVE THEM AWAY! When the vultures come down upon your sacrifices of prayer, and praise, and meditation, drive them away.

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Drive away those evil thoughts when you are worshipping God. You will do your work during the other days of the week far better when you drive the vultures away on Sunday.

It was an old Popish folly to try and tell what kind of weather there would be by the weather on Sunday. “If it rain before mess, rain all the week more or less.” Now, we do not believe that literally; but we do believe it in a spiritual sense. If you have a bad Sabbath-day you will have a bad week; but if you have a good day of rest, you will find it good with your souls the whole week long. Or if you begin your day with prayer God is there with you all day long.

These thoughts and cares must be driven away, for if you do not strive against them they will increase and multiply. This is a growing habit. The force of habit is like the velocity of a falling stone, it increases in ever multiplying proportions. If I have indulged one unbelieving thought, there has always been another to follow it; if I have allowed some little disturbance in the congregation to cast me down, and distract my thoughts, there has been another and another, and another, till I have been in the pitiable condition of a minister who has been half afraid of his congregation.

We usually say to preachers, “Do not preach without preparation.” But the same can be said of listeners. Men ought not to hear without preparation. Get those vultures out before church service.

Remember how solemn this covenant sacrifice was. We cannot allow the vultures to tear this sacrifice.

Remember the vulture is saying, “Fight neither with small or great, save only with the King of Israel.” If they can throw down the bastion of truth, if they can nullify the atonement, then all the rest will go as a matter of course. If the cross is taken away there is nothing left defending.

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One little boy went into the hayloft to pray. He pulled the ladder up after him. When asked why, he said this way he cut the connection between the soul and intruding things.

Spurgeon was praying one Saturday night in preparation for Sunday. A very important man came to see him, but Spurgeon sent word he would see no one at that time. The man sent back a message, tell him a servant of the Lord wants to see him immediately. Spurgeon replied, “Tell him I am busy with his Master, and cannot see servants now.”

Flies will not so readily light on a boiling pot on the fire, as when it stands cold in the window. Nor will vain thoughts so easily light on your sacrifice, when burning on the altar of a fervent heart, as when offered up with a cold, dull spirit.

WORSHIP DISTRACTERS There is always something trying to disturb your worship and you must drive them away. Unclean thoughts, doubts, and cares of life will try to keep your attention on some trivial thing in life.

(Gen 15:12) And when the sun was going down, a deep sleep fell upon Abram; and, lo, an horror of great darkness fell upon him.

God put Adam to sleep to produce from him a wife (Gen_2:21). God put Abraham to sleep to let him know that from him would come a seed that would be a great nation, but that they would have to be in bondage for four hundred years before they could become that great nation. This would of course, refer to the time between Joseph and Moses.

(Gen 15:13) And he said unto Abram, Know of a surety that thy seed shall be a stranger in a land that is not theirs, and shall serve them; and they shall afflict them four hundred years; Israel came down into Egypt to get away from the famine and to be with Joseph, but that was God’s plan to bring them into a place and let them serve the Egyptians for 400 years and then because of all that become a great nation. Before this, they were tribesmen living in

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the desert and would have forever been such had not God placed them in a land where they could no longer live like they did in the desert.

(Gen 15:14) And also that nation, whom they shall serve, will I judge: and afterward shall they come out with great substance.

That is exactly what happened. God sent Pharaoh and the Egyptians ten plagues that destroyed the power of their gods and wiped out their economy, and then to add to the miraculous, the people gave to Israel their greatest material possessions. They also lost on that last night their firstborn son of Pharaoh who would be looked upon as the next leader and god.

(Gen 15:15) And thou shalt go to thy fathers in peace; thou shalt be buried in a good old age.

Abraham was hoping to see not only his seed but the generations that came from that seed. But God let him know that was a long process and he would not see it himself because he would die before that time, but that God would Himself orchestrate the fulfillment of his seed becoming a nation. Abraham will have to wait until the next life to know what happened.

(Gen 15:16) But in the fourth generation they shall come hither again: for the iniquity of the Amorites is not yet full.

A generation at that time would be 100 years, and after 400 years they would come again into this land.

[For the iniquity of the Amorite is not yet full] From this simple sentence we have much to learn. First. The Lord foreknows the moral character of people. Second. In his providence he administers the affairs of nations on the principle of moral rectitude.

Third. Nations are spared until their iniquity is full. Fourth. They are then cut off in retributive justice. Fifth. The Amorite was to be the chief nation extirpated for its iniquity on the return of the seed of Abram. Accordingly, we find the Amorites occupying by conquest the country east of the Jordan, from the Arnon to Mount Hermon, under their two kings, Sihon and Og (Num_21:21-35). On the west of

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Jordan we have already met them at En-gedi and Hebron, and they dwelt in the mountains of Judah and Ephraim (Num_13:29), whence they seem to have crossed the Jordan for conquest (Num_21:26). Thus had they of all the tribes that overspread the land by far the largest extent of territory. And they seem to have been extinguished as a nation by the invasion of Israel, as we hear no more of them in the subsequent history of the country.

(Barnes' Notes) (Gen 15:17) And it came to pass, that, when the sun went down, and it was dark, behold a smoking furnace, and a burning lamp that passed between those pieces.

God’s fire went among these covenant animals to show His acceptance and that the ratified covenant was valid from this time forward.

Is Abram afraid of the smoking furnace? In the light of the burning lamp he reads, "Fear not, Abraham, I am thy shield, thy exceeding great reward." Does Paul's thorn rankle so deep that he pleads thrice with tears and sighs to be delivered? The burning lamp flings the promise on the smoke cloud "My grace is sufficient for thee," and at once the apostle "glories in his infirmities and praises God in the fire!" So with thee, O Christian! In thy trials thou shalt have triumphs, in thy sorrows thou shalt have solace. For thy trouble thou shalt have double; in tribulation shall come compensation, and always and ever the smoking furnace shall be held in check by the gleam of the burning lamp! Do you ask in doubtful wonder why a consecrated life should be so closely linked with affliction? I answer that the furnace is the purifying agent making the sanctification perfect and the sacrifice more precious and complete. (J. J. Wray) (Gen 15:18) In the same day the LORD made a covenant with Abram, saying, Unto thy seed have I given this land, from the river of Egypt unto the great river, the river Euphrates: This time God did not mention that the land belonged to Abraham, probably because He was speaking of it belonging to these who had been in the 400 years bondage and that was after Abraham.

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MOMENTARY DOUBTS THAT CLOUD THE BELIEVER'S SKY A.

ABRAHAM: As to the inheritance of Canaan (Gen_15:18)

B.

GIDEON: As to victory over Median (Jdg_6:17)

C.

JOHN THE BAPTIST: As to the Messiahship of Jesus (Mat_11:3)

D.

MARTHA: As to the resurrection of Lazarus (Joh_11:39)

E.

THOMAS: As to the resurrection of Christ (Joh_20:25)

F.

THE EARLY CHRISTIANS: As to the deliverance of Peter (Act_12:14-15)

G.

THEY ALL GO TO GOD

(Gen 15:19) The Kenites, and the Kenizzites, and the Kadmonites, All of this land that was now in the hands of this people was not really theirs. God had laid a claim on it from the beginning but these people did not know that and were therefore living on it as though it were theirs. From the very creation of the world, man is only a steward of God's possessions. In fact the same thing is happening today. Others are usurping that land and in time God will take it from them and give it back to Israel.

(Gen 15:20) And the Hittites, and the Perizzites, and the Rephaims, Abraham was already acquainted with the Hittites for they lived around the Hebron area where Abraham had his dwelling. The Perizzites lived in the hill country of mount Ephraim. The Rephaims lived further west and were still there when the Philistines came into that country near the time that Israel began their invasion under Joshua.

(Gen 15:21) And the Amorites, and the Canaanites, and the Girgashites, and the Jebusites.

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The Amorites were from Canaan the grandson of Noah. They are the ones who felt the brunt of his curse. They were the first destroyed by Israel. The term “Canaanites,” refers to two things. At times it is one of the seven tribes in the land of Canaan; Canaanites, Hittites, Amorites, Perizzites, Hivites, Jebusites and Girgashites. At other times it is speaking of all Canaan and some or all these tribes, plus the Kenites, the Kenizzites, and the Kadmonites. Besides these there were several tribes of the Canaanites who lived beyond the borders of the Promised Land northward. These were the Arkites, Sinites, Arvvadites, Zemarites, and Hamathites (Gen_10:17-18), with whom, of course, the Israelites had no concern. There were also other tribes of Canaanitish origin (or possibly other names given to some of those already mentioned), who were dispossessed by the Israelites. The chief of these were the Amalekites, the Anakites, and the Rephaim (or "giants," as they are frequently called in our translation).

For the tribe of "the Canaanites" only the dwellers in the lowland, i.e. "who dwelt by the sea and by the coasts of Jordan" (Num_13:29). The whole of the country west of Jordan might, as we have seen, be in some sense called a "lowland" as compared with the loftier and more extended tracts on the east. (McClintock and Strong Encyclopedia)

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