Genesis Chapter 15 Study Aid

By Davie E. Smith

This book explores the allegorical prophecies in Genesis chapter 15, their repetition in the Old Testament, and their fulfillment in the New Testament. It "connects the dots" between chapter 15 and other Biblical Books and uses a whole Bible approach to interpreting scripture. It gives readers a deeper understanding of chapter 15, an awareness of key King James Version translation procedures, and shows the role God's Ordinances and sacrifices play in interpreting the Bible. This book attempts to explain chapter 15 in a way that readers will see the inerrancy, interdependency, and consistency of God's Word—and believe.

• Language: English
• Publisher: New Harbor Press
• Release date: Sep 2, 2022
• ISBN: 9798201025601

Book preview

Introduction

The purposes of this book are: (1) to provide a study aid for Genesis chapter 15; (2) to propose answers to questions related to this chapter; and (3) to explain chapter 15 in such a way that readers will see the prophecies in this chapter, the fulfillment of those prophecies in the New Testament (NT), ¹ and they will see the consistency of the Holy Scriptures. It neither intends to be the one true interpretation of the LORD’s Word nor to provide final answers. This study aid is a small step in gaining a better understanding of the LORD’s Word.

Though there is one interpretation of the Word of God, there are many applications. By diligently studying the Word of God, we may discover applications that will positively affect our behavior and bring us spiritually closer to the LORD. This study aid, therefore, is a journey of discovery, not a destination.

This book shows that the Bible is neither two books, the Old Testament (OT)² and the NT, nor is it sixty-six independent books. Each of the sixty-six books in the Bible is dependent on the others to complete and validate each other. Moreover, the OT foretells, and the NT fulfills. This book also shows that the Bible is one book with one inspiring author. However, there were several men, over several centuries, who wrote under the inspiration of this author—the LORD.

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1 Drane, John, BBC - Religions - Christianity: The Bible, https://www.bbc.co.uk/religion/religions/christianity/texts/bible.shtml. Retrieved 20 April 2022.

2 Drane, John, BBC - Religions - Christianity: The Bible.

Chapter 1

Key Lessons

There are, at least, four key lessons in this study aid. First, Jesus is the LORD, JEHOVAH, that appears to Abram in a vision in Genesis chapter 15. No other Person in the Trinity ³ manifests Himself in the flesh. Jesus appears to Abram as a Comforter, Protector, and an exceedingly great Reward. He is there when Abram needs Him, and He will be there when we need Him too.

Second, faith is not a lack of anxiety while performing God’s mission—anxiety is a natural part of the human nature that God gave us. Faith, however, is the demonstration of obedience and perseverance in spite of our anxieties. Our obedience and perseverance serve as evidence of our faith. We must obey and persevere while neither knowing nor understanding how God will protect us and fulfill His promises. 

Third, we must wave off the fowls sent by Satan to devour our spiritual sacrifices and to destroy our ability to fulfill the LORD’s mission. These fowls may be evil attacks that are not meant to destroy us directly, but they are to provoke us to return evil for evil and endanger our relationship with the LORD. Satan wants to use the LORD’s love for us as a weapon against the LORD.

We are merely tools for Satan in his battle against the LORD. Satan wants to deceive us into working against our own best interest and into losing our salvation. We cannot let the evil that Satan directs against us through others breed hatred. Hatred can breed sin, sin can lead to spiritual death, and spiritual death is eternal separation from the LORD.

Fourth, the Bible explains why Jesus came, how to recognize Him, and what to expect from Him, His Father, and the Holy Spirit. We should feel confident in who Jesus is, and what He did. This is because the OT tells us what He would do, the NT tells us what He did, and they agree. Jesus tells His followers, And now I have told you before it come to pass, that, when it is come to pass, ye might believe.⁴

This book shows the consistency within the Holy Scriptures and the linkages between the OT and the NT: the symbols, timelines, prophecies, and covenants. My prayer is that readers leave with a better understanding of the inerrancy of God’s Word, the relationship between the OT and the NT, and will either establish or strengthen their relationship with Jesus.

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3 In this book, the Trinity is defined as three divine, but distinct persons: God the Father, God the Son (Jesus), and God the Holy Spirit. These three Persons have the same substance (essence), but Jesus and God the Holy Spirit are subordinate to God the Father.

4 Jhn. 14:29

Chapter 2

Background

The Timeline

Chapter 15 begins 2,026 years after the LORD God forms and creates Adam, 370 years after the flood, 78 years after Abram’s birth, 68 years after Sarai’s birth, and 3 years after God calls Abram in Genesis chapter 12. ⁵

The Key Events Leading Up to Chapter 15

The Bible begins focusing on Abram and the LORD’s covenant with him in Genesis chapter 12. The LORD tells Abram that his part of this covenant, as written in the King James Version (KJV) of the Bible, is to get thee out of thy country, and from thy kindred, and from thy father’s house, unto a land that [the LORD] will shew [him].⁶ Later in chapter 14, we learn that the LORD makes at least one more stipulation, Abram is not [to] take from [the inhabitants of the land] a thread even to a shoelatchet, and that [he] will not take any thing that is [theirs].⁷

In return, God promises Abram that He will: (1) make of him a great nation, (2) bless him, (3) make his name great, (4) be a blessing, (5) bless them that bless him, (6) curse him that curseth him, and (7) in thee shall all families of the earth be blessed.⁸ Thus, the Promised Land is a stipulation and a dwelling place for the people of the Promises, it is not one of the seven Promises.

After Abram leaves his country, a famine causes him to sojourn in Egypt. But before entering Egypt, Abram asks his wife Sarai to tell the Pharaoh that she is his sister. Abram does this because Sarai is beautiful, and he fears that the Egyptian Pharaoh will kill him to have Sarai as his wife.⁹

Abram’s plan appears to work. The Pharaoh takes Sarai to be his wife. And because he believes that Abram is Sarai’s brother, he does not take Abram’s life. The LORD, however, sends plagues against Egypt and reveals to the Pharaoh that Sarai is Abram’s wife. This prompts the Pharaoh to command Abram to behold thy wife, take her, and go thy way.¹⁰

After leaving Egypt, Abram deals with resource conflicts between the herdmen of [his] cattle and the herdmen of Lot’s cattle.¹¹ This conflict emanates from the Pharaoh entreating Abram well for [Sarai’s] sake: and he had sheep, and oxen, and he asses, and menservants, and maidservants, and she asses, and camels.¹² Thus, Abram has more exiting Egypt than he had entering.

Abram resolves these conflicts by separating from Lot. But later in chapter 14, Lot is captured by four kings.¹³ Abram then armed his trained servants, born in his own house, three hundred and eighteen, and he pursued¹⁴ and successfully fights and rescues Lot from the four Kings.¹⁵ While returning from the battle, Abram communes with and receives a blessing from Melchizedek, king of Salem.¹⁶

In addition, in chapter 14, we learn that Abram, at some point in time, had lifted up [his] hand unto the LORD, the most high God, the possessor of heaven and earth, That [he would] not take from [the inhabitants of the land] a thread even to a shoelatchet, and that [he] will not take any thing that is thine.¹⁷ This is a second stipulation for receiving the Promises from the LORD. This promise and the seven Promises that the LORD makes to Abram are based solely on the LORD’s Word and Abram’s word. There is no formal carnal covenant cut. The only formal blood covenant cut is for the Promised Land.

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5 According to Jasher 16:22, Abram is 78 years old when God appears to him in Genesis chapter 15. According to Gen.17:17, Sarai is ten years younger than Abram. According to Gen. 12:4, Abram is 75 years old when God calls him in Genesis chapter 12.

6 Gen. 12:1

7 Gen. 14:23

8 Gen. 12:2–3

9 Gen. 12:11–13

10 Gen. 12:19

11 Gen. 13:7

12 Gen. 12:16

13 Gen. 14: 1–12

14 Gen. 14:14

15 Gen. 14:15–16

16 Gen 14:18–20

17 Gen. 14:22–23

Chapter 3

Chapter 15 Overview

In Genesis chapter 15, Abram has fulfilled his end of the covenant with the LORD and is waiting on the LORD to fulfill His part. Abram left his country and his kindreds, did not accept anything from the inhabitants, and is in the Promised Land. The remaining tasks are for the LORD to fulfill. Abram, however, is anxious. He knows what the LORD promised, but he lacks an understanding of how and when the LORD will fulfill His Promises. This is, in essence, a meaning of faith; the believing in the what while not understanding the how and when.

The LORD’s promises to Abram are twofold: to provide him with land and to make his descendants as innumerable as the stars. At this point, the land is inhabited by a multitude of people, Abram is 78-years-old without a child, and his wife, Sarai, is 68-years-old and barren. Abram understands and believes God, but he does not understand how and when He will fulfill His promises. This causes Abram anxiety. That said, Abram shows faith by aligning his actions and words according to the LORD’s promises. He does this while not understanding how a 78-year-old man and a 68-year-old barren woman will have offspring as innumerable as the stars.

The LORD knew Abram’s anxieties about the Promises related to his seed and the Promised Land. He comforts and reassures Abram of His protection. He addresses Abram’s anxieties by (1) confirming His Promises, (2) providing more details, and (3) by giving Abram a partial vision of the future fulfillment of both sets of promises. And, though the LORD follows the same pattern for both sets of promises, there is a notable difference. With the Promised Land, the LORD cuts a carnal-blood covenant with Abram.

The KJV describes the vision of God the Father, a smoking furnace, and Jesus, a burning lamp, cutting a carnal-blood covenant with Abram to reassure him that his seed will one day receive the Promised Land.¹⁸ Abram’s seed, however, will receive the Promised Land after going through a 400-year pattern of being put into servitude for a period of time and then exiting servitude with great substance. We also note that Abram is an inactive participant in the cutting of this carnal-blood covenant. After all, he has fulfilled his portion of the covenant. The only unfulfilled promises are those made by the LORD.

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18 Gen. 15:17

Chapter 4

The LORD in Genesis 15:1

The Translation Pattern for LORD

The first sentence in Genesis 15:1 reads, After these things the word of the LORD came unto Abram in a vision. This is the sixty-second time in the KJV where LORD is in all capital letters. The Hebrew word translated LORD in the KJV is יְהֹוָה (yehôvâh), or JEHOVAH.¹⁹ This translation pattern is found in most of the English translations that have been produced over the past several centuries. The notable exception is the American Standard Version (1901), which uses the term Jehovah rather than LORD. In these common versions, the translators are attempting to make known to the English readers that different Hebrew words were found in the original text.²⁰

The Grammar of LORD

LORD differs from Lord and lord in the KJV. LORD reflects the original term YHWH (found 6,823 times in the KJV), which the Jews considered God’s name. Lord (standard capitalization) is the English rendition of the Hebrew Adonai. The Jews consider God’s name, YHWH (four consonants), to be very sacred and do not pronounce His name. Eventually, the scribes borrowed vowels from the name ‘Adonai’ based upon a point system, which reflected the way the language was spoken. Vowels were thus inserted into the sacred four-letter name (called the Tetragrammaton—four letters). This eventually evolved into the hybrid word JEHOVAH around the beginning of the twelfth century AD.²¹ (The abbreviation AD stands for the Latin phrase Anno Domini. This Latin phrase means in the year of [our] Lord.²²)

The First Use of LORD

From Genesis chapter 2 to chapter 15, LORD (YHWH or JEHOVAH) is either used by itself or paired with God. God is the English translation of the Hebrew word אֱלֹהִים (Elohim). But, unlike JEHOVAH, which is God’s name, Elohim refers to God by a title or as a reference to Him being a deity, not by His