Genesis 15

Genesis 15:1

Fear not; indulge no slavish or excessive terror on account of thine enemies, wants, or dangers; or on account of the awful appearances of God; Is. xliii. 1. and xli

Genesis 15:18

I am thy shield, infallible to protect thee; Psal. iii. 3. lxxxiv. 11. and xci. 4.; and thy exceeding great but gracious reward of thy piety and love, giving myself, in all that I am and have, to thee, as thine everlasting all and in all; Prov. xi. 18. Psal. xix. 11. xvi. 5, 6: and cxlii. 5. Deut. xxxiii. 26-29. Is. xli. 10. 1 Cor. iii. 22. and xv. 28. 58. Col. ii. 9, 10. Ver. 2, 3. What avails it what outward comforts be promised me, so long as I have no child of my own, but only this Syrian servant, to be my heir. Ver. 8-17. Moved by the Spirit of God, he asked this sign.-The beasts he presented to God were emblems of his seed:-the heifer prefigured them in their patience, labour, and proneness to back-sliding; Hos. iv. 16: the goat in their mischievousness and lust; Jer. v. 7, 8; the ram in their strength and fortitude; Num. xxiv. 8, 9; the doves in their simplicity and harmlessness, in their purest state; Ps. lxxiv

Genesis 15:19

The division of the four-footed animals (1) represented the torn condition of his seed, by the division of their kingdom, &c. 1 Kings xi. 12, 13; (2) ratified the covenant made with him and his seed, in God’s passing between the pieces, in the symbol of the burning lamp.-The pieces being laid over against one another imported that God would in due time join the separated and scattered Hebrews into one body; Ezek. xxxvii. 15-22. The fowls, which attempted to light on the pieces, denoted the Egyptians, and other enemies of Israel, which should in vain attempt to devour them; Ezek. xvii. 3, 7, 12. The horror of great darkness which fell upon Abram, signified their great distress and vexation in Egypt, and under their subsequent oppressors; Psal. iv. 3-5. Dan. x. 8, 9: and hence they are like to a bush burning, and not consumed; Exod. iii. 2, 3. The burning lamp denoted their manifest and joyful deliverance; Judg. vi

Genesis 15:21

Is. lxii. 1; the smoking furnace their affliction in Egypt; Deut. iv. 20. Jer. xi. 4.-Abram went to his fathers in death, he, soul to the world of spirits, and his body to the grave, where they were given before him; Heb. xii. 23. Eccl. xii. 7. ch. xxv. 8, 17. and xlix. 29. Num. xxv. 24. and xxvii. 13. Judg. ii. 10. 1 Chron. xxiii. 1. and xxix. 28. Job xlii. 1. Jer. viii. 2. And it was in peace, without remarkable trouble; and in peace with God, with his own conscience, and with his neighbours; Psal. xxxvii. 1. Is. lvii. 2. 2 Kings xxii. 20. It was also in a good old age; when he was in years, weary of this world, and ready and longing for heaven, yet free many of the infirmities of old age, and falling like ripe fruit in the time of thering; ch. xxv. 8. I Chron. xxix. 28. Job v. 26. Ver. 16. Iniquity is full, when it is arrived at such a number of acts, such a degree of aggravation, and time of continuance, that God, in consistence with his purpose or honour, can no longer forbear to punish it; I Thess. ii. 16. Ver. 18. Through their sloth and wickedness, they never, but in the reign of David and Solomon, possessed the whole territory here assigned them; Judges ii. iii. and iv. with 2 Sam. viii. and x. 1 Kings iv. 21, 24. 2 Chron. ix. 26. Ver. 19, 20. It seems the Kenites, Kenizzites, Kadmonites, and Rephaims, and either been mostly extirpated before the time of Moses, or were blended with the seven nations which he mentions; Deut. vii. 1, 17—24. Ex. xxii. 23. xxxiii. 2. and xxxiv. 11

REFLECTIONS UPON CHAP. XV.—Blessed indeed are they whose God is the Lord! There is no wo, no want, to them that fear him! How happy the issue of familiar intimacy with God! Before they call be answers; and whilst they are yet speaking he saith, Here I am. Scarcely will he do any thing important without revealing his secrets to them.—How he condescends to our weakness, in giving us signs in ordinances, signs in providence, for the confirmation of our faith in his promises!—But even his chief favourites must often wait long for the beginning or the full accomplishment of these promises; and through unifold trials it must be obtained. Meanwhile, then, let me wait with patient expectation; and with the patriarch, look beyond a numerous seed, and an earthly Canaan, to Jesus, and the travail of his soul, and to the better country above; the everlasting pleasures of which shall more than balance all the discouragements I can meet with by the way