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Genesis Chapter 15

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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.

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?

³ And Abram said, Behold, to me thou hast given no seed: and, lo, one born in my house is mine heir.

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.

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.

⁶ And he believed in the LORD; and he counted it to him for righteousness.

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.

⁸ And he said, Lord GOD, whereby shall I know that I shall inherit it?

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.

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.

¹¹ And when the fowls came down upon the carcases, Abram drove them away.

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

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;

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

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

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

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.

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:

¹⁹ The Kenites, and the Kenizzites, and the Kadmonites,

²⁰ And the Hittites, and the Perizzites, and the Rephaims,

²¹ And the Amorites, and the Canaanites, and the Girgashites, and the Jebusites.

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View All Genesis Chapter 15 Comments...

RichFairhurst's Genesis Chapter 15 comment on 11/20/2023, 10:08pm...

Most commentaries online take the 4th generation mentioned in Genesis 15:16 as just another way of describing the same span of 400 years (or 430 years) that the nation of Israel spent in Egypt which is covered in Genesis 15:12-14. This cannot be the case.

Genesis 15:16 answers Abraham's question in Genesis 15:8 about how he would know God would cause his seed to inherit the land God had brought him out of Ur to see that Abram was standing on in Hebron. The thought of asking God about when his seed would leave Egypt had nothing to do with Abrams question in Genesis 15:8, since he knew nothing about his seed going to Egypt until God revealed His plan in Genesis 15:12-14.

Numbers 14:13-25 shows that God made the Israelites wander in the wilderness according to Moses word, which specifically acknowledged God's right to visit the iniquity of the fathers upon the 3rd and 4th generations. The 1st generation that left Egypt punished as the fathers was 20 years old at the census in Numbers 1:1-54. The 2nd generation was their children who were born in Egypt and seen God's wonders, but who could not enter God's promised land until 40 years of wandering with their fathers had passed. That generation spent a maximum of 40 years of their years in military service wandering in the wilderness.

The 3rd generation would be born over the first 20 years in the wilderness and would spend a maximum of 20 years of their military service wandering in the wilderness. The 4th generation was born in the last 20 years in the wilderness and first served in the army after entering the promised land. The 5th generation spent no time in the wilderness and began entering the army 20 years into Joshua's campaign.

Caleb was promised Hebron when he was 85 years old, which was 5 years after Israel left the wilderness. Caleb was from the tribe of Judah, the first tribe to gain its inheritance, and he obtained Hebron before he turned 100, the age he would be 20 years into Joshua's campaign.

Chris's Genesis Chapter 15 comment on 10/07/2022, 4:08am...

The mentioning of the Amorites was a people referred to in verse 16, and they were representative of the other peoples in Canaan. And those others are mentioned in verses 19 to 21. The Egyptians were not in this part of the world, but all these other groups were given over to idolatry & were under God's Judgement.

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