Commentary on Genesis, Chapter 15
CHAP. XV.
Ver. 1. AND after theſe things.] After this great Victory, and his generous refuſal of the King of Sodom's offer.
The Word of the LORD came to Abram.] God revealed himſelf more clearly to him. For this is the firſt time we read, of the Word of the LORD coming to him; and of his having a Viſion: That is, being made a Prophet, and that in an high Degree; God revealing his Mind to him, not in a Dream, but in a Viſion; when he was awake, but having his Senſes (as Maimonides explains it) bound up from their ordinary Functions; during the time that the heavenly Influence came upon his Mind, and diffuſed it ſelf to his Imagination; where it repreſented ſeveral things to him. More Nevochim, P. II. c. 41. But theſe words may be underſtood, of his having theſe things repreſented to him, by the Divine Majeſty; when he was perfectly awake, and uſed all his Senſes.
Fear not, Abram.] He heard theſe words, while he was in the Ecſtaſie, (according to Maimonides's Explication) incouraging his hope in God, that he and Lot ſhould be ſafe from any new Invaſion by theſe, or any other, Enemies. For, perhaps, there were ſome Rumors abroad of the Aſſyrians recruiting their Forces; with an intention to renew the War.
I am thy Shield.] I will protect and defend thee.
And thy exceeding great Reward.] Will give thee far more, than thou haſt lately denied to take, for my ſake.
Ver. 2. LORD God, what wilt thou give me, &c.] What good will all the Riches in the World do me, if I have not a Child to inherit my Eſtate?
To go childleſs.] Is to die, (to go out of the World without Children) as Luke XXII. 22. truly the Son of Man goeth, i. e. muſt die ſhortly. He doth not ſlight God's Promiſe made in the foregoing Verſe; but only deſires him to be ſo gracious as to give him a Child for his Reward.
And the Steward of my Houſe is this, &c.] He that takes Care of all I have, (and therefore deſerves beſt of me) is not of my Kindred.
Eliezer of Damaſcus.] Some think this ſignifies no more, but that he was born of a Syrian Woman.
Ver. 3. And Abram ſaid, &c.] He repeats the ſame again, out of a great Concern to have God's Promiſe fulfilled: Which he did not disbelieve, but earneſtly long'd for, more than for all the Riches in the World.
One born in my Houſe is my Heir.] It is likely, that Eliezer was one of thoſe Souls (i. e. Servants) gotten in Haran, (XII. 5.) and had been ſuch a wiſe and faithful Manager of all things committed to his Care, that Abram intended, before the Promiſe made to him, to have left him his Heir: Thinking he ſhould have no Child of his own; Sarah being barren, as we read, XI. 30.
Ver. 4. And behold, the Word of the LORD came to him, &c.] A new Aſſurance is given him, from the Schechinah, or Divine Majeſty, that he ſhould have an Heir begotten by himſelf.
Ver. 5. And he brought him forth abroad, and ſaid, &c.] Maimonides thinks (More Nev. P. II. c. 46.) that all this which follows was done in a Viſion. But others will have it, that he was really conducted out of his Tent into the open Air, and look'd upon the Stars. The former Opinion is more probable, becauſe the Sun was not yet gone down, verſe 12. and therefore the Stars were not to be ſeen with the Eye, but were repreſented only in a Viſion.
So ſhall thy ſeed be.] Nehem. IX. 23. He not only promiſes him an Heir; but that this Heir ſhould have a numerous Poſterity. Which, as before XIII. 16. he compared to the Duſt of the Earth; ſo here he compares to the Stars of Heaven. Showing (ſay ſome of the Jews) by the former their Humiliation; and by this their Exaltation and Advancement. And indeed, in this Chapter, he ſpeaks of both.
Ver. 6. He believed in the LORD.] Was fully perſuaded that God both could and would perform his Promiſe; though it ſeemed to be very difficult, if not impoſſible, according to the ordinary courſe of Nature: He and Sarah both, being very old.
And he counted it to him for righteouſneſs.] The Lord eſteemed it a moſt noble Act, and high Expreſſion of a pious Confidence in him, (as that Act of Phineas was, in after-times, Pſalm CVI. 31.) and thereupon graciouſly owned him for a righteous Perſon: Though he was not free from all Sin whatſoever; but was guilty of ſome that were not conſiſtent with perfect Righteouſneſs.
It is here to be conſidered, That Abram believed this Promiſe before, (XII. 1, 2, 3, 4.) but now his Faith was the more remarkable; becauſe, notwithſtanding ſome time had paſſed ſince the firſt making of the Promiſe, and he had no Iſſue; he ſtill perſiſted in the belief, that God would beſtow a Son upon him; though it grew every day more and more unlikely.
Ver. 7. I am the LORD that brought thee, &c.] He re-minds him of what he had already done for him; that he might confirm him in the belief of what he promiſed further to do.
To give thee this Land, &c.] To beſtow it upon thy Children for their Inheritance.
Ver. 8. Whereby ſhall I know, &c.] This is not ſpoken doubtingly; for the ſtrength of his Faith is highly commended; but he deſires to have it more and more ſtrengthned and confirmed: As ſome good Men did in after-times, when they were put upon very difficult Services. So Gideon, Judg. VI. 37, &c.
Ver. 9. And he ſaid unto him, Take me an Heifer, &c.] i. e. Offer unto me (ſo it ſhould be rendered, as Mr. Mede obſerves, Book II. p. 472.) the following Creatures: Which are of four Sorts. From whence the Hebrew Doctors would perſuade us the riſe and the fall of the four Monarchies are ſignified in theſe words. But it is a better Obſervation, That God hereby fore-ſignified their Sins ſhould be expiated by Sacrifices. For theſe were the Creatures, and theſe alone, which were appointed to be offered in ſacrifice to God, by the Law of Moſes. And it juſtifies their Opinion, who think there were clean and unclean Beaſts, with reſpect to Sacrifice, before the Law; though not with reſpect to Meat.
Yet here is ſomething ſingular, That God required Abram to offer an Heifer of three Years old, with a Goat and a Ram of the ſame Age; whereas afterwards, under the Law, they were commonly of one Year old. I know not the reaſon of this difference; but certain it is, that a Ram of three Years old, is in its full ſtrength, and the vigour of its Age; as Bochart obſerves. Whence it is that Lucian introduces Ganymede proffering to offer unto Jupiter, (if he would diſmiſs him,) foreign, &c. A Ram of three Years old, a big one, the leader of the Flock. Hierozoic. P. I. Lib. 2. c. 46.
A young Pigeon.] The Hebrew word Gozal, ſignifies the young Ones of Ring-Doves, Wood-Pigeons, or any other of that kind; as he alſo obſerves.
Ver. 10. And he took unto him.] Now we muſt ſuppoſe he was come out of his Ecſtaſie; and really performed all that follows: Until he fell into it more profoundly than before.
Divided them in the midſt.] There is no footſtep of this Rite any where in the Scripture, ſave only in the Prophet Jeremy, XXXIV. 18, 19. But this place ſhows it to have been very ancient: And St. Cyril in his Tenth Book againſt Julian, derives this Cuſtom from the ancient Chaldaeans. As others derive the very word Berith, [foreign] which ſignifies a Covenant, from the word uſed both here and in Jeremy, viz. foreign, Batar, which is the very ſame by a tranſpoſition of Letters, and ſignifies to divide or cut aſunder. Becauſe Covenants were made by dividing a Beaſt, and by the Parties covenanting, paſſing between the parts of the Beaſt, ſo divided: Signifying, that ſo ſhould they be cut aſunder who broke that Covenant. Thus Mr. Mede in the place fore-mentioned, truly explains this Rite; which was as much as if they had ſaid: Thus let me be divided and cut in pieces, if I violate the Oath I have now made in the preſence of my God.
We find in Zenobius that the People called Molotti retained ſomething of this Cuſtom; for they confirmed their Oaths, when they made their Covenants, foreign, by cutting Oxen into little bits.
Laid each piece one againſt another.] So that there was a ſpace left between them; through which the Parties covenanting might paſs. Which ſeems to be meant by Homer when he ſays, Iliad. foreign. v. 461. that after the Prieſt had prayed to Apollo, the Sacrifice was ſlain and flea'd, and then they cut it up,
foreign,—
making Duplicates, which were exactly anſwerable one to the other.
But the Birds divided he not.] Thus it was preſcribed afterwards, Levit. I. 17. becauſe they were but an appendage to the Sacrifice, and their Blood was not ſprinkled upon the Altar. It is likely, notwithſtanding, that the Birds were laid one againſt the other, as the pieces of the Beaſts were. And there being a Prophecy of the ſtate of Abram's Family in future times, verſe 13, 14. Some fanſie that the Diviſion of theſe Beaſts repreſented the Diſperſion of his Poſterity into divers Countries.
Ver. 11. And when the Fowls came down, &c.] The Birds of prey. For the Hebrew word Ajit, ſignifies Avis rapax & carnivora, ravenous Birds, that feed on Fleſh. Whence Bochartus thinks an Eagle is called in Greek foreign and foreign, as the principal Bird of prey. Hierozo. P. I. L. III. c. 12. And by theſe Fowls ſome think the Egyptians are repreſented, who fell upon the Iſraelites; as rapacious Birds do upon dead Carcaſes, and endeavoured to hinder their offering Sacrifices unto God.
Abram drove them away.] He ſat by the pieces of Fleſh (as the LXX tranſlate it) to watch leſt Vultures, or ſuch like Creatures, ſhould ſnatch them away. For he looking upon them as things hallowed, watched to ſee what God intended in them.
Ver. 12. A deep ſleep, &c.] Some would have it, That he being tired with the great Labour of fetching the Sacrifices, cutting them up, and watching them, naturally fell into a ſleep. But Maimonides, more reaſonably, looks upon this as the continuance of what was begun before in a Viſion: Which at laſt was converted into a profound ſleep; wherein things were repreſented to him in a Dream. And therefore their wiſe Men ſay, this was a Prophetical Sleep. More Nevoch. P. II. c. 45.
An horror of great darkneſs fell upon him.] Prophecy ſaith the fore-named Author, begins ſometimes in Viſion; afterwards that Terror and vehement Paſſion, which follows the high working of the imaginative Faculty, being multiplyed, it ends in a deep Sleep, as it did here in Abram. Such a Terror alſo poſſeſſed Daniel in ſome of his Viſions, while he was awake, Dan. X. 8. as the ſame Maimonides obſerves in the XLI Chapter of that Book.
This Horror of great Darkneſs, many think ſignified the diſmal Condition of Abram's Poſterity in Egypt: Which God now repreſented to him. And this Horror coming upon him, at the going down of the Sun, was, they think, a further ſignification of it. For we ſay, a Man's Sun is ſet, when he falls into great Calamities. And it ſignified, ſome imagined, theſe Calamities ſhould come upon them a great while hence.
Ver. 13. And he ſaid unto Abram, &c.] Here he informs him, what the State of his Family ſhould be, from the birth of Iſaac: (which he had promiſed to him, Verſe 5.) for the ſpace of Four hundred Years.
Thy Seed.] This ſhows from whence the Four hundred Years are to commence: viz. From the time of his having a Son.
Be a ſtranger in a Land that is not theirs.] i. e. Sojourn partly in Canaan and partly in Egypt. There are thoſe indeed who fanſie Canaan cannot be ſaid to be a Land that was not theirs; God having beſtowed it upon Abram. But God himſelf teaches us otherwiſe, Exod. VI. 4. where he calls it, the Land of their Pilgrimage, wherein they were ſtrangers: Becauſe they were not at preſent poſſeſſed of it, though they had a good Title to it.
And they ſhall afflict them four hundred Years.] Theſe four hundred Years are not to be referred only to what immediately goes before, [they ſhall afflict them] but to all the reſt, their ſojourning in a ſtrange Land, and their being in Servitude. Theſe three things were to come to paſs within that ſpace: So that it is as if he had ſaid, Thy Seed ſhall not poſſeſs this Land till four hundred Years hence. During which time, they ſhall be ſojourners in this Land and in Egypt, and alſo, ſome part of it, be no better than Slaves, nay endure ſore Affliction.
It muſt here be noted, That from the Birth of Iſaac, when theſe Years began, to their Deliverance out of the Egyptian Bondage, was juſt Four hundred and five Years. But the five odd Years are not mentioned; it being the manner of all Writers to take no notice of broken Numbers, (as they call them) when they name a round Summ. Thus the Greek Interpreters of the Bible are commonly called the LXX: Though there were Seventy two of them. And the Roman Writers call thoſe Centumviri, who were in all an Hundred and five. And Moſes in another place, Numb. XI. 21. ſaith, the Iſraelites were Six hundred thouſand; not reckoning the Three thouſand five hundred and fifty above that Number, as appears from Numb. I. 46. and II. 32.
If it ſeems a difficulty, that their ſojourning is ſaid in Exod XII. 40. to have been Four hundred and thirty Years, it is removed by conſidering, that in thoſe Years is comprehended the time of Abram's ſojourning alſo; as well as his Seed. And it was juſt twenty five Years from his coming into Canaan to the Birth of Iſaac: Which, added to Four hundred and five Years before-mentioned, make up the Number of Four hundred and thirty. And this is ſo exactly true, that if we divide this Summ of Four hundred and thirty into equal parts, it is computed by the beſt of the ancient, as well as later Writers, that the Hebrew Nation ſojourned juſt Two hundred and fifteen Years in Canaan (reckoning that ſhort time Abram was in Egypt, Chap. XII.) and as many after they went into Egypt. See Ʋſſer. Chronol. Sacra, C. X.
Ver. 14. I will judge.] i. e. Puniſh them.
Ver. 15. Go to thy Fathers.] i. e. Die, and depart to the other World.
In peace.] And ſee none of the fore-named Calamities.
Ver. 16. The iniquity of the Amorities, &c.] Abram now lived among the Amorites, XIV. 13. But under their Name is comprehended all the other Nations of Canaan. Who were very wicked; but God forbare them till their Wickedneſs had overflowed the whole Country, and that to the greateſt heighth. Their moſt heinous Iniquities, were abominable Idolatries, Cruelty, beaſtly Filthineſs, to a prodigious exceſs, Levit. XVIII. 22, 23, &c. See Theodoret upon Pſalm CV. 44. and P. Fagius upon Levit. V. 1.
But in Abram's time their Iniquity was not full: i. e. There were ſeveral good Men ſtill remaining among them, as Mamre, Eſhcol, and Aner ſeem to have been, who were confederate with Abram; and Melchizedek certainly was, who being Prieſt of the moſt high God, had ſome People ſure worſhipped together with him. And therefore God ſtaid till there was an univerſal Corruption, and they were all ripe for Deſtruction. For we read of none but Rahab whoſe Faith ſaved her and her Family, when the time of their Deſtruction came.
Ver. 17. Behold, a ſmoking Furnace.] If the great horror, Verſe 12: repreſented the extream Miſery of the Children of Iſrael in Egypt: Then this ſeems to ſignifie God's Vengeance upon the Egyptians, for oppreſſing them in the Furnaces, wherein they wrought, Exod. IX. 8.
A burning Lamp, or a Lamp of Fire.] i. e. The Schechinah, or Divine Majeſty, appeared in great Splendor, (ſo Maimonides rightly explains it, P. I. More Nev. cap. 21.) like to a flaming Fire. So it appeared to Moſes, when God came to deliver them from the Egyptian Bondage, Exod. III. 2, 6, &c.
Paſſed between the pieces.] In Token, as it follows, verſe 18. that he entred into a Covenant with Abram and with his Poſterity: For paſſing between the pieces, he conſumed them, (as St. Chryſoſtom rightly underſtands it,) and thereby teſtified his Acceptance of the Sacrifices which Abram offered. I noted before, that there is no ſuch Rite we read of any where in Scripture, but in Jeremiah, of making a Covenant in this manner. But there are thoſe who think they find this Cuſtom in other Nations: For if Dictys Cretenſis do not Lye, after the manner of the Cretians, (as Bochart ſpeaks) both the Greeks and Trojans, from the time of Homer, did make Covenants, in this faſhion. Certain it is, the Boeotians and Macedonians paſſed on ſome occaſions, through the parts of a Beaſt diſſected: But it was for Luſtration, not for Covenanting, as the ſame Bochart obſerves, P. I. Hierozoic. L. II. cap. 46.
Ver. 18. Ʋnto thy Seed will I give this Land, &c.] Here is the utmoſt extent of the Donation made to Abram: Which began to be fulfilled in David, (2 Sam. VIII. 3, &c.) for till then they did not inlarge their Borders, as far as Euphrates.
The River of Egypt.] So Nile is commonly called, but cannot be here meant; becauſe the Iſraelites never enjoyed all the Land of Egypt, on this ſide Nile. Therefore we are to underſtand by it, that little River, which came out of that Branch of Nile, called Peluſiacum Brachium: From whence a ſmall River not Navigable, ran toward Judaea; falling into the Egyptian or Phoenician Sea. For this River was the Bounds of Paleſtine; and is mentioned by Strabo and others, whom G. Voſſius cites, L. II. De Idolol. c. 74. It is called, Amos VI. 14. the River of the Wilderneſs; becauſe it run through the Wilderneſs, which is between Egypt and Paleſtine, into the Sea.
Ver. 19. The Kenites, and Kenizzites.] Theſe are put into the Number of the Nations, whoſe Country God gave to Abram; but whether they were deſcended from any of the Sons of Canaan we cannot tell: Nor are we certain where they dwelt. Only Euſtathius, Biſhop of Antioch, ſays the Kenites dwelt about Libanus and Amanus: And the Kenizzites it's likely were their Neighbours. But the Names of theſe People were quite extinct between the times of Abram and Moſes, for we find no mention of them by Joſhua in the Diviſion of the Land of Canaan; nor in the Account he gives of the Nations he conquered. We read indeed of the Kenezites, Numb. XXXII. 12. Joſh. XIV. 6, 14. but they were of the Children of Iſrael. And of the Kenites, Judg. I. 16. IV. 11, 17. but they deſcended from the Father-in-law of Moſes. And therefore thoſe whom Moſes here ſpeaks of, it is probable loſt their Name, being incorporated into ſome of the ſeven Nations who inhabited this Country when Joſhua ſubdued it.
The Kadmonites.] Theſe are no where elſe mentioned: But are thought by Bochartus to be the ſame with the Hivites: Who living about Mount Hermon, toward the Eaſt of the Land of Canaan, were thence called Kadmonites, i. e. Orientals. See X. 17.
Ver. 20. Hittites.] See X. 15.
Perizzites.] They were a People inhabiting the Mountainous and woody Country of Canaan, as appears from Joſh. XI. 3. XVII. 13. From whence we may gather they were a wild ſort of People, who lived far from Cities, in little Villages; and thence perhaps had their Name: For Pherazoth in Hebrew ſignifies, Pagi, Villages. But from which of the Sons of Canaan they deſcended, there is not the leaſt ſignification in Holy Scripture.
Rephaim.] They dwelt in Baſhan; and perhaps in other Countries thereabouts. See XIV. 5.
Ver. 21. Amorites.] Theſe were the mightieſt People in the Land of Canaan. See X. 16.
Canaanites.] Theſe were ſome of the Poſterity of Canaan, who peculiarly inherited his Name; living upon the Sea-Coaſt, and upon the Banks of Jordan, Num. XIII. 30. Deut. I. 7. XI. 30. And it is a reaſonable Conjecture, That they ſprang from ſuch of Canaan's Sons, as had, for a time, the greateſt Power and Authority in that Country: And therefore had the Prerogative of being called by his Name. Or elſe, they were ſo called, becauſe they were Merchants, and great Traders by Sea. For ſo the word is uſed in Scripture.
Gergaſite.] See X. 16.
Jebuſite.] See there alſo.