Gênesis 15

Gênesis 15

Meyer - Genesis 15:17 (Our Daily Homily) Behold, a Smoking Furnace and a Flaming Torch Fire is the chosen emblem of God; and as these fire-emblems passed slowly between the divided carcases it was as though God accommodated Himself to the methods of human oath-taking, and solemnly bound Himself. But in all His dealings with us He is prepared to be both a furnace and a torch. God as a Furnace. - Take up a piece of iron ore, and see how the metal is scattered amid commoner substances. How can it be disintegrated? The chisel cannot do it, but fire will. Plunge it now into the fire; let it fall in the heart of the glowing furnace, and presently the stream of liquid metal will issue forth, pure and beautiful. It is thus that God deals with human hearts; the blood makes propitiation, but the fire cleanses. The love of God, the purity of God, the spirituality of God brought home to us by the Holy Ghost, search and try us to the innermost fibre of our being, and burn out of us the evils which had long held empire. Refining Fire, go through my heart, Illuminate my soul; Scatter thy life through every part, And sanctify the whole. God as a flaming Torch. - The torch guides the footsteps through the dark; and God's Spirit waits to shed light on many dark and hidden things, and to guide us into all the truth. It is one thing to comprehend by the intellect; it is altogether another to apprehend by the heart. There is no such teacher as God; and the mistake of our modern religious life is to receive so much from man, instead of waiting in rapt silence until God Himself communicates His truth to us. The conditions are purity of desire, cleanness of heart, and willingness to obey. Promises Still Kept Read: Genesis 15:5-21 | Bible in a Year: 2 Kings 7-9; John 1:1-28 When the sun went down . . . there appeared a smoking oven and a burning torch that passed between those pieces. —Genesis 15:17 In the ancient Near East a treaty between a superior (a lord or king) and an inferior (his subjects) was called a suzerain treaty. The ratification ceremony required animals to be sacrificed and cut in half. The animal parts were then arranged in two rows on the ground, forming an aisle between them. As the suzerain walked between the halves, he was publicly declaring he would keep the covenant and would become like the slain animals if he failed to keep his word. When Abram asked God how he could be sure His promises would come to pass, God used the culturally significant symbolism of the suzerain treaty to affirm His promises (Gen. 15). When the burning torch passed through the pieces of the sacrifice, Abram understood that God was declaring it was His job to keep the covenant. God’s covenant with Abram and His assurance of its completion extends to followers of Christ. That is why Paul repeatedly refers to believers as sons of Abraham in his New Testament writings (Rom. 4:11-18; Gal. 3:29). Once we accept Jesus Christ as Savior, God becomes the keeper in our covenant of faith (see John 10:28-29). Because God is the keeper of our salvation, with renewed confidence in Him we trust Him with our lives. He will never fail us, He will not forsake; His eternal covenant He will never break. Onward then, and fear not, children of the day; For His Word shall never, never pass away. —Havergal Our salvation is secure because God does the holding. By Randy Kilgore Genesis 15:18 On that day the LORD made a covenant with Abram, saying, "To your descendants I have given this land, From the river of Egypt as far as the great river, the river Euphrates: made (KJV): Ge 9:8-17 17:1-27 24:7 2Sa 23:5 Isa 55:3 Jer 31:31-34 32:40 Jer 33:20-26 Ga 3:15-17 Heb 13:20 Unto thy (KJV): Ge 12:7 13:15 17:8 26:4 28:4,13,14 35:12 50:24 Ex 3:8 6:4 23:23 Ex 23:27-31 34:11 Nu 34:3 De 1:7,8 7:1 11:24 34:4 Jos 1:3,4 Jos 12:1-20 19:1-38 1Ki 4:21 2Ch 9:26 Ne 9:8 Ps 105:11 from (KJV): Nu 34:5 Jos 15:4 Isa 27:12 Euphrates (KJV): Ge 2:14 2Sa 8:3 1Ch 5:9 See Multiple Resources on Genesis 15 - Commentaries, Sermons, Devotionals What was a blood covenant (Genesis 15:9-21)? Genesis 15:7-21 - S Lewis Johnson Arnold Fruchtenbaum - How to Destroy the Jews Septuagint - en te hemera ekeine (that) dietheto (diatithemi: est a covenant: 3SAMI - note Middle Voice ~ God initiated & participates in the covenant) kurios to Abram diatheken legon (PAPMSN) to spermati sou doso (1SFAI) ten gen tauten apo tou potamou Aiguptou eos tou potamou tou megalou potamou Euphratou LXE In that day the Lord made a covenant with Abram, saying, To thy seed I will give this land, from the river of Egypt to the great river Euphrates. KARATH BERIYTH: JEHOVAH CUT A COVENANT WITH ABRAM On that day the LORD made a covenant with Abram: What day? Clearly in context the same day that Abram believed in the Lord (Ge 15:6) and God imputed righteousness to him. On this great day God cut the covenant. Do you remember that great day in your life when God "cut covenant" with you and you were born again and entered the New Covenant in Jesus' blood? Have you been born again? Jesus reiterated "“Therefore I said to you that you will die in your sins; for unless you believe that I am He, you will die in your sins.” (John 8:24) God made a covenant with Abraham promising him primarily two things: a seed and a land. The Abrahamic Covenant was also ratified with Isaac, Jacob (name changed to Israel), and his sons who comprised the nation of Israel. Made a covenant with Abram - Recall that in the ancient world covenant was the most solemn and binding relationship into which two parties could enter. Make (cut) (03772)(karath) literally means to cut, to cut off or to sever an object from its source or cut into parts and implies a violent action. Karath is used with beriyth meaning to "cut a covenant" or establish a covenant between two parties, either between God and men (Abrahamic Covenant = Ge 15:18, Mosaic Covenant = Ex 24:8, Dt 5:2-3, 9:9; see Abrahamic versus Mosaic and Abrahamic vs Old vs New) or between men (Ge 21:27, 32, 26:28, 31:44, 2Sa 3:12-13, 21, 5:3; 1Sa 18:3, 20:15-16,22:8, 23:18 between Jonathan and David [See discussion of their Covenant - Exchanging of Robes]; cutting covenant was prohibited = Ex 23:32, Dt 7:2, Jdg 2:2, a dictum which Joshua disobeyed - Josh 9:6-7,11). In the context of cutting covenant karath is translated in the Lxx with diatithemi (see detailed discussion) which is used in the sense of making "a last will or testament" (Heb 9:16-note). Covenant (01285)(berit/berith/beriyth) means covenant, treaty, compact, agreement between two parties (first use in God's covenant with Noah - Ge 6:18, 9:9, 11, 12, 13, 15, 16, 17). As discussed more below beriyth describes a compact made by passing between pieces of flesh. Covenant is a solemn, binding arrangement between two parties and entails a variety of responsibilities, benefits and penalties depending on the specific covenant which is being studied. OT covenants were made between God and man (eg, God with Noah - Ge 6:18, with Abram - Ge 15:18) or between men (Abraham and Abimelech - Ge 21:27, Isaac and Abimelech - Ge 26:28, Jacob and Laban - Ge 31:44) (For summary of covenants see -Covenant in the Bible). All uses of covenant (beriyth) in Genesis - Genesis 6:18; 9:9, 11-13, 15-17; 14:13; 15:18; 17:2, 4, 7, 9-11, 13, 14, 19, 21; 21:27, 32; 26:28; 31:44; Covenant can be summarized as follows… (1) Between two parties (sometimes equal, other times superior to inferior) -- (a)nations -- (peace) treaty, alliance of friendship (b) individuals -- a pledge or agreement with mutual obligations to each other (c) monarch and subjects (2Sa 3:21, 5:3, 1Chr 11:3) -- a constitution (d) God and man -- Noahic, Abrahamic, Mosaic, Davidic, New Covenants. TWOT adds that… Apart from blood ties the covenant was the way people of the ancient world formed wider relationships with each other The accounts of the relationship between David and Jonathan are the only unequivocal mention of a compact between two individuals in the Old Testament (1Sa 18:3; 20:8; 23:18). It is spoken of as “a covenant of the Lord” because the Lord witnessed the transaction and protected the legal order. (2) Accompanied by (a) signs (also witnesses, memorials, shared meals) (b)sacrifices, (c) solemn, binding oaths -- sealing the relationship with promises of blessing for keeping the covenant and curses for breaking the covenant (d) Sometimes with written document on which the words of the covenant, its terms in the form of promises and stipulations were spelled out, witnessed to, signed and sealed. Behm (TDNT) notes that in ancient times "There is no firmer guarantee of legal security peace or personal loyalty than the covenant (e.g., Amos 1:9)." (3) Is depicted in the idiomatic phrase "make (cut) a covenant" in which there is was a blood sacrifice as part of the covenant ritual. Almost 100 years ago, Andrew Murray motivated by a waning understanding regarding the truth and power inherent in the Biblical truth of covenant wrote that… One of the words of Scripture, which is almost going out of fashion, is the word 'Covenant'. There was a time when it was the keynote of the theology and the Christian life of strong and holy men. We know how deep in Scotland it entered into the national life and thought. It made mighty men, to whom God, and His promise and power were wonderfully real. It will be found still to bring strength and purpose to those who will take the trouble to bring all their life (Ed: and their marriages) under control of the inspiring assurance that they are living in covenant with a God who has sworn faithfully to fulfill in them every promise He has given. (Two Covenants - Index - Andrew Murray) The majority of the the OT uses of beriyth are translated as covenant (275/285 uses) and the majority of these are translated into Greek using the word diatheke [word study], which was a common technical word used in the Greco-Roman law to describe the settlement of an inheritance (i.e., a "last will and testament") and used in the NT to describe the "self-commitment, promises, and conditions by which [God] entered into relationship with man" (Friberg). Vine says this about the use of diatheke used in the Greek Septuagint to translate the Hebrew word Beriyth "The wholly gracious and effective character of God’s “covenant” is confirmed in the Septuagint by the choice of diatheke to translate berit/beriyth. A diatheke is a will that distributes one’s property after death according to the owner’s wishes. It is completely unilateral. ISBE says that "In essence a covenant is an agreement, but an agreement of a solemn and binding force. The early Semitic idea of a covenant was doubtless that which prevailed among the Arabs. This was primarily blood-brotherhood, in which two men became brothers by drinking each other’s blood. (Ed: Now that sounds serious to me!) (Ed: See illustration in pagan culture). Andrew Murray said that men made covenants because they understood their value - "As an end of enmity or uncertainty, as a statement of services and benefits to be rendered, as a security for their certain performance, as a bond of amity and goodwill, as a ground for perfect confidence and friendship, a covenant has often been of unspeakable value....the Covenant was, above all, to give man a hold upon God, as the Covenant-keeping God, to link man to God Himself in expectation and hope, to bring him to make God Himself alone the portion and the strength of his soul.... "The blood is one of the strangest, the deepest, the mightiest, and the most heavenly of the thoughts of God. It lies at the very root of both Covenants, but especially of the New Covenant." (The Two Covenants) O Palmer