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The Pulpit Commentary
The Pulpit Commentary on Genesis 15:3
And Abram said, Behold, to me thou hast given no seed: and, lo, one born in my house (literally, the son of my house, i.e. Eliezer) is mine heir. The language of the patriarch discovers three things:
The Pulpit Commentary on Genesis 15:4
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.
The Pulpit Commentary on Genesis 15:5
And he (Jehovah, or "the Word of the Lord") brought him forth abroad, and said, Look now toward heaven, and tell the stars, if thou be able to number them (a proof that Abram's vision was not a dream): and he said unto…
The Pulpit Commentary on Genesis 15:6
And he believed in the Lord. The hiphil of the verb aman, to prop or stay, signifies to build upon, hence to rest one's faith upon; and this describes exactly the mental act of the patriarch, who reposed his confidence…
The Pulpit Commentary on Genesis 15:6
Faith and Righteousness. "And he believed in the Lord; and he counted it to him for righteousness." Even by itself this passage claims attention. How does the idea of righteousness come into it at all? What is meant by…
The Pulpit Commentary on Genesis 15:7-21
EXPOSITION
The Pulpit Commentary on Genesis 15:7
And he (Jehovah, or the Word of the Lord) said unto him (after the act of faith on the part of the patriarch, and the act of imputation or justification on the part of God, and in explication of the exact nature of that…
The Pulpit Commentary on Genesis 15:8
And he said, Lord God (Adonai Jehovah; vide Genesis 15:2), whereby shall I know that I shall inherit it? Not the language of doubt, though slight misgivings are not incompatible with faith (cf. 6:17; 2 Kings 20:8; Luke…
The Pulpit Commentary on Genesis 15:9
And he said unto him, Take me (literally, for me, i.e. for my use in sacrifice) an heifer of three years old. So rightly (LXX; Syriac, Samaritan, Arabic, Josephus, Bochart, Rosenmüller, Keil); not three heifers (Onkelos…
The Pulpit Commentary on Genesis 15:10
And he took unto him all these, and divided (a word occurring only here in Genesis, and supposed by Michaelis to have been taken by Moses from the ancient document from which he transcribed this portion of his work. The…
The Pulpit Commentary on Genesis 15:11
The silent worshipper. I. THE NATURE OF ABRAM'S WORSHIP. 1. Divine in its appointment. 2. Simple in its ritual. 3. Sacrificial in its character. 4. Believing in its spirit. 5. Patient in its continuance. 6. Expectant in…
The Pulpit Commentary on Genesis 15:11
And when the fowls—literally, and the bird of prey, a collective singular with the article, as in Genesis 14:13, symbolizing the Egyptians and other adversaries of Israel, as in Ezekiel 17:3, Ezekiel 17:7, Ezekiel 17:12…
The Pulpit Commentary on Genesis 15:12
And when the sun was going down. Literally, was about to go down. The vision having commenced the previous evening, an entire day has already passed, the interval being designed to typify the time between the pro-raise…
The Pulpit Commentary on Genesis 15:12-17
Abraham's watch and vision. "And when the sun was going down, a deep sleep," &c. The great blessings promised are still afar off. As yet Abraham has no son to hand down his name to posterity. By means of a vision God st…
The Pulpit Commentary on Genesis 15:13
And he said unto Abram, Know of a surety—literally, knowing know—that thy seed shall be a stranger in a land which is not there, and shall serve them (i.e. the inhabitants of that alien country); and they (i.e. these fo…
The Pulpit Commentary on Genesis 15:14
And also that nation (the name of which he does not reveal, in case of seeming to interfere with the free volition of his creatures, who, while accomplishing his high designs and secret purposes, are ever conscious of t…
The Pulpit Commentary on Genesis 15:15
And thou shalt go to thy fathers in peace (cf. Genesis 25:8; Genesis 35:29; Genesis 49:33). Not a periphrasis for going to the grave (Rosenmüller), since Abram's ancestors were not entombed in Canaan; but a proof of the…
The Pulpit Commentary on Genesis 15:16
But in the fourth generation,—τετάρτη δὲ γενεᾷ (LXX.); but, more correctly, the fourth generation, calculating 100 years to a generation. "Caleb was the fourth from Judah, and Moses from Levi, and so doubtless many…
The Pulpit Commentary on Genesis 15:17
And it came to pass, that, when the sun went down,—literally, and it was (i.e. this took place), the sun went down; less accurately, ἐπεὶ δὲ ὁ ἤλιιος ἐγένετο πρὸς δυσμὰς (LXX.), which was the state of matters…
The Pulpit Commentary on Genesis 15:18
Taken into covenant. I. THE BLESSING OF THE COVENANT. 1. The ultimate blessing, to which, in both the commencement and close of the present section, the prominence is assigned, was a splendid inheritance—the land of Can…
The Pulpit Commentary on Genesis 15:18-21
In that day the Lord made a covenant—literally, cut a covenant (cf. ὅρκια τέμνειν, foedus icere). On the import of בְּרִית vide Genesis 9:9)—with Abram, saying, Unto thy seed have I given this land, from the river of…
The Pulpit Commentary on Genesis 16:1-6
EXPOSITION
The Pulpit Commentary on Genesis 16:1
Now Sarai Abram's wife bare him no children (literally, bare not to him, notwithstanding the promise; the barrenness of Sarai being introduced as the point of departure for the ensuing narrative, and emphasized as the c…
The Pulpit Commentary on Genesis 16:1-16
Hagar. The history of Hagar has its two sides—that which is turned towards God and illustrates Divine grace, that which is turned towards man and illustrates human infirmity and sinfulness. Jehovah brought forth compass…