On the same day Jehovah made a covenant with Abram, saying, Unto thy seed I give this land, from the river of Egypt to the great river, the river Euphrates;
That same day, God counted Abram's faith to him as righteousness. Then He went further. He bound Himself by a formal covenant and drew the borders of a land Abram did not own. Two questions follow. Who guaranteed the grant, and has that land ever been held?
The covenant is dated. It falls on the same day recorded earlier in the chapter. One writer shows why that order matters when the New Testament looks back at this scene.
Hamilton SmithTo set out this great truth the Apostle turns again to Abraham's history. He speaks of the promise of the inheritance. God made, or renewed, this promise to Abraham on the same day He counted him righteous, as we read in Genesis 15:18. … God gave this promise of the inheritance long before the law, and it in no way depended upon works of law.
God sealed the covenant with a ceremony. Only one party walked between the divided animals.
F. B. HoleAfter dark, a smoking furnace and a burning lamp passed between the divided pieces of the sacrifice. That is what ratified all this as a covenant. In this twofold way God showed His presence. There was no thought of Abram passing between the pieces, as though he were pledging himself to anything. It was God pledging Himself to do as He had just said, and to do it unconditionally.
The sacrifice was not a formality. One writer links the death of the animals to how God can keep such a promise and stay righteous.
A. J. PollockA smoking furnace and a burning lamp passed between the pieces (Gen. 15). This declared that God could keep His covenant of promise to Abram and stay righteous in only one way: through the death of a substitute, and that under awful judgment.
The two rivers are not vague poetry. The word used for "river" rules out a seasonal stream, so one writer can name which waterway is meant.
Morrish Bible DictionaryGod promised the whole land of Canaan to Abraham, and a further territory as well: "from the river of Egypt to the great river, the river Euphrates." Gen. 15:18; Gen. 17:8. The word used here three times for "river" is nahar. It does not apply to a winter stream. So "river of Egypt" almost certainly refers to the most easterly branch of the Nile, called the Pelusiac. These limits of Abraham's promised possession lie to the south-west and north-east. The Mediterranean is the western limit, and the eastern limit is not defined.
God speaks as though the land is already handed over. Yet the verses that follow list ten nations living on it.
L. M. GrantVerses 18-21 speak of an unconditional covenant that the Lord made with Abram that day. He told Abram that He has given his descendants all the land from the river of Egypt (the Nile) to the river Euphrates. Ten different nations held part of that land at the time. When Israel came back from Egypt they did not possess anything like that whole territory, and never have. But the promise of God stands, and its fulfilment awaits the millennium.
Israel did once reach the northern boundary, but not for long.
Walter ScottProphecy marks out the rivers Nile and Euphrates as the limits of the promised land (Gen. 15:18). For a brief season David and Solomon extended the royal authority to the Euphrates (1 Chron. 18:3; 2 Chron. 9:26). The division of the kingdom under Rehoboam cut this wide dominion back sharply.
The covenant was one-sided and confirmed. So what could the law do to it, arriving centuries later?
J. N. DarbyA later act cannot cancel a solemnly confirmed covenant, even among men. Now God had given the promise to Abraham apart from law, and confirmed it to Christ 430 years before the law came. So the law could not cancel the promise already confirmed, nor change its terms. No one could cancel it, and no one could add to it. It must be fulfilled as it was given.
- Day — God dated the land-covenant to the very day He counted Abram righteous. That was long before the law, so the inheritance never rested on works of law.
- Deed — God alone passed between the pieces. Abram pledged nothing, which makes the covenant unconditional from the first word.
- Death — The divided sacrifices point to a substitute. Only that death let God keep such a promise and stay righteous.
- Domain — The borders are real places: an eastern branch of the Nile, the great river Euphrates, and the Mediterranean on the west.
- Delay — Ten nations held the ground then. David and Solomon reached the Euphrates for only a short season, and Israel has never held the full territory. The promise is unconditional, so it still stands.
the Kenites, and the Kenizzites, and the Kadmonites,
Genesis 15:19 begins a list of the peoples then living in the land God had just promised to Abram's descendants. The Kenites, the Kenizzites and the Kadmonites head a list of ten. God names the current holders of land Abram did not own, and He does it inside a covenant He signs alone.
The list shows how exact God's predictions can be — a land, a people, a timescale.
William KellyWhat of Genesis 15, when "the word of the LORD came to Abram in a vision"? Could any prediction be plainer or more certain? Yet it covered more than four hundred years. It set out where the chosen race would stand in relation to the nation they would serve in suffering — a nation they would at last triumph over, by a judgement that was clearly divine. More than that, it maps out the borders of another land. That is the land where the father of the faithful lived as a stranger. By the LORD's covenant it was to be given long afterwards, when those who had seized the inheritance — listed in full detail — were judged, just as the old oppressor of the heirs had been.
One list gives the meanings of these three names:
Arno Clemens GaebeleinKadmonites — Ancients. … Kenites — Acquiring. Kenizzites — Hunter.
One dictionary links the Kadmonites to a people met later in Israel's history:
Morrish Bible DictionaryOne of the ancient peoples who held the land promised to Abraham. Genesis 15:19. Probably the same as bene-Kedem, "children of the east." Judges 6:3.
God promised all this to a man who owned nothing in the country.
J. N. DarbyGod then brings Abraham into Canaan. What is there for him there? Nothing yet for him to own. The Canaanites are there — enemies all around him in this land of promise. All he gets for his trouble is faith. Not one spot of ground there truly belonged to him. Stephen tells us so in Acts 7:5: "He gave him no inheritance in it, not even a foot's length, but promised to give it to him as a possession and to his offspring after him, though he had no child."
Only one side of this agreement made a pledge. That decides who must keep it.
F. B. HoleAll this was sealed as a covenant after dark. A smoking fire pot and a flaming torch passed between the divided pieces of the sacrifice. In these two ways God showed His presence. There was no thought of Abram passing between the pieces, as though he were pledging himself to anything. It was God pledging Himself to do as He had just said, and that in an unconditional way.
Centuries later, Israel met these same nations in battle.
A. J. PollockJoshua led the armies of Israel into Canaan. He conquered these Canaanite nations, took their land from them, and settled the Israelites in the land God had promised. … We have a list of Israel's enemies in Genesis 15:19 — Kenites, Kenizzites, Kadmonites, Hittites, Perizzites, Rephaim, Amorites, Canaanites, Girgashites, Jebusites. When the people of Israel took the land God had promised to Abraham, they would be quick to see how wonderfully God had kept His promise on this point.
Yet that conquest never covered the whole land God had promised.
F. B. HoleThe land we call Palestine has a small river, the Jordan, as its eastern border. It is only a very small part of the land Abram's descendants are to hold in the end. The closing verses name ten peoples living there at that time. All of them will lose that land, and in the millennial age the true Israel will hold their promised land.
The first people named here appear again later — living among Israel and spared in war.
An Outline of Sound WordsThe Kenites were one of the ten nations whose land Israel was to take. They come first in the list in Genesis 15. But they are not among the seven nations to be driven out, which Moses lists in Deuteronomy 7:1. Moses' father-in-law was a Kenite, and the children of the Kenite "settled with the people" of Judah (Judges 1:16). … When God sent Saul to destroy Amalek, Saul "said to the Kenites, 'Go, depart; go down from among the Amalekites, lest I destroy you with them, for you showed kindness to all the people of Israel when they came up out of Egypt.'"
- Named. God names ten peoples then living in the land, the Kenites, Kenizzites and Kadmonites first. The promise came with a map, not vague words.
- Given. God alone passed between the pieces. Only one side pledged anything, so the covenant is unconditional.
- Empty-handed. Abram received all this while owning not one foot of the ground, holding it by faith alone.
- Partial. Joshua took the land from these nations. That proved the promise real, but Israel never held all God had named.
- Outstanding. The land held today is a small part of the grant. Writers point to the millennial age for the whole of it. The Kenites also show that Israel could treat people from these nations kindly.
and the Hittites, and the Perizzites, and the Rephaim,
God gives Abram a title deed to a land he does not own. This verse names three of the peoples already living there, and it raises the question every reader of Genesis 15 must face: how can God "give" a land while ten nations hold it?
These three names sit inside a legal act. It begins at verse 18 and closes with the roll of nations.
Leslie M. GrantVerses 18-21 speak of an unconditional covenant that the Lord made with Abram that day. He told him that He has given his descendants all the land from the river of Egypt (the Nile) to the river Euphrates. That included land held at the time by ten different nations. When Israel came back from Egypt they did not hold anything like that whole territory, and they never have. But the promise of God stands, and the fulfillment of this awaits the millennium.
Abraham later bought land from the people named first in this list.
Morrish Bible DictionaryThe descendants of Heth, a son of Canaan, and so descendants of Ham: a large race who lived in Palestine. In God's covenant with Abraham, his descendants were to take over their territory. Genesis 15:20. On the death of Sarah, Abraham bought the field and cave of Machpelah from the Hittites. His dealings and contract with them show they were a civilised race, used to doing business.
The Perizzites are missing from the Bible's genealogy of the nations, though their name keeps coming up later. One writer draws a conclusion from that silence.
William KellyWe do not hear of Perizzites in this genealogical account, though the name occurs in Genesis 13:7, Genesis 15:20, Genesis 34:30… This appears to imply that they were not a distinct race. They were rather those who separated from town life, which most Canaanites clung to, and remained villagers.
English Bibles leave the third name untranslated. The word behind it means dread.
Morrish Bible Dictionaryrapha, 'a fearful one.' In the plural and with the article it works as a proper name: the REPHAIM, or sons of Raphah. They were a race of giants who lived beyond the Jordan, and Og the giant king of Bashan came from them… At times the term Rephaim applies to any people in Canaan who were of great stature… The word Rephaim stays untranslated in Genesis 14:5; Genesis 15:20.
Scripture's giants are never neutral figures.
Numerical Bible NotesIn Scripture the idea of a giant is always tied to evil. The giant is man lifting himself up against God. He is the symbol of pride and self-sufficiency, and of oppressive power. He is the opposite of the little and the lowly, the humble in heart, with whom God delights to dwell.
God does not sketch the land in general terms. He counts the peoples on it, and names their judgment in the same breath.
William KellyIt maps out the limits of another land — the land where Abram, the father of the faithful, lived as a pilgrim. Jehovah's covenant promised to give it long afterwards, at the time when God would judge the usurpers of the inheritance, listed in full detail, as He had judged the old oppressor of the heirs. Who can say that Christ's person alone answered these predictions? Who can deny that they are particular facts? Who can deny that they came true to the letter in the Egyptians, in the Amorites, in the Jewish people, and in their land?
Some writers read these names as a picture of what blocks a believer from enjoying what God has given.
Samuel RidoutThe names here, as everywhere, are certainly significant. They suggest the powers of evil that get to the ground first. They would keep us from enjoying our God-given inheritance in Christ. The Hittite, "child of terror" — how spiritual dread makes cowards of us all! … The Perizzite, "the countryman," suggesting perhaps the thought of great power, nobility, false pride… All of them must be cast out. Every alliance with them must be flatly refused. Their greatness is no reason to fear them.
- Deed. The list of nations sits inside a covenant God made alone, with no conditions attached. He speaks of the land as already given, long before Israel set foot on it.
- Occupants. All three were real peoples. Abraham bought a burial field from the Hittites. The Perizzites were villagers rather than a separate race. The Rephaim were giants, and their name means "a fearful one."
- Names. God lists the usurpers in full detail, which is how the promise doubles as a prophecy of their judgment.
- Conflict. Some writers take the names as pictures of what gets to our ground first and keeps us from enjoying what is ours. Dread and pride are on that list. Refuse them; do not fear them.
- Fulfilment. Israel has never held the whole territory described here. The commentators quoted still expect it, resting on God's promise rather than on Israel's record.
and the Amorites, and the Canaanites, and the Girgashites, and the Jebusites.
The closing line of God's covenant with Abram ends a roll-call of peoples who were living in the land at that moment, with the Jebusites named last. Two questions press: why name the peoples living there, and has Israel ever held that land?
The last four names close a list of ten. One reference work counts them, and shows why the word "Canaanite" can mean two things.
Morrish Bible DictionaryIn Genesis 15:18-21 the land promised to Abram reaches to the river Euphrates. Ten nations are named there: the Kenites, the Kenizzites, the Kadmonites, the Hittites, the Perizzites, the Rephaim, the Amorites, the Canaanites, the Girgashites, and the Jebusites. Here and in some other places the Canaanites are only one people among many. Elsewhere the word Canaanite seems to cover anyone living in Canaan.
The Jebusites come last on the list. Their story did not end with their defeat.
Morrish Bible DictionaryA race of people, descendants of Canaan, son of Ham, living in Palestine when God promised the land to Abraham… The Jebusites were apparently living in Jerusalem, and they joined the kings who attacked the town of Gibeon for making an alliance with Israel. They suffered a crushing defeat, and the king of Jerusalem was killed. But they were never rooted out of the land, and Israel mingled with them in marriage.
The whole grant rests on a ceremony with divided animals. One writer points out who did not walk between the pieces.
F. B. HoleThere was no thought of Abram passing between the pieces, as though he were pledging himself to anything. It was God pledging Himself to do as He had just said, and that in an unconditional way.
Another writer sets this earthly promise beside the spiritual ones.
J. N. DarbyIn Genesis 15 the promise rests on a covenant made with Abraham, again without condition. It is an absolute gift of the country… If you say that the spiritual promises have no conditions, then by the same reasoning the earthly ones have none either. God's promise to Abraham that He will give him this land is as certain as the promises made to us Gentiles.
The date of this promise matters as much as its content.
Hamilton SmithGod made, or renewed, this promise to Abraham on the same day He counted him righteous, as we read in Genesis 15:18… The promise of the inheritance came long before the law. It did not depend in any way on works of law.
Naming ten peoples means naming ten evictions. One writer explains why they lost the land, and it was not simply to make room for Israel.
J. G. BellettGiving their inheritance to the children of Abraham may look like the main reason for this great action. But the real ground is this: the iniquity of the Amorites was now full. The sword of conquest for Israel is the sword of judgment on the Canaanites. The people of the Lord had to wait for that nation's sin to ripen, and for the judgment of the Lord, before they could receive their inheritance.
The borders promised here are far wider than anything Israel has ever held. Commentators place the full grant in a future age they call the millennium.
F. B. HoleThe land we call Palestine has a small river, the Jordan, as its eastern border. It is only a very small part of the land they are in the end to hold. The closing verses mention ten peoples living there at that time. All are to lose the land, and in the millennial age the true Israel will hold their promised land.
Another writer names what must happen first.
Leslie M. GrantIsrael will one day, in the millennium, hold all this property, but only when they have received their Messiah, the Lord Jesus. Then He will clear the way for them to claim their full inheritance.
- Named — Ten peoples, from the Kenites to the Jebusites. That is the full list of who held the land at the time.
- Given — God alone passed between the pieces. Abram pledged nothing, so the gift carries no conditions.
- Free — God promised the inheritance the same day He counted Abram righteous. It came long before the law and never rested on law-keeping.
- Judged — The ten peoples were not just moved aside. They were sentenced, and Israel had to wait until the Amorites' guilt was full.
- Pending — Israel has never held these borders. Commentators expect the full grant when the nation receives its Messiah.