So context, Abraham has just flippin DESTROYED the 5 kings who kidnapped Lot, then got blessed by the High Priest Malchizedek, and rejected Sodom's offer, for they were an evil nation and Abram did not wish to depend on kings and their gifts, but on God. So from here you can see how Abram would have been feeling, he rejected all these gifts and is choosing to rely on God, but still has no son for his promise.
This is where we come in, here is the chapter so you guys can read it for yourselves:
After these things the word of the LORD came to Abram in a vision: “Fear not, Abram, I am your shield; your reward shall be very great.” But Abram said, “O Lord GOD, what will you give me, for I continue childless, and the heir of my house is Eliezer of Damascus?” And Abram said, “Behold, you have given me no offspring, and a member of my household will be my heir.” And behold, the word of the LORD came to him: “This man shall not be your heir; your very own son shall be your heir.” And he brought him outside and said, “Look toward heaven, and number the stars, if you are able to number them.” Then he said to him, “So shall your offspring be.” And he believed the LORD, and he counted it to him as righteousness.
And he said to him, “I am the LORD who brought you out from Ur of the Chaldeans to give you this land to possess.” But he said, “O Lord GOD, how am I to know that I shall possess it?” He said to him, “Bring me a heifer three years old, a female goat three years old, a ram three years old, a turtledove, and a young pigeon.” And he brought him all these, cut them in half, and laid each half over against the other. But he did not cut the birds in half. And when birds of prey came down on the carcasses, Abram drove them away.
As the sun was going down, a deep sleep fell on Abram. And behold, dreadful and great darkness fell upon him. Then the LORD said to Abram, “Know for certain that your offspring will be sojourners in a land that is not theirs and will be servants there, and they will be afflicted for four hundred years. But I will bring judgment on the nation that they serve, and afterward they shall come out with great possessions. As for yourself, you shall go to your fathers in peace; you shall be buried in a good old age. And they shall come back here in the fourth generation, for the iniquity of the Amorites is not yet complete.”
When the sun had gone down and it was dark, behold, a smoking fire pot and a flaming torch passed between these pieces. On that day the LORD made a covenant with Abram, saying, “To your offspring I give this land, from the river of Egypt to the great river, the river Euphrates, the land of the Kenites, the Kenizzites, the Kadmonites, the Hittites, the Perizzites, the Rephaim, the Amorites, the Canaanites, the Girgashites and the Jebusites.”
Now, as we know the author of this chapter, this whole book and the whole Pentateuch (first five books of the bible) is generally held to be Moses, writing to the Israelites as they wander around the desert. It would probably not be a coincidence then that Moses writes about the faith of Abraham so much (as the Israelites really bombed out in that area).
Ok, so you can see how Abram could have done with some encouragement in this chapter, as the chapter before he refused to take an offering from the king of Sodom in order to show his faith in God. It would have been perfectly fine for God to not encourage him and test his faith further, but He simply chose to let Abram know his faith was not misplaced.
So God encourages Abram, and then Abram lets loose. He tells God of his fear of leaving all he has to this dude Eliezer, which would therefore make everything God has done for Abram pointless in Abram's eyes (cos you know, not like God has a plan or anything). But God still encourages him, telling him again that he will have a son, and that they will be as numerous as the stars. Why did God wait for Abram to ask to encourage him, and why encourage him at all? It probably has something to do with verse 6; God brings Abram back to that place of faith. A person's faith (or lack of) can be shown clearly in times of crisis, like the years of childlessness Abram had currently gone through. Something important to note is that God is omniscient, so He would not have spoken to Abram to see if he has faith or not, but to cause him to have faith. This also shows that we do not have a works based salvation, but because of our faith (which He caused), not by anything we have done, are we counted as righteous.
God then decides to encourage Abram again, except this time specifically about the land he is going to possess (what could God be up to?). Abram again tells God of his fear that he does not know for sure (faith?) that he really will possess the land promised to him. Now God does something really weird... why does Abram need to get all these animals and cut them in half? And why not the birds? Well simply, these animals are used in rituals later for Israel, and when sacrificing birds, they are not to be cut in half (lev 1:17). Many believe that the birds of prey in verse 11 resemble Israel's enemies, and the torch and the fire pot and flaming torch in verse 17 to mean God's presence. Abram then goes to sleep and is told a prophecy about what the Israelites were currently going through!! Coincidence? I think not!!
Now, God makes a covenant with Abram by getting the torch and fire pot to pass through the animal carcasses. The covenant is that Abram's offspring will posses the land, and by using both offspring and land, this unconditional promise links to the earlier conditional promise of Abram becoming a great nation. So why did God say all this to Abram? Most likely to change the conditional promise to an unconditional one, which is kind of oddly similar to what Jesus did on the cross. When Jesus died, not only has He made it clear that faith in Him is all that is needed to be counted as righteous, by abolished the law, He has made it so that our salvation is not based on conditional sacrifices needed to be made, but one unconditional sacrifice made in unconditional love that is available to all men.
God bless all of you!
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