God's Covenant With Abram

Welcome! To Our Ancient Future Story: Navigating Scripture Through the Eyes of Family. Where I share with you, Biblical stories, as a family member would tell a story around the dinner table. As children of God, we are a part of God’s family, and His family story has a lot of history. Each week, we will take one story and talk about it, the cultural, historical, geographical, and sociological impacts. We will be looking at these stories from the perspective of our ancestors, through the lens of ancient times, in hopes of learning more about our family. This is Our Ancient Future Story.

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Welcome back to Our Ancient Future Story, I’m Vic, and I am so excited to share with you one of my favorite things to study. Today we are talking about covenants. Specifically, the Abrahamic Covenant that God establishes with Abram. A covenant is like a contract between two parties. Today, 2021 a contract is made by signing an agreement and possibly a handshake. But back in Abram’s time covenants were made by sacrificing an animal. This was a sacred act and used only for really important matters, because something had to die for this contract to be sealed. Today we are going to find out what that important matter was for Abram. 

So, grab your cup of coffee or something to drink, find a comfortable place to sit as we get ready to hear the story of God’s Covenant with Abram. 

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When we left off last time, Abram and Sarai were on their journey of following the Lord. They had settled in and had been living in the Negev, the desert on the way to Egypt. Several years have passed, when one day, out of the blue, Yahweh reaches out to Abram again. 

This time, Yahweh says to Abram, “Fear Not, Abram, I am your shield; your reward will be very great.” But Abram is distraught, he still has no children, and he is getting things in order to give his eldest servant, Eliezer, all of his possessions. But God says to Abram, “This man will not be your heir; but your very own son shall be your heir.” Then God lead Abram outside and said, “Look at the stars.” 

[HISTORICAL FUN FACT: To get this full picture of Abram would have been looking at, we have to imagine what the sky must’ve looked like without any modern light interference. Close your eyes for a moment and try to picture what a stary night sky would look like without streetlights, buildings, or cellphones. How many stars would be visible Billions? Trillions? Gazillions?] 

God said to Abram, “Count them. If you are able to number them, so shall your offspring be.” And Abram believed God and it was counted to him as righteousness. 

Then the Lord said to him, “I am the LORD who brought you out from Ur of the Chaldeans to give this land to possess.” But Abram still a little distraught ask, “But how will I know that I will possess it?” God responds by setting up a covenant oath. He asks Abram to gather a three-year-old heifer, three-year-old female goat, three-year-old ram, a turtle dove, and a young pigeon. Abram cut them in half, except for the birds, and laid them out with the life blood flowing down the middle. 

As the Sun began to set Abram fell into a deep sleep. Then the Lord came to him in a vision saying, “Know for certain that your offspring will be sojourners in the land that is not theirs and will be servants there, and they will be afflicted for four hundred years. But I will bring judgement on the nation that they serve and afterward they shall come out with great possession…And they shall come back here in the fourth generation, for iniquity of the Amorites is not yet complete.” 

When the sun had fully set, and the earth was dark, a smoking fire pot and a flaming torch passed between the split pieces of the animal carcasses. 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.” And that is where our story ends today. God establishing a covenant with Abram. Such a simple contract, but this contract will quickly be broken, and in need of redemption, as we will find out next time when we dive into the story of Abram and Hagar. 

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So, let’s dig into our story a little bit. While they were living in the Negev, God comes to Abram again and promised He would be a great nation. But Abram has many doubts. This is many years later from the initial call to follow Yahweh from Haran to Canaan. Yahweh had promised to be Abram’s personal god. To protect him and make him wealthy with many descendants. But here Abram was, many years older, and still no son and no land. Abram had gained some decent wealth at this point, but it was worth nothing if he couldn’t leave it to his own son. So, we see Abram begin to plea with God.

“’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.” (Genesis 15:2-3).

Abram was frustrated. He had trusted this Yahweh that he would provide and protect yet Abram wasn’t seeing any results of this promise. Abram is feeling like “I have done my part! Now come through for me and hold up your end of the bargain.” 

He is thinking “If I were to die right now, who would get all of the wealth I have accumulated? Who would carry on my name? All I have is my servant Eliezer of Damascus?”  

Now, you may be asking, why is Abram thinking like this? In the Ancient Near East, the tradition and therefore the expectation, was to leave all the inheritance of the father to the oldest son. This inheritance would include, land, livestock, male and female servants, standing in society and the responsibility of caring for their mother and sisters. Essentially, the eldest son would become the Patriarch of the house and the carrier of the family name.  But in cases where there was not a son born to a Father, if, for instance, he had all daughters or if his wife was barren, the father would choose his closest family member, like a brother or a male cousin and leave all of the inheritance to them. However, in cases like Abram’s where his wife was barren, AND he left his family, he has not social or political tie to them, the closest family he has is his most trusted servant. 

So, understandably Abram is frustrated. He was promised an heir, yet one has not come, and he is getting more and more anxious about the future, after all he is getting older. Abram is beginning to wonder, “should I keep trusting this Yahweh?” 

Remember Yahweh was a “new” god at this point. So, any reasonable person during this time, would’ve understood if Abram stopped trusting Yahweh and went back to his family and their gods. 

But, “Then the word of the Lord came to him: ‘This man, [Eliezer], will not be you heir, but a son who is your own flesh and blood will be your heir.’ He took him outside and said, ‘Look up at the sky and count the starts—if indeed you can count them.’ Then he said to him, ‘So shall your offspring be’”

God does not condemn Abram for his anxiety of the future, by telling him that he should’ve had more faith. Instead, God gives Abram what he needs. He brings him outside to look at the sky. Now, in our 21st Century cities, a clear night sky has only a handful of stars. This was not the sky that Abram was looking at here. Abram is in the middle of the desert in Canaan. No streetlights, no flashlights, no cell phones, no buildings or electricity. So, when the sun goes down it is dark. Pitch black dark. Cannot see your hand in front of you face kind of dark. But the moon and the stars would shine bright. And Abram would’ve seen Hundreds of Thousands of stars in the night sky. The closest we get in our world today, would be deep in the country, on a farm, or even in the desert, away from all civilization, looking at the night sky. It was in this environment that God asks Abram to count the stars. And Abram believed Yahweh! 

Then Yahweh reminds Abram who He is. “…I am the Lord, who brought you out of Ur of the Chaldeans to give you this land to take possession of it. (Genesis 15:7). God is reminding Abram that not only will his descendants be as numerous as the stars in the sky, but they will dwell in this land. The very land that Abram is standing on right now during this conversation, will belong to his descendants. 

Then Abram asks, “How will know that I will gain possession of it?” A fair question, since he still has anxiety that Yahweh will come through for him. 

“So, the Lord said to him, ‘Bring me a heifer, a goat and a ram, each three years old, along with a dove and a young pigeon.’ Abram brought all these to him, cut them in two and arranged the halves opposite of each other; the birds, however, he did not cut in half. Then birds of prey came down on the carcasses, but Abram drove them away. As the sun was setting, Abram fell into a deep sleep, and a thick and dreadful darkness came over him. Then the Lord said to him, “Know for certain that for four hundred years your descendants will be strangers in a country not their own and that they will be enslaved and mistreated there. But I will punish the nation they serve as slaves, and afterword they will come out with great possessions. You, however, will go to your ancestors in peace and be buried at a good old age. In the fourth generation your descendants will come back here, for the sin of the Amorites has not yet reached its full measure.’ When the sun had set and darkness had fallen, a smoking firepot with a blazing torch appeared and passed between the pieces. On that day the LORD made a covenant with Abram and said, ‘To your descendants I give this land, from the Wadi of Egypt to the great river, the Euphrates.” (Genesis 15:9-18)

This practice may seem extreme to us today. You may be thinking, “Why is Abram cutting up animals? And why is there a smoking fire pot and blazing torch moving between the dead carcasses? What does this mean? 

And these are valid questions. But this encounter with Yahweh sets the stage for the rest the Bible and for our relationship with God today. 

This practice was called, “To Cut a Covenant”, and it is literally to make a legally binding deal between two parties. By cutting open the animals and walking through the blood, they are sealing a contract. Today, our legal practice is to have two parties agree on the terms and conditions of a contract then sign a document including all the facets of that agreement. In doing so, both parties are agreeing to keep their end of the contract. In Abram’s day, this ritual was their contracts. By cutting open the animals and walking down the middle through their blood was to say, “I promise to keep my side of the agreement. For if I do not, may I become like these animals, cut in two and my blood poured out.” 

This was a sacred act! A person did not cut a covenant unless they were 100% sure they could uphold their end of the deal. Because if the covenant was broken for any reason, blood was spilled. Period. There was no backing out of a covenant once it was made. Therefore, the decision to enter into a covenant with someone was not taken lightly.

It is interesting what animals are used here in this covenant with Abram. A heifer (A female Cow or Bull), a goat, a ram (aka an adult Lamb), a dove, and a pigeon. It is interesting because throughout the Bible these are the only acceptable animals for sacrifices before the Lord. These are the only animals that Abram’s descendants will use whenever they participate in worship with Yahweh. 

So, here we have God cutting a covenant with Abram, promising that his descendants will truly possess the land of Canaan. God said, 

“Know for certain that for four hundred years your descendants will be strangers in a country not their own and that they will be enslaved and mistreated there. But I will punish the nation they serve as slaves, and afterword they will come out with great possessions. You, however, will go to your ancestors in peace and be buried at a good old age. In the fourth generation your descendants will come back here, for the sin of the Amorites has not yet reached its full measure.” (Genesis 15:13-16) 

Okay, so Let’s go through the terms and conditions of this Covenant. 

These are the terms God is promising and agreeing to keep.

1.    400 years Abram’s descendants will be strangers in a country not their own and they will be slaves and mistreated there (EGYPT)

2.    I will punish the nation they serve as slaves, and afterword they will come out with great possessions (Plagues of Egypt/Leaving Egypt)

3.    You (Abram) will go to your ancestors in peace and be buried at a good old age (lives to see his children, Ishmael and Isaac get married, and he dies peacefully) 

4.    In the 4th Generation your descendants will come back here (Ephraim and Manasseh, Abram’s Great-Great-Grand Children leave Egypt to possess the promised land)

5.    The Sin of the Ammonites have not reached full measure (these are the descendants of Ammon, the son of Lot by his youngest daughter)

6.    To your (Abram) descendants, I give this land from the River of Egypt (AKA the Wadi of Egypt in the Sinai Peninsula, Just south of Beersheba, Israel’s southernmost city) to the great river, The Euphrates (Just north of Dan, Israel’s northern most city) 

As for Abram’s side of the agreement, in Genesis 15:6, “And Abram believed the Lord, and he credited it to him as righteousness” (ESV). All Abram had to do to keep his side of the agreement was to believe Yahweh! That’s it! God took all the responsibility of making the promises happen. Abram just had to believe.

Abram fell into a deep sleep and saw a smokey firepot and a blazing torch. If this had been any other covenant transaction Abram would’ve walked through alongside Yahweh, because it was customary for both parties to walk through the middle of the animals. But that is not what happened! Instead, Yahweh walked through. Some scholars think it is Jesus and the Holy Spirit who are represented by the smokey firepot and blazing torch. 

Essentially, in doing this, God is saying, if your descendants from you and Sarai do not possess the land of Canaan, I will die to fulfill the broken covenant. And also, if you stop believing me, even for a second, I will die to fulfill the broken covenant. Yahweh is taking it upon himself to fulfill both sides of the covenant. He is walking through the blood of every possible animal used for sacrifice and promising to be split in two and his blood be poured out if the Covenant is broken. 

But then the story stops. Kind of abruptly. And we get this side story of Hagar, Sarai’s Egyptian servant. But then the covenant story picks up again in Chapter 17. So, Next time, we will dive into the story of Hagar and see why her story fits between these two covenant chapters.

Before we go, I want to close our time together by reading the scripture from which our story comes from today in Genesis 15:1-18 in hopes that after hearing all of the history, perhaps this story will be brought into new light for us. Let’s Read:

“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,” --Genesis 15:1-18 (ESV)

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Thank you for listening to today’s episode of Our Ancient Future Story, I hope that you really enjoyed it! This episode was written and produced by Vic Harmon. Executive Produced by Amanda Gilliam. Music is Embarking on Adventure by Evan MacDonald. 

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See you next time! Bye!