Genesis 15:18
In the same day the LORD made a covenant with Abram, saying,
Unto thy seed have I given this land, from the river of Egypt unto the great
river, the river Eurphrates:
a. NLT: So
the LORD made a covenant with Abram that day and said, “I have given this
land to your descendants, all the way from the border of Egypt to the
great Euphrates River—
b. NIV: On
that day the LORD made a covenant with Abram and said, “To your
descendants I give this land, from the Wadifn of Egypt to the great river,
the Euphrates—
c. YLT: In
that day hath Jehovah made with Abram a covenant, saying, 'To thy seed I have
given this land, from the river of Egypt unto the great river, the river Phrat,
d. Amplified Bible: On
the same day the Lord made a covenant (promise, pledge) with Abram, saying, To
your descendants I have given this land, from the river of Egypt to the great
river Euphrates—the land of
e. Septuagint: I
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.
f. Stone Edition Chumash: On that
day HASHEM made a covenant with Abram, saying, “To your descendants have I
given this land, from the riverof Egypt to the great river, the Eurphrates
River
1. “In the same day
the LORD made a covenant with Abram, saying…”
a. in the same [1931 * huw’]
[Strong: a primitive word, the third person pronoun singular, he (she or it);
only expressed when emphatic or without a verb; also (intensively) self, or
(especially with the article) the same; sometimes (as demonstrative) this or
that; occasionally (instead of copula) as or are:--he, as for her, him(-self),
it, the same, she (herself), such, that (...it), these, they, this, those,
which (is), who.]
b. day [3117 * yowm] [Strong: from
an unused root meaning to be hot; a day (as the warm hours), whether literal
(from sunrise to sunset, or from one sunset to the next), or figurative (a
space of time defined by an associated term), (often used adverb):--age, +
always, + chronicals, continually(-ance), daily, ((birth-), each, to) day, (now
a, two) days (agone), + elder, X end, + evening, + (for) ever(-lasting, -more),
X full, life, as (so) long as (... live), (even) now, + old, + outlived, +
perpetually, presently, + remaineth, X required, season, X since, space, then,
(process of) time, + as at other times, + in trouble, weather, (as) when, (a,
the, within a) while (that), X whole (+ age), (full) year(-ly), + younger.]
c. the LORD [3068 * Yhovah]
[Strong: from 1961; (the) self-Existent or Eternal; Jehovah, Jewish
national name of God:--Jehovah, the Lord.]
d. made [3772 * karath] [Strong: a
primitive root; to cut (off, down or asunder); by implication, to destroy or
consume; specifically, to covenant (i.e. make an alliance or bargain,
originally by cutting flesh and passing between the pieces):--be chewed, be
con-(feder-)ate, covenant, cut (down, off), destroy, fail, feller, be freed,
hew (down), make a league ((covenant)), X lose, perish, X utterly, X want.]
e. a covenant [1285 * bryith] [Strong:
from 1262 (in the sense of cutting (like 1254)); a compact
(because made by passing between pieces of flesh):--confederacy,
(con-)feder(-ate), covenant, league.]
f. saying [559 * ‘amar] [Strong: a
primitive root; to say (used with great latitude):--answer, appoint, avouch,
bid, boast self, call, certify, challenge, charge, + (at the, give)
command(-ment), commune, consider, declare, demand, X desire, determine, X
expressly, X indeed, X intend, name, X plainly, promise, publish, report,
require, say, speak (against, of), X still, X suppose, talk, tell, term, X that
is, X think, use (speech), utter, X verily, X yet.]
1). In the Genesis covenant the
words spoken were, “Unto thy seed have I given this land, from the river of
Egypt unto the great river, the river Euphrates: The Kenites, and the
Kenizzites, and the Kadmonites, And the Hittites, and the Perizzites, and the
Rephaims, And the Amorites, and the Canaanites, and the Girgashites, and the
Jebusites.” Because only the two Persons of the Godhead passed between the
pieces and not Abram, it was unconditional. This Covenant was given for a
thousand generations.
a). Psalm 105:6-11 O ye seed of
Abraham his servant, ye children of Jacob his chosen.
105:7 He is the LORD our God: his
judgments are in all the earth.
105:8 He hath remembered his
covenant for ever, the word which he commanded to a thousand generations.
105:9 Which covenant he made with
Abraham, and his oath unto Isaac;
105:10 And confirmed the same unto
Jacob for a law, and to Israel for an everlasting covenant:
105:11 Saying, Unto thee will I
give the land of Canaan, the lot of your inheritance:
2). An added element not mentioned
in the Genesis passage but no doubt occurred is what Ezekiel 47:14 describes, “And ye shall inherit
it, one as well as another: concerning the which I lifted up mine hand to give
it unto your fathers:”
3). In light of the above
Scripture, we see The First Person of the Godhead speaking to the Second Person
of the Godhead and to Abram (who was in a deep sleep), swearing with an
uplifted hand to fulfill the promises of the giving of the land. In all that
was spoken by God in Genesis 15, whether it was to Abram and to “the seed”, the
pre-Incarnate Christ in Genesis 15:13-16, or to Abram and “the seed”, the
pre-Incarnate Christ in Genesis 15:18-21; the only Covenant promise mentioned
is about the geography. Abram was also told briefly of the circumstances that
would last 400 years leading up to the exodus out of Egypt. From the text in
Genesis, that is all we get, a promise of sacred real estate, but there was
more promised in this Covenant that is not mentioned in the text of Genesis. If both parties professed and swore their part
in the Covenant, and the First Person of the Godhead spoke about the Amorites/Canaanite
and the Egyptian afflictions and the promise of the inheriting of the land, what
could have been the content of the professions of “the seed”, the pre-Incarnate
Christ, the second Person of the Godhead? Well, we know for a fact that the
plan of redemption is older than the earth itself, that the three Persons of
the Godhead, the LORD God planned the redemption of man before the earth was
ever created.
a). 1 Peter 1:18-20 Forasmuch as
ye know that ye were not redeemed with corruptible things, as silver and gold,
from your vain conversation received by tradition from your fathers;
1:19 But with the precious blood
of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot:
1:20 Who verily was foreordained
before the foundation of the world, but was manifest in these last times for
you,
Additional
notes
1. Another important factor is that Paul is discussing that
redemption when he injects the facts of the cutting of the Covenant in Genesis
15.
a. Galatians 3:5-19 He therefore
that ministereth to you the Spirit, and worketh miracles among you, doeth he it
by the works of the law, or by the hearing of faith?
3:6 Even as Abraham believed God,
and it was accounted to him for righteousness.
3:7 Know ye therefore that they
which are of faith, the same are the children of Abraham.
3:8 And the scripture, foreseeing
that God would justify the heathen through faith, preached before the gospel
unto Abraham, saying, In thee shall all nations be blessed.
3:9 So then they which be of faith
are blessed with faithful Abraham.
3:10 For as many as are of the
works of the law are under the curse: for it is written,
Cursed is every one that
continueth not in all things which are written in the book of the law to do
them.
3:11 But that no man is justified
by the law in the sight of God, it is evident: for, The just shall live by
faith.
3:12 And the law is not of faith:
but, The man that doeth them shall live in them.
3:13 Christ hath redeemed us from
the curse of the law, being made a curse for us: for it is written, Cursed is
every one that hangeth on a tree:
3:14 That the blessing of Abraham
might come on the Gentiles through Jesus Christ; that we might receive the
promise of the Spirit through faith.
3:15 Brethren, I speak after the
manner of men; Though it be but a man's covenant, yet if it be confirmed, no
man disannulleth, or addeth thereto.
3:16 Now to Abraham and his seed were
the promises made. He saith not, And to seeds, as of many; but as of one, And
to thy seed, which is Christ.
3:17 And this I say, that the
covenant, that was confirmed before of God in Christ, the law, which was four
hundred and thirty years after, cannot disannul, that it should make the
promise of none effect.
3:18For if the inheritance be of
the law, it is no more of promise: but God gave it to Abraham by promise.
3:19 Wherefore then serveth the
law? It was added because of transgressions, till the seed should come to whom
the promise was made; and it was ordained by angels in the hand of a mediator.
b. What Paul is basically saying
in Galatians 3:5-19 is that the redemption of mankind including all of the
inheritance of the New Covenant were the promises declared in that Covenant. In
light of that, the promises uttered by the pre-Incarnate Christ could have been
something along these lines: “I will die a sacrificial death shedding my
sinless blood to redeem all of mankind, bringing with it all the promises of
the New Covenant incorporated in
salvation, including eternal life, safety, deliverance, preservation, healing
and soundness.”
2. The cutting of the covenant took place on the plains of
Mamre right outside present day Hebron, within the so called “West Bank”. Paul
writes that the time from the cutting of the Covenant till Israel left Egypt
was 430 years.
a. Galatians 3:16, 17 Now to
Abraham and his seed were the promises made. He saith not, And to seeds, as of
many; but as of one, And to thy seed, which is Christ.
And this I say, that the covenant,
that was confirmed before in Christ, the law, which was four hundred and thirty
years after, cannot disannul, that it should make the promise of none effect.
b. This figure is bolstered by
that fact that within that 430th year Israel arrived at Sinai to
receive the law.
1). Exodus 19:1 In the third month,
when the children of Israel were gone forth out of the land of Egypt, the same
day came they into the wilderness of Sinai.
2). The 430 year time period between
the cutting of the covenant in Genesis 15 and Israel leaving Egypt is
traditional Rabbinical teaching that goes back over two thousand years. In the
Stone Edition of the Jewish Chumash, the Rabbinical tradition is cited in
commentary under the verse Exodus 12:40.
a). Stone Edition of the
Chumash, Mesorah Publications, Ltd. Ninth Impression of the Eleventh Edition,
July 2007. “Although the verse gives the duration of Israel’s stay in Egypt
as 430 years, it is clear that the nation could not have been in Egypt for that
long, for the lifetimes of Kehoth, who came with Jacob, and his son Amram total
only 270 years, and Amram’s son Moses was eighty at the time of the Exodus.
Rather, the Rabbinic tradition, as cited by Rashi, is as follows: The Covenant
between the Parts Genesis 15:7-21) took place 430 years before the Exodus, and
that is the period referred to in our verse.”
b). The fact that the Apostle Paul
included this tradition in the inspired word of God is enough to believe it is
correct. Earlier in this same book of Galatians, i.e., verses, 1:11-12, Paul
declares the gospel he received was directly from Jesus Christ. We can then, with
sufficient authority declare the time from the cutting of the Covenant in
Genesis 15 till the giving of the law at Sinai was 430 years.
3). In light of that, a closer look
at Exodus 12:40, 41 is warranted.
a). Exodus 12:40, 41[KJV] “Now the
sojourning of the children of Israel, who dwelt in Egypt, was four hundred and
thirty years.
b). The Septuagint, the Greek
translation of the Hebrew Old Testament supports the 430 year account to
include the sojourns of Egypt and Canaan. Exodus 12:40 “And the sojourning of the children of Israel,
while they sojourned in the land of Egypt and the land of Canaan was four
hundred and thirty years.”
4). A closer look at Exodus 12:41
reveals a startling fact, and most translations agree.
a). Exodus 12:41 And it came to
pass at the end of the four hundred and thirty years, even the selfsame day it
came to pass, that all the hosts of the LORD went out from the land of Egypt.
b). [NLT] In fact, it was on the
last day of the 430th year that all the LORD's forces left the land.
c). [NIV] At the end of the 430
years, to the very day, all the LORD's divisions left Egypt.
5). The Scripture declares that the
day Israel came out of Egypt was 430 years to the day. What day, we may ask,
the day of the cutting of the covenant in Genesis 15. This is where it gets
beautiful. The cutting of the Covenant in Genesis 15 was on the 14th
of Nisan, 430 years prior to the first Passover. Israel came out of Egypt on
the 14th of Nisan according to the Jewish calendar. Jesus was
crucified on the 14th of Nisan, Passover according to the New
Testament. God has a calendar that I believe he has operated by since creation.
Scripturally, we can prove that He has operated within that calendar since the
Covenant of Genesis 15.
a). God gave that calendar, with
all the Sabbaths, new moons, feasts and festivals to his Covenant people at
Sinai: Exodus 12:1-28; Leviticus 23.
b). These elements of the calendar
were shadows of what God would do through Christ: The body casting the shadow
is Jesus Christ, Colossians 2:16, 17.
c). Jesus crucified on Passover,
the Holy Spirit given at Pentecost, etc.
d). When Jesus comes back, at
least one of the Feasts, i.e., the Feast of Tabernacles, will be reinstituted
as a requirement for the whole world, Zechariah 14:16-19.
(1) Zechariah 14:16-19 And it
shall come to pass, that every one that is left of all the nations which came
against Jerusalem shall even go up from year to year to worship the King, the
LORD of hosts, and to keep the feast of tabernacles.
And it shall be, that whoso will
not come up of all the families of the earth unto Jerusalem to worship the
King, the LORD of hosts, even upon them shall be no rain.
And if the family of Egypt go not
up, and come not, that have no rain; there shall be the plague, wherewith the
LORD will smite the heathen that come not up to keep the feast of tabernacles.
This shall be the punishment of
Egypt, and the punishment of all nations that come not up to keep the feast of
tabernacles.
e). Eventually the whole world
will governed by this calendar as evidenced by Isaiah 66:23 “And it shall come
to pass, that from one new moon to another, and from one Sabbath to another,
shall all flesh come to worship before me, saith the LORD.”
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