Genesis 15, Count the Stars!

Abram has just won a battle with four kings, rescuing Lot and Sodom and Gomorrah.

Genesis 15: 1-6, Covenant
After this, the word of the LORD came to Abram in a vision: "Do not be afraid, Abram. I am your shield, your very great reward."

But Abram said, "O Sovereign LORD, what can you give me since I remain childless and the one who will inherit my estate is Eliezer of Damascus?" And Abram said, "You have given me no children; so a servant in my household will be my heir."

Then the word of the LORD came to him: "This man will not be your heir, but a son coming from your own body will be your heir."  He took him outside and said, "Look up at the heavens and count the stars--if indeed you can count them." Then he said to him, "So shall your offspring be."

Abram believed the LORD, and he credited it to him as righteousness.

God repeats His plans to bless Abram and provide an eternal heritage. Obviously it will be hard for Abram to have descendants like the stars if he has NO children!

Paul uses verse 6 to argue that righteousness came to Abram by his faith, not by his works, coming long before the Law given on Mt. Sinai (in Exodus.)

NIV footnotes.  The translation of the first few verses may not be clear.  The meaning of the Hebrew translated "inherit my estate"  is uncertain.  

Genesis 15: 7-11, Covenant ratified
He also said to him, "I am the LORD, who brought you out of Ur of the Chaldeans to give you this land to take possession of it."

But Abram said, "O Sovereign LORD, how can I know that I will gain possession of it?"

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 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.

Abram insists on ratifying the covenant with a sacrifice. Alter says the arraignment of cut-up animals was a standard way of sealing a covenant in the Ancient Near East -- the parties walked between the animal pieces as a statement about what would happen to them if they broke the agreement.

Genesis 15: 12-16, Prophesy about the Exodus
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 your descendants will be strangers in a country not their own, and they will be enslaved and mistreated four hundred years. But I will punish the nation they serve as slaves, and afterward they will come out with great possessions. You, however, will go to your fathers 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."

The descendants of Abraham will eventually leave for the land for Egypt, be captives there, and return. The length of time in Egypt is given as both four centuries and four "generations".  Some argue that the Hebrew word dor, translated "generations" in verse 15, could be mean "lifespan", in which case it meshes better with the "four hundred years" of verse 13.

This vision, as part of a deep sleep, includes an aura of darkness and fear.

Genesis 15: 17-21, A promise of the Promised Land
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 river of Egypt to the great river, the Euphrates-- the land of the Kenites, Kenizzites, Kadmonites, Hittites, Perizzites, Rephaites, Amorites, Canaanites, Girgashites and Jebusites."

What a strange image, the torch and firepot moving between the animal halves!  God (Yahweh) repeats His covenant promises about the land of Canaan. The torch and smoking firepot pass between the pieces of animals, symbolizing God's commitment to the covenant.