Year 1, Week 4, Day 3 Bible Reading Observations

Year 1, Week 4, Day 3

I have a brief observation for today’s reading of Genesis 14-16.

Today’s reading continues a focus on the life of Abram. A quick scan from today’s reading includes Abram’s victory over four kings, in which he rescues his nephew, Lot; his encounter with Melchizedek, the king of Salem and a high priest of the Most High God; the covenant that God initiates with him; and the arrival of his first son, Ishmael, from Sarai’s servant, Hagar.

What struck me as most significant from today’s reading was what the LORD reveals about Himself through the covenant that He made with Abram. The Abrahamic Covenant is crucial to the rest of the Old Testament, and critical in the unfolding of God’s purposes for mankind: “He remembers his covenant forever, the word that he commanded, for a thousand generations, the covenant that he made with Abraham, his sworn promise to Isaac, which he confirmed to Jacob as a statute, to Israel as an everlasting covenant, saying, “To you I will give the land of Canaan as your portion for an inheritance.” (Psalm 105:8-11). In our journey through the Scriptures, we will keep being brought back to the covenant that God made with Abram, here is Genesis 15.

When we earlier considered Noah, we noted that God made a covenant with Noah as well. It was noted at that time that God does relationship through covenants. With promises and obligations, the terms of a covenant relationship with God are explained. As we consider the covenant that God made with Abram, another important thing can be said about the covenants God makes. God reveals His plans and accomplishes His purposes through covenants. The Abrahamic Covenant is very significant in what it reveals about God’s plans and in how it contributes to the accomplishment of God’s purposes.

The prelude to the Abrahamic Covenant was the promises that God made to Abram in Genesis 12. Here in Genesis 15, God initiates the covenant, which will be confirmed in Genesis 17, and then reaffirmed in Genesis 22. In each of these various references to the Abrahamic Covenant, the promise of a seed or a descendant, and the promise of land or a place is stated: “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.” (Genesis 15:18-21).

Genesis 15 reveals something significant about the durability of the Abrahamic Covenant in how the covenant was officially ratified through the ceremony of a sacrifice: “When the sun had gone down and it was dark, behold, a smoking fire pot and a flaming torch passed between these pieces.” (Genesis 5:17). God alone swore the oath to uphold the commands and the promises of the Abrahamic Covenant. Let me explain a bit more about this. God had sent Abram to get the animals required for the sacrifice that would ratify the covenant between them: “Bring me a heifer three years old, a female goat three years old, a ram three years old, a turtledove, and a young pigeon.” (Genesis 15:9). The animals would be cut in half and the two parties making the covenant would walk between the halved animals to symbolize their pledge that either party would be cut in half or put to death if either should break the terms of the covenant. But Abraham never walked through the animal halves: “As the sun was going down, a deep sleep fell on Abram. And behold, dreadful and great darkness fell upon him.” (Genesis 15:12). God alone walked through the animal halves and thereby assumed the penalty of death should either party break the covenant. Thus, the Abrahamic Covenant is solely grounded in the faithfulness of God: “For great is his steadfast love toward us, and the faithfulness of the LORD endures forever.” (Psalm 117:2).

Another significant thing in Genesis 15 is the emphasis placed on Abram trusting the LORD as the means through which he would experience relationship with God: “And he believed the LORD, and he counted it to him as righteousness.” (Genesis 15:6). Faith is the means, not only through which Abram lived in relationship with the LORD; it is the means through which anyone can live in relationship with the LORD. When we take God at His Word, God considers believing sinners to be righteous. As the New Testament unfolds, we come to learn that the basis on which sinners, who are actually unfit morally, can be legally declared as morally fit, is Jesus Christ, the Righteous One: “For Christ also suffered once for sins, the righteous for the unrighteous, that he might bring us to God” (1 Peter 3:18). The death of Christ serves the substitutionary penalty of death for our unrighteousness, while the gift of Christ’s righteousness is credited to all who trust the Lord Jesus Christ as our righteousness. With such a standing of righteousness, believers live in relationship with God.

What struck you in today’s reading? What questions were prompted from today’s reading?

Pastor Joe