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.” He brought him all these, and divided them in the middle, and laid each half opposite the other; but he didn’t divide the birds. The birds of prey came down on the carcasses, and Abram drove them away.
When the sun was going down, a deep sleep fell on Abram. Now terror and great darkness fell on him. He said to Abram, “Know for sure that your offspring will live as foreigners in a land that is not theirs, and will serve them. They will afflict them four hundred years. I will also judge that nation, whom they will serve. Afterward they will come out with great wealth; but you will go to your fathers in peace. You will be buried at a good old age. In the fourth generation they will come here again, for the iniquity of the Amorite is not yet full.” It came to pass that, when the sun went down, and it was dark, behold, a smoking furnace and a flaming torch passed between these pieces.
John Calvin 1540 · Public Domain On vv9, 10, 11, 12, 14, 15, 16, 17 9. Take me an heifer of three years old.…
9. Take me an heifer of three years old. Some, instead of an heifer of three years old translate the passage, ‘three heifers’ and in each species of animals enumerated, would make the number three. Yet the opinion of those who apply the word three to the age of the heifer, is more general. Moreover, although God would not deny his servant what he had asked; he yet, by no means, granted what would gratify the desire of the flesh. For, what certainty could be added to the promise, by the slaughter of an heifer, or goat, or ram? For the true design of sacrifice, of which we shall see more presently, was hitherto hidden from Abram. Therefore by obeying the command of God, of which, however, no advantage was apparent, he hence proves the obedience of his faith; nor did his wish aim at any other end than this; namely, that the obstacle being removed, he might, as was just, reverently acquiesce in the word of the Lord. Let us, therefore, learn meekly to embrace those helps which God offers for the confirmation of our faith; although they may not accord with our judgment, but rather may seem to be a mockery; until, at length, it shall become plain from the effect, that God was as far as possible from mocking us.
John Calvin's Commentaries (1540-1563) — public domain. Text from the Calvin Translation Society English edition (1840s-50s) via the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (ccel.org). Calvin's coverage is partial (roughly two-thirds of the Bible); uncommented books and verses are honest gaps, never fabricated. The 19th-century editor's footnotes and remarks are omitted so the notes are faithfully Calvin's own voice.
Geneva Bible translators 1599 · Public Domain On vv10, 12, 13, 16 This was the old custom in making covenants, Jer.…
This was the old custom in making covenants, Jer. 34:18, to the which God added these conditions, that Abram’s posterity should be as torn in pieces, but after they should be coupled together: also that it should be assaulted, but yet delivered.
Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain.
John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain On vv9–17 Gen 15:9 And he said unto him, Take me…
Gen 15:9 And he said unto him, Take me an heifer of three years old, and a she goat of three years old, and a ram of three years old, and a turtledove, and a young pigeon.
Ver. 9. Take me a heifer, &c.] Here God commands him a busy sacrifice, and then casts him into a terrible sleep; the better to prepare him to receive the ensuing oracle, and to teach him that he may not rashly rush upon divine mysteries. Heathens could say, Non loquendum de Deo absque lumine ;{ a} that is, without premeditation and advised consideration.
Read full note →
{a} Pythagoras
John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Matthew Poole 1685 · Public Domain On vv9–17 Take and offer at my command, and for my…
Take and offer at my command, and for my service,
an heifer of three years old, at which time it is perfect in stature and strength, and therefore fittest for God’s service. This and the other creatures here following, and sacrifices, are the same which afterwards were prescribed in the Levitical law.
Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Matthew Henry 1710 · Public Domain On vv12, 17 We have here a full and particular discovery made…
We have here a full and particular discovery made to Abram of God's purposes concerning his seed. Observe,
I. The time when God came to him with this discovery: When the sun was going down, or declining, about the time of the evening oblation, Kg1 18:36; Dan 9:21. Early in the morning, before day, while the stars were yet to be seen, God had given him orders concerning the sacrifices (Gen 15:5), and we may suppose it was, at least, his morning's work to prepare them and set them in order; when he had done this, he abode by them, praying and waiting till towards evening. Note, God often keeps his people long in expectation of the comforts he designs them, for the confirmation of their faith; but though the answers of prayer, and the performance of promises, come slowly, yet they come surely. At evening time it shall be light.
Read full note →
II. The preparatives for this discovery. 1. A deep sleep fell upon Abram, not a common sleep through weariness or carelessness, but a divine ecstasy, like that which the Lord God caused to fall upon Adam (Gen 2:21), that, being hereby wholly taken off from the view of things sensible, he might be wholly taken up with the contemplation of things spiritual. The doors of the body were locked up, that the soul might be private and retired, and might act the more freely and like itself. 2. With this sleep, a horror of great darkness fell upon him. How sudden a change! But just before we had him solacing himself in the comforts of God's covenant, and in communion with him; and here a horror of great darkness falls upon him. Note, The children of light do not always walk in the light, but sometimes clouds and darkness are round about them. This great darkness, which brought horror with it, was designed, (1.) To strike an awe upon the spirit of Abram, and to possess him with a holy reverence, that the familiarity to which God was pleased to admit him might not breed contempt. Note, Holy fear prepares the soul for holy joy; the spirit of bondage makes way for the spirit of adoption. God wounds first, and then heals; humbles first, and they lifts up, Isa 6:5, Isa 6:6, etc. (2.) To be a specimen of the methods of God's dealings with his seed. They must first be in the horror and darkness of Egyptian slavery, and then enter with joy into the good land; and therefore he must have the foretaste of their sufferings, before he had the foresight of their happiness. (3.) To be an indication of the nature of that covenant of peculiarity which God was now about to make with Abram. The Old Testament dispensation, which was founded on that covenant, was a dispensation, [1.] Of darkness and obscurity, Co2 3:13, Co2 3:14. [2.] Of dread and horror, Heb 12:18, etc.
III. The prediction itself. Several things are here foretold.
1. The suffering state of Abram's seed for a long time, Gen 15:13. Let not Abram flatter himself with the hopes of nothing but honour and prosperity in his family; no, he must know, of a surety, that which he was loth to believe, that the promised seed should be a persecuted seed. Note, God sends the worst first; we must first suffer, and then reign. He also lets us know the worst before it comes, that when it comes it may not be a surprise to us, Joh 16:4. Now we have here,
(1.) The particulars of their sufferings. [1.] They shall be strangers; so they were, first in Canaan (Psa 105:12) and afterwards in Egypt; before they were lords of their own land they were strangers in a strange land. The inconveniences of an unsettled state make a happy settlement the more welcome. Thus the heirs of heaven are first strangers on earth, a land that is not theirs. [2.] They shall be servants; so they were to the Egyptians, Exo 1:13. See how that which was the doom of the Canaanites (Gen 9:25) proves the distress of Abram's seed: they are made to serve, but with this difference, the Canaanites serve under a curse, the Hebrews under a blessing; and the upright shall have dominion in the morning, Psa 49:14. [3.] They shall be suffers. Those whom they serve shall afflict them; see Exo 1:11. Note, Those that are blessed and beloved of God are often sorely afflicted by wicked men; and God foresees it, and takes cognizance of it.
(2.) The continuance of their sufferings - four hundred years. This persecution began with mocking, when Ishmael, the son of an Egyptian, persecuted Isaac, who was born after the Spirit, Gen 21:9; Gal 4:29. It continued in loathing; for it was an abomination to the Egyptians to eat bread with the Hebrews, Gen 43:32; and it came at last to murder, the basest of murders, that of their new-born children; so that, more or less, it continued 400 years, though, in extremity, not so many. This was a long time, but a limited time.
2. The judgment of the enemies of Abram's seed: That nation whom they shall serve, even the Egyptians, will I judge, Gen 15:14. This points at the plagues of Egypt, by which God not only constrained the Egyptians to release Israel, but punished them for all the hardships they had put upon them. Note, (1.) Though God may suffer persecutors and oppressors to trample upon his people a great while, yet he will certainly reckon with them at last; for his day is coming, Psa 37:12, Psa 37:13. (2.) The punishing of persecutors is the judging of them: it is a righteous thing with God, and a particular act of justice, to recompense tribulations to those that trouble his people. The judging of the church's enemies is God's work: I will judge. God can do it, for he is the Lord; he will do it, for he is his people's God, and he has said, Vengeance is mine, I will repay. To him therefore we must leave it, to be done in his way and time.
3. The deliverance of Abram's seed out of Egypt. That great event is here foretold: Afterwards shall they come out with great substance. It is here promised, (1.) That they should be enlarged: Afterwards they shall come out; that is, either after they have been afflicted 400 years, when the days of their servitude are fulfilled, or after the Egyptians are judged and plagued, then they may expect deliverance. Note, The destruction of oppressors is the redemption of the oppressed; they will not let God's people go till they are forced to it. (2.) That they should be enriched: They shall come out with great substance; this was fulfilled, Exo 12:35, Exo 12:36. God took care they should have, not only a good land to go to, but a good stock to carry with them.
4. Their happy settlement in Canaan, Gen 15:16. They shall not only come out of Egypt, but they shall come hither again, hither to the land of Canaan, wherein thou now art. The discontinuance of their possession shall be no defeasance of their right: we must not reckon those comforts lost for ever that are intermitted for a time. The reason why they must not have the land of promise in possession till the fourth generation was because the iniquity of the Amorites was not yet full. Israel cannot be possessed of Canaan till the Amorites be dispossessed; and they are not yet ripe for ruin. The righteous God has determined that they shall not be cut off till they have persisted in sin so long, and arrived at such a pitch of wickedness, that there may appear some equitable proportion between their sin and their ruin; and therefore, till it come to that, the seed of Abram must be kept out of possession. Note, (1.) The measure of sin fills gradually. Those that continue impenitent in wicked ways are treasuring up unto themselves wrath. (2.) Some people's measure of sin fills slowly. The Sodomites, who were sinners before the Lord exceedingly, soon filled their measure; so did the Jews, who were, in profession, near to God. But the iniquity of the Amorites was long in the filling up. (3.) That this is the reason of the prosperity of wicked people; the measure of their sins is not yet full. The wicked live, become old, and are mighty in power, while God is laying up their iniquity for their children, Job 21:7, Job 21:19. See Mat 23:32; Deu 32:34.
5. Abram's peaceful quiet death and burial, before these things should come to pass, Gen 15:15. As he should not live to see that good land in the possession of his family, but must die, as he lived, a stranger in it, so, to balance this, he should not live to see the troubles that should come upon his seed, much less to share in them. This is promised to Josiah, Kg2 22:20. Note, Good men are sometimes greatly favoured by being taken away from the evil to come, Isa 57:1. Let this satisfy Abram, that, for his part,
(1.) He shall go to his fathers in peace. Note, [1.] Even the friends and favourites of Heaven are not exempted from the stroke of death. Are we greater than our father Abram, who is dead? Joh 8:53. [2.] Good men die willingly; they are not fetched, they are not forced, but they go; their soul is not required, as the rich fool's (Luk 12:20), but cheerfully resigned: they would not live always. [3.] At death we go to our fathers, to all our fathers that have gone before us to the state of the dead (Job 21:32, Job 21:33), to our godly fathers that have gone before us to the state of the blessed, Heb 12:23. The former thought helps to take off the terror of death, the latter puts comfort into it. [4.] Whenever a godly man dies, he dies in peace. If the way be piety, the end is peace, Psa 37:37. Outward peace, to the last, is promised to Abram, peace and truth is his days, whatever should come afterwards (Kg2 20:19); peace with God, and everlasting peace, are sure to all the seed.
(2.) He shall be buried in a good old age. Perhaps mention is made of his burial here, where the land of Canaan is promised him, because a burying place was the first possession he had in it. He shall not only die in peace, but die in honour, die, and be buried decently; not only die in peace, but die in season, Job 5:26. Note, [1.] Old age is a blessing. It is promised in the firth commandment; it is pleasing to nature; and it affords a great opportunity for usefulness. [2.] Especially, if it be a good old age. Theirs may be called a good old age, First, That are old and healthful, not loaded with such distempers as make them weary of life. Secondly, That are old and holy, old disciples (Act 21:16), whose hoary head is found in the way of righteousness (Pro 16:31), old and useful, old and exemplary for godliness; theirs is indeed a good old age.
Matthew Henry's Commentary on the Whole Bible (1708–1710) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Gill 1763 · Public Domain On vv9–17 And he took unto him all these,.... The heifer,…
And he took unto him all these,.... The heifer, goat, ram, turtle, and young pigeon, not to himself, but to the Lord, as he was bid, and offered them before him, as the above Targums paraphrase it; or however he took them for his use, and set them before him, and did with them as he directed him:
and divided them in the midst; that is, the three animals, the heifer, goat, and ram; he did not take off their several limbs, and cut them up in small parts, but cut them in halves:
Read full note →
and laid each piece one against another; one half against the other, the left side against the right, shoulder against shoulder, and leg against leg, so that they might seem to join, or might be easily joined together again, or however answer one another; though it is generally thought there was such a distance of the one from the other, as that there might be a passage between them; it being usual in making covenants for the covenanters to pass between the parts of a creature slain, signifying, that should they break the covenant made, they deserved to be cut asunder as that creature was; see Gill on Jer 34:18. So a burning lamp, or lamp of fire, an emblem of the divine Being, is said, Gen 15:17, to pass between those pieces: all this was expressive of the afflictions of the posterity of Abram, of their being distressed in the land of Egypt, cut as it were in twain there, and of their various dispersions in other countries; and yet, like the bones in Ezekiel's vision, were gathered together, and united again: and it may be this may have respect to the division of the people of Israel into two kingdoms, in the times of Rehoboam, and their after reunion, and especially in the latter day, Eze 37:7,
but the birds divided he not; but laid them one against another, as the pieces were laid; so the birds used in sacrifice under the law were not to be divided, Lev 1:17; which may signify, that when the people of the Jews, in the latter day, are converted, and brought together into their own land, when they will better answer the character of turtles and doves than they ever did, will be no more divided and separated from each other.
John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Wesley 1765 · Public Domain On vv9, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17 Take me an heifer - Perhaps Abram expected some…
Take me an heifer - Perhaps Abram expected some sign from heaven, but God gives him a sign upon a sacrifice. Those that would receive the assurances of God's favour, must attend instituted ordinances, and expect to meet with God in them. Observe,
1. God appointed that each of the beasts used for his service should be three years old, because then they were at their full growth and strength. God must be served with the best we have.
Read full note →
2. We do not read that God gave Abram particular directions how to manage these, knowing that he was well versed in the custom of sacrifices.
3. Abram took as God appointed him, though as yet he knew not how these things should become a sign to him. He divided the beasts in the midst, according to the ceremony used in continuing covenants, Jer. xxxiv, 18, 19, where it is said, they cut the calf in twain, and passed between the parts.
4. Abram, having prepared according to God's appointment, set himself to expect what sign God would give him by these.
John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.
Adam Clarke 1810 · Public Domain On vv9–17 Verse 9. Take me a heifer] עגלה eglah, a…
Verse 9. Take me a heifer] עגלה eglah, a she-calf; a she-goat, עז ez, a goat, male or female, but distinguished here by the feminine adjective; משלשת meshullesheth, a three-yearling; a ram, איל ayil; a turtle-dove, תר tor, from which come turtur and turtle; young pigeon, gozal, a word signifying the young of pigeons and eagles. See De 32:11. It is worthy of remark, that every animal allowed or commanded to be sacrificed under the Mosaic law is to be found in this list. And is it not a proof that God was now giving to Abram an epitome of that law and its sacrifices which he intended more fully to reveal to Moses; the essence of which consisted in its sacrifices, which typified the Lamb of God that takes away the sin of the world?
On the several animals which God ordered Abram to take, Jarchi remarks: "The idolatrous nations are compared in the Scriptures to bulls, rams, and goats; for it is written, Ps 22:12: Many bulls have compassed me about. Da 8:20: The ram which thou hast seen is the king of Persia. The rough goat is the king of Greece. Da 8:21. But the Israelites are compared to doves, c. So 2:14: O my dove, that art in the cleft of the rock. The division of the above carcasses denotes the division and extermination of the idolatrous nations; but the birds not being divided, shows that the Israelites are to abide for ever." See Jarchi on the place.
Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Joseph Benson 1811 · Public Domain On vv9, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17 Gen 15:9. Take me a heifer — Perhaps Abram…
Gen 15:9. Take me a heifer — Perhaps Abram expected some sign from heaven, but God gives him a sign upon a sacrifice. Those that would receive the assurances of God’s favour, must attend instituted ordinances, and expect to meet with God in them.
Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary 1859 · Public Domain On vv9, 12, 13, 14, 16, 17 Three years, when these animals have obtained a perfect…
Three years, when these animals have obtained a perfect age.
George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).
Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown 1871 · Public Domain On v9 Take me an heifer, &c.--On occasions of great importance,…
Take me an heifer, &c.--On occasions of great importance, when two or more parties join in a compact, they either observe precisely the same rites as Abram did, or, where they do not, they invoke the lamp as their witness. According to these ideas, which have been from time immemorial engraven on the minds of Eastern people, the Lord Himself condescended to enter into covenant with Abram. The patriarch did not pass between the sacrifice and the reason was that in this transaction he was bound to nothing. He asked a sign, and God was pleased to give him a sign, by which, according to Eastern ideas, He bound Himself. In like manner God has entered into covenant with us; and in the glory of the only-begotten Son, who passed through between God and us, all who believe have, like Abram, a sign or pledge in the gift of the Spirit, whereby they may know that they shall inherit the heavenly Canaan.
Next: Genesis Chapter 16
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
Daniel D. Whedon 1874 · Public Domain On vv9–17 9. Take me — Select for me. Not any…
9. Take me — Select for me. Not any of the animals taken at random is a suitable victim for sacrifice, or for symbolic revelations.
Heifer… goat… ram… — Three separate animals representing the three classes of animals suitable for sacrificial offering, and each to be three years old, the age of full maturity and vigour. The fowls suitable for sacrifice were to be represented by a turtle-dove and a young pigeon. These two kinds of fowls were also adopted among the Mosaic offerings. Comp. Lev_1:14; Lev_5:7; Lev_12:8.
Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges 1878 · Public Domain On vv9, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17 9. Take me an heifer, &c.] The sign to…
9. Take me an heifer, &c.] The sign to Abram is the sign of the covenant, of which the ceremonial is here described. This ceremonial is evidently of great antiquity. The writer, perhaps, intends to refer the origin of the institution to the time of Abram and to this occasion. The ceremony is as follows: (1) Animals permitted for sacrifice are selected. (2) They are killed, and their carcases divided. (3) The divided portions are placed in two rows over against each other. (4) The contracting parties pass between the rows, invoking, as they do so, an imprecation upon any violator of the covenant, that he should in like manner be cut asunder.
It is this ceremonial which causes the making of a covenant to be expressed by words meaning “to cut,” e.g. Heb. karath b’rîth, Lat. foedus icere, Gr. ὅρκια τέμνειν.
Read full note →
The details of the ceremony probably differed slightly from age to age. The origin of some old customs is lost in obscurity. Why, for instance, are the animals mentioned to be three years old? is it because they are to be full grown? (Cf. 1Sa_1:24, R.V. marg.) Why are the birds not to be divided like the beasts? These are questions of a technical ritual character to which at present we can give no answer.
The most interesting Scriptural illustration of covenant ceremonial is afforded by Jer_34:18, “the covenant which they made before me, when they cut the calf in twain and passed between the parts thereof.”
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers 1878 · Public Domain On vv9, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17 (9, 10) Take me an heifer . . .…
(9, 10) Take me an heifer . . . —This form of making a covenant was probably that usual in Babylonia, and thus Abram received the assurance of his inheritance by means of a ceremonial with which he was familiar. But in most ancient languages men are said to cut or strike a covenant, because the most solemn formula involved either the cutting of victims in two, or striking them dead, as was the Roman manner. The severing of the bodies was not, as some suppose, to represent the two parties; but, as explained in Jer_34:18-20, it set forth the penalty of perjury, and was usually accompanied by the imprecation upon the covenant-breaker of a destruction as complete as that which had befallen the slaughtered animals. There is no mention in this place of a sacrifice, although the animals are those subsequently set apart for sacrifice by the Levitical law. The heifer, she-goat, and ram at three years old would each have attained its full maturity; but there may be a further symbolic meaning in there being three animals each three years old.
Laid each piece . . . —More exactly, and laid each half over against the other. The birds were not divided; but as there were two, Abram probably placed one on one side and one on the other.
A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Pulpit Commentary 1880 · Public Domain On vv9–17 And he said unto him, Take me (literally, for…
And he said unto him, Take me (literally, for me, i.e. for my use in sacrifice) a heifer of three years old. So rightly (LXX, Syriac, Samaritan, Arabic, Josephus, Bochart, Rosenm Keil); not three heifers (Onkelos, Jarchi, Kimchi, et alii). And a she goat of three years old, and a ram of three years old. These offerings, afterwards prescribed by the (Exo_29:15; Num_15:27 Num_19:2; Deu_21:3) were three in number, and of three years each, to symbolize him who was, and is, and is to come (Wordsworth); perhaps rather to indicate-the perfection of the victim in respect of maturity (Murphy). Cf. Ganymede"s offering (in "Lucian"s Dialogues") of a three years old ram for a ransom. And a turtle-dove, and a young pigeon also prescribed by the law (Lev_1:14; Luk_2:24)
The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Biblical Illustrator 1887 · Public Domain On vv11, 12, 16, 17 When the fowls came down upon the carcases, Abram…
Gen_15:11
When the fowls came down upon the carcases, Abram drove them away
Read full note →
Abram and the ravenous birds
I.
MENTION SOME OF THOSE WELL-KNOWN INTRUDERS WHICH ARE PERPETUALLY MOLESTING OUR PEACE AND DISTURBING OUR SERVICE.
1. Wicked thoughts--the sons of Satan.
2. Worldly thoughts, which spring from the force of habit.
3. Anxious thoughts, the fruits of our unbelief.
4. Annoying thoughts, the offspring of our vanity.
5. Ecclesiastical anxieties. Church business, or Church differences.
II. DISTRACTING CARES MUST BE CHASED AWAY.
1. For your own sake. No human brain can bear the perpetual toil of business, except it knows how to pause and oil the machinery by turning the mind in some other direction.
2. You will find, if you are able to take a perfect rest, by driving away these evil thoughts when you are worshipping God, that you will do your work during the other days of the week far better. It was an old Popish folly to try and tell what kind of weather there would be by the weather on Sunday--If it rain before mess; rain all the week more or less. Now, we do not believe that literally; but we do believe it in a spiritual sense. If you have a bad Sabbath day, you will have a bad week; but if you have a good day of rest, you will find it good with your souls the whole week long; not that you will be without trouble all the week, that would not be good for you, but you shall never be without grace during the week; nor if you have peace on the Sunday shall you be without peace on the Monday.
3. And then let me remind you, in the next place, that the character of this day demands that you should get rid of these thoughts. Now, it is inconsistent with such a day--the day of light--for us to be in darkness. It is inconsistent with the day of resurrection for us to be raking in this grave of the world. It is inconsistent with this day of descent of the Spirit for us to be thinking of carnal things, and forgetting the things which are above.
4. The indulging of vain or anxious thoughts, when we are engaged in the worship of God, must be striven against, because it must be grievous to the Holy Spirit. How can we expect that we shall have His presence and His assistance if we give Him not our hearts?
5. These thoughts and cares must be driven away, for if you do not strive against them they will increase and multiply. This is a growing habit. The force of habit is like the velocity of a falling stone, it increases in ever multiplying proportions. If I have indulged one unbelieving thought, there has always been another to follow it; if I have allowed some little disturbance in the congregation to cast me down, and distract my thoughts, there has been another, and another, and another, till I have been in the pitiable condition of a minister who has been half afraid of his congregation.
III. I am now to show you HOW TO DO IT.
1. And we begin by saying, first of all, set your heart upon it; for when the soul is set upon a thing, then it is likely to accomplish it. Go up to Gods house, saying, I must give up my soul to eternal matters today, and I will.
2. But when you have this done, remember next--let the preparation of your heart before coming to the sacrifice assist you when you shall be there. We are told men ought not to preach without preparation. Granted. But, we add, men ought not to hear without preparation.
3. But, this done, above all, cry to the Spirit of God for help to make your spirit rest.
4. Then, when you have thus done, and you come up to the house of God, still seek to continue in the same frame of mind, remembering in whose immediate presence you are. A Spartan youth was holding the censer at a sacrifice, when Alexander was offering a victim. It chanced that while he held the censer a hot coal fell upon his hand. The youth stood still, and never flinched, lest by any utterance or cry the sacrifice should be disturbed; for he said he was in the presence of Alexander, and he would not have the sacrifice interrupted for him; and he bore the pain of the burning coal. Let us remember that Spartan youth, adding to what he said, We are in the presence of the Almighty God. Then, if there be something which annoys us, let us bear it unflinchingly, for we stand before Him for whom it is blessed to suffer, and who will surely reward them that seek Him in spirit and in truth.
5. Another means I will give you. Take care that your faith be in active exercise, or else you cannot chase away those thoughts. Rest in the Lord and wait patiently for Him. Be still, and know that He is God.
6. Take care also that thou attend a ministry which draws thee from earth, for there are some dead ministries which make the Sabbath day more intolerable than any of the other days of the week. (C. H. Spurgeon.)
Driving away the vultures from the sacrifice
I. First, with regard to THE GREAT SACRIFICE OF OUR LORD JESUS CHRIST. This has been, and always will be, the great object of attack by the enemies of God.
1. Note well that the sacrifice which Abram guarded was of Divine ordination. So with the sacrifice of Christ.
2. Next, we see a further reason for guarding the sacrifice in the fact that it is of most solemn import. A covenant. We cannot let the vultures tear this sacrifice, for it is to us the token of the covenant; and if there be no covenant of grace, then is our preaching vain, and your faith is also vain, and we are still under the curse of the broken law. If ye are still out of covenant with God, what hope, what safety, what peace, what joy is there for you?
3. And, next, we must guard this sacrifice, because there God most fully displays His grace.
4. We will do this all the more because this is the chief point of attack. Every doctrine of revelation has been assailed, but the order of battle passed by the black prince at this hour runs as follows: Fight neither with small nor great, save only with the crucified King of Israel. If they carry the bastion of substitution, if they can throw down the great truth of atonement, then all the rest will go as a matter of course. The cross taken away, indeed, there is nothing left worth defending. Therefore let us gather up our strength, that we may vigorously chase the vultures from the altar of the living God.
5. How are we to do it? says one. Well, we can all of us help in this struggle.
(1) First, by a constant, immovable faith in Jesus Christ our crucified Saviour for ourselves.
(2) Let your own confidence be strong, and then very frequently make an open declaration of your faith in the atoning Sacrifice.
II. But now let us apply this example of Abram to ourselves in the matter of THE GRATEFUL SACRIFICE OF OUR LIVES. It is our reasonable service, that we present ourselves a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God by our Lord Jesus Christ, and we must guard our consecration against the temptations which will assail it. I am addressing many of you who feel that you have entered into covenant with God by Jesus Christ. What sort of vultures will there be? says one. Well, there will come doubts as to eternal things. There will be questions about your own wisdom in giving yourself up to God. I hope you have been strangers to such birds of prey, but some of us have not been: doubts as to whether there be a God to serve; doubts as to whether there be a heaven, an eternal future, a blessed reward; doubts as to whether it is well to give up this world for the next, or not, Drive them away! They may come in other forms, such as dreams of ambition, the cares of life, temptations to sin, idleness, etc. In whatever guise they come, drive them away.
III. GUARD ALL THE SACRIFICES OF YOUR DEVOTION. When the fowls come down upon your sacrifices of prayer, and praise, and meditation, drive them away. A little boy, who was accustomed to spend a time every day in prayer, went up into a hayloft, and when he climbed into the hayloft, he always pulled the ladder up after him. Someone asked him why he did so. He answered, As there is no door, I pull up the ladder. Oh, that we could always in some way cut the connection between our soul and the intruding things which lurk below! There is a story told of me and of some person, I never knew who it was, who desired to see me on a Saturday night, when I had shut myself up to make ready for the Sabbath. He was very great and important, and so the maid came to say that someone desired to see me. I bade her say that it was my rule to see no one at that time. Then he was more important and impressive still, and said, Tell Mr. Spurgeon that a servant of the Lord Jesus Christ desires to see him immediately. The frightened servant brought the message; but the sender gained little by it, for my answer was, Tell him I am busy with his Master, and cannot see servants now. Sometimes you must use strong measures. Did not our Lord tell His messengers, on one occasion, to salute no man by the way? Courtesy must give place to devotion. It is incumbent on you that you should be alone with your Lord, and if intruders force an entrance, they must be sent about their business. (C. H. Spurgeon.)
The disturbers of worship
I. THE OFFERING OF THE CHRISTIAN WORSHIPPER.
II. IT IS OFTEN DISTURBED AND INTERRUPTED.
1. Unbelieving thoughts.
2. Evil passions.
3. Worldly thoughts.
4. Satanic influence.
III. THE REMEDIES AGAINST THESE DIFFICULTIES AND INTERRUPTIONS.
1. A devotional preparation.
2. A firm hold on the truth.
3. Earnestness in the service.
4. Unshaken confidence in the aid of the Holy Spirit. (J. G. Hewlett, D. D.)
Wandering thoughts removed from the sacrifice by warm affections
If we would prevent wandering thoughts, we should seek warm affections. Flies will not so readily light on a boiling pot on the fire, as when it stands cold in the window, Nor will vain thoughts so easily light on thy sacrifice, when burning on the altar of a fervent heart, as when offered up with a cold, dull spirit. (W. Gurnall.)
The sacrifice hindered by vain thoughts
I have heard of some men who were called walking libraries, because they carried all that they read in their memories wherever they went. And have we not too many walking shops, barns, warehouses, etc., that is, persons who carry this lumber to bed and board, church and closet? How can such pray with a united heart, who have so many sharers in their thoughts? (W. Gurnall.)
The Biblical Illustrator, edited by Joseph S. Exell (c. 1880s–1900s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Paul E. Kretzmann 1924 · Public Domain On v13 The founding of the Covenant
The founding of the Covenant
v. 13. And He said unto Abram, Know of a surety that thy seed shall be a stranger in a land that is not theirs, and shall serve them; and they shall afflict them four hundred years;
Read full note →
v. 14. and also that nation whom they shall serve will I judge; and afterward shall they come out with great substance. The Lord Himself gives the explanation of some of the symbolical acts connected with the establishing of the covenant between Him and Abram. The latter should know for sure that his descendants would be strangers in a strange land for a matter of four hundred years, until the Lord Himself would execute judgment in their behalf and bring them out of the house of bondage, not empty, but with considerable property.
v. 16. And thou shalt go to thy fathers in peace; thou shalt be buried in a good old age. Abram himself would not be obliged to share in the afflictions which would come upon his children, but would die in peace, at an advanced age.
v. 16. But in the fourth generation they shall come hither again; for the iniquity of the Amorites is not yet full. The generations at that time were still reckoned at approximately one hundred years, and so four generations would represent, in round numbers, four hundred years. By that time the iniquity of the Amorites, here named as the representatives of all the Canaanites, would be fulfilled, and their annihilation by the children of Israel would come upon them as the judgment of the Lord.
v. 17. And it came to pass that, when the sun went down and it was dark, behold a smoking furnace and a burning lamp that passed between those pieces. These happenings completed the symbolical events connected with the founding of the covenant between the Lord and Abram. A smoking furnace, like that used in potteries, and a torch, or cresset, passed between the halves of the animals, symbols of the glory of the Lord in fire. The animals thus are a type of the descendants of Abraham, of the children of Israel, as they were tortured almost unto death, especially by the Egyptians. The birds of prey are pictures of these enemies of Israel. That these vultures were driven away indicates that the Lord would deliver His people for the sake of the promise made to Abram. The great darkness and the horror pointed to the severity of the miseries and tribulations which would strike the Israelites. But that finally the glory of the Lord passed between the halves of the animals showed that God would at the last bring help to His people and deliver them from the hands of all their enemies.
v. 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 Euphrates; these two rivers would he the southern and northern boundary lines of the kingdom of Israel respectively, the brook of Egypt, the Wady el Arisch, or Rhinocolura, and the Euphrates:
v. 19. the Kenites, in the southeastern part of Canaan, and the Kenizzites, probably west of them, and the Kadmonites, toward the Euphrates,
v. 20. and the Hittites, especially numerous in what was afterward Northern Galilee, and the Perizsites, in what was later Eastern Samaria, and the Rephaims, in the Perean country east of the Jordan,
v. 21. and the Amorites, in the region west of the Dead Sea, and the Canaanites, in the upper valley of the Jordan and in the plain of Sharon, and the Girgashites, west of the Sea of Galilee, and the Jebusites, in what was later Northern Judea. The Lord purposely enumerates peoples living in every part of Canaan, in order to impress upon Abram the completeness of the possession which his descendants would enjoy. His promises never return to Him void, and He has a way of overcoming our weak faith by the perfection of His fulfillment, beyond all that we ask or understand.
Paul E. Kretzmann, Popular Commentary of the Bible (1921–1924) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
unfoldingWord translationNotes 2017 · CC BY-SA 4.0 On vv9, 12, 14, 17 the carcasses
the carcasses
"the dead bodies of the animals and birds"
Read full note →
Abram drove them away
"Abram chased the birds away." He made sure the birds did not eat the dead animals.
translationWords
cow
goat
ewe
Abraham
unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.
Tyndale Open Study Notes 2022 · CC BY-SA 4.0 On vv10, 11, 13, 16, 17 15:10 Obeying God’s instructions, Abram gathered three herd animals…
15:10 Obeying God’s instructions, Abram gathered three herd animals for the ceremony and cut them in half. Cutting the animals symbolized the oath, indicating that the covenant maker staked his own life on his word (Jer 34:18).
Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.