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Genesis: The Prophecy of Israel
December 30, 2017

Last week we read as Abram encountered Melchizedek. This week in a vision, God gives the prophecy of Israel.

During a vision, God came to Abram to calm Abram's fears. Abram and Sarah had no children, and Abram was concerned that a servant would inherit his possessions. Instead, God promised Abram that his descendants would be nearly impossible to count; it would be like counting the starts of heaven. With this promise, Abram believed, and God considered Abram's belief to be an act of righteousness.

Genesis 15:1-6
After these things the word of the LORD came unto Abram in a vision, saying, Fear not, Abram: I am thy shield, and thy exceeding great reward. And Abram said, Lord GOD, what wilt thou give me, seeing I go childless, and the steward of my house is this Eliezer of Damascus? And Abram said, Behold, to me thou hast given no seed: and, lo, one born in my house is mine heir. And, behold, the word of the LORD came unto him, saying, This shall not be thine heir; but he that shall come forth out of thine own bowels shall be thine heir. And he brought him forth abroad, and said, Look now toward heaven, and tell the stars, if thou be able to number them: and he said unto him, So shall thy seed be. And he believed in the LORD; and he counted it to him for righteousness.

When Abram fell asleep, God further showed Abram that his descendants would be slaves in a foreign country for four hundred years and that when they would leave, they would leave with wealth. Again, God was giving prophecy about the enslavement in and exodus from Egypt by the children of Israel.

Genesis 15:7-14
And he said unto him, I am the LORD that brought thee out of Ur of the Chaldees, to give thee this land to inherit it. And he said, Lord GOD, whereby shall I know that I shall inherit it? 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. And he took unto him all these, and divided them in the midst, and laid each piece one against another: but the birds divided he not. And when the fowls came down upon the carcases, Abram drove them away. And when the sun was going down, a deep sleep fell upon Abram; and, lo, an horror of great darkness fell upon him. 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; And also that nation, whom they shall serve, will I judge: and afterward shall they come out with great substance.

God showed Abram that none of the prophesied troubles would beset him, and that at the end of the captivity, the children of Israel would return to the land given by God in a covenant to Abram's descendants.

Genesis 15:15-21
And thou shalt go to thy fathers in peace; thou shalt be buried in a good old age. But in the fourth generation they shall come hither again: for the iniquity of the Amorites is not yet full. 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. 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: 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.

The geographic area of the covenant is much larger than the nation of Israel today spanning from the Nile to the Euphrates.

All verses are from the King James Version.
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