Gen 15.1-21 tells us that God confirms the covenant he made with Abram; that his heir will be one from his own body; Abram responds in faith, believing Yehovah; the covenant is ratified in blood in what is called the ‘Covenant between the Parts.”
v 1…After these things (of the previous chapter but not necessarily right after) the word of the Lord came to Abram in a vision (in visible form), saying, “Do not fear (about reprisals for going to war against the four kings), Abram, I am your shield (Hebrew “magen” or a battle shield for defense-Psa 84.9; Prov 30.5); your reward shall be very great.”
v 2…And Abram said, “O Lord God (Adonai Yehovah), what will you give (as a worldly blessing) me since I am childless, and the heir of my house is Eliezer of Damascus?”
v 3…And Said, “Since you have given no offspring to me, one born in my house is to be my heir (he does not consider Lot to be an heir, he had gone back to Sodom).”
v 4…Then, behold (see), the word of the Lord came to him, saying, “This man will not be your heir; but one who shall come forth from your own body, he shall be your heir.”
v 5…And he took him outside (by impulse and at his direction) and said, “Now look towards the heavens, and count the stars (can allude to spiritual descendants, and the sand of the sea alludes to physical descendants). If you are able to count them. And he said to him, “So shall your descendants be.”
v 6…Then he believed in the Lord and he (Yehovah) reckoned it to him as righteousness (imputed to him without works, and while he was uncircumcised-Rom 4.3).”
v 7…And he said to him, “I am the Lord (Yehovah) who brought you out of Ur of the Chaldeans, to give you this land to possess it.”
v 8…And he said, “O Lord God, how may I know that I shall possess it (not questioning or doubting, but asking for further confirmation)?”
v 9…So he said to him, “Bring me a three year old heifer and a three year old female goat and a three year old ram and a turtle dove and a young pigeon (this is the beginning of the sign by which Abram will know that his seed will inherit the land).”
v 10…And he brought all these to him (Yehovah) and (Abram) cut them in two and laid each half opposite the other, but he did not cut the birds.
v 11…And the birds of prey came down to upon the carcasses (to eat them), but Abram drove them away.
v 12…Now when the sun was going down, a deep sleep fell upon Abram (to early for normal sleep, this was by prophetic design), and behold, terror and darkness fell upon him (symbolic of the great afflictions and distresses that will come upon his children in Egypt).
v 13…And God said, to Abram, “Know for certain that your descendants will be strangers in a land that is not theirs, where they will be enslaved and oppressed four hundred years (this will include Canaan and Egypt; the 400 years will extend from the birth of Isaac until the Exodus; Isaac was 60 when Jacob was born, Jacob was 130 when he went down to Egypt, and they were in Egypt a total of 210 years)..
v 14…But I will also judge the nation whom they will serve and after they will come out with many possessions (Exo 11.2).
v 15…And as for you, you shall go to your fathers in peace; you shall be buried at a good old age.
v 16…Then in the fourth generation they shall return (Kohath went in with Jacob in Gen 46.11, Amram, Moses, then the sons went in), for the iniquity of the Amorites (Canaanites in general) is not yet complete (so they will not be driven from the land just yet).
v 17…And it came about when the sun had set, and it was very dark; a smoking furnace (symbolic of the presence of God, like at Sinai-Exo 19.18) and a flaming torch (“lapid” and a term for Messiah, the light of the word-Hab 3.4; Judges 4.4; Isa 60.1-3) which passed between these pieces (God himself passed between these pieces, not Abram; the fulfillment of the covenant will be all Yehovah).
v 18…On that day (Nisan 15-Exo 12.41) the Lord made a covenant with Abram, saying, “To your descendants I have given this land, from the river of Egypt (the brook of Egypt which was called “Wadi-el-Arish” and served as the ancient boundary between Egypt and Israel) as far as the great river, the river Euphrates:
v 19…the Kenite and the Kenizzite (which merged with the Israelites) and the Kadmonite (not mentioned before),
v 20…and the Hittite (from Heth, a son of Canaan) and the Perizzite (Gen 13.7) and the Rephaim,
v 21…and the Amorite and the Canaanite and the Girgashite and the Jebusite (see Gen 10.7,16).”
Gen 16.1-16 tells us about how Sarai gives her servant girl to Abram; Hagar and the birth of Ishmael and Sarai’s anger toward Hagar; Hagar flees from Abram and Sarai; hoe an angel form the Lord appears to and instructs Hagar; the promise of the angel to Hagar; Yehovah’s blessing and protection upon Hagar and Ishmael.
v 1…Now Sarai, Abram’s wife, had borne him no children (anciently this was seen as a disgrace to a woman), and she had an Egyptian maid whose name was Hagar (probably acquired back in Gen 12).
v 2…So Sarai said to Abram, “See now, the Lord has restrained (prevented) me from bearing children. Please, go into my maid (in a surrogate mother covenant according to custom); perhaps I will obtain children through her (by adoption).” And Abram listened to the voice of Sarai.
v 3…And after Abram had lived ten years in the land of Canaan, Abram’s wife Sarai took Hagar the Egyptian, her maid, and gave her to her husband Abram as his wife (secondary wife; concubine).
v 4…And he went in (consorted) to Hagar, and she conceived, and when she saw that she had conceived, her mistress (Sarai) was despised in her sight (thought of herself to be higher than Sarai).
v 5…And Sarai said to Abram, “May the wrong done to me be upon you (you prayed for a child only for yourself, and he gave you a child, but not to me). I gave my maid into your arms; but when she saw that had conceived, I was despised in her sight. May the Lord judge between you and me (“the Lord will judge”; she appeals to Yehovah if Abram is an unrighteous man and is unwilling to do justice for her).”
v 6…But Abram said to Sarai, “Behold (see), the maid is in your power (as a servant); do to her what is good in your sight.” So Sarai treated her harshly, and she fled from her presence (her “face” which was against her; she deserted her service and Abram’s house and tried to go back to Egypt).
v 7…Now the angel of the Lord found her (the first time an angel is mentioned in the Bible; the word “malak” or angel means a messenger or agent; when angel of the Lord, or “malak Yehovah” is used, it sometimes means God himself) by a spring of water in the wilderness by the spring on the way to Shur (she is on her way back to Egypt).
v 8…And he said, “Hagar, Sarai’s maid (reminding her of her service), where have you come from and where are you going (a leading question, not requesting information, like in Gen 3.9, 11, 13; to Cain in Gen 4.9; and to Hagar again in Gen 21.7)?” And she said, “I am fleeing from the presence of my mistress Sarai.”
v 9…Then the angel of the Lord said to her, “Return to your mistress, and submit yourself to her authority (she will always be subservient to Sarai).”
v 10…Moreover, the angel of the Lord said to her, “I (speaking as a shaliach of God because the angel had no power to do this) will greatly multiply your descendants so that they shall be too many to count.”
v 11…The angel of the Lord said to her further, “Behold, you are with child and you shall bear a son; and you shall call his name Ishmael (God will hear), because the Lord has given heed to your affliction.
v 12…And he will be a wild donkey of a man (untameable; not submit to strangers; taking what he wants by brute force), his hand will be against everyone, and everyone’s hand will be against him; and he will live in the presence of his brothers.
v 13…Then she called the name of the Lord (Yehovah who spoke to her, :Thou art a God who sees (El Ro’ee)” for she said, “Have I even here (in a dry wilderness) seen him that sees me?”
v 14…Therefore the well (where she stopped in v 7) was called, “Beer-lahai-roi”; behold, it is between Kadesh (south of Beersheba) and Bered (Shur; Kadesh was to the east of the well and Bered was west).
v 15…So Hagar bore Abram a son, and Abram called the name of his son, whom Hagar bore, Ishmael (after Hagar returned, she told Abram about all that occurred, and what the name of the boy should be).
v 16…And Abram was eighty-six years old when Hagar bore Ishmael to him.
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