Chapter 15 begins with Elohim appearing to Abram in a vision, apparently to reward him for refusing to take any of the spoil after conquering the coalition of kings in the previous chapter. Abram didn’t want anyone to think that his riches came from anyone but Elohim; and Elohim said, “Your reward is exceedingly great.” However it was not about stuff. Abram approached the idea of reward from the perspective of descendants—but he didn’t even have a son yet and assumed his servant Eliezer from Damascus would inherit everything, which he didn’t think was much of a reward. No, Elohim said, your heir will come from your own body—and your descendants will be as numerous as the stars! Verses 16 and 17 are key: “And he believed in Elohim, and He reckoned it to him for righteousness. And He said to him, ‘I am Elohim, who brought you out of Ur of the Chaldees, to give you this land to inherit it.’” James 2:22-23 explains how his belief and action, together, brought about his righteousness. The promise is two-fold. Physically, Abram would have numerous descendants and they would fill up the land of Canaan. Spiritually, all those who believe and obey Elohim as Abram did will be resurrected to fill up the eternal kingdom of Elohim.

Abram believed Elohim and yet he asked for confirmation—so Elohim told Abram to bring Him a heifer, a goat, a ram, a turtledove and a pigeon for an offering. Abram cut the three animals into pieces and laid them on the altar along with the two birds and then waited for Elohim to burn it. While he was waiting, Abram chased off birds of prey and then fell into a deep sleep at sundown. He experienced a very scary darkness and Elohim explained that his descendants would suffer some awful things but their reward would be great. Without naming Mitsrayim (Egypt), Elohim told Abram that his descendants would end up being servants there for four generations and then return to deal with the Amorites. Verse 17 tells us that “a smoking oven and a burning torch passed between those pieces.” The prevalent theory about this story is that covenants at the time were made by sacrificing certain animals and walking between their pieces whilst stating the details of the agreement, the implication being that if either party failed to keep the covenant they would be killed like these animals had been. The oven and the torch represent two beings making a covenant so one being represents YHWH and the other being represents Abram. Yet Abram was fast asleep—so who was the other being making the covenant? Most Messianics believe that the two beings were YHWH and Yeshua acting on Abram’s behalf. The Father and the Son agreed to complete the covenant and Yeshua would have to die on behalf of Abram and his descendants if they failed to keep it. We know they failed and we know Yeshua died, which lends strong support to the idea. (The Jews don’t generally accept the part about Yeshua.) Another theory suggests this story is simply Abram making a normal sacrifice on an altar (at Shavuot) and Elohim giving him a vision of the future in which he also sees his descendants in the kingdom after the Resurrection. This is supported by the fact that Yeshua said, “Abraham rejoiced to see My day” (John 8:56) meaning that in the vision Abraham saw Yeshua in the kingdom after the Resurrection. These are all interesting ideas and some combination of them could be correct. Finally, Abram is told that he himself would die in peace and be “buried at a good old age.” He would go to be with his ancestors in Sheol and await our arrival, so that we (children by faith) can all be resurrected at the same time (1 Thessalonians 4:15).

Chapter 16 explains what happened when Sarai decided to help Abram and Elohim make the covenant come to pass. Sarai got to thinking that if the son must come from Abram’s body then that son must have to come from a different mother, and she could adopt and raise him as her own. So she gave her servant, Hagar, to Abram as a wife. When Hagar became pregnant she began to despise Sarai, thinking of herself more highly than she ought to. Sarai complained to Abram about Hagar’s behaviour and he told her to do whatever she wanted with her servant. Sarai “treated her harshly, and she fled from her presence.” But Abram’s child could not be ignored and thrown away like so much trash, so an angel stopped Hagar and told her to return to her mistress and humble herself. He told her that she was going to have a son that was to be called Ishmael (God hears) who “is to be a wild man, his hand against every one and every one’s hand against him, and dwell over against all his brothers.” Ishmael, father of the Arabians, certainly was that and we wonder if it came about because of his and his mother’s attitude toward Sarai and her eventual son, Isaac, and their disappointment over his not getting the birthright. One also has to wonder if the fact that Hagar was from Mitsrayim/Egypt has any relationship to the slavery there of Abram’s descendants through Isaac and Jacob.