Abraham and the Covenant Promises of Land and Heirs—Lectionary Reflection for Lent 2C (Genesis 15:1-12, 17-18)

Genesis 15:1-18 New Revised Standard Version UpdatedEdition

15 After these things the word of the Lord came to Abram in a vision, “Do not be afraid, Abram, I am your shield; your reward shall be very great.” ² But Abram said, “O Lord God, what will you give me, for I continue childless, and the heir of my house is Eliezer of Damascus?” ³ And Abram said, “You have given me no offspring, so a slave born in my house is to be my heir.” ⁴ But the word of the Lord came to him, “This man shall not be your heir; no one but your very own issue shall be your heir.” ⁵ He brought him outside and said, “Look toward heaven and count the stars, if you are able to count them.” Then he said to him, “So shall your descendants be.” ⁶ And he believed the Lord, and the Lord reckoned it to him as righteousness.

⁷ Then he said to him, “I am the Lord who brought you from Ur of the Chaldeans, to give you this land to possess.” ⁸ But he said, “O Lord God, how am I to know that I shall possess it?” ⁹ 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.” ¹⁰ He brought him all these and cut them in two, laying each half over against the other, but he did not cut the birds in two. ¹¹ And when birds of prey came down on the carcasses, Abram drove them away.

¹² As the sun was going down, a deep sleep fell upon Abram, and a deep and terrifying darkness descended upon him. ¹³ Then the Lord said to Abram, “Know this for certain, that your offspring shall be aliens in a land that is not theirs and shall be slaves there, and they shall be oppressed for four hundred years, ¹⁴ but I will bring judgment on the nation that they serve, and afterward they shall come out with great possessions. ¹⁵ As for yourself, you shall go to your ancestors in peace; you shall be buried in a good old age. ¹⁶ And they shall come back here in the fourth generation, for the iniquity of the Amorites is not yet complete.”

¹⁷ When the sun had gone down and it was dark, a smoking fire pot and a flaming torch passed between these pieces. ¹⁸ On that day the Lord made a covenant with Abram, saying, “To your descendants I give this land, from the river of Egypt to the great river, the River Euphrates.

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                The story of Abraham and his family is filled with twists and turns. God calls him out of his homeland, sends him off on a journey to an unknown land, and on several occasions makes covenants and promises, all of which seem a bit far-fetched. Although the story of Abram (his original name) and his wife Sarai (Sarah’s original name) begins with a brief mention in Genesis 11, it picks up speed in Genesis 12. In that chapter of Genesis, Abram hears a call from God to leave his homeland and heads off on a journey that will eventually lead to him becoming the father of a great nation. God tells Abram that his descendants will become a blessing to the nations (see my book Called to Bless for more on that calling). The problem is that Abram and Sarai are well up in years and the likelihood of them having children is rather slim. Nevertheless, Abram and Sarai, along with their household, head off on this journey, which, as I noted above, is filled with twists and turns (Gen. 12:1-9).

                As we continue our Lenten journey, which will lead to the cross and then the resurrection of Jesus, the first reading from the Revised Common Lectionary comes from Genesis 15. In this passage, Abram and Sarai are still childless. Nevertheless, a word from God comes to Abram in a vision. In this vision, God tells Abram not to be afraid because God would be his shield and promises Abram a great reward. That all sounds very nice, but Abram is skeptical. He has been on this journey for quite some time, and he still doesn’t have an heir. So, Abram asks God, “What will you give me, for I continue childless.” His current heir is not a member of the family, but what appears to be the household manager (and a slave) named Eliezer of Damascus. This isn’t the heir that Abram expected when God asked him to leave the homeland for a destination unknown. God tells Abram that Eliezer will not be his heir.

                After this exchange concerning an heir takes place, God takes Abram outside and invites him to look up at the stars. God told Abram that his descendants would be like the stars in the heavens. They would be uncountable. Although Abram had no reason to believe God’s promise, it is said that Abram believed this word from God, and God “reckoned it to him as righteousness.”  In other words, God affirmed Abram’s faith even though to that point he had little to show for his faith in God. Paul lifted up Abraham’s faithfulness in Romans 4:3), repeating what is stated here in Genesis 15. Then, in Hebrews 11 we read: “By faith Abraham obeyed when he was called to set out for a place that he was to receive as an inheritance; and he set out, not knowing where he was going” (Heb. 11:8).

                As I noted, the first covenant-making act takes place in Genesis 12, and now it is repeated here in Genesis 15. Abram and Sarai have been on this journey to an undetermined land for some time. They even spent time in Egypt before returning to Canaan, where Abram and his family participated in a war that led to his being blessed by the mysterious king of Salem, Melchizedek. Nevertheless, they still don’t have that promised heir who will produce descendants. He was still, as Deuteronomy 26 suggests, a wandering Aramaean (Deut. 26:5). Now, in this episode of the Abraham and Sarah story, the promise of an heir and land is given once again. So, now Abram believes and it is reckoned to him as righteousness.

                God reminds Abram here that he had been brought out of Ur of the Chaldeans so that he could inhabit the land God would give him. That sounded good, but Abram wants to know how he is going to possess this land. God answered by telling him to prepare an offering that would include a three-year-old heifer, a three-year-old female goat, a three-year-old ram, a turtledove, and a young pigeon. He was directed to cut the offerings in two (except for the birds) and lay them out on the ground. Then Abram went to sleep, during which a terrifying darkness came over him. With that, we skip down to verse 17, where we’re told that after the sun went down, “ a smoking pot and a flaming torch passed between the pieces.” This marked the beginning of the covenant with Abraham and his descendants. This time the promise included land running from the Nile to the Tigris-Euphrates.

                The verses omitted by the lectionary tell of God’s message to Abram that his descendants would reside as aliens in Egypt, where they would be enslaved for four hundred years before they would be set free, taking with them great possessions. As for Abram, he would die in peace and be buried in old age. The promise was that his descendants would eventually inhabit the land promised, but there would be a lengthy interlude where they would live as aliens and eventually as slaves. But this time of enslavement will not be forever.  Therefore, the covenant promise being made in that moment will be fulfilled, but not without his descendants experiencing their own times of trouble.   

                Abram and Sarai have the promise of an heir and land, but even though Abram believes God, the heir has yet to appear. Moving forward, Sarai will come up with a solution to this dilemma. She gives Abram her slave, Hagar, as a surrogate. Hagar does provide Abram with an heir, Ishmael (Genesis 16). However, that isn’t the end of the story, because God has other plans. In fact, God will once again make a covenant with Abram in Genesis 17. But that’s another story. Eventually, Sarai will have a child of her own, who will be known as Isaac. It’s at that point that Abram and Sarai become Abraham and Sarah.

                The story of God’s call of Abraham and Sarah (as well as Hagar) is complicated. Abraham is portrayed in Hebrews and Romans as a man of faith, who should be emulated. But, even though Abraham puts his trust in God’s promises, he has to wait a long time to see the promise fulfilled. Since this reading has been chosen for the season of Lent, might we see in it a reminder that the life of faith is a journey that can be rather arduous? This was true for Abraham and his household. It was true for Jesus. It is true for us. The question for us concerns whether we will stay on the path even when things get tough. At this moment in history, as political upheaval and economic uncertainty in the United States, along with wars in several places, things seem rather tough. It’s easy to become fearful and fear is debilitating. Perhaps Abram’s willingness to trust God even when there seems little reason to do so can give us a bit of hope as we continue the journey through Lent and beyond.

    Image Attribution Snowstorm of Stars, from Art in the Christian Tradition, a project of the Vanderbilt Divinity Library, Nashville, TN. https://diglib.library.vanderbilt.edu/act-imagelink.pl?RC=56825 [retrieved March 8, 2025]. Original source: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:A_snowstorm_of_stars.jpg.