How does the Lord answer Abram’s concern that he has no child to inherit?

Atlas of Saints · Chapter summary

The Lord promises an heir from Abram’s own body and descendants like the stars. Abram believes God. The chapter also gives a promise of land, a warning about his descendants’ future suffering, and a covenant naming the land to be given.

Chapter breakdown

After these events, the word of the Lord came to Abram in a vision. The Lord told him not to fear, calling himself Abram’s protector and his exceedingly great reward. Abram asked what the Lord would give him, since he had no children. He named Damascus Eliezer as the son of his household steward. He added that he had not been given descendants and that a servant born in his house would be his heir.

The Lord immediately answered that this man would not be Abram’s heir. Someone born from Abram’s own body would inherit. He brought Abram outside and told him to look towards heaven and count the stars, if he could. His descendants would be like those stars. Abram believed God, and this belief was counted to him as righteousness.

The Lord identified himself as the one who had brought Abram out of Ur of the Chaldees to give him this land to possess. Abram asked how he could know that he would possess it. The Lord told him to bring a three-year-old cow, a three-year-old female goat, a three-year-old ram, a turtledove, and a pigeon. Abram brought them, cut the animals in two, and laid each pair of pieces opposite one another. He did not divide the birds. When other birds came down on the carcasses, he drove them away.

As the sun was setting, Abram fell into a deep sleep and was seized by a great, dark terror. He was told beforehand that his descendants would be strangers in a land not their own, brought into slavery, and afflicted for four hundred years. The Lord would judge the nation they served. Afterwards they would leave with great possessions.

Abram himself would go to his fathers in peace and be buried at a good old age. His descendants would return here in the fourth generation. The reason given is that the sins of the Amorrhites had not yet reached their full measure.

After the sun had set, a dark mist rose. A smoking furnace and a lamp of fire appeared, passing between the divided pieces. That day God made a covenant with Abram, promising this land to his descendants. The stated boundary runs “from the river to Egypt even to the great river Euphrates.”

The promise then names ten peoples: the Cineans, Cenezites, Cedmonites, Hethites, Pherezites, Raphaim, Amorrhites, Chanaanites, Gergesites, and Jebusites.

The story inside

The opening exchange focuses on who will inherit. Abram states the problem in his own words: he has no children, and a servant born in his house will be his heir. The Lord answers that particular concern by promising an heir from Abram’s own body, then uses the stars to describe his descendants. The narrator records Abram’s belief and its being counted as righteousness. The next exchange concerns possession of the land. Abram asks how he will know, and the Lord gives instructions about the animals and birds. The vision that follows includes both the promise and a delay: the descendants will endure life in a foreign land and affliction before leaving with great possessions and returning in the fourth generation. The covenant therefore does not promise an immediate, trouble-free inheritance. The chapter distinguishes Abram’s own peaceful old age from what his descendants will experience, and ends by naming the land’s boundary and peoples.

Lessons worth keeping

1
The Lord’s answer changes the identity of the promised heir. Abram names the household servant as the expected heir; the Lord says the heir will come from Abram’s own body. The stars then give a picture of the descendants’ number, followed by the statement that Abram believed God. These are the chapter’s actual steps, without an added theory about local inheritance law.
2
Small details belong to the preparation for the vision. All three larger animals are three years old, the pieces are set opposite each other, the birds remain undivided, and Abram drives other birds away. Retaining these instructions and actions lets the reader follow what the smoking furnace and lamp pass between later.
3
The land promise includes waiting and suffering. The account gives four hundred years of affliction, judgment on the nation served, departure with great possessions, and return in the fourth generation. It separately promises Abram peace and a good old age. The reason attached to the return concerns the Amorrhites’ sins, so it should not be replaced by an invented explanation for every part of the vision.

Test your recall

How does the Lord answer Abram’s concern about his heir, and what sequence is promised for his descendants before their return?

Show answer

God says that Abram’s household servant will not be his heir: a child from Abram himself will inherit. He compares Abram’s future descendants to the stars. Their future includes living as strangers, bondage and affliction for four hundred years, God’s judgment on the nation they serve, and departure with great possessions. They will return in the fourth generation. Abram himself is promised peace and burial in old age.

Quotes from Scripture

Exact Scripture quotations from the Douay–Rheims Bible, revised by Bishop Richard Challoner (1749–1752), the same edition used for these chapters. Source: Project Gutenberg no. 1581.

Abram believed God, and it was reputed to him unto justice.

Genesis 15:6 · Douay–Rheims / Challonerpg1581.txt · lines 1601–1601

Source edition and notes

Douay–Rheims, revised by Richard Challoner (1749–1752). Project Gutenberg no. 1581. Locators refer to lines in the admitted pg1581.txt edition. Source notes may include Challoner commentary.

Lines 1578–1591
Genesis Chapter 15 God promiseth seed to Abram. His faith, sacrifice and vision. 15:1. Now when these things were done, the word of the Lord came to Abram by a vision, saying: Fear not, Abram, I am thy protector, and thy reward exceeding great. 15:2. And Abram said: Lord God, what wilt thou give me? I shall go without children: and the son of the steward of my house is this Damascus Eliezer. 15:3. And Abram added: But to me thou hast not given seed: and lo my servant born in my house, shall be my heir.
Lines 1593–1601
15:4. And immediately the word of the Lord came to him, saying: He shall not be thy heir: but he that shall come out of thy bowels, him shalt thou have for thy heir. 15:5. And he brought him forth abroad, and said to him: Look up to heaven and number the stars if thou canst. And he said to him: So shall thy seed be. 15:6. Abram believed God, and it was reputed to him unto justice.
Lines 1603–1619
15:7. And he said to him: I am the Lord who brought thee out from Ur of the Chaldees, to give thee this land, and that thou mightest possess it. 15:8. But he said: Lord God, whereby may I know that I shall possess it? 15:9. And the Lord answered, and said: Take me a cow of three years old, and a she-goat of three years, and a ram of three years, a turtle also, and a pigeon. 15:10. And he took all these, and divided them in the midst, and laid the two pieces of each one against the other: but the birds he divided not. 15:11. And the fowls came down upon the carcasses, and Abram drove them away.
Lines 1621–1629
15:12. And when the sun was setting, a deep sleep fell upon Abram, and a great and darksome horror seized upon him. 15:13. And it was said unto him: Know thou beforehand that thy seed shall be a stranger in a land not their own, and they shall bring them under bondage, and afflict them four hundred years. 15:14. But I will judge the nation which they shall serve, and after this they shall come out with great substance.
Lines 1631–1636
15:15. And thou shalt go to thy fathers in peace, and be buried in a good old age. 15:16. But in the fourth generation they shall return hither: for as yet the iniquities of the Amorrhites are not at the full until this present time.
Lines 1638–1644
15:17. And when the sun was set, there arose a dark mist, and there appeared a smoking furnace, and a lamp of fire passing between those divisions. 15:18. That day God made a covenant with Abram, saying: To thy seed will I give this land, from the river to Egypt even to the great river Euphrates.
Lines 1646–1653
15:19. The Cineans, and Cenezites, the Cedmonites, 15:20. And the Hethites, and the Pherezites, the Raphaim also, 15:21. And the Amorrhites, and the Chanaanites, and the Gergesites, and the Jebusites.