2024年8月18日 / グレース・トロント日本語教会
創世記 15章
8 アブラムは言った。「神、主よ。私がそれを所有することが、何によって分かるでしょうか。」
9 すると主は彼に言われた。「わたしのところに、三歳の雌牛と、三歳の雌やぎと、三歳の雄羊と、山鳩と、鳩のひなを持って来なさい。」
10 彼はそれらすべてを持って来て、真っ二つに切り裂き、その半分を互いに向かい合わせにした。ただし、鳥は切り裂かなかった。
11 猛禽がそれらの死体の上に降りて来た。アブラムはそれらを追い払った。
12 日が沈みかけたころ、深い眠りがアブラムを襲った。そして、見よ、大いなる暗闇の恐怖が彼を襲った。
13 主はアブラムに言われた。「あなたは、このことをよく知っておきなさい。あなたの子孫は、自分たちのものでない地で寄留者となり、四百年の間、奴隷となって苦しめられる。
14 しかし、彼らが奴隷として仕えるその国を、わたしはさばく。その後、彼らは多くの財産とともに、そこから出て来る。
15 あなた自身は、平安のうちに先祖のもとに行く。あなたは幸せな晩年を過ごして葬られる。
16 そして、四代目の者たちがここに帰って来る。それは、アモリ人の咎が、その時までに満ちることがないからである。」
17 日が沈んで暗くなったとき、見よ、煙の立つかまどと、燃えているたいまつが、切り裂かれた物の間を通り過ぎた。
18 その日、主はアブラムと契約を結んで言われた。
Aug 18, 2024 / Grace Toronto Japanese Church
Genesis 15 (ESV)
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 And he brought him all these, cut them in half, and laid each half over against the other. But he did not cut the birds in half. 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 on Abram. And behold, dreadful and great darkness fell upon him. 13 Then the LORD said to Abram, “Know for certain that your offspring will be sojourners in a land that is not theirs and will be servants there, and they will be afflicted 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 you, you shall go to your fathers 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, behold, a smoking fire pot and a flaming torch passed between these pieces. 18 On that day the LORD made a covenant with Abram.
THE CONTEXT
Promise of Descendants
Abram had no children. And both Abram and his wife Sarai were getting old. But God appeared to him and said in Gen 12, “I will make you into a great nation.” And Abram believed God and obeyed him. Many things happened. We saw last Sunday (Gen 14) that Abram rescued his nephew Lot. And Abram was blessed by the mysterious man Melchizedek. We learned Melchizedek was a pointer to Jesus Christ.
And after all these things, the Lord God appeared again to Abram and said: “Fear not, Abram, I am your shield; your reward shall be very great.” Surprisingly, Abram now seems to have doubts because he says, “I continue childless” (15:2), and “you have given me no offspring” (15:3). Here we can clearly see the tension between Abram’s faith and his anxiousness (or desire) for evidence (or more information).
And amazingly, God does not rebuke Abram (i.e., How dare you question me like that!). God is not upset but compassionate, gracious to Abram; and he’s patient with Abram. God gave Abram a vivid visual illustration of his promise; he took Abram outside and said to him, “Look toward heaven, and number the stars, if you are able to number them . . . So shall your offspring be” (15:5).
And again, Abram responded by faith: “And he believed the Lord, and he counted it to him as righteousness” (15:6).
Promise of Land
Again, God said, “I am the Lord who brought you out from Ur of the Chaldeans to give you this land to possess” (15:7). So far, God’s promise has been about children/descendants. And now, God is talking about the second component of his promise: land.
THE TEXT
And surprisingly, again, Abram appears to have doubts because he says,「神、主よ。私がそれを所有することが、何によって分かるでしょうか。」(“O Lord God, how am I to know that I shall possess it?”) (15:8). Abram is again struggling with the lack of faith (or weakness of his faith); although God has promised to give this land to him, he is not sure how it would be possible. Nothing has been happening. God promised children—but he’s still childless; God promised land—but the land is already occupied by many other people. Hence the question: O Lord God, with all due respect, how can I (may I or should I) know I will possess this land? Is there evidence? Can you guarantee it?
What do you see in Abram? I think we can see both faith and doubts. Or more precisely, I think Abram is not really “doubting” God. He is just struggling to believe what God says because, although he had the clearly spoken promise of God in his hand, when he looked around and at himself, everything was just the opposite.
So, Abram’s question is not for the sake of doubting God but for pressing God for further evidence about his promise. It was Abram’s honest question: “O Lord God, how am I to know that I shall possess it?”
God responded, graciously—he didn’t punish Abram for asking questions. This time, God commanded Abram to prepare a ceremony (ritual):
As commanded, Abram brought 3 animals and 2 birds (v. 9): A 3-year-old heifer [héfər] (三歳の雌牛) (female cow);a 3-year-old female goat (三歳の雌やぎ); a 3-year-old ram (三歳の雄羊) (male sheep);a turtledove (山鳩); and a young pigeon (鳩のひな).
And then Abram slaughtered (killed) them; and he “cut them in half” (真っ二つに切り裂き) (v. 10). And he “laid each half over against the other” (その半分を互いに向かい合わせにした) (v. 10):
It’s not too hard to imagine what Abram was doing. He killed the heifer, the goat, and the ram, and split them into two. He killed the birds, too, but he didn’t split them. It’s a bizarre and unpleasant scene, right? He then arranged the animal body parts across from each other in parallel rows. The blood was probably gushing out, and the split animal flesh was arranged.
In those days, people often killed animals for treaty or covenant ceremonies: (1) two parties would kill animals, split them, and arrange them in parallel rows; (2) then the two parties would walk between the rows of split animal flesh. It meant that, if either party should break the treaty, he may be torn apart like the animals. So, the covenant-breaker would be cursed; therefore, the killed animals were the symbols of curse upon the promise-breaker.
And as Abram was waiting on God, it became dark, and v. 12 says Abram was afraid of the darkness. Then the LORD appeared, “Then the LORD said to Abram, “Know for certain that your offspring will be sojourners in a land that is not theirs and will be servants there, and they will be afflicted for four hundred years. But I will bring judgment on the nation that they serve, and afterward they shall come out with great possessions. As for you, you shall go to your fathers in peace; you shall be buried in a good old age. And they shall come back here in the fourth generation, for the iniquity of the Amorites is not yet complete.”
You see God is graciously responding to Abram. This is his answer to Abram’s question in v. 8: “How am I to know that I shall possess it?” Abram wanted further evidence and details of God’s promise for him. And God gave him them: Abram said, how can I know? God answered, “Know for certain” (v. 13). Instead of saying, “your descendants will possess this land,” God gave him some details of his plan: Yes, for sure, your offspring will possess this land, and it will be only after a gap of “four hundred years.” And God gave him even more details and said that Abram’s descendants would need to suffer and be afflicted in a foreign land for “four hundred years.” But as for Abram, God promised a peaceful death (v. 15).
Do you see what’s happening here? Abram asked for further details; God gave him further details: (1) not only about Abram himself (dying a peaceful death); (2) but also about Abram’s descendants (living in a foreign land for 400 years before coming back to possess this land).
Do you see the difference between Abram and God here? Abram is completely clueless. He has no idea of what God is talking about. He is just a human being with limited knowledge. He doesn’t even have one child—but God is speaking of Abram’s children and descendants forming a great nation! He doesn’t own even a small piece of the land he’s standing on—but God is speaking of his descendants escaping from slavery and coming back to fully possess this land!
What’s even more striking is in the final section of today’s text (vv. 17–18a): “When the sun had gone down and it was dark, behold, a smoking fire pot and a flaming torch passed between these pieces. On that day the LORD made a covenant with Abram”
This is shocking because God himself—not Abram—passed between the freshly killed animal flesh!
When Abram was still in darkness and fear, God appeared as “a smoking fire pot” (煙の立つかまど) and “a flaming torch” (燃えているたいまつ) (v. 17). In the Bible, fire (flaming fire) is often a symbol of the presence of God. So, the smoking fire pot and the flaming torch in the text symbolize God himself. God appeared to Abram in darkness as flaming fire and light. And not just that, the Almighty God passed between the rows of animal flesh. This was the clearest sign to Abram that God would keep his promise. In a sense, by passing between the animal bodies, God signed (or confirmed) the covenant with Abram: (1) descendants (I will make you into a great nation); (2) land (your descendants will possess this land); (3) blessing (all the people groups will be blessed by your offspring): “On that day the LORD made a covenant with Abram” (v. 18a).
APPLICATIONS
(1) Do not give up but press God in prayers
Both in 15:1 and in 15:8, we see Abram struggling. What did he struggle with? He was struggling with trusting God.
(Case 1) When God appeared to Abram in 15:1 and said, “I am your shield; your reward shall be very great,” Abram struggled because he and Sarai were still childless: I don’t have a child—then how can my reward be great? This was the thought that was going on in Abram’s heart, and that’s why he complained to God.
(Case 2) When God appeared to Abram in 15:7 and said, “I am the Lord who brought you out from Ur of the Chaldeans to give you this land to possess,” Abram struggled again because the land was already taken by many other people. He was just a foreigner in the land. So, he thought: This is not my land, and these people own it. How can God give this land to me?
So, what Abram was going through was the tension between what he heard from God and what he saw in reality. And we experience this tension all the time in our lives as well.
e.g. Psalm 23:1 says, “The LORD is my shepherd, I lack nothing.” But in reality, I feel I lack lots of things (e.g., I need more money; I need a nicer car; I need to be healthier, etc.) So, this tension between what we hear from God and what we see in our daily lives—this tension is real. And we struggle with it. What do we have to do?
- (a) Abram was honest before God—So, we should be honest before God, too. We can bring our questions, anxieties, and even complaints to God. And remember (b):
- (b) Abram didn’t give up on God—instead of abandoning God or running away from God, Abram did (c):
- (c) Pressed God for further evidence (asked for God’s answer)—And this is our right as God’s children. Do you have unresolved issues, problems, and difficulties? Bring them to God in prayers and press him to show you answers. And remember (d):
- (d) God didn’t rebuke Abram but answered him—just like that, God will give you answers. God will show you the way. And then (e):
- (e) Abram responded by faith—we should also respond by faith.
- (f) God counted it to him as his righteousness (15:6).
(2) God’s covenant (and our salvation) is unilateral
It was God who always took the initiative. God chose Abram. God appeared to him. God gave him promises. God led him. God protected him. God blessed him. God spoke to him. And eventually, in today’s text, God made a covenant with Abram. It was always God who acted first.
What we should learn, therefore, is that, if you have a relationship with God, it’s completely because of God. You love God because God first loved you. You know God because God first revealed himself to you. You are here because God called you.
(3) Trust God—he’s in control
Lastly, we learn that we should trust God because he is in control. In today’s text, the big difference between Abram and God was that (1) Abram was clueless but (2) God was in control—God knew what he was doing: (a) Abram doesn’t even have one child—but God is speaking of a great nation; (b) Abram doesn’t own even a small piece of the land—but God is speaking of his descendants fully possessing this land.
e.g. We all are mere human beings. We do not know what the future has in store for us. Abram had no idea that (1) he would have—not just one son but—numerous descendants and that (2) his descendants would actually come back to possess that land. Abram’s lack of knowledge and lack of control are expressed in “darkness” “dreadful and great darkness fell upon him” (v. 12); “When . . . it was dark” (v. 17). But what today’s text is teaching us is that this darkness will not prevail because the Lord God will shine upon us: “Behold, a smoking fire pot and a flaming torch passed between these pieces” (v. 17b).