Genesis 15:12

_AND WHEN THE SUN WAS GOING DOWN, A DEEP SLEEP FELL UPON ABRAM; AND, LO, AN HORROR OF GREAT DARKNESS FELL UPON HIM._ A deep sleep, х_ TARDEEMAAH_ (H8639)] - a preternatural sleep, produced by God (see the note at Genesis 11:21). AN HORROR OF GREAT DARKNESS. [The Septuagint has fobos skoteinos megas, a great and awful darkness.] The Scripture represents prophetic visions and dreams as distinct things (Numbers 12:6); for, 'between prophetic visions and dreams generally, there appears to exist this radical distinction, that the former, though sometimes physiologically originating in a particular condition of the body, did not exclude the healthy exercise of the mental faculties, and were granted in the waking state; whereas the la

12._A deep sleep fell upon Abram_. The vision is now mingled with a dream. Thus the Lord here joins those two kinds of communication together, which I have before related from Numbers 12:6, where it is said, ‘When I appear unto my servants the prophets, I speak to them in a vision or a dream.’ mention has already been made of a vision: Moses now relates, that a dream was superadded. A horrible darkness intervened, that Abram might know that the dream is not a common one, but that the whole is divinely conducted; it has, nevertheless, a correspondence with the oracle then present, as God immediately afterwards explains in his own words, “Thou shalt surely know that thy seed shall be a stranger,” etc. We have elsewhere said, that God was not wont to dazzle the eyes of his people with bare and empty spectres; but that in

12-16 A deep sleep fell upon Abram; with this sleep a horror of great darkness fell upon him: a sudden change. The children of light do not always walk in the light. Several things were then foretold. 1. The suffering state of Abram's seed for a long time. They shall be strangers. The heirs of heaven are strangers on earth. They shall be servants; but Canaanites serve under a curse, the Hebrews under a blessing. They shall be suffers. Those that are blessed and beloved of God, are often sorely afflicted by wicked men. 2. The judgment of the enemies of Abram's seed. Though God may allow persecutors and oppressors to trample upon his people a great while, he will certainly reckon with them at last. 3. That great event, the deliverance of Abram's seed out of Egypt, is here foretold. 4. Their happy settlement in Canaan. They shall come hither again. The measure of sin fills gradually. Some...

Verse Genesis 15:12. A DEEP SLEEP] תרדמה _tardemah_, the same word which is used to express the sleep into which Adam was cast, previous to the formation of Eve; Genesis 2:21. _A HORROR OF GREAT DARKNESS_] Which God designed to be expressive of the affliction and misery into which his posterity should be brought during the _four hundred_ years of their bondage in Egypt; as the next verse particularly states....

- The Faith of Abram 1. דבר _dābār_, “a word, a thing;” the word being the sign of the thing. 2. אדני _'ǎdonāy_, “Adonai, the Lord;” related: “bring down, lay down.” This is the name usually read in place of Yahweh; but when, as in the present case, יהוה _y__e__hovâh_ and אדני _'ǎdonāy_ are in apposition, אלהים _'ĕlohı̂ym_ is read instead of the former. The Jews from a feeling of reverence avoided the utterance of this sacred name except on the most solemn occasions. This is said to have arisen from a stringent interpretation of...

EXPOSITION GENESIS 15:7 AND HE (Jehovah, or the Word of the Lord) SAID UNTO HIM (after the act of faith on the part of the patriarch, and the act of imputation or justification on the part of God, and in explication of the exact nature of that relationship which had been constituted between them by the spiritual transaction so described), I am THE LORD THAT BROUGHT THEE OUT OF UR OF THE CHALDEES (_vide _Genesis 11:28), to give thee this land to inherit (or, to possess) IT. GENESIS 15:8 AND HE SAID, LORD GOD (_Adonai Jehovah_;_ vide_...

AND WHEN THE SUN WAS GOING DOWN,.... Just setting, descending below the hemisphere; or "about to enter" m into his chamber, as Piscator observes, from whence he went forth in the morning, as a strong man to run his race; which at sunset is finished according to human appearance, and the common apprehensions of men, who have thought it goes under the earth, or drops into the ocean, see Psalms 19:5: A DEEP SLEEP FELL UPON ABRAM: through the great fatigue he had had the preceding day, in doing what is before related; or rather through a more than ordinary influence of God upon him, which bound up his senses, and cast him into an ecstasy or trance, when he had the following prophecy and vision, which more fully explained to him the emblem he had been conversant with; this was such a sleep as fell on Adam,...

Genesis 15:1. _After these things the word of the LORD came unto Abram in a vision, saying, Fear not, Abram: I am thy shield, and thy exceeding great reward. And Abram said, Lord GOD, what wilt thou give me, seeing I go childless, and the steward of my house is this Eliezer of Damascus? And Abram said, Behold, to me thou hast given no seed: and, lo, one born in my house is mine heir._ Perhaps he did not doubt the promise, but he wanted to have it explained to him. He may have wondered if it meant that one born in his house, though not his son, was to be his heir; and that, through him, the blessing would come. He takes the opportunity of making an enquiry, that he may know how to act. At the same time, there does seem to be a clashing between Abraham's question, «What wilt thou give me?» and the declaration of God, «I am thy shield, and thy exceeding great reward.» There is a gre

CHAPTER 15 THE FOURTH COMMUNICATION AND THE COVENANT AND THE VISION _ 1. The fourth communication (Genesis 15:1)_ 2. Abram's answer (Genesis 15:2) 3. The promised seed (Genesis 15:4) 4. Abram counted righteous (Genesis 15:6) 5. Continued communication (Genesis 15:7) 6. The divided animals (Genesis 15:9) 7. The vision (Genesis 15:12)

GENESIS 12:1 TO GENESIS 25:18. THE STORY OF ABRAHAM. In this section the three main sources, J. E, P are present. Gunkel has given strong reasons for holding that J is here made up of two main sources, one connecting Abraham with Hebron, the other with Beersheba and the Negeb. The former associates Abraham with Lot. (For details, see ICC.) On the interpretation to be placed on the figures of Abraham and the patriarchs, see the Introduction. The interest, which has hitherto been diffused over the fortunes of mankind in general, is now concentrated on Abraham and his posterity, the principle of election narrowing it down to Isaac, Ishmael being left aside, and then to Jacob, Esau being excluded....