I believe one of the most difficult problems a believer has in his walk with the Lord is understanding what grace really is. We are told that grace is a gift, and no one who receives a gift from anyone ever has to pay for the gift. A gift is free, and so is grace. While this is certainly true, nevertheless, believers still labor under the illusion, they must add something to grace, before we are able to receive, what the Lord wants to give us. When the Lord called Abram to come out of Mesopotamia, where he lived, he told Abram that he would grant him seven blessings: “I will show you (a land); I will make you a great nation; I will bless you; (I will) make your name great; I will bless them that bless you; (I will) curse them that curse you; I will give this land to your descendants” (Genesis 12:1-3, 7). This was grace. It was God who took the initiative, encouraging a man who never worshiped him, until he was called by the Lord, who wanted to bless him.
After Abram met with the King of Sodom, the text doesn’t say, but perhaps immediately afterward, but when he was alone, the Lord appeared to Abram in a vision. The text mentions: “…the Word of the Lord came… in a vison…” (Genesis 15:1). The Jewish targums use this term, vis-à-vis the Word of the Lord, whenever they speak of God in an anthropomorphism. If the Lord is described in human form in any manner, the targumists use the term, Word of the Lord, to identify the God, whom the person sees or hears. In this case, Abram saw the Word of the Lord in vision and the Lord said: “Fear not, Abram; I am your shield and your exceedingly great reward.”
Obviously, if the Lord told Abram not to be afraid, no doubt Abram was afraid. The rush of victory had subsided, and he had time to think, about what he had done. Would Chedorlaomer gather another army and return, this time seeking Abram? Would the King of Sodom see Abram as a local threat and decide to gather an army and attack him? When Abram returned from battle, victorious, he would not permit the king to save face before his people. So, although the king received back the people that were taken from him, as well as supplies and valuables, he and Abram did not part friends (Genesis 14:21-24). Therefore, the Lord appeared in a vision to comfort Abram.
Abram listened to the Lord, and asked what value his protection and provision really were to him, since Abram remained childless (H6185),[1] and according to the law or custom of the land, Abram’s servant, who was born (first) in his house, a man whose lineage is of Damascus, this one would be his heir, when Abram died (Genesis 15:2-3). The word childless (H6185) is a rare Hebrew word, and it is used only four times in three places: Leviticus 20:20-21; Jeremiah 22:30 and in our text: Genesis 15:2. The mention in the Law refers to incest, and both participants would be stoned, vis-à-vis they shall die childless. Jeremiah mentions the Jewish king, Jeconiah. He would be childless, because he would go to Babylon, where he would be made a eunuch. In other words, the king would be childless by the hand of man. Abram was saying he was childless, because he couldn’t produce a son. Therefore, what good is anything the Lord wants to do for him?
The second phrase: “Behold, to me you have given (H5417) no seed…” (Genesis 15:3, also concerns Abram’s inability to produce a son. How so? While, indeed, Abram looked to the Lord to give him a son, this was not without Abram’s input. For example, a business transaction takes place in Genesis 23, where Abraham wishes to buy a cave to bury Sarah, his wife. The same Hebrew word is used there for the business transaction, and Abraham pays Ephron not only for the cave, but for the land that Ephron wished to sell with the cave. While it appears that Ephron wished to give the land and the cave to Abram, this wasn’t the case. It was the normal way business transactions were carried out at the time. The seller would “give” a product and the buyer would “give” the agreed price for the product. Both had a responsibility in the giving process. So, too, Abram felt in Genesis 15:2-3 that he had failed to sire a son, so the Lord’s promises to him had little meaning, because the servant in his household would inherit it all.
The Lord responded by saying this would not be so. Abram’s heir would come from his own body (Genesis 15:4). Then, the Lord brought Abram outside his tent and pointed to the stars and said that, if he could number the stars in heaven, then he would also be able to number his descendants (Genesis 15:5). Abram believed what the Lord told him! Therefore, his faith was accounted to him for righteousness (Genesis 15:6).
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[1] Abram wasn’t behaving disrespectfully to the Lord by saying this. What Abram was expressing was frustration with himself. He believed he had a part, in providing the son that the Lord promised to bless, but Abram was unable to produce a son for the ten years he spent in the land.
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