The Law · Chapter 15 of 50
Genesis 15
The LORD comes to Abram in a vision, calling himself Abram's shield and reward. Abram laments his childlessness, and God promises descendants as countless as the stars. Abram believes the LORD, and it is counted to him as righteousness. To confirm the promise of the land, God has Abram prepare a sacrifice, foretells his descendants' bondage and deliverance, and passes as a smoking furnace and burning lamp between the pieces.
What happens in Genesis 15
The word of the LORD comes to Abram in a vision, saying, Fear not, I am your shield and exceeding great reward. Abram replies that he remains childless and that a servant, Eliezer, stands to inherit his house. God assures him that his own son will be his heir and brings him outside to count the stars, if he can: so shall your descendants be. Abram believes the LORD, and it is counted to him as righteousness. When Abram asks how he will know he will inherit the land, God directs him to bring a heifer, goat, ram, turtledove, and pigeon.
Abram divides the animals and drives away the birds of prey. As the sun sets, a deep sleep and a horror of great darkness fall on him, and God foretells four hundred years of affliction in a land not their own, followed by judgment on that nation and a return with great substance. Then a smoking furnace and burning lamp pass between the pieces, and God makes a covenant, granting the land from the river of Egypt to the Euphrates.
Genesis 15 in context
This chapter deepens the promises of Genesis 12 into a formal covenant. Abram, still without the child everything depends on, voices honest doubt, and God answers not with rebuke but with a night sky full of stars and a solemn ceremony.
The covenant follows an ancient custom in which parties passed between divided animals, invoking the fate of the pieces on any who broke faith. Strikingly, God alone passes through, binding himself to keep the promise.
Main themes of Genesis 15
Genesis 15 (KJV)
1After 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. 2And Abram said, LORD God, what wilt thou give me, seeing I go childless, and the steward of my house is this Eliezer of Damascus? 3And Abram said, Behold, to me thou hast given no seed: and, lo, one born in my house is mine heir. 4And, behold, the word of the LORD came unto him, saying, This shall not be thine heir; but he that shall come forth out of thine own bowels shall be thine heir. 5And he brought him forth abroad, and said, Look now toward heaven, and tell the stars, if thou be able to number them: and he said unto him, So shall thy seed be. 6And he believed in the LORD; and he counted it to him for righteousness. 7And he said unto him, I am the LORD that brought thee out of Ur of the Chaldees, to give thee this land to inherit it. 8And he said, LORD God, whereby shall I know that I shall inherit it? 9And he said unto him, Take me an heifer of three years old, and a she goat of three years old, and a ram of three years old, and a turtledove, and a young pigeon. 10And he took unto him all these, and divided them in the midst, and laid each piece one against another: but the birds divided he not. 11And when the fowls came down upon the carcases, Abram drove them away. 12And when the sun was going down, a deep sleep fell upon Abram; and, lo, an horror of great darkness fell upon him. 13And he said unto Abram, Know of a surety that thy seed shall be a stranger in a land that is not theirs, and shall serve them; and they shall afflict them four hundred years; 14And also that nation, whom they shall serve, will I judge: and afterward shall they come out with great substance. 15And thou shalt go to thy fathers in peace; thou shalt be buried in a good old age. 16But in the fourth generation they shall come hither again: for the iniquity of the Amorites is not yet full. 17And it came to pass, that, when the sun went down, and it was dark, behold a smoking furnace, and a burning lamp that passed between those pieces. 18In the same day the LORD made a covenant with Abram, saying, Unto thy seed have I given this land, from the river of Egypt unto the great river, the river Euphrates: 19The Kenites, and the Kenizzites, and the Kadmonites, 20And the Hittites, and the Perizzites, and the Rephaims, 21And the Amorites, and the Canaanites, and the Girgashites, and the Jebusites.
Verses to carry from Genesis 15
“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.”Genesis 15:1
“And he believed in the LORD; and he counted it to him for righteousness.”Genesis 15:6
“In the same day the LORD made a covenant with Abram, saying, Unto thy seed have I given this land, from the river of Egypt unto the great river, the river Euphrates:”Genesis 15:18
New Testament quotation
How Genesis 15 points to Jesus
Genesis 15:6, Abram believed the LORD and it was counted to him for righteousness, becomes one of the clearest windows in the Old Testament onto the gospel. Paul cites it in Romans and Galatians to prove that righteousness has always come by faith, not by law or works, and that everyone who believes in Christ is justified the same way Abram was. The covenant sealed by God alone passing through the pieces points to a God who takes the burden of the promise entirely on himself, foreshadowing the cross, where Christ bears the covenant curse in our place.
The great darkness and the promised deliverance from bondage also anticipate the greater exodus Jesus accomplishes, leading his people out of slavery to sin into the inheritance he secures.
Questions about Genesis 15
What does Genesis 15:6 mean, that Abram's faith was counted as righteousness?
It means God credited Abram with right standing simply because he believed the promise, not because of anything he had done. Faith, not works, was the basis of his acceptance. Paul builds on this verse in the New Testament to teach that all people are justified the same way, by trusting God, and specifically by faith in Christ, who is our righteousness.
Why did God pass between the animal pieces in Genesis 15?
In ancient covenant ceremonies, both parties would walk between divided animals, symbolically calling that fate on themselves if they broke the agreement. In Genesis 15 God alone, as a smoking furnace and burning lamp, passes through while Abram sleeps. This shows that the covenant depends on God's faithfulness alone, and he takes full responsibility to keep his promise.
Reflection
God met Abram's honest question not with a rebuke but with a walk under the stars and a promise sealed by his own hand. Faith does not mean having no doubts; it means bringing them to God. What unanswered question are you carrying, and what might change if you brought it honestly to the God who counts trust as righteousness?
A prayer from Genesis 15
Read the whole Bible with the family
Open it in the app, study it live with someone, and let it lead you to Christ.
Open the BibleRead it togetherSee what God is doing