And when the fowls came down upon the carcasses, Abram drove them away.
11. And the birds of prey, &c.] The birds of prey, regarded as unclean, swooping down threatened to carry off the pieces of flesh. This would have interrupted the ceremony with an evil omen, polluted the sacrifice, and impaired the covenant. Abram drives away the birds of ill omen. In the context, these birds evidently symbolized the Egyptians, who threatened, by enslaving Israel in Egypt, to frustrate the fulfilment of the Divine promise to the seed of Abram. The chasing away of the birds typified the surmounting of all obstacles.
The LXX = “he sat with them” for “he drove them away” (reading vay-ysheb ittm for vay-yasshb thm) is a strange example of the mistakes arising from Hebrew writing without vowel points.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
Gen 15:11
When the fowls came down upon the carcases, Abram drove them away
Abram and the ravenous birds
I.
MENTION SOME OF THOSE WELL-KNOWN INTRUDERS WHICH ARE PERPETUALLY MOLESTING OUR PEACE AND DISTURBING OUR SERVICE.
1. Wicked thoughts–the sons of Satan.
2. Worldly thoughts, which spring from the force of habit.
3. Anxious thoughts, the fruits of our unbelief.
4. Annoying thoughts, the offspring of our vanity.
5. Ecclesiastical anxieties. Church business, or Church differences.
II. DISTRACTING CARES MUST BE CHASED AWAY.
1. For your own sake. No human brain can bear the perpetual toil of business, except it knows how to pause and oil the machinery by turning the mind in some other direction.
2. You will find, if you are able to take a perfect rest, by driving away these evil thoughts when you are worshipping God, that you will do your work during the other days of the week far better. It was an old Popish folly to try and tell what kind of weather there would be by the weather on Sunday–If it rain before mess; rain all the week more or less. Now, we do not believe that literally; but we do believe it in a spiritual sense. If you have a bad Sabbath day, you will have a bad week; but if you have a good day of rest, you will find it good with your souls the whole week long; not that you will be without trouble all the week, that would not be good for you, but you shall never be without grace during the week; nor if you have peace on the Sunday shall you be without peace on the Monday.
3. And then let me remind you, in the next place, that the character of this day demands that you should get rid of these thoughts. Now, it is inconsistent with such a day–the day of light–for us to be in darkness. It is inconsistent with the day of resurrection for us to be raking in this grave of the world. It is inconsistent with this day of descent of the Spirit for us to be thinking of carnal things, and forgetting the things which are above.
4. The indulging of vain or anxious thoughts, when we are engaged in the worship of God, must be striven against, because it must be grievous to the Holy Spirit. How can we expect that we shall have His presence and His assistance if we give Him not our hearts?
5. These thoughts and cares must be driven away, for if you do not strive against them they will increase and multiply. This is a growing habit. The force of habit is like the velocity of a falling stone, it increases in ever multiplying proportions. If I have indulged one unbelieving thought, there has always been another to follow it; if I have allowed some little disturbance in the congregation to cast me down, and distract my thoughts, there has been another, and another, and another, till I have been in the pitiable condition of a minister who has been half afraid of his congregation.
III. I am now to show you HOW TO DO IT.
1. And we begin by saying, first of all, set your heart upon it; for when the soul is set upon a thing, then it is likely to accomplish it. Go up to Gods house, saying, I must give up my soul to eternal matters today, and I will.
2. But when you have this done, remember next–let the preparation of your heart before coming to the sacrifice assist you when you shall be there. We are told men ought not to preach without preparation. Granted. But, we add, men ought not to hear without preparation.
3. But, this done, above all, cry to the Spirit of God for help to make your spirit rest.
4. Then, when you have thus done, and you come up to the house of God, still seek to continue in the same frame of mind, remembering in whose immediate presence you are. A Spartan youth was holding the censer at a sacrifice, when Alexander was offering a victim. It chanced that while he held the censer a hot coal fell upon his hand. The youth stood still, and never flinched, lest by any utterance or cry the sacrifice should be disturbed; for he said he was in the presence of Alexander, and he would not have the sacrifice interrupted for him; and he bore the pain of the burning coal. Let us remember that Spartan youth, adding to what he said, We are in the presence of the Almighty God. Then, if there be something which annoys us, let us bear it unflinchingly, for we stand before Him for whom it is blessed to suffer, and who will surely reward them that seek Him in spirit and in truth.
5. Another means I will give you. Take care that your faith be in active exercise, or else you cannot chase away those thoughts. Rest in the Lord and wait patiently for Him. Be still, and know that He is God.
6. Take care also that thou attend a ministry which draws thee from earth, for there are some dead ministries which make the Sabbath day more intolerable than any of the other days of the week. (C. H. Spurgeon.)
Driving away the vultures from the sacrifice
I. First, with regard to THE GREAT SACRIFICE OF OUR LORD JESUS CHRIST. This has been, and always will be, the great object of attack by the enemies of God.
1. Note well that the sacrifice which Abram guarded was of Divine ordination. So with the sacrifice of Christ.
2. Next, we see a further reason for guarding the sacrifice in the fact that it is of most solemn import. A covenant. We cannot let the vultures tear this sacrifice, for it is to us the token of the covenant; and if there be no covenant of grace, then is our preaching vain, and your faith is also vain, and we are still under the curse of the broken law. If ye are still out of covenant with God, what hope, what safety, what peace, what joy is there for you?
3. And, next, we must guard this sacrifice, because there God most fully displays His grace.
4. We will do this all the more because this is the chief point of attack. Every doctrine of revelation has been assailed, but the order of battle passed by the black prince at this hour runs as follows: Fight neither with small nor great, save only with the crucified King of Israel. If they carry the bastion of substitution, if they can throw down the great truth of atonement, then all the rest will go as a matter of course. The cross taken away, indeed, there is nothing left worth defending. Therefore let us gather up our strength, that we may vigorously chase the vultures from the altar of the living God.
5. How are we to do it? says one. Well, we can all of us help in this struggle.
(1) First, by a constant, immovable faith in Jesus Christ our crucified Saviour for ourselves.
(2) Let your own confidence be strong, and then very frequently make an open declaration of your faith in the atoning Sacrifice.
II. But now let us apply this example of Abram to ourselves in the matter of THE GRATEFUL SACRIFICE OF OUR LIVES. It is our reasonable service, that we present ourselves a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God by our Lord Jesus Christ, and we must guard our consecration against the temptations which will assail it. I am addressing many of you who feel that you have entered into covenant with God by Jesus Christ. What sort of vultures will there be? says one. Well, there will come doubts as to eternal things. There will be questions about your own wisdom in giving yourself up to God. I hope you have been strangers to such birds of prey, but some of us have not been: doubts as to whether there be a God to serve; doubts as to whether there be a heaven, an eternal future, a blessed reward; doubts as to whether it is well to give up this world for the next, or not, Drive them away! They may come in other forms, such as dreams of ambition, the cares of life, temptations to sin, idleness, etc. In whatever guise they come, drive them away.
III. GUARD ALL THE SACRIFICES OF YOUR DEVOTION. When the fowls come down upon your sacrifices of prayer, and praise, and meditation, drive them away. A little boy, who was accustomed to spend a time every day in prayer, went up into a hayloft, and when he climbed into the hayloft, he always pulled the ladder up after him. Someone asked him why he did so. He answered, As there is no door, I pull up the ladder. Oh, that we could always in some way cut the connection between our soul and the intruding things which lurk below! There is a story told of me and of some person, I never knew who it was, who desired to see me on a Saturday night, when I had shut myself up to make ready for the Sabbath. He was very great and important, and so the maid came to say that someone desired to see me. I bade her say that it was my rule to see no one at that time. Then he was more important and impressive still, and said, Tell Mr. Spurgeon that a servant of the Lord Jesus Christ desires to see him immediately. The frightened servant brought the message; but the sender gained little by it, for my answer was, Tell him I am busy with his Master, and cannot see servants now. Sometimes you must use strong measures. Did not our Lord tell His messengers, on one occasion, to salute no man by the way? Courtesy must give place to devotion. It is incumbent on you that you should be alone with your Lord, and if intruders force an entrance, they must be sent about their business. (C. H. Spurgeon.)
The disturbers of worship
I. THE OFFERING OF THE CHRISTIAN WORSHIPPER.
II. IT IS OFTEN DISTURBED AND INTERRUPTED.
1. Unbelieving thoughts.
2. Evil passions.
3. Worldly thoughts.
4. Satanic influence.
III. THE REMEDIES AGAINST THESE DIFFICULTIES AND INTERRUPTIONS.
1. A devotional preparation.
2. A firm hold on the truth.
3. Earnestness in the service.
4. Unshaken confidence in the aid of the Holy Spirit. (J. G. Hewlett, D. D.)
Wandering thoughts removed from the sacrifice by warm affections
If we would prevent wandering thoughts, we should seek warm affections. Flies will not so readily light on a boiling pot on the fire, as when it stands cold in the window, Nor will vain thoughts so easily light on thy sacrifice, when burning on the altar of a fervent heart, as when offered up with a cold, dull spirit. (W. Gurnall.)
The sacrifice hindered by vain thoughts
I have heard of some men who were called walking libraries, because they carried all that they read in their memories wherever they went. And have we not too many walking shops, barns, warehouses, etc., that is, persons who carry this lumber to bed and board, church and closet? How can such pray with a united heart, who have so many sharers in their thoughts? (W. Gurnall.)
Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell
Verse 11. And when the fowls] haayit, birds of prey, came down upon the carcasses to devour them, Abram, who stood by his sacrifice waiting for the manifestation of GOD, who had ordered him to prepare for the ratification of the covenant, drove them away, that they might neither pollute nor devour what had been thus consecrated to God.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
The fowls came to devour them; whereby is signified, either,
1. The disturbance and distraction which good men are exposed to in the service of God from evil spirits and men; or rather,
2. The great peril of Abrams posterity, who were not only torn in pieces like these sacrifices, but even the remainder of them were likely to be devoured by the Egyptians, whose king is compared to an eagle, the chief of the birds of prey, Eze 17:1-24.
Abram drove them away by the blast of his mouth, as the Hebrew word signifies; representing Abrams conquest over all his enemies by faith and prayer, whereby he engaged God to be the Preserver and Deliverer of his people.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
And when the fowls came down upon the carcasses,…. Upon the birds, as Aben Ezra and Ben Melech interpret it, whose carcasses were whole; or rather upon the divided carcasses of the animals, and indeed on both: this is to be understood of birds of prey, as eagles, vultures, kites, crows, c. and are an emblem of the Egyptians chiefly, and other enemies of Israel, who came upon them to devour them so the Targum of Jonathan,
“and the idolatrous nations descended, who were like to an unclean fowl, to spoil the goods of the Israelites;”
and likewise the Targum of Jerusalem,
“this unclean fowl are the idolatrous kingdoms of the earth:”
Abram drove them away: that they might not settle upon the carcasses, and devour them: the Septuagint version is, “Abram sat with them”; he sat by the carcasses and watched them, that no hurt came to them, and to take notice of them, and consider and learn what they were an emblem of. The Jews l also observe, that
“Abram sat and waved over them with his napkin or handkerchief, that the birds might not have power over them until the evening.”
This may respect not the merit of Abram, as the above Targums, by which his posterity were protected, and the designs of their enemies frustrated; but the effectual fervent prayer of Abram, his prayer of faith for them, in answer to which they were delivered out of the hands of the Egyptians, and other enemies, whom Abram foresaw they would be distressed with.
l Pirke Eliezer, ut supra. (c. 28)
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
“ Then birds of prey ( with the article, as Gen 14:13) came down upon the carcases, and Abram frightened them away.” The birds of prey represented the foes of Israel, who would seek to eat up, i.e., exterminate it. And the fact that Abram frightened them away was a sign, that Abram’s faith and his relation to the Lord would preserve the whole of his posterity from destruction, that Israel would be saved for Abram’s sake (Psa 105:42).
Fuente: Keil & Delitzsch Commentary on the Old Testament
11. And when the fowls came down. Although the sacrifice was dedicated to God, yet it was not free from the attack and the violence of birds. So neither are the faithful, after they are received into the protection of God, so covered with his hand, as not to be assailed on every side; since Satan and the world cease not to cause them trouble. Therefore, in order that the sacrifice we have once offered to God may not be violated, but may remain pure and uninjured, contrary assaults must be repulsed, with whatever inconvenience and toil.
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary
(11) And when the fowls . . . Heb., And the birds of prey came down upon the carcases, and Abram scared them away. Had there been a sacrifice the fire would have kept the vultures from approaching; but the bodies lay exposed, and Abram therefore kept guard over them, lest the purpose of the ceremonial should be frustrated by any want of respect shown to the outward symbols.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
11. Fowls came down Birds of prey, seeking to devour the carcasses. These unclean birds may be regarded as types of the enemies of the chosen seed, and Abram’s driving them away until the darkness of evening came on, was a sign that the covenant people would be delivered from the destruction threatened by their foes . Some see in these birds of prey a type of the Egyptians .
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
‘And the birds of prey descended on the carcasses, but he drove them away.’
This totally unnecessary description of a seemingly irrelevant incidence is an evidence of the fact that this account came from an eyewitness. Yet it has in it the seed of truth. For the birds of prey are a reminder of those who will seek to prevent his descendants’ possession of the land, who as it were are even now trying to prevent the establishing of the covenant, and a reminder that they too can be driven away. It also draws attention to the awfulness of the fates of the victims, not only dead but, were it not for the intervention of the prophet, to be torn up and eaten.
Are we also to see in this incident the sinister figure that lay behind the snake in the Garden of Eden seeking to intervene? He too desires to prevent the establishing of the covenant, for he senses its importance.
But we may ask, what is the purpose of all this? The answer is that it is following ancient custom in the swearing of a solemn oath and the establishing of a solemn covenant (see Jer 34:18-19). The divided animals are saying, ‘let me die if I break this covenant’ (Jer 34:20).
But we know that the animals are but a symbol, a type, for the blood that must be shed, for the fulfilment of God’s covenant is to be His own blood, shed for the sins of the world.
Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett
Gen 15:11 And when the fowls came down upon the carcases, Abram drove them away.
Ver. 11. Abram drove them away. ] So must we do evil motions and distractive thoughts in holy duties, which else will muster and swarm in our hearts like the flies of Egypt; pestering us worse than the fly in Albertus Magnus, that was ever hankering after the bald head; though he flapt it off again and again, he could not be rid of it.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
fowls: Eze 17:3, Eze 17:7, Mat 13:4
Abram: Psa 119:13
Reciprocal: Mar 4:4 – General Luk 8:5 – and the
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
"The birds of prey are unclean (Lev 11:13-19; Deu 14:12-18) and represent foreign nations (Eze 17:3; Eze 17:7; Zec 5:9), most probably Egypt. . . . Thus Abram driving off the birds of prey from the dismembered pieces portrays him defending his descendants from the attacks of foreign nations. Genesis itself tells of a number of attacks by foreigners against the children of Abraham (e.g. chs. 26, 34) and it already looks forward to the sojourn in Egypt (chs. 37-50 [cf. Exo 1:11-12]). But in what sense can Abraham’s actions be said to protect his offspring? Gen 22:16-18; Gen 26:5 suggest it was Abraham’s faithful obedience to the covenant that guaranteed the blessing of his descendants. . . . Exo 2:24 and Deu 9:5 also ground the exodus in the divine promises made to the patriarchs. The bird scene therefore portrays the security of Israel as the consequence of Abraham’s piety." [Note: Wenham, "The Symbolism . . .," p. 135.]