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:
18. the Lord made a covenant ] A covenant, or compact, as between man and man, is necessarily impossible between God and man. God in His mercy gives the promise; man in his weakness acknowledges his willingness to obey. For the other covenants in the Pentateuch cf. 9, 17; Exodus 24. The origin of b’rth = “covenant,” is uncertain. Some suggest barah = “eat,” in the sense of a “solemn meal.” See note on Gen 15:9.
The fate of the victims was supposed to be invoked upon the head of the party who broke the covenant. Cf. Livy, i. 24, tum illo die, Juppiter, populum Romanum sic ferito, ut ego hunc porcum hic hodie feriam, tantoque magis ferito quanto magis potes pollesque. The idea of Robertson Smith that the two parties to the covenant, standing between the pieces, partook of the mystical life of the victim ( Relig. of Semites, p. 480) remains doubtful.
from the river of Egypt ] The n’har Mizraim is clearly the Nile. The ideal boundaries of the future territory of Israel are here stated in hyperbolical fashion, as extending from the Nile to the Euphrates: so Jos 13:3, 1Ch 13:5. The Eastern, i.e. the Pelusiac, arm of the Nile is meant.
“The River of Egypt” is to be distinguished from “the Brook of Egypt,” naal Mizraim, Num 34:5, Jos 15:4; Jos 15:47, the Rhino-colura, the modern Wady-el-Arish, a watercourse on the extreme S.W. of Palestine, on the confines of Egyptian territory.
unto the great river, the river Euphrates ] Cf. Deu 1:7; Deu 11:24. It was probably only in the days of Solomon that this picture of Israelite greatness was ever approximately realized; see 1Ki 4:21, Psa 80:11.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
Gen 15:18-21
The Lord made a covenant with Abram
Gods covenant
1.
The time of saints sacrifice amidst their troubles may be the season of Gods making covenant with them.
2. Not only promise but covenant hath God made to His Church for their consolation.
3. Word and sign, promise and pledge, make up Gods covenant.
4. Gods promise of good to come is as sure as if done already.
5. Lower mercies God may give as tokens of greater blessings–this land.
6. The Church hath had its place and portion designed in this world, for being here (Gen 15:18).
7. Gods bounds to His Church were large under the law, much more under the gospel. The ends of the earth now (Gen 15:19).
8. All peoples shall be driven out to make room for the Church of God. Multitudes can be no hindrance of making good Gods covenant to them (Gen 15:20-21). (G. Hughes, B. D.)
The river of Egypt
As the traveller pursues his weary way from Egypt to Palestine, he crosses the broad channel of a river, bounded still by its well-marked banks, but destitute of water. When the rivers of Judah flowed with water, this was the southern boundary of the country, dividing it from the land of Ham, and hence it is often alluded to as the River of Egypt. On one side is a parched desert of sand, spotted here and there with little verdant patches, where a few bushes of palm trees grow, and flowers show their smiling faces to the scorching rays of the sun that pour down as if from a glowing furnace; but, in general, dreary, waste, and bare, with nothing to relieve the eye, almost blinded by the glare of the white sand, but occasional heaps of stones, that tell of ruin and desolation. Here and there the flat sands are covered with an incrustation of fine salt, the very symbol of barrenness. The wild ass, whose house God has made the wilderness, and the barren land (Hebrews, the salt places) his dwellings, here ranges, far from the haunts of men, searching after every green thing. On the eastern side of this ancient channel the country changes. Low sand hills running in ranges parallel to the shore of the Mediterranean for a while struggle for supremacy with the verdure of grassy slopes. (P. H.Gosse.)
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Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell
Verse 18. The Lord made a covenant] carath berith signifies to cut a covenant, or rather the covenant sacrifice; for as no covenant was made without one, and the creature was cut in two that the contracting parties might pass between the pieces, hence cutting the covenant signified making the covenant. The same form of speech obtained among the Romans; and because, in making their covenants they always slew an animal, either by cutting its throat, or knocking it down with a stone or axe, after which they divided the parts as we have already seen, hence among the percutere faedus, to smite a covenant, and scindere faedus, to cleave a covenant, were terms which signified simply to make or enter into a covenant.
From the river of Egypt] Not the Nile, but the river called Sichor, which was before or on the border of Egypt, near to the isthmus of Suez; see Jos 13:3; though some think that by this a branch of the Nile is meant. This promise was fully accomplished in the days of David and Solomon. See 2Sa 8:3, c., and 2Ch 9:26.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
Unto thy seed have I given this land, i.e. decreed and promised in due time to give, which makes it as sure as if it were actually given to them. Or,
I will give; words of the past time being oft put for the future, especially in prophecies.
The river of Egypt; not Nilus, which elsewhere is so called, but a less river, as is sufficiently implied, because this is opposed to the
great river here following; but a river called Sihor, which divides Egypt from Canaan. See Num 34:5; Jos 13:3 1Ch 13:5. The accomplishment hereof, see 2Sa 8:3; 1Ki 4:21; 9:21.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
In the same day the Lord made a covenant with Abram,…. Which he confirmed by passing between the pieces and accepting his sacrifice:
saying, unto thy seed have I given this land; he had given it in his purpose, and he had given the promise of it, and here he renews the grant, and ratifies and confirms it, even the land of Canaan, where Abram now was, though only a sojourner in it; and which is described by its boundaries and present occupants, in this and the following verses, as is usually done in grants of lands and deeds of conveyance:
from the river of Egypt, unto the great river, the river of Euphrates; the river of Egypt is the Nile, which overflowed it annually and made it fruitful; so the Targum of Jonathan calls it the river of Egypt; it may be rendered, “from the river Mizraim or Egypt”, for the name of Egypt was given to the river Nile as well as to the country, and so it is called by Homer p; and Diodorus Siculus q says, the Nile was first called Egypt; some r think the Nile is not here meant, but a little river of Egypt that ran through the desert that lay between Palestine and Egypt; but it seems to be a branch of the river Nile, which was lesser about Palestine or Damiata, at the entrance of Egypt, than at other places. Brocardus s says,
“from Delta to Heliopolis were three miles, where another river was separated from the Nile, and carried to the city of Pelusium; and, adds he, this river is properly called in Scripture the river of Egypt, and at it is bounded the lot of the tribe of Judah.”
This river of Egypt, or the Nile, was the southern boundary of the land of Canaan, and from hence to the river Euphrates, the eastern boundary, was the utmost extent of it in which it was ever possessed, as it was in the times of David and Solomon, 2Sa 8:3.
p Odyss. 14. vid. Pausan. Boeotica, sive l. 9. p. 859. q Bibliothec. l. 1. p. 56. r See Rollin’s Ancient History, vol. 1. p. 92. s Apud Drusium in loc.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
In Gen 15:18-21 this divine revelation is described as the making of a covenant ( , from to cut, lit., the bond concluded by cutting up the sacrificial animals), and the substance of this covenant is embraced in the promise, that God would give that land to the seed of Abram, from the river of Egypt to the great river Euphrates. The river ( ) of Egypt is the Nile, and not the brook ( ) of Egypt (Num 34:5), i.e., the boundary stream Rhinocorura, Wady el Arish. According to the oratorical character of the promise, the two large rivers, the Nile and the Euphrates, are mentioned as the boundaries within which the seed of Abram would possess the promised land, the exact limits of which are more minutely described in the list of the tribes who were then in possession. Ten tribes are mentioned between the southern border of the land and the extreme north, “to convey the impression of universality without exception, of unqualified completeness, the symbol of which is the number ten” ( Delitzsch). In other passages we find sometimes seven tribes mentioned (Deu 7:1; Jos 3:10), at other times six (Exo 3:8, Exo 3:17; Exo 23:23; Deu 20:17), at others five (Exo 13:5), at others again only two (Gen 13:7); whilst occasionally they are all included in the common name of Canaanites (Gen 12:6). The absence of the Hivites is striking here, since they are not omitted from any other list where as many as five or seven tribes are mentioned. Out of the eleven descendants of Canaan (Gen 10:15-18) the names of four only are given here; the others are included in the common name of the Canaanites. On the other hand, four tribes are given, whose descent from Canaan is very improbable. The origin of the Kenites cannot be determined. According to Jdg 1:16; Jdg 4:11, Hobab, the brother-in-law of Moses, was a Kenite. His being called Midianite (Num 10:29) does not prove that he was descended from Midian (Gen 25:2), but is to be accounted for from the fact that he dwelt in the land of Midian, or among the Midianites (Exo 2:15). This branch of the Kenites went with the Israelites to Canaan, into the wilderness of Judah (Jdg 1:16), and dwelt even in Saul’s time among the Amalekites on the southern border of Judah (1Sa 15:6), and in the same towns with members of the tribe of Judah (1Sa 30:29). There is nothing either in this passage, or in Num 24:21-22, to compel us to distinguish these Midianitish Kenites from those of Canaan. The Philistines also were not Canaanites, and yet their territory was assigned to the Israelites. And just as the Philistines had forced their way into the land, so the Kenites may have taken possession of certain tracts of the country. All that can be inferred from the two passages is, that there were Kenites outside Midian, who were to be exterminated by the Israelites. On the Kenizzites, all that can be affirmed with certainty is, that the name is neither to be traced to the Edomitish Kenaz (Gen 36:15, Gen 36:42), nor to be identified with the Kenezite Jephunneh, the father of Caleb of Judah (Num 32:12; Jos 14:6: see my Comm. on Joshua, p. 356, Eng. tr.). – The Kadmonites are never mentioned again, and their origin cannot be determined. On the Perizzites see Gen 13:7; on the Rephaims, Gen 14:5; and on the other names, Gen 10:15-16.
Fuente: Keil & Delitzsch Commentary on the Old Testament
Verses 18-21:
God defined the boundaries of the land grant to Abram’s descendants: from the “river of Egypt,” the Nile, (not the Brook of Egypt in the south of the country) on the west, to the River Euphrates on the east. The northern boundary would appear to be the region of the headwaters of the Euphrates and the Mediterranean coast. The southern boundary would likely be the Arabian Peninsula. This description does not conflict with that given in Nu 34:1-12, where Moses outlines the territory to be occupied under the leadership of Joshua and his successors. The promise to Abram includes the entire territory to be occupied by Abram’s descendants (Israel) during the reign of Messiah on earth.
Fuente: Garner-Howes Baptist Commentary
18. In the same day the Lord made a covenant. I willingly admit what I have alluded to above, that the covenant was ratified by a solemn rite, when the animals were divided into parts. For there seems to be a repetition, in which he teaches what was the intent of the sacrifice which he has mentioned. Here, also, we may observe, what I have said, that the word is always to be joined with the symbols, lest our eyes be fed with empty and fruitless ceremonies. God has commanded animals to be offered to him; but he has shown their end and use, by a covenant appended to them. If, then, the Lord feeds us by sacraments, we infer, that they are the evidences of his grace, and the tokens of those spiritual blessings which flow from it.
He then enumerates the nations, whose land God was about to give to the sons of Abram, in order that he may confirm what he before said concerning a numerous offspring. For that was not to be a small band of men, but an immense multitude, for which the Lord assigns a habitation of such vast extent. God had before spoken only of the Amorites, among whom Abram then dwelt; but now, for the sake of amplifying his grace, he recounts all the others by name.
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary
(18) The Lord made a covenant.Heb., Jehovah cut a covenant. Abram had divided the slaughtered animals, and Jehovah, by passing between them, made the whole act His own.
The river of Egypt.That is, the Nile. In the Hebrew the Wady-el-Arish, on the southern border of Simeon, is always distinguished from the Nile. though the distinction is neglected in our version. Thus in Num. 34:5; Jos. 15:4; Isa. 27:12 (where alone an attempt is made at accuracy by translating stream), the Hebrew has, the torrent of Egypt, that is, a stream full after the rains, but dry during the rest of the year. For a description of these torrent-beds see Isa. 57:5-6, where in Gen. 15:5 the word is translated valleys, and in Gen. 15:6 stream. The word used here signifies a river that flows constantly; and Abrams posterity are to found a kingdom conterminous with the Nile and the Euphrates, that is, with Egypt and Babylonia. If these bounds are large and vague, we must also remember that they are limited by the names of the ten nations which follow. Between the Nile and the Euphrates, the territories of these ten tribes is alone definitely bestowed upon Abram.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
18. Made a covenant Hebrews, cut a covenant, in allusion to the cutting of the victims into pieces and passing between them . Abram had passed between the pieces before the sun went down, and now Jehovah completes the cutting of the covenant by causing the burning symbols of his presence to pass between the pieces and repeating, for the fourth time, Unto thy seed have I given this land. Comp . Gen 15:7; Gen 15:12, and Gen 7:13; Gen 7:15. The utmost boundaries of the land are here given as the river of Egypt on the southwest, unto the great river, the river Euphrates, on the north-east. The designation of the Euphrates as the great river favours the opinion that the river of Egypt is not the Nile, which was also great, but the wady-el-Arish, called the river (or brook ) of Egypt, in Jos 15:4. This view is further confirmed by the fact that the dominion of Israel did actually extend, in Solomon’s time, between these borders, (see 1Ki 4:24,) but never extended to the Nile . Most commentators, however, understand the Nile here, and think these two great rivers are mentioned in a general way, as representing the two great nations or world-powers on the east and west of Canaan.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
‘In that day Yahweh made a covenant with Abram “to your seed I have given this land, from the River of Egypt to the Great River, the River Euphrates”; the Kenite and the Kenizzite and the Kadmonite, and the Hittite and the Perizzite and the Rephaim, and the Amorite and the Canaanite and the Girgashite and the Jebusite.’
So the boundaries of the promised land are fixed in a general sense, to be achieved in the day of Solomon. ‘The river of Egypt’ may not be the Nile but the Brook of Egypt (1Ki 8:65), the southernmost boundary of the land (it is in contrast with ‘the great river’, while the Nile is as great a river as the Euphrates), probably the Wadi el Arish just below Gaza, which reaches up towards the Gulfs of Suez and Aqaba, thus excluding the absolute desert. But etymologically it would appear to speak of the Nile for a ‘brook’ (nahal) is a torrent wadi arising after the rains, while a river (nehar) is a river of more permanence. There is no difficulty with seeing it as the southernmost part of the Nile in a general sense, not necessarily applied too literally. (We do not know how far south tributaries of the Nile came then). Either way the general boundary is clear. The land reaches from Egypt to the Euphrates, two natural boundaries. In inscriptions Sargon II reaches the ‘brook of Egypt’ and establishes a governor there to Pharaoh’s alarm (see 2Ki 24:7).
The writer then summarises the inhabitants of the land that is promised. There are ten in number, a number which signifies totality. (Compare the lists of ten patriarchs). This use in this way of a group of ‘ten’ may indicate the great age of the narrative. Later it would be reduced to seven.
The Birth of Ishmael and God’s Covenant With Him (Gen 16:1-14).
This chapter is a record of the covenant God makes with Ishmael and the historical background and theophany that seals it. Without the covenant, which would be put in writing on her return to Abram as evidence of Yahweh’s covenant with Ishmael, these events would have disappeared into obscurity.
Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett
The Land that God Promised to Abraham The length and breadth of the land that God promised to Abraham and his descendants is described Gen 15:18-21. It extended from the Nile River in Egypt to the Euphrates River in the East.
In this covenant, God promised to expel ten nations from this Promised Land. It is interesting to compare this list of ten nations to the list of seven nations that Moses gave to the children of Israel in Deu 7:1 and to the list that Joshua gave to Israel in Jos 3:10. We find some of these nations listed in Gen 10:15-19 as the descendants of Canaan, the son of Ham.
Deu 7:1, “When the LORD thy God shall bring thee into the land whither thou goest to possess it, and hath cast out many nations before thee, the Hittites, and the Girgashites, and the Amorites, and the Canaanites, and the Perizzites, and the Hivites, and the Jebusites, seven nations greater and mightier than thou;”
Jos 3:10, “And Joshua said, Hereby ye shall know that the living God is among you, and that he will without fail drive out from before you the Canaanites, and the Hittites, and the Hivites, and the Perizzites, and the Girgashites, and the Amorites, and the Jebusites.”
Gen 10:15-19, “And Canaan begat Sidon his firstborn, and Heth , And the Jebusite , and the Amorite , and the Girgasite , And the Hivite , and the Arkite, and the Sinite, And the Arvadite, and the Zemarite, and the Hamathite: and afterward were the families of the Canaanites spread abroad. And the border of the Canaanites was from Sidon, as thou comest to Gerar, unto Gaza; as thou goest, unto Sodom, and Gomorrah, and Admah, and Zeboim, even unto Lasha.”
Gen 15:18 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:
Gen 15:18
Comments – Evidently, the method of cutting a blood covenant in those days consisted of cutting the sacrificial animals in half and walking between them; for this is the method that the Lord used in Gen 15:9-17 to make His divine covenant with Abraham.
Gen 15:18 “saying, Unto thy seed have I given this land, from the river of Egypt unto the great river, the river Euphrates” Comments – The Lord had given this land unto Abraham seed. Notice that this is the past tense. God calls things which are not as though they were (Rom 4:17). God gave Abraham this land centuries before the children of Israel came in to possess it.
Rom 4:17, “(As it is written, I have made thee a father of many nations,) before him whom he believed, even God, who quickeneth the dead, and calleth those things which be not as though they were.”
Gen 15:18 Comments – In possessing the Promised Land, the children of Israel were returning to the Garden of Eden in a figurative sense. Hence, the land is measured by rivers, as was the geographical location of the Garden of Eden was measured by four rivers. Note:
Gen 2:11-14, “The name of the first is Pison: that is it which compasseth the whole land of Havilah, where there is gold; And the gold of that land is good: there is bdellium and the onyx stone. And the name of the second river is Gihon: the same is it that compasseth the whole land of Ethiopia. And the name of the third river is Hiddekel: that is it which goeth toward the east of Assyria. And the fourth river is Euphrates.”
Gen 15:19 The Kenites, and the Kenizzites, and the Kadmonites,
Gen 15:20 Gen 15:21 Gen 15:18. This land, from the river of AEgypt, &c. The river of AEgypt cannot mean the Nile, but some river upon the border of AEgypt. Solomon is said to have reigned from the river (Euphrates) unto the border of AEgypt. See 1Ki 4:21 where we shall speak more of this grant to Abram, and its completion.
REFLECTIONS.God confirms the covenant by a visible sign, and particularly describes the bounds of the inheritance of Abram’s posterity. We have,
1. The signs emblematical of the state of the people: a smoking furnace, alluding to their affliction; and a lamp of fire, to guide them through the smoke and darkness. Observe, Though the furnace of affliction be a dark and dreary state, there is light sown for the righteous; and they who are under divine guidance need not be cast down under the severest pressures.
2. The confirmation of the covenant, by the parting of the lamp between the slain beasts. Note; (1.) How great are God’s condescensions, thus to humble himself to our weakness. (2.) There is no firm covenant with God for fallen man, without a sacrifice of atonement. Blessed be God for the Blood of the Lamb that was slain, in whom all the promises of God are yea and amen.
REFLECTIONS
LET the visions of God with Abram have this effect upon all the true seed of Abram, earnestly to desire and as highly to prize, all the gracious manifestations of the divine love. May we esteem all the ordinances and means of grace, which tend to open a channel of communication between God and our souls. But yet more affectionately covet communion with the God of ordinances. Blessed Jesus! I would say, both for myself and for the Reader, Oh! do thou manifest thyself unto me otherwise than thou dost unto the world! May I know that thou art my portion, my shield, and my exceeding great reward.
Reader! behold the Patriarch Abram, and learn in his history the sweetness of exercised faith. Amidst all those precious promises of a faithful God, yet how long, how seemingly tedious and trying, the dispensation was appointed to be to his seed, before the fulfillment. Oh! for faith, that against hope, you and I may believe in hope; and in all our trials, may we run with patience the race that is set before us, looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith. And as the patriarch considered himself as sojourning in a strange country, and was looking beyond the tabernacles which he inhabited, for a city which had foundations, so may we never lose sight of that most certain truth, that here we have no continuing city, but may we be seeking one to come. And oh! thou Almighty giver of faith, increase our faith, and enable us to walk by faith, and not by sight, until we realize the divine presence in all the glories of eternity, and receive the end of our faith, even the salvation of our souls.
Gen 15:18 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: Ver. 18. From the river of Egypt. ] Sihor. Jer 2:18 This was fulfilled in Solomon’s, and especially in Christ’s kingdom.
the LORD. Not Abram (Gal 1:3, Gal 1:17). See note on Gen 15:12.
have. Before this it was “I will”. From now it is “I have”.
this land. Never yet possessed with these boundaries.
covenant
The Abrahamic Covenant as formed Gen 12:1-4 and confirmed; Gen 13:14-17; Gen 15:1-7; Gen 17:1-8 is in seven distinct parts:
(1) “I will make of thee a great nation.” Fulfilled in a threefold way:
(a) In a natural posterity–“as the dust of the earth Gen 13:16; Joh 8:37, viz. the Hebrew people.
(b) In a spiritual posterity–“look now toward heaven. .. so shall thy seed be” Joh 8:39; Rom 4:16; Rom 4:17; Rom 9:7; Rom 9:8; Gal 3:6; Gal 3:7; Gal 3:29 viz. all men of faith, whether Jew or Gentile.
(c) fulfilled also through Ishmael Gen 17:18-20
(2) “I will bless thee.” Fulfilled in two ways:
(a) temporally Gen 13:14; Gen 13:15; Gen 13:17; Gen 15:18; Gen 24:34; Gen 24:35 (b) spiritually; Gen 15:6; Joh 8:56
(3) “And make thy name great.” Abraham’s is one of the universal names.
(4) “And thou shalt be a blessing” Gal 3:13; Gal 3:14
(5) “I will bless them that bless thee.” In fulfilment closely related to the next clause.
(6) “And curse him that curseth thee.” Wonderfully fulfilled in the history of the dispersion. It has invariably fared ill with the people who have persecuted the Jew–well with those who have protected him. The future will still more remarkably prove this principle Deu 30:7; Isa 14:1,; Joe 3:1-8; Mic 5:7-9; Hag 2:22; Zec 14:1-3; Mat 25:40; Mat 25:45.
(7) “In thee shall all the families of the earth be blessed.” This is the great evangelic promise fulfilled in Abraham’s Seed, Christ Gal 3:16; Joh 8:56-58.
It brings into greater definiteness the promise of the Adamic Covenant concerning the Seed of the woman Gen 3:15
NOTE.–The gift of the land is modified by prophecies of three dispossessions and restorations Gen 15:13; Gen 15:14; Gen 15:16; Jer 25:11; Jer 25:12; Deu 28:62-65; Deu 30:1-3. Two dispossessions and restorations have been accomplished. Israel is now in the third dispersion, from which she will be restored at the return of the Lord as King under the Davidic Covenant; Deu 30:3; Jer 23:5-8; Eze 37:21-25; Luk 1:30-33; Act 15:14-17
See, for the other seven covenants:
EDENIC (See Scofield “Gen 1:28”) ADAMIC See Scofield “Gen 3:15” NOAHIC See Scofield “Gen 9:1” MOSAIC See Scofield “Exo 19:25” PALESTINIAN See Scofield “Deu 30:3” DAVIDIC See Scofield “2Sa 7:16” NEW See Scofield “Heb 8:8”
made: Gen 9:8-17, Gen 17:1-27, Gen 24:7, 2Sa 23:5, Isa 55:3, Jer 31:31-34, Jer 32:40, Jer 33:20-26, Gal 3:15-17, Heb 13:20
Unto thy: Gen 12:7, Gen 13:15, Gen 17:8, Gen 26:4, Gen 28:4, Gen 28:13, Gen 28:14, Gen 35:12, Gen 50:24, Exo 3:8, Exo 6:4, Exo 23:23, Exo 23:27-31, Exo 34:11, Num 34:3, Deu 1:7, Deu 1:8, Deu 7:1, Deu 11:24, Deu 34:4, Jos 1:3, Jos 1:4, Jos 12:1-20, Jos 19:1-38, 1Ki 4:21, 2Ch 9:26, Neh 9:8, Psa 105:11
from: Num 34:5, Jos 15:4, Isa 27:12
Euphrates: Gen 2:14, 2Sa 8:3, 1Ch 5:9
Reciprocal: Gen 10:15 – Heth Gen 10:19 – And the Gen 12:6 – Canaanite Gen 13:7 – Canaanite Gen 17:2 – And I Gen 17:7 – And I Gen 26:3 – unto thee Gen 31:21 – passed Gen 31:44 – let us Exo 3:17 – unto the land Exo 6:8 – to give Exo 13:5 – shall bring Exo 23:20 – prepared Exo 23:31 – I will set Exo 32:13 – I will multiply Exo 33:1 – Unto Lev 26:45 – for their Num 10:29 – the Lord Deu 6:10 – land Deu 12:20 – as he hath Deu 19:8 – General Deu 32:8 – he set Jos 2:9 – that the Lord Jos 5:1 – all the kings Jos 9:1 – Hittite Jos 11:16 – all that land Jos 12:8 – the Hittites Jos 13:6 – them 1Sa 20:16 – made 1Ki 8:65 – the river 2Ki 24:7 – from the river 1Ch 16:16 – which he made 1Ch 18:3 – by the river 2Ch 7:8 – from the entering Ezr 4:20 – beyond Neh 9:23 – which thou Psa 80:11 – General Jer 32:22 – which Jer 34:18 – when Eze 20:28 – the which Eze 48:28 – the river Hab 3:9 – according Mal 3:6 – I am Act 7:5 – yet Rom 9:4 – covenants Gal 3:17 – the covenant Gal 3:20 – but Eph 2:12 – the covenants
Gen 15:18. Unto thy seed have I given this land, from the river of Egypt, &c. In Davids time and Solomons, their jurisdiction extended to the utmost of those limits, 2Ch 9:26. And it was their own fault that they were not sooner and longer in possession of all these territories. They forfeited their right by their sins, and by their own sloth and cowardice kept themselves out of possession.
This was the formal "cutting" of the Abrahamic Covenant. God now formalized His earlier promises (Gen 12:1-3; Gen 12:7) into a suzerainty treaty, similar to a royal land grant, since Abram now understood and believed what God had promised. God as king bound Himself to do something for His servant Abram. The fulfillment of the covenant did not depend on Abram’s obedience. It rested entirely on God’s faithfulness. [Note: Westermann, "The Promises . . .," p. 690.]
". . . it is fitting that in many respects the account should foreshadow the making of the covenant at Sinai. The opening statement in Gen 15:7: ’I am the LORD, who brought you up out of Ur of the Chaldeans,’ is virtually identical to the opening statement of the Sinai covenant in Exo 20:2: ’I am the LORD your God, who brought you up out of the land of Egypt.’ The expression ’Ur of the Chaldeans’ refers back to Gen 11:28; Gen 11:31 and grounds the present covenant in a past act of divine salvation from ’Babylon,’ just as Exo 20:2 grounds the Sinai covenant in an act of divine salvation from Egypt. The coming of God’s presence in the awesome fire and darkness of Mount Sinai (Exo 19:18; Exo 20:18; Deu 4:11) appears to be intentionally reflected in Abraham’s pyrotechnic vision (Gen 15:12; Gen 15:17). In the Lord’s words to Abraham (Gen 15:13-16) the connection between Abraham’s covenant and the Sinai covenant is explicitly made by means of the reference to the four hundred years of bondage of Abraham’s seed and their subsequent ’exodus’ (’and after this they will go out,’ Gen 15:14). Such considerations lead to the conclusion that the author intends to draw the reader’s attention to the events at Sinai in his depiction of the covenant with Abraham.
"If we ask why the author has sought to bring the picture of Sinai here, the answer lies in the purpose of the book. It is part of the overall strategy of the book to show that what God did at Sinai was part of a larger plan which had already been put into action with the patriarchs. Thus, the exodus and the Sinai covenant serve as reminders not only of God’s power and grace but also of God’s faithfulness. What he sets out to accomplish with his people, he will carry through to the end." [Note: Sailhamer, The Pentateuch . . ., p. 152.]
Moses revealed the general geographical borders of the Promised Land here for the first time. Some scholars interpret the "river of Egypt" as the Nile.
"The argument is usually based on the fact that the Hebrew word nahar is consistently restricted to large rivers. However, the Hebrew is more frequently nahal (= Arabic wady) instead of the nahar of Gen 15:18 which may have been influenced by the second nahar in the text. [Note: "J. Simons, The Geographical and Topographical Texts of the Old Testament, p. 96, sec. 272."] In the Akkadian texts of Sargon II (716 B.C.) it appears as nahal musar." [Note: "James B. Pritchard, ed., Ancient Near Eastern Texts Relating to the Old Testament, p. 286; also Esarhaddon’s Arzi(ni) or Arsa = Arish (?), (ibid., p. 290). See Bruce K. Waltke, ’River of Egypt,’ Zondervan Pictorial Encyclopedia of the Bible 5:121; and J. Dwight Pentecost, Prophecy for Today, p. 65. An interesting case for the Nile is made by H. Bar-Deroma in ’The River of Egypt (Nahal Mizraim),’ Palestinian Exploration Quarterly 92 (1960):37-56." Walter C. Kaiser Jr., "The Promised Land: A Biblical-Historical View," Bibliotheca Sacra 138:552 (October-December 1981):311.]
God later specified the Wadi El ’Arish, "the geographical boundary between Canaan and Egypt," [Note: Charles Pfeiffer and Howard Vos, Wycliffe Historical Geography of Bible Lands, p. 88.] as the exact border (Num 34:5; Jos 15:4; Jos 15:47). That seems to be the river in view here too. The Euphrates River has never yet been Israel’s border. These borders appear to coincide with those of the Garden of Eden (cf. Gen 2:10-14). Thus the Garden of Eden may have occupied the same general area as the Promised Land.
Some amillennialists take these boundaries as an ideal expressing great blessing and believe God never intended that Abram’s seed should extend this far geographically. [Note: E.g., Waltke, Genesis, p. 245.] However such a conclusion is subjective and finds no support in the text.
Fuente: Everett’s Study Notes on the Holy Scriptures
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
Fuente: Hawker’s Poor Man’s Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
Fuente: Scofield Reference Bible Notes
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Fuente: Expository Notes of Dr. Constable (Old and New Testaments)