Genesis 15: 1-12: The Abrahamic Covenant

Question 1

The Abrahamic Covenant is seen in Genesis 12:1-7, 15:1-16, and 17:1-21. Throughout Genesis, God has been testing Abram or Abraham’s faith and obedience towards Him. In Genesis 12:1-3 and 7, God promised Abram that He will make his name great, to make him a great nation, to be a blessing to others, to bless those who bless him, to curse those who curse him, and a land for his descendants (Genesis 12:1-3 and 7, ESV). This promise was conditional as God required Abram to leave his land, Ur, and go to a place where God would show him. God required Abram to act upon faith and follow Him in order to be blessed and be a blessing. Since this was the first account of the promise, God is introducing to Abram His promise to him. The next

account in Genesis 15 gives more detail on how God will bless Abram and reaffirms His promise. The conditional promise in Genesis 12:2 that Abram would be a “great nation” is assured in this covenant. God speaks reassures Abram of the promise through a dream (ESV). Abram was starting to lose hope in that promise as he was without child, but God assured him that his descendants will be as innumerable as the stars (Genesis 15:5, ESV). Not only would he have many descendants, they will possess the Promised Land after four hundred years of oppression. His descendants would be born from his wife, Sarai. In Genesis 15, God unconditionally promises that Abram’s offspring will have the land. They did not receive it because of Abram, but because God has chosen Abram and his descendants. It is through this promise, the ultimate salvation plan would spring forth. Even with this promise, Abram and Sarai lacked faith, and with their human knowledge, they made themselves a child through Hagar.
Though Abram took matters in his own hands, God promises Abram, whose name is changed to Abraham, that he will have a son with Sarah. God reassured Abraham again in Genesis 17. In this promise, God changes Abram’s and Sarai’s name to Abraham and Sarah respectively. This changing of name reaffirms the promise that Abraham would be a great nation and that everyone would be blessed through Abraham (Genesis 12:2, ESV). This name changing also exhibits that God has established an eternal covenant with Abraham and his offspring as it would continue from one generation to the next. The promise of making Abraham “fruitful” is a reestablishment and a reassurance for God’s creation (Genesis 17:6, ESV). This reasserts God’s salvation plan through the nation of Israel. Genesis 17 introduces circumcision as God’s sign of the covenant. God instructs Abraham to circumcise all of his household. All who were circumcised would be included to the covenant.
Question 2

Both Isaac and Jesus were the only son to Abraham and God, and the sacrificial act of Isaac and Jesus was a sacrifice that will bless the future generations.

Abraham was instructed to sacrifice his only son, Isaac (Genesis 22:2, ESV). This sacrificial act was a confirmation of Abraham’s faithfulness and obedience to God. This act also was a promise that all will be blessed. Similarly, God had to sacrifice his one and only son, Jesus, for a purpose (John 3:16). Jesus’s crucifixion was a hope for humanity, and a reconciliation of God and man. They were to be the perfect sacrifice, the sacrificial lamb of God. In John 1:29, it mentions that the Lamb of God will take the sins of the world (ESV). Similarly, Isaac was the replacement for the burnt offering since God had instructed Abraham to offer his son as a burnt offering (Genesis 22:2, ESV). Another parallel is seen in that both Isaac and Jesus was sacrificed or crucified away from their homeland. According to Genesis 22, it took Abraham and Isaac two days to travel by foot to a mountain, where Isaac was to be a sacrifice. Jesus had to travel by foot to a hill or mountain called Golgatha, where he was crucified. On the third day, Isaac was to be sacrificed. Abraham had buried Isaac’s death in his heart for three days while in Jesus’s case, he died and rose on the third

day.
The sacrificial acts in Isaac and Jesus was performed by their own fathers. Abraham himself was to sacrifice Isaac, and God crucified His Son. While Abraham was preparing for Isaac to be sacrificed, Isaac called out his father and asked where they will get their burnt offering. Similarly, Jesus called out His Father and asked Him to take away this burden before the crucifixion in the Garden of Gethsemane (Matthew 26:39, ESV). Both Isaac and Jesus was hoping that they did not have to be the sacrifice. Isaac and Jesus had carried their own wood before their death. This was mentioned in Genesis 22:6 about Isaac carrying his own wood for the burnt offering and in John 19:17 that Jesus “bore his own cross” (ESV). In the two accounts, Isaac and Jesus submitted to their father’s will. Isaac willingly obeyed his father and placed his faith in his father while he was about to be sacrificed. Likewise, Jesus submitted to His Father’s will and trusted Him. Abraham trusted that God would preserve his son. Similar to Isaac, Jesus did not want to go through this sacrifice, but he obeyed Christ and was crucified. Jesus knew that He will be preserved through the resurrection.