Genesis 15:14 - Printer Friendly

ESV: But I will bring judgment on the nation that they serve, and afterward they shall come out with great possessions.

NIV: But I will punish the nation they serve as slaves, and afterward they will come out with great possessions.

NASB: But I will also judge the nation whom they will serve, and afterward they will come out with many possessions.

CSB: However, I will judge the nation they serve, and afterward they will go out with many possessions.

NLT: But I will punish the nation that enslaves them, and in the end they will come away with great wealth.

KJV: And also that nation, whom they shall serve, will I judge: and afterward shall they come out with great substance.

NKJV: And also the nation whom they serve I will judge; afterward they shall come out with great possessions.

Here, God continues to deliver His prophecy about Abram's future family. In the previous verse, God revealed that Abram's descendants will spend 400 years as strangers and servants in another land. Here, He continues by saying there will be an end to their captivity, and the nation that mistreated them will be judged. In fact, Abram's future family, then a nation, will leave that country with great possessions. Soon after this passage, Abram will be renamed Abraham, and his grandson Jacob will be renamed Israel: the father of the promised nation.

God never mentions that the nation bound to enslave Abram's people is Egypt. More than likely, though, Abram did not miss the similarities between these future events and what happened when he and his company left Egypt with great possessions of their own. In fact, Israel's captivity will begin in a very similar way to the start of Abram's adventure in Egypt (Genesis 12:10–20). They will come seeking survival during a time of famine (Genesis 46).

Genesis 15:1–21 falls between Abram's heroic rescue of Lot in Genesis 14 and his less-than-heroic choice to have a child with his wife's servant in chapter 16. Chapter 15 features Abram's hard questions to the Lord about how the lofty promises of uncountable descendants and possession of the land will be kept. God responds, in part, by formalizing His covenant promises to Abram with an elaborate ritual. He also reveals to Abram details about the difficult circumstances his descendants will face before they come back to take possession of the land ''in the fourth generation.''

Genesis 15 consists entirely of a long encounter between the Lord and Abram. When the ''word of the Lord'' comes to Abram in a vision to bring reassurance of God's support for him, Abram takes the opportunity to press God with questions. Abram asks both about his childlessness and how he can know he will one day possess the land of Canaan. God responds, and Abram believes. God's response includes leading Abram through a covenant ritual involving slaughtered animals, as well as a prophecy about the future of Abram's descendants before the time will come to occupy the Promised Land.

Where Genesis 14 was an action-packed story of war and rescue, Genesis 15 consists of a single conversational encounter between the Lord and Abram. This concludes with the formalizing of God's covenant promises to Abram in a dramatic covenant ritual. Abram respectfully asks the Lord some hard questions about how the seemingly impossible promises might be kept. God responds and Abram believes. In addition, God reveals to Abram a prophecy about the difficult future his descendants will face as servants in another country before returning to take possession of the land of Canaan.

The book of Genesis establishes fundamental truths about God. Among these are His role as the Creator, His holiness, His hatred of sin, His love for mankind, and His willingness to provide for our redemption. We learn not only where mankind has come from, but why the world is in its present form. The book also presents the establishment of Israel, God's chosen people. Many of the principles given in other parts of Scripture depend on the basic ideas presented here in the book of Genesis. Within the framework of the Bible, Genesis explains the bare-bones history of the universe leading up to the captivity of Israel in Egypt, setting the stage for the book of Exodus.

Accessed 5/4/2024 4:03:58 PM