Genesis Vol 3.pdf - College Press

15:1, 2 GENESIS x : % e ‘ A ~ 7 - -:
naanite tribes, many of whom prqba,bly were growing
envious of his increasing power and prosperity, and by the
possibility-certainly not to be ruled out-of a retribution
descending on him from the Easternipcxwers? Or, was it a
kind of mental dejection-not necessarily distrust of God,
but melancholy-caused by the fac * his continuing to
remain childless? Skinner (ICCG, -279) : “To ‘die childless
and leave no name on earth (Num. -27.4) __ is a fate so
melancholy that even the assurance ;of ’present fellowship
with God brings no hope or joy.” This: was considered a
tragedy indeed, in the thinking of. the ancient .world!
Leupold et all affirm that this “fear,of* remaining childless
is what Abram and the Lord alone Eefer to.” With this
view we are inclined to agree, from. the fact that this
constitutes the subject matter of the’ “dialogue” that follows
between Abram and Yahwe. Note the divine reassurance,
v. 1--“I am thy shield, and thy exceeding great reward.”
Murhpy (MG, 293) : “The‘ word ‘I’ is separately
expressed, and therefore emphatic, in the original. I, JE-
HOVAH, the Self -existent, the Author of existence, the
Performer of promise, the Manifester of myself to man,
and not any creature however exalted. This was something
beyond a seed, or a land, or any temporal thing. The
Creator infinitely transcends the creature. The mind of
Abram is here lifted up to the spiritual and the eternal.
1. Thy shield. 2. Thy exceeding great reward. Abram has
two fears-the presence of evil, and the absence of good.
Experience and conscience had begun to teach him that
both of these were justly his doom. But Jehovah has
chosen him, and here engages Himself to stand between
him and all harm, and Himself to be to him all good. With
such a shield from all evil, and such a source of all good, he
need not be afraid. The Lord, we see, begins, as usual, with
the immediate and the tangible: but he propounds a
principle that reaches to the eternal and the spiritual. Me
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