Gilbert House Fellowship #14: Genesis 15-18

WE PICK up the story of Abram at Genesis chapter 15.  We talk about Yahweh’s covenant with Abram, including the land promised to his descendants; Sarai’s impatience with the promise of an heir, and the trouble that created with (and for) Hagar and Ishmael; Yahweh’s promise of Isaac and the new names He gave to Abraham and Sarah; and Abraham’s humble, reverent intercession for Sodom.

Note: The Hebrew in Gen. 15:18 indicates that the “river of Egypt” is not the Nile, but rather Wadi El-Arish, which extended southeast from the Mediterranean Sea along the traditional border between Egypt and Israel, and so excludes the Sinai peninsula.

Other interpretations limit the promise to the area roughly occupied today by Israel, the Palestinian territories, Lebanon, Jordan, and most of Syria, which was occupied for a time–and thus fulfilled–during the reign of Solomon.