God’s covenant with Abram
1 ① After this the word of Yahweh was spoken to Abram in a vision: “Do not be afraid, Abram, I am your shield; your reward will be very great!”
2Abram said, “My Lord Yahweh, where are your promises? I am still childless and all I have will go to Eliezer of Damascus. 3You have given me no children, so a slave of mine will be my heir.”
4Then the word of Yahweh was spoken to him again, “Eliezer will not be your heir, but a child born of you (your own flesh and blood) will be your heir.” 5Then Yahweh brought him outside and said to him, “Look up at the sky and count the stars if you can. Your descendants will be like that.”
6Abram believed Yahweh who, because of this, held him to be an upright man. 7And he said, “I am Yahweh who brought you from Ur of the Chaldeans to give you this land as your possession.”
8Then Abram asked, “My Lord, how am I to know that it shall be mine?” 9Yahweh replied, “Bring me a three-year-old heifer, a three-year-old goat, a three-year-old ram, a turtle dove and a young pigeon.” 10Abram brought all these animals, cut them in two, and laid each half facing its other half, but he did not cut the birds in half. 11The birds of prey came down upon them, but Abram drove them away.
12As the sun was going down, a deep sleep came over Abram, and a dreadful darkness took hold of him. 13Then Yahweh said to Abram, “Know for certain that your descendants will be exiles in a land that is not theirs. They will be slaves there, oppressed for four hundred years. 14But I will judge the nation that oppresses them, and after that, they will not leave empty-handed. 15As for yourself, you shall go to your fathers in peace, and be buried at a ripe old age. 16Your descendants of the fourth generation will come back here, for the wickedness of the Amorites has not yet deserved that I take the land from them.”
17When the sun had set and darkness had fallen, a smoking firepot and a flaming torch passed between the halves of the victims. 18On that day Yahweh made a covenant with Abram, saying, “To your descendants I have given this country from the river of Egypt to the Great River, the Euphrates.
19The land of the Kenites, the Kenizzites, the Kadmonites, 20the Hittites, the Perizzites, the Rephaim, 21the Amorites, the Canaanites, the Girgashites and the Jebusites.”
- Gen 15,1 My Lord Yahweh, I am still childless. At a certain age, a person begins to worry about what will remain of his life: his marriage, his children, his years of work. At that precise moment, Abraham proves his faith by believing in promises which are seemingly unattainable. Abraham's Covenant with God is the beginning of a reciprocal friendship. Because of this Yahweh held him to be an upright man. Not because you are a very good person or because you have helped your neighbor, or because you have served me for many years... but because I told you: 'Do not be afraid'and you have placed all your concerns in my hands. On that day Yahweh made a covenant with Abram (v.18). Throughout the Bible much is written about the Covenant. What is the meaning of God making a covenant with humans? God loves all women and men, and wants to save all even when they do not know him. But he also wants to bring the human race to maturity. For this to come about, at least a minority of people in the world must have encountered God in a personal way, since this meeting is the beginning of the most valuable experiences. This is how, throughout history, God calls those whom he has chosen according to his plan and eternal selection. In making a pact or a covenant with them, he gives them the opportunity to enter into a life of faithfulness. They will know God as a living person and will deal with him as such. Therefore in beginning his work of salvation in human history, God wants at least one person to share his secret and to know the depth of his designs: Abram believed Yahweh. Through such faith, God's eternal decree lodges in the heart and mind of one believer and this is worth more than many good works. From that moment a mysterious complicity will unite Abraham and God forever: this is the Covenant. God makes a covenant with Abraham according to the customs of that time. When signing a pact, both parties pass between the two halves of a sacrificed animal (see Jer 34:18). Abraham follows this ritual and then there passes a fire which represents God. It is God who commits himself and who makes the promise. Faith makes us friends of God: Hab 2:4; Rom 4:2; Gal 3:6; Heb 11:11.
