How God’s Covenant with Abraham
is on full public display today.
…based upon Genesis 15!
Part 1

Timeline from Abraham to Promised Land.

1. Starting with the Exodus date of 1524 BC and adding 40 years to it gives us the year that Israel entered the Promised Land, being 1484 BC.
2. Subtracting 400 years from the entrance to the Promised Land in 1484 BC we get a date when the covenant between Abraham and God was established being 1884 BC.
3. Using the base date of the Exodus, we can subtract 80 years for Moses and two years for the Pharaoh, who did not know Joseph, giving us the date for Joseph’s death as 1606 BC.
4. Subtracting 110 years for Joseph’s life found in Genesis 50:22 gives us Joseph’s birthday as 1716 BC.
5. Joseph’s father, Jacob, at the time Joseph was born was 91 years old, so by subtracting 91 years, Jacob’s birth year is 1807 BC.
6. Genesis 25:26 informs us that Isaac was 60 years old at Jacob’s birth, so Isaac’s birth year is 1867 BC.
7. Abraham’s birth can be found in Genesis 21:5. Abraham was 100 years old when Isaac was born. This gives Abraham a birth date of 1967 BC.
8. Abraham left Ur at 13 years old in 1954 BC found by subtracting 430 years from the exodus date 1524 BC found in Exodus 12:41.

See https://www.differentspirit.org/resources/timeline.php for more details.

HTTPS://IBIBLEMAPS.COM/ABRAHAM-IN-CANAAN/

PARTIAL CHRONOLOGY OF BIBLICAL EVENTS FROM THE CREATION TO ISRAEL ENTERING CANAAN (THE PROMISED LAND).

*Some of the dates above are from: https://theologyandthecity.com/2017/08/04/chronology-of-biblical-events/comment-page-1/

THE ABRAHAMIC COVENANT

From Mark Robinson at: https://www.jewishawareness.org/the-abrahamic-covenant/

It is important that we understand the unconditional nature of the Abrahamic Covenant. The “I wills” of these verses establish God as the guarantor of these promises. The fulfillment of these promises are as certain and solid as His holy and pure character.

• It was common at this time, in this part of the world, that an agreement was entered into between two parties through the “cutting of a covenant.”
• Generally, what took place is animals were cut in half and laid in a row and the two parties of the covenant passed between the parts signifying the agreement is binding on both parties. In the process of establishing the covenant with Abraham, God had Abraham take animals and divide them (Genesis 15:9-10) in half and lay them out.
• The smoking furnace and burning lamp are symbolic of God going through the divided animals alone, without Abraham.
• When we are told that “the Lord made a covenant with Abraham,” it is signifying that the covenant is exclusively based on God’s promise and not at all on Abraham.
• The unfolding of these events underscores the unconditional nature of the covenant. It is based on God’s promise and not on Abraham, or his descendants, meeting any conditions for these promises to be fulfilled.
• The Abrahamic Covenant is the most important of the Covenants for understanding the Bible. The rest of the Bible, from Genesis 12:4 through Revelation 22:21, is, in essence, commentary on how God brings to pass the three basic promises of the Abrahamic Covenant.
• The promises of the Abrahamic Covenant – the land, the seed, the blessing – are unfolded throughout the rest of the Word of God and history. To err in your understanding of the Abrahamic Covenant is to make shipwreck of the rest of the Bible.
• Properly understanding the Abrahamic Covenant will give you a framework from which you can start to build a good, solid, understanding of Scripture.
• The Abrahamic Covenant is foundational! The rest is “commentary”.

Endnote 1: http://www.differentspirit.org/resources/land.php

What Covenant Means!

by William Varner

The forging of an eternal, immutable contract.

• Abraham cut in half three animals—a heifer, a goat, and a ram—along with a sacrificial dove and a pigeon (15:9–10). These were the clean animals that were used later in the Levitical sacrifices (see 19:2; Lev. 3:12; 5:15; 12:6).
• Then a sudden sensation of horror came over the patriarch as unclean birds of prey swooped down on the carcasses. The Lord’s announcement of Israel’s future enslavement clarified the meaning of the attacking birds: “And he said unto Abram, Know of a surety that thy seed shall be a sojourner in a land that is not theirs, and shall serve them; and they shall afflict them four hundred years” (15:13).
• The word afflict is the same word used in Exodus 1:11–12 to describe Egypt’s later oppression of Israel. Egypt, like the birds of prey in the vision, would oppose the covenant with Abraham’s descendants, but God’s promises would be fulfilled in spite of their attacks on the people of Israel, and He would, after a period of 400 years, bring back His people from their sojourn among these birds of prey (15:14–16).
• They would then inherit the land of the Amorites (15:18–21) and would become the instrument of God’s judgment on that people’s iniquity.
• Then, after sunset, God revealed Himself to Abraham through a smoking fire pot and a burning torch (15:17, literal translations). These images represent the glory of God, often represented in Scripture by fire ( 3:2; 13:21). Jewish writings refer to this as the “shekinah”, the consuming holiness of God’s glory. In the darkness, Abraham saw nothing but the fiery elements that passed between the pieces of the slaughtered animals.
• This account is followed by a crucial statement: “In the same day the Lord made a covenant with Abram … ” (15:18). The word made is literally cut. It is the Hebrew word karat, used 26 times in the Old Testament, usually with the word covenant (berit). It is also used literally of cutting wood ( 29:11), cutting a garment (1 Sam. 24:5), and cutting the umbilical cord (Ezek 16:4).
• The significance of this rather strange action lies in the participants cutting the animals and passing through the severed parts. The parties were pledging that if either one broke the covenant, that party would suffer the same cutting that their animals had undergone.
• Another example of this ceremony of cutting a covenant is found in Jeremiah 34:18–19: “And I will give the men who have transgressed my covenant, who have not performed the words of the covenant which they had made before me, when they cut the calf in two and passed between these parts, The princes of Judah, and the princes of Jerusalem, the eunuchs, and the priests, and all the people of the land, who passed between the parts of the calf.”
• This passage demonstrates the exciting significance of God’s cutting a covenant with Abraham by passing between the pieces alone. By so doing, the Lord assured Abraham in the most graphic way possible that if He did not fulfill His own promises to Abraham, He would subject Himself to mutilation.
• Furthermore, in contrast to the normal procedure, God passed through the pieces by Himself, portraying what is called a unilateral covenant. In other words, regardless of what Abraham and his descendants did, God Himself would fulfill His promises to them. Because it is impossible for the sovereign Lord to be severed and mutilated, Abraham could rest assured that he would undoubtedly receive the promised seed, the promised blessing, and the promised land.
• How appropriate, therefore, that God reiterated the land promise to Abraham in verse 18: “Unto thy seed have I given this land, from the river of Egypt unto the great river, the river Euphrates”.
• He even specified the boundaries of Israel’s land: from the “river of Egypt” (the Wadi el-Arish in the Sinai peninsula) to “the river Euphrates” (the long river that formed the ancient boundary between East and West). Today it courses through the modern country of Iraq. These are the southwestern and northeastern boundaries of the royal land grant to Abraham’s seed. Israel has never possessed this land in its entirety, but they will when Christ returns to reign as the messianic King!
• Abraham and his descendants can, as we say, bank on these precious promises of the Abrahamic Covenant. They are as sure as God’s personal existence. He has pledged His own person toward their fulfillment. Nothing that mankind can do will invalidate these promises.
• This solemn ceremony is an encouragement to our faith. If God fails in His promises to Israel, what assurance do we have of His promises to the church? But, in the words of Hebrews 6:13, “because [God] could swear by no greater, he swore by himself”. As believers, we can trust the marvelous fact that God’s promises are certain and sure! He will not deny Himself!

Dr. William Varner is Professor of Bible and Greek at The Master’s College in Santa Clarita, California. He also serves as Director of IBEX, the college’s overseas campus in Israel. He is the author of several books including "The Chariot of Israel" and "Jacob's Dozen."