Genesis 15:2 - Meaning and Application

Here we see the promise given to Abram, that he would have many descendants. In this passage, we should notice Abram’s repeated complaint, in Genesis 15:2, 3. This complaint gave rise to the promise. The great burden on Abram’s heart was that he had no child, and he pours out that grief before the Lord, making his trouble known to him, as in Psalm 142:2.

We should note that while we must never complain about God, we are allowed to complain to him. We may speak freely and clearly about our troubles. It is a relief to a heavy-hearted person to open his case to a faithful and compassionate friend, and God is such a friend. His ear is always open. Abram’s complaint has four parts.

First, he says that he has no child, no seed, in Genesis 15:3. He means not only no son, but no descendant at all. If he had had a daughter, the promised Messiah might have come through her, since Christ was to be the seed of the woman. But Abram had neither son nor daughter. He seems to stress the words, “to me.” His neighbors had children, and his servants had children born in his house. “But to me,” he says, “you have given none.” Yet God had already said that Abram would be a special favorite. We should remember that those marked as childless must accept that God has written it so. God often withholds some earthly comforts from his own children while giving them freely to people who do not know him.

Second, Abram says he is not likely ever to have a child. That is implied in his words, “I am going,” meaning, “I am growing old, going downhill quickly, and soon leaving this world.” The Septuagint reads it as, “I die childless.” He means that he will leave the world and leave no child behind.

Third, Abram says that his servants are, for now, and likely to remain, his sons in place of children. While he lives, Eliezer of Damascus, his household steward, manages his family and property. He may be faithful, but he is only a servant, not a son. When Abram dies, one born in his house will be his heir and will rule over all he worked for, as in Ecclesiastes 2:18, 19, 21. God had already told Abram that he would make him a great nation (Genesis 12:2) and that his seed would be as the dust of the earth (Genesis 13:16). But Abram was still unsure whether this seed would be his natural child or only an adopted heir, a son of his house rather than a son from his own body. “If it is only an adopted son,” he seems to say, “then it must be one of my servants, and that would bring shame on the promised seed.” When promised blessings are delayed, unbelief and impatience often jump to the conclusion that they have been denied.

Fourth, the lack of a son had become so painful that it dulled the joy of everything else. “Lord, what will you give me?” he says. “Everything means nothing to me if I do not have a son.” If Abram meant only earthly comfort, this complaint was wrong. God had already given him good things by providence, and more by promise, yet Abram counted them as nothing because he had no son. It was not fitting for the father of the faithful to say, “What will you give me, seeing I go childless?” right after God had said, “I am your shield, and your very great reward.” We do not properly value our covenant life with God, and our share in him, if we think nothing else is enough.

But if Abram was looking ahead to the promised seed, then his strong desire was good. Everything was nothing to him unless he had the pledge of that great blessing and some assurance of his connection to the Messiah, which God had already led him to expect. He had wealth, victory, and honor, but while the main matter stayed hidden, all of it felt like nothing. Until we have some comforting evidence that we belong to Christ and the new covenant, we should not settle for anything else. “I have this and that,” a person may say, “but what good is it if I am without Christ?” Even then, Abram’s complaint had some fault in it, because there was some lack of trust beneath it and some weariness of waiting for God’s time. True believers sometimes find it hard to fit together God’s promises and his providence when they seem to conflict.

Next we see God’s gracious answer to this complaint. God gave no immediate answer to the first part of Abram’s complaint in Genesis 15:2, because there was some frustration in it. But when Abram spoke again more calmly in Genesis 15:3, God answered him graciously. If we keep praying and submit humbly to God’s will, we will not ask in vain.

God first gave Abram a clear promise of a son in Genesis 15:4. The one born in his house would not be his heir, as Abram feared, but a child from his own body would inherit him. God makes heirs. He says, “This one shall not,” and “that one shall,” and whatever people plan when they divide estates, God’s purpose will stand. God is often kinder to us than our own fears are, and he gives the mercy we had almost given up on.

To move Abram more deeply, God brought him outside and showed him the stars, in what seems to have been a morning vision before daylight, and then said, “So will your seed be,” in Genesis 15:5. They would be numerous, for the stars look countless to the human eye. Abram feared he would have no child at all, but God assured him that his descendants would be too many to count. They would also be glorious, like the stars in their brightness, for to them belonged the glory, as in Romans 9:4. Abram’s physical descendants were like the dust of the earth (Genesis 13:16), but his spiritual descendants are like the stars of heaven, not only many, but glorious and precious.

Then we see Abram’s firm faith in God’s promise, and God’s favorable acceptance of it, in Genesis 15:6. Abram believed the Lord, meaning he believed the truth of the promise God had just made, resting on God’s power and faithfulness. Has God spoken, and will he not do it? Those who want the comfort of God’s promises must receive them with faith. Paul strongly praises this faith of Abram and holds it up as an example in Romans 4:19-21. He was not weak in faith. He did not stagger at the promise. He was strong in faith and fully persuaded. May the Lord work that kind of faith in each of us.

Some think Abram’s believing in the Lord meant not only trusting the Lord who promised, but also trusting the Lord promised, that is, the Lord Jesus, the Mediator, the one who brings us to God in the new covenant. He believed in him, received God’s revelation about him, and rejoiced to see Christ’s day, even though it was far off, as in John 8:56. God counted it to him as righteousness, meaning that because of this faith, God accepted him as righteous. Like the other patriarchs, he received witness by faith that he was righteous, as in Hebrews 11:4.

This is used in the New Testament to show that we are made right with God by faith, apart from works of the law (Romans 4:3; Galatians 3:6). Abram was counted righteous before he was circumcised, so his case proves the point. If Abram, who had so many good works, was not justified by them but by faith, then we, who have so few, cannot be justified by works either.

This faith, which was counted to Abram as righteousness, had just struggled with unbelief (Genesis 15:2). Yet, after coming through that struggle, faith was honored and crowned. A trusting, practical acceptance of God’s promise of grace and glory, through Christ, is what gives us a share in the blessings promised in the new covenant, the new agreement God makes with his people. All believers are justified, or counted righteous, as Abram was, and it was his faith that was counted to him for righteousness.