God Makes a Covenant with Abram

Excerpt

Chapter 15 consists of a series of dialogues or conversations between God and Abram in which the narrator pauses at certain points to address the reader or to describe events. The chapter is divided into two parts. In the first part God promises Abram a son and many descendants (verses 1–6). In the second God promises Abram the land (verses 15.7–21).

In the first section God is the speaker in verses 1, 4, and 5; and Abram is the speaker in verses 2 and 3. The narrator closes the first episode by addressing the reader in verse 6. In the second episode God speaks in verses 7, 9, 13, 14, 15, and 16, and Abram in verse 8. In verses 10, 11, and 12, the narrator describes for the reader what Abram does and what happens to him. Beginning with verse 13 and continuing through verse 16, the action is interrupted as God foretells what will happen to Abram’s descendants and how he will die. The narrator then concludes the account by picking up the action left off at verse 12 and completing it in verse 17. The narrator concludes the second episode by repeating the promise of the land (verse 18) and listing the ethnic groups that live in the land (verses 19–21). More

Reyburn, William David, and Euan McG. Fry. A Handbook on Genesis. New York: United Bible Societies, 1998. Print. UBS Handbook Series.