Living with delay waiting in hope (Gen 15:7-20)

The proverb about deferred hope making the heart sick (Prov 13:12) often comes to mind when I am waiting for God’s promises.  As we experience delay, we wonder, has God failed us? We may hope to overcome difficulties or illness, get married or have children, start a new life somewhere, succeed in a new venture. We sometimes convince ourselves that God has promised something we desire even when He hasn’t. Whatever our situation, Satan’s biggest weapon is to sow doubt and distrust in our hearts about God’s goodness and His love for us. Didn’t he entice Eve in the garden by insinuating that God withheld something wonderful and fulfilling (Gen 3:4-6)? In Abraham’s story we get an insight into the larger picture of what God is doing and why delays may happen.

God’s reassurance but also delay

God confirms again the promise of land to Abraham, but he needs further reassurance (Gen 15:7-8), which God provides in a ceremony.[1] The details that follow are obscure (Gen 15:9-11). Wenham argues that animals correspond to the ones used in sacrifices and are symbolic of all Israel.[2] They are three years old because Israel’s oppression will last three generations with release in the fourth (Gen 15:16; cf. Judg 6:1, 25). The birds of prey represent the nations (Egypt?) who attack and oppress God’s people and Abraham driving them away points to God’s deliverance of His people for Abraham’s sake (Gen 15:11; Exod 2:24; Deut 9:5). If this is correct, then Abraham’s vision (Gen 15:12-16) interprets the details of this ceremony. Wenham then suggests that God walks among the pieces as a reminder that His presence will be with His people during those dark times (the smoking pot and flaming torch may be reminiscent of either God’s appearance at Sinai – Exod 19:18-19; and/or the pillar of fire that led Israel – Exod 13:21).[3]

God’s unconditional covenant

A more well-known explanation is that the ceremony describes a covenant (cf. Jer 34:18), where the covenant partners walk between the cut-up animals and symbolically take on themselves a self-curse (may it happen to me as to this animal if I do not keep the covenant). Here, only God walks between the pieces (Gen 15:17-18) representing God’s unconditional commitment to Abraham (and Israel). Some wonder if it makes any sense for God to take on a self-curse (can God be cursed?), but this need not be a problem. God is often portrayed in anthropomorphic (human-like) terms, and it symbolises that He will stand by His commitment no matter what it costs Him (and it will cost Him as He deals with a rebellious and ungrateful people). In fact, paradoxically, He will take on the curse of humanity in Jesus Christ not because He did not keep the covenant but because He did.

The big picture and what we do with it

Abraham, then, will never actually see the fulfilment of receiving the land. Why then is the delay and the suffering first? God reveals that ‘the lease’ on the land for the current tenants (Amorites is a summary term here for the various people groups living in Canaan) is not up yet (Gen 15:16). We get a brief glimpse that God has other considerations in His plans than just us and our personal well-being and while we cannot always know what that is, we can trust His wisdom. Like 1 Peter 3:9 explains, delay in our Christian hope may be because God wants others to repent. Though these nations don’t have a full revelation of God, everyone has a responsibility, even if limited, when not acknowledging God (Rom 1:18-23; Rom 2:14-16).

We often read Abraham’s story in terms of personal promises and that is valid, of course, but his story is also paradigmatic of the believer’s life. At times it may look like that Christians (just like Abraham) have made a bad bargain with following God. Many believers today suffer for their faith in the majority world. Even in the West, staying true to God can bring heartache and suffering because doing His will rather than ours isn’t always what we want. Yet, if Abraham’s story teaches us anything is that God is utterly faithful and sees the big picture that we don’t. Can we trust Him, His wisdom and love, as we wait in hope and live with delay and at times suffering?

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[1] When is it all right to ask for a sign? The difference seems to be whether asking for affirmation comes from a disposition of wanting to trust (‘I believe, please help my unbelief’, Mk 9:24) or from an attitude of distrust that immediately despairs and assumes that God is reluctant to help. Sometimes for us, readers, the only way to gauge the rightness of it in biblical stories is from God’s reaction. Thus, Abraham here and Gideon (Judg 6:36-40) fall into the former camp, the Israelites in the wilderness (e.g. Num 20:2-5; 21:4-5) and Zechariah in the NT (Luke 1:18) into the latter.

[2] What follows in this paragraph is a summary of his interpretation. Gordon J. Wenham, Genesis 1-15, WBC 1 (Nashville: Thomas Nelson, 1987), 331-333.

[3] The NASB ‘smoking oven’ is a large earthenware jar that was filled with burning coals and the dough to be baked was stuck to the outside of the pot. Ibid., 332.

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