A deep sleep fell upon Abraham

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(The view expressed in this blog are my own and should not be taken as inspired in any way.)

“And when the sun was going down, a deep sleep fell upon Abram; and, lo, an horror of great darkness fell upon him. And he said unto Abram, Know of a surety that thy seed shall be a stranger in a land that is not theirs, and shall serve them; and they shall afflict them four hundred years; And also that nation, whom they shall serve, will I judge: and afterward shall they come out with great substance. And thou shalt go to thy fathers in peace; thou shalt be buried in a good old age. But in the fourth generation they shall come hither again: for the iniquity of the Amorites is not yet full.”

This is the foundational incident for the preamble to the Law as found in Exodus 20: 2. In that case the Lord said that He is the God that brought Israel out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage. This connects the Law back to the promise that the Lord made to Abraham here. In this case he told him that his seed would be a stranger in a land that is not theirs and they shall serve them for four hundred years and then they would come out with great substance. This happened exactly as the Lord promised Abraham. But, you may ask, why on earth did God allow this to happen? Abraham had two sons, Ishmael and Isaac and, to this day there is warfare between the descendants of those sons. Isaac had two sons, Esau and Jacob and there was warfare between the Edomites and the Israelites till the Edomites disappeared from history. In fact, Herod the Great, who tried to murder the Lord Jesus Christ was an Edomite (Idumean). However, Jacob had two wives and two concubines who gave him twelve sons. This should have been a complete recipe for disaster but because they spent the years in slavery in Egypt they became one nation and that nation still exists today. God knew exactly what He was doing and He knows what He is doing today. God has a plan and a purpose and has worked throughout history to deliver salvation by faith alone. Notice that, earlier in this chapter, Abraham believed God and it was counted to him for righteousness, that is righteousness imputed by faith alone.