The Word of the Lord came to Abram in a vision. God promised that the heir of Abram would be Abram’s son and that his offspring would be as numerous as the stars in the heavens. Genesis 15:6 then records, “And Abram trusted God, and it was reckoned to him as righteousness.
Paul references this passage in Romans 4 and makes this conclusion: Romans 4:9–12 “For we say that faith was counted to Abraham as righteousness. 10How then was it counted to him? Was it before or after he had been circumcised? It was not after, but before he was circumcised. 11He received the sign of circumcision as a seal of the righteousness that he had by faith while he was still uncircumcised. The purpose was to make him the father of all who believe without being circumcised, so that righteousness would be counted to them as well, 12and to make him the father of the circumcised who are not merely circumcised but who also walk in the footsteps of the faith that our father Abraham had before he was circumcised.“ The sign of circumcision comes at the end of this Torah Portion.
God reminds Abram that he brought him out of the land of the Chaldeans to inherit the land. Notice that this is where Stephen got the idea that God called Abram out of Ur of the Chaldeans. The first time we saw the calling was when Abram was in Haran, but this confirms that God first called Abram when he was in Chaldea. After the reminder, Abram questions how he will know he will inherit the land. We’ve already seen that Abram had faith in what God said, so his question is not showing doubt in the promise. Instead, Abram knows he will not be around long enough to see his offspring increase to be that numerous. So God makes a covenant with Abram.
Some animals are split in half and laid across from their other half. At sunset, God tells Abram that he will die before seeing the inheritance. His offspring will go to a foreign land, be afflicted and enslaved, and not return for 400 years. The fourth generation will come back to inherit the land.
In the dark, a flame appeared, and a smoking pot and a flaming torch passed between the animal halves. The promise was now sealed in blood.