ance; or, after the Egyptians are judged and plagued. Note, The destruction of oppressors is the redemption of the oppressed; they will not let God's people go, till they are forced to it. (2.) That they should be enriched; they shall come out with great substance this was fulfilled, Exod. 12. 15, 36. God took care they should have, not only a good land to go to, but a good stock to bring with them.
4. Their happy settlement in Canaan, v. 16. They shall not only come out of Egypt, but they shall come hither again, hither to the land of Canaan, wherein thou now art. The discontinuance of their possession shall be no defeasance of their right; we must not reckon those comforts lost for ever, that are intermitted for a time. The reason why they must not have the land of promise in possession till the fourth generation, is, because the iniquity of the Amorites was not yet full. Israel cannot be possessed of Canaan, till the Amorites be dispossessed; and they are not yet ripe for ruin. The righteous God has determined that they shall not be cut off, till they have persisted in sin so long, and arrived at such a pitch of wickedness, that there may appear some equitable proportion between their sin and their ruin; and therefore till it come to that, the seed of Abram must be kept out of possession. Note, (1.) The measure of sin fills gradually: those that continue impenitent in wicked ways, are treasuring up unto themselves wrath. (2.) Some people's measure of sin fills slowly. The Sodomites, who were sinners before the Lord exceedingly, soon filled their measure; so did the Jews, who were in profession near to God; but the iniquity of the Amorites was long in the filling up. (3.) That this is the reason of the prosperity of wicked people; the measure of their sins is not yet full. The wicked live, become old, and are mighty in power, while God is laying up their iniquity for their children, Job 21. 7, 19. See Matt. 23. 32. Deut. 32. 34.
5. Abram's peaceful quiet death and burial, before these things should come to pass, v. 15. As he should not live to see that good land in the possession of his family, but must die as he lived, a stranger in it; so, to balance that, he should not live to see the troubles that should come upon his seed, much less to share in them. This is promised to Josiah, 2 Kings 22. 23. Note, Good men are sometimes greatly favoured by being taken away from the evil to come, Isa. 57. 1. Let this satisfy Abram, that, for his part, (1.) He shall go to his fathers in peace. Note, [1.] Even the friends and favourites of Heaven are not exempt from the stroke of death; Are we greater than our father Abram which is dead? John 8. 53. [2.] Good men die willingly; they are not fetched, they are not forced, but they go; their soul is not required, as his, Luke 12. 20, but cheerfully resigned: they would not live always. [3.] At death we go to our fathers, to all our fathers that are gone before us to the state of the dead, Job 21. 32, 33, to our godly fathers that are gone before us to the state of the blessed, Heb. 12. 23. The former thought helps to take off the terror of death, the latter puts comfort into it. [4.] Whenever a godly man dies, he dies in peace. If the way be piety, the end is peace, Ps. 37. 37. Outward peace, to the last, is promised to Abram; peace and truth in his days, whatever should come after, 2 Kings 20. 19. Peace with God, and everlasting peace, are sure to all the seed. (2.) He shall be buried in a good old age. Perhaps mention is made of his burial here, where the land of Canaan is promised him, because a burying place was the first possession he had in it. He shall not only die in peace, but die in honour, die, and be buried decently; not only die in peace, but die in season, Job 5. 25, 26. Note, [1.] Old age is a blessing; it is promised in the fifth commandment; it is pleasing to nature; and a great opportunity to usefulness; [2.] Especially if it be a good old age: their's may be called a good old age, First, That are old and healthful, not loaded with such distempers as make them weary of life; Secondly, That are old and holy, old disciples, Acts 21. 16, whose hoary head is found in the way of righteousness, Prov. 16. 31. old and useful, old and exemplary for godliness; their's is indeed a good old age.
17. And it came to pass that when the sun went down, and it was dark, behold, a smoking furnace, and a burning lamp that passed between those pieces. 18. In the same day, the Lord made a covenant with Abram, saying, Unto thy seed have I given this land, from the river of Egypt unto the great river, the river Euphrates: 19. The Kenites, and the Kennizzites, and the Kadmonites, 20. And the Hittites, and the Perizzites, and the Rephaims, 21. And the Amorites, and the Canaanites, and the Girgashites, and the Jebusites.
Here is,
I. The covenant ratified, v. 17; the sign which Abram desired, was given at length, when the sun was gone down, so that it was dark; for that was a dark dispensation.
1. The smoking furnace signified the affliction of his seed in Egypt; they were there in the iron furnace, Deut. 4. 20, the furnace of affliction, Isa. 48. 10, labouring in the very fire. They were there in the smoke, their eyes darkened, that they could not see to the end of their troubles, and they at a loss to conceive what God would do with them; clouds and darkness were round about them.
2. The burning lamp denotes comfort in this affliction: and this God showed Abram, at the same time that he showed him the smoking furnace. (1.) Light denotes deliverance out of the furnace; their salvation was as a lamp that burneth, Isa. 62. 1. When God came down to deliver them, he appeared in a bush that burned, and was not consumed, Exod. 3. 2. (2.) The lamp denotes direction in the smoke; God's word was their lamp; this word to Abram was so, it was a light shining in a dark place; perhaps this burning lamp prefigured the pillar of cloud and fire, which led them out of Egypt, in which God was. (3.) The burning lamp denotes the destruction of their enemies who kept them so long in the furnace: see Zech. 12.6. The same cloud that enlightened the Israelites, troubled and burned the Egyptians.
3. The passing of these between the pieces, was the confirming of the covenant God now made with him, that he might have strong consolation, being fully persuaded that what God promised, he would certainly perform. It is probable that this furnace and lamp, which passed between the pieces, burned, and consumed them, and so completed the sacrifice, and testified God's acceptance of it, as of Gideon's, Judg. 6. 21. Manoah's, Judg. 13. 19, 20. and Solomon's, 2 Chron. 7. 1. so it intimates, (1.) That God's covenants with man are made by sacrifice, Ps. 50. 5; by Christ, the great Sacrifice: no agreement without atonement. (2.) God's acceptance of our spiritual sacrifices, is a token for good, and an earnest of further favours: see Judg. 13. 23. And by this we may know that he accepts our sacrifices, if he kindle in our souls a holy fire of pious and devout affections in them.
II. The covenant repealed and explained, v. 18, In that same day, that day never to be forgotten,
