Matthew Henry

and he blessed Abram and said: “Blessed be Abram by God Most High, Creator of heaven and earth,

“Observe the titles he here gives to God, which are very glorious. (1.) The most high God, which bespeaks his absolute perfections in himself and his sovereign dominion over all the creatures; he is King of kings.”

and blessed be God Most High, who has delivered your enemies into your hand.” Then Abram gave Melchizedek a tenth of everything.

“(3.) We ought to give thanks for others' mercies as for our own, triumphing with those that triumph. (4.) Jesus Christ, our great high priest, is the Mediator both of our prayers and praises, and not only offers up ours, but his own for us.”

The king of Sodom said to Abram, “Give me the people, but take the goods for yourself.”

“Rich countries are a desirable prey, and idle luxurious countries are an easy prey, to growing greatness. The Sodomites were the posterity of Canaan whom Noah had pronounced a servant to Shem, from whom Elam descended; thus soon did that prophecy begin to e fulfilled.”

that I will not accept even a thread, or a strap of a sandal, or anything that belongs to you, lest you should say, ‘I have made Abram rich.’

“What are all the ornaments and delights of sense to one that has God and heaven ever in his eye? He resolves even to a thread and a shoe-latchet; for a tender conscience fears offending in a small matter.”

I will accept nothing but what my men have eaten and the share for the men who went with me—Aner, Eshcol, and Mamre. They may take their portion.”

“A good man will deny himself that liberty which he will not deny another, contrary to the practice of the Pharisees, Matt. xxiii. There was not the same reason why Aner, Eshcol, and Mamre, should quit their right, that there was why Abram should.”

But Abram replied, “O Lord GOD, what can You give me, since I remain childless, and the heir of my house is Eliezer of Damascus?”

“Note, Though we must never complain of God, yet we have leave to complain to him, and to be large and particular in the statement of our grievances; and it is some ease to a burdened spirit to open its case to a faithful and…”

Abram continued, “Behold, You have given me no offspring, so a servant in my household will be my heir.”

“Note, Till we have some comfortable evidence of our interest in Christ and the new covenant, we should not rest satisfied with any thing else. "This, and the other, I have; but what will all this avail me, if I go Christless?"”

And the LORD took him outside and said, “Now look to the heavens and count the stars, if you are able.” Then He told him, “So shall your offspring be.”

“(2.) God is often better to us than our own fears, and gives the mercy we had long despaired of.”

Abram believed the LORD, and it was credited to him as righteousness.

“Note, A fiducial practical acceptance of, and dependence upon, God's promise of grace and glory, in and through Christ, is that which, according to the tenour of the new covenant, gives us a right to all the blessings contained in that promise.”

Abram believed the LORD, and it was credited to him as righteousness.

“Note, Those who would have the comfort of the promises must mix faith with the promises. See how the apostle magnifies this faith of Abram, and makes it a standing example, Rom. iv.”

The LORD also told him, “I am the LORD, who brought you out of Ur of the Chaldeans to give you this land to possess.”

“This was, (1.) A special mercy: "I brought thee, and left others, thousands, to perish there." God called him alone, Isa. li. (2.) A spiritual mercy, a mercy to his soul, a deliverance from sin and its fatal consequences.”

But Abram replied, “Lord GOD, how can I know that I will possess it?”

“Note, Those that are satisfied themselves should desire that others also may be satisfied of the truth of God's promises. John sent his disciples to Christ, not so much for his own satisfaction as for theirs, Matt. xi. Canaan was a type of heaven.”

So Abram brought all these to Him, split each of them down the middle, and laid the halves opposite each other. The birds, however, he did not cut in half.

“This was not the first instance of Abram's implicit obedience. He divided the beasts in the midst, according to the ceremony used in confirming covenants, Jer. xxxiv. 18, 19 , where it is said, They cut the calf in twain, and passed between the parts.”

And the birds of prey descended on the carcasses, but Abram drove them away.

“Note, A very watchful eye must be kept upon our spiritual sacrifices, that nothing be suffered to prey upon them and render them unfit for God's acceptance.”

As the sun was setting, Abram fell into a deep sleep, and suddenly great terror and darkness overwhelmed him.

“(3.) To be an indication of the nature of that covenant of peculiarity which God was now about to make with Abram. The Old-Testament dispensation, which was founded on that covenant, was a dispensation, [1.] Of darkness and obscurity, 2 Cor. iii.”

In the fourth generation your descendants will return here, for the iniquity of the Amorites is not yet complete.”

“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…”

On that day the LORD made a covenant with Abram, saying, “To your descendants I have given this land—from the river of Egypt to the great River Euphrates—

“He had said before, To thy seed will I give this land, ch. xii. But here he says, I have given it; that is, (1.) I have given the promise of it, the charter is sealed and delivered, and cannot be disannulled.”

So Sarai said to Abram, “Look now, the LORD has prevented me from bearing children. Please go to my maidservant; perhaps I can build a family by her.”

“(2.) It is for want of a firm dependence upon God's promise, and a patient waiting for God's time, that we go out of the way of our duty to catch at expected mercy. He that believes does not make haste.”

And he slept with Hagar, and she conceived. But when Hagar realized that she was pregnant, she began to despise her mistress.

“It is a hard thing to bear honour aright. We justly suffer by those whom we have sinfully indulged, and it is a righteous thing with God to make those instruments of our trouble whom we have made instruments of our sin, and to ensnare…”

Then Sarai said to Abram, “May the wrong done to me be upon you!

“Thus does Sarai, in her passion, speak as one of the foolish women speaketh. It is an absurdity which passionate people are often guilty of to quarrel with others for that of which they themselves must bear the blame.”

Now the angel of the LORD found Hagar by a spring of water in the desert—the spring along the road to Shur.

“It were well if our afflictions would make us think of our home, the better country. But Hagar was now out of her place, and out of the way of her duty, and going further astray, when the angel found her.”

“Hagar, servant of Sarai,” he said, “where have you come from, and where are you going?” “I am running away from my mistress Sarai,” she replied.

“(2.) " Whither wilt thou go? Thou art running thyself into sin, in Egypt" (if she return to that people, she will return to their gods), "and into danger, in the wilderness," through which she must travel, Deut. viii.”

So the angel of the LORD told her, “Return to your mistress and submit to her authority.”

“Note, Those that have gone away from their place and duty, when they are convinced of their error, must hasten their return and reformation, how mortifying soever it may be. The Promise Concerning Ishmael.”

Then the angel added, “I will greatly multiply your offspring so that they will be too numerous to count.”

“This was in pursuance of the promise made to Abram: I will make thy seed as the dust of the earth, ch. xiii.”

Therefore the well was called Beer-lahai-roi. It is located between Kadesh and Bered.

“It is probable that Hagar put this name upon it; and it was retained long after, in perpetuam rei memoriam--a lasting memorial of this event.”