SEV Biblia, Chapter 15:1
¶ Después de estas cosas vino la palabra del SEÑOR a Abram en visión, diciendo: No temas, Abram; yo soy tu escudo, y tu galardón será sobremanera grande.
Clarke's Bible Commentary - Genesis 15:1
Verse 1. The word of the Lord came unto Abram] This is the first place where God is represented as revealing himself by his word. Some learned men suppose that the hwhy rbd debar Yehovah, translated here word of the Lord, means the same with the logos tou qeou of St. John, John i. 1, and, by the Chaldee paraphrases in the next clause, called yrmym meimeri, ""my word,"" and in other places yyd armym meimera daiya, the word of Yeya, a contraction for Jehovah, which they appear always to consider as a person; and which they distinguish from amgtp pithgama, which signifies merely a word spoken, or any part of speech. There have been various conjectures concerning the manner in which God revealed his will, not only to the patriarchs, but also to the prophets, evangelists, and apostles. It seems to have been done in different ways. 1. By a personal appearance of him who was afterwards incarnated for the salvation of mankind. 2. By an audible voice, sometimes accompanied with emblematical appearances. 3. By visions which took place either in the night in ordinary sleep, or when the persons were cast into a temporary trance by daylight, or when about their ordinary business, 4. By the ministry of angels appearing in human bodies, and performing certain miracles to accredit their mission. 5. By the powerful agency of the Spirit of God upon the mind, giving it a strong conception and supernatural persuasion of the truth of the things perceived by the understanding. We shall see all these exemplified in the course of the work. It was probably in the third sense that the revelation in the text was given; for it is said, God appeared to Abram in a vision, hzjm machazeh, from hzj chazah, to see, or according to others, to fix, fasten, settle; hence chozeh, a SEER, the person who sees Divine things, to whom alone they are revealed, on whose mind they are fastened, and in whose memory and judgment they are fixed and settled. Hence the vision which was mentally perceived, and, by the evidence to the soul of its Divine origin, fixed and settled in the mind. Fear not] The late Dr. Dodd has a good thought on this passage; ""I would read, says he, ""the second verse in a parenthesis, thus: For Abram HAD said, Lord God, what wilt thou give me, seeing I go childless, &c.Abram had said this in the fear of his heart, upon which the Lord vouchsafed to him this prophetical view, and this strong renovation of the covenant. In this light all follows very properly. Abram had said so and so in ver. 2, upon which God appears and says, I am thy shield, and thy exceeding great reward. The patriarch then, ver. 3, freely opens the anxious apprehension of his heart, Behold, to me thou hast given no seed, &c., upon which God proceeds to assure him of posterity."" I am thy shield, &c.] Can it be supposed that Abram understood these words as promising him temporal advantages at all corresponding to the magnificence of these promises? If he did he was disappointed through the whole course of his life, for he never enjoyed such a state of worldly prosperity as could justify the strong language in the text. Shall we lose sight of Abram, and say that his posterity was intended, and Abram understood the promises as relating to them, and not to himself or immediately to his own family? Then the question recurs, Did the Israelites ever enjoy such a state of temporal affluence as seems to be intended by the above promise? To this every man acquainted with their history will, without hesitation, say, No. What then is intended? Just what the words state. GOD was Abram's portion, and he is the portion of every righteous soul; for to Abram, and the children of his faith, he gives not a portion in this life. Nothing, says Father Calmet, proves more invincibly the immortality of the soul, the truth of religion, and the eternity of another life, than to see that in this life the righteous seldom receive the reward of their virtue, and that in temporal things they are often less happy than the workers of iniquity.
I am, says the Almighty, thy shield - thy constant covering and protector, and thy exceeding great reward, dam hbrh ûrk sekarcha harbeh meod, ""THAT superlatively multiplied reward of thine."" It is not the Canaan I promise, but the salvation that is to come through the promised seed. Hence it was that Abram rejoiced to see his day. And hence the Chaldee Targum translates this place, My WORD shall be thy strength, &c.
Matthew Henry Commentary
Verses 1 - God assured Abram of safety and happiness; that he should for ever be safe. I am thy shield; or, I am a shield to thee, present with thee actually caring for thee. The consideration that God himself is, an will be a shield to his people, to secure them from all evils, a shiel ready to them, and a shield round about them, should silence all perplexing, tormenting fears.
Original Hebrew
אחר 310 הדברים 1697 האלה 428 היה 1961 דבר 1697 יהוה 3068 אל 413 אברם 87 במחזה 4236 לאמר 559 אל 408 תירא 3372 אברם 87 אנכי 595 מגן 4043 לך שׂכרך 7939 הרבה 7235 מאד׃ 3966
