Wayfinding Bible - Flipbook - Page 31
25
PG
28
Genesis 15
PG 26
PG 26
THE LAND PROMISED TO ABRAHAM
nea
nS
ea
Natural landmarks like mountains, rivers,
and seas designated many of the boundaries of
the Promised Land. Numerous Bible passages
outline these boundaries, including Numbers
34, Joshua 13–19, and Ezekiel 47–48.
Gen 15:18-21
Num 34:8
Ezek 47:15
rra
what good are all your blessings when I don’t
even have a son? Since you’ve given me no
children, Eliez er of Damascus, a servant in
my household, will inherit all my wealth. 3 You
have given me no descendants of my own, so
one of my servants will be my heir.”
4
Then the Lord said to him, “No, your servant will not be your heir, for you will have a
son of your own who will be your heir.” 5 Then
the Lord took Abram outside and said to him,
“Look up into the sky and count the stars if
you can. That’s how many descendants you
will have!”
6
And Abram believed the Lord, and the
Lord counted him as righteous because of his
faith.
7
Then the Lord told him, “I am the Lord
who brought you out of Ur of the C
haldeans to
give you this land as your possession.”
8
But Abram replied, “O Sovereign Lord, how
can I be sure that I will actually possess it?”
9
The Lord told him, “Bring me a threeyear-old heifer, a three-year-old female goat, a
three-year-old ram, a turtledove, and a young
pigeon.” 10 So Abram presented all these to
him and killed them. Then he cut each animal
down the middle and laid the halves side by
side; he did not, however, cut the birds in half.
11
Some vultures swooped down to eat the carcasses, but Abram chased them away.
12
As the sun was going down, Abram fell
into a deep sleep, and a terrifying darkness
came down over him. 13 Then the Lord said
to Abram, “You can be sure that your descendants will be strangers in a foreign land, where
they will be oppressed as slaves for 400 years.
14
But I will punish the nation that enslaves
God made covenants with Adam and Eve, with Noah,
with Abram, and with others in order to reveal himself to humans and restore the relationship he had
with his creation at the beginning. This restoration is
God’s ongoing plan. Throughout the Old Testament,
God made covenants with his people. God’s son,
Jesus, is the ultimate revelation of God to humans.
Jesus inaugurated the New Covenant between God
and his people. God connected with Adam, Noah, and
Abram by using common cultural signs and rituals
that they could relate to. God later connected to all
humanity by sending his Son, Jesus Christ, to earth
as a human like us.
dite
Cutting animals in half was a cultural custom of this
time and region. It signified a sacred agreement—
or covenant—between two parties. Together, both
parties divided an animal in half and then walked
between the two pieces, sealing the agreement. The
act symbolized that a person would die like the animal if he broke the covenant. God used that custom
and ritual but expanded it to include a goat, a ram,
and two birds. He elevated it to a sacred level.
EXPLORATION POINT
THE
PROMISED
LAND
Me
OBSERVATION POINT
Num 34:6
Ezek 47:20
Josh 15:12
BASHAN
Sea of
Galilee
GILEAD
Josh 13:10-11
AMMON
Dead
Sea
Num 34:3
Ezek 47:19
MOAB
EDOM
