The vision and Abram’s faith

After the events of chapter 14 the word of the Lord comes to Abram “in a vision”: “Do not be afraid, Abram. I am your shield, your very great reward.” BSB apposes the reward to “I am”; the Hebrew can be read as two clauses, “I am a shield to you; your reward is very great.” Abram answers, “O Lord GOD, what can You give me, since I remain childless,” and names “the heir of my house.” The Hebrew has Damascus first and Eliezer second (דַּמֶּשֶׂק אֱלִיעֶזֶר); BSB has “Eliezer of Damascus.” The Lord replies that “This one will not be your heir, but one who comes from your own body will be your heir,” takes him outside, and says, “So shall your offspring be.” “Abram believed the Lord, and it was credited to him as righteousness”: the Hebrew verb is active, “he reckoned it”; BSB and the Greek are passive. The persons are real. God promises an heir from Abram’s body and offspring like the stars, and Abram believed the Lord. The Lord is the one who reckoned that believing as righteousness. See “I am a shield to you”: the vision and the reward, The heir, the stars and “he reckoned it”, and The vision, the promised heir, and the reckoning, in early reading. The open questions of 15:1–6 are taken up in the notes that follow.