Genesis 15:3

3 And Abram said, Behold, to me thou hast given no seed: and lo, one born in my house is my heir.

Genesis 15:3 Meaning and Commentary

Genesis 15:3

And Abram said, behold, to me thou hast given no seed
He had bestowed many temporal blessings on him, as well as spiritual ones, having given himself in covenant, and all things in it, but he had not given him a child:

and lo, one born in my house is mine heir;
meaning either Eliezer or his son, whom he had made his heir, or intended to make him, since he had no child; or of course he would have been to, Lot his nephew having no sons; and this Eliezer descending from Aram, the youngest son of Shem, was like to be next heir, if Abram should have no child of his own, as Dr. Lightfoot observes ^F7.

---

FOOTNOTES:

F7 Works, vol. 1. p. 695.

Genesis 15:3 In-Context

1 After these things the word of the LORD came to Abram in a vision, saying, Fear not, Abram: I [am] thy shield, [and] thy exceeding great reward.

2 And Abram said, Lord GOD, what wilt thou give me, seeing I go childless, and the steward of my house [is] this Eliezer of Damascus?

3 And Abram said, Behold, to me thou hast given no seed: and lo, one born in my house is my heir.

4 And behold, the word of the LORD [came] to him, saying, This shall not be thy heir; but he that shall come forth out of thy own bowels shall be thy heir.

5 And he brought him forth abroad, and said, Look now towards heaven, and tell the stars, if thou art able to number them: and he said to him, So shall thy seed be.