Genesis 15:9 — meaning, Hebrew and Greek word study, commentary
Genesis 15:9
And he said unto him, Take me an heifer of three years old, and a she goat of three years old, and a ram of three years old, and a turtledove, and a young pigeon.
to say (used with great latitude) · conjunction + verb, qal sequential imperfect, 3rd person masculine singular
Take
קְחָ֥הke.Chah
H3947
to take (in the widest variety of applications) · verb, qal imperative, 2nd person masculine singular + paragogic he
heifer
עֶגְלָ֣ה'eg.Lah
H5697
a (female) calf · noun, common feminine singular absolute
old
מְשֻׁלֶּ֔שֶׁתme.shu.Le.shet
H8027
to be (causatively · verb, pual passive participle, feminine singular construct
goat
וְעֵ֥זve.'Ez
H5795
a she-goat (as strong) · conjunction + noun, common feminine singular absolute
old
מְשֻׁלֶּ֖שֶׁתme.shu.Le.shet
H8027
to be (causatively · verb, pual passive participle, feminine singular construct
ram
וְאַ֣יִלve.'A.yil
H352
properly · conjunction + noun, common masculine singular absolute
old
מְשֻׁלָּ֑שׁme.shu.Lash
H8027
to be (causatively · verb, pual passive participle, masculine singular absolute
turtledove
וְתֹ֖רve.Tor
H8449
a ring-dove · conjunction + noun, common both genders singular absolute
pigeon
וְגוֹזָֽלve.go.Zal
H1469
a nestling (as being comparatively nude of feathers) · conjunction + noun, common masculine singular absolute
Strong's Exhaustive Concordance (James Strong, 1890/1894), public domain; digitized by Open Scriptures (CC BY-SA). KJV word tagging: eBible.org (public domain). Original-language text, parsing and brief lexicon: STEPBible.org data from Tyndale House, Cambridge (CC BY 4.0).
Cross-references
Leviticus 14:22 And two turtledoves, or two young pigeons, such as he is able to get; and the one shall be a sin offering, and the other a burnt offering.
Leviticus 14:30 And he shall offer the one of the turtledoves, or of the young pigeons, such as he can get;
Luke 2:24 And to offer a sacrifice according to that which is said in the law of the Lord, A pair of turtledoves, or two young pigeons.
Leviticus 1:14 And if the burnt sacrifice for his offering to the LORD be of fowls, then he shall bring his offering of turtledoves, or of young pigeons.
Leviticus 3:1 And if his oblation be a sacrifice of peace offering, if he offer it of the herd; whether it be a male or female, he shall offer it without…
Leviticus 3:6 And if his offering for a sacrifice of peace offering unto the LORD be of the flock; male or female, he shall offer it without blemish.
Leviticus 9:2 And he said unto Aaron, Take thee a young calf for a sin offering, and a ram for a burnt offering, without blemish, and offer them before th…
Genesis 22:13 And Abraham lifted up his eyes, and looked, and behold behind him a ram caught in a thicket by his horns: and Abraham went and took the ram,…
Cross-references from OpenBible.info (CC BY), in the lineage of the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (public domain).
Commentary
Matthew Henry on Genesis 15:7-11
We have here the assurance given to Abram of the land of Canaan for an inheritance.
I. God declares his purpose concerning it, Gen 15:7. Observe here, Abram made no complaint in this matter, as he had done for the want of a child. Note, Those that are sure of an interest in the promised seed will see no reason to doubt of a title to the promised land. If Christ is ours, heaven is ours. Observe again, When he believed the former promise (Gen 15:6) then God explained and ratified this to him. Note, To him that has (improves what he has) more shall be given. Three things God here reminds Abram of, for his encouragement concerning the promise of this good land: -
1. What God is in himself: I am…
Take me an heifer, &c.--On occasions of great importance, when two or more parties join in a compact, they either observe precisely the same rites as Abram did, or, where they do not, they invoke the lamp as their witness. According to these ideas, which have been from time immemorial engraven on the minds of Eastern people, the Lord Himself condescended to enter into covenant with Abram. The patriarch did not pass between the sacrifice and the reason was that in this transaction he was bound to nothing. He asked a sign, and God was pleased to give him a sign, by which, according to Eastern ideas, He bound Himself. In like manner God has entered into covenant with us; and in the glory of the…
Take me a heifer - עגלה eglah, a she-calf; a she-goat, עז ez, a goat, male or female, but distinguished here by the feminine adjective; משלשת meshullesheth, a three-yearling; a ram, איל ayil; a turtle-dove, תר tor, from which come turtur and turtle; young pigeon, גוזל gozal, a word signifying the young of pigeons and eagles. See Deu 32:11. It is worthy of remark, that every animal allowed or commanded to be sacrificed under the Mosaic law is to be found in this list. And is it not a proof that God was now giving to Abram an epitome of that law and its sacrifices which he intended more fully to reveal to Moses; the essence of which consisted in its sacrifices, which typified the Lamb of God t…
The Church Fathers
Therefore the heifer, the she-goat and the ram of three years, as also the turtledove and the pigeon, presented a type of all nations. They were described as of three years, because all the nations were to believe in the mystery of the Trinity. Now the entire Catholic church has not only spiritual members but carnal ones also, for although some say they believe in the Trinity, they are nevertheless carnal because they neglect to avoid sins and vices. Since there are spiritual souls with the carnal ones, for this reason the turtledove and pigeon were added. In the latter, spiritual people can be meant, but in those other three animals carnal people are understood.
Here also, in fine, a symbol was given, consisting of these animals: a heifer, a she-goat, a ram and two birds, a turtledove and pigeon, that he might know that the things which he had not doubted should come to pass were to happen in accordance with this symbol. The heifer may be a sign that the people should be put under the law, the she-goat that the same people were to become sinful, the ram that they should reign. Perhaps these animals are said to be of three years old for this reason: that there are three remarkable divisions of time, from Adam to Noah, and from him to Abraham, and from him to David. David, on the rejection of Saul, was first established by the will of the Lord in the kingdom of the Israelite nation. In this third division, which extends from Abraham to David, people grew up as if passing through the third age of life. Or perhaps it may be that they had some other more suitable meaning. Still I have no doubt whatever that spiritual things were prefigured by them as well as by the turtledove and pigeon.
The Lord replied: "Take for me a three-year-old heifer, a three-year-old goat, and a three-year-old ram, also a turtledove and a pigeon." He took all these and divided them in half, and placed each half opposite the other, but he did not divide the birds. For the heifer may signify the people under the yoke of the law; the goat the same people who would be sinful, the ram the same people who would also reign. Therefore, these animals are called three because in the third age of the world that people matured and entered the land of promise. The first age is from Adam to Noah, the second from Noah to Abraham himself, the third from Abraham to David; in which the people were saved from Egyptian servitude and transferred to the land of promise. Or if these signify something else more fitting, I would by no means doubt that the spiritual are prefigured in the addition of the turtledove and the pigeon; and thus it is said: "But he did not divide the birds," because the carnal are divided among themselves, but the spiritual by no means, whether they remove themselves from the busy dealings of men like the turtledove, or dwell among them like the pigeon; yet both birds are simple and harmless, signifying that in the very Israelite people, to whom that land was to be given, there would be undivided peoples of promise and heirs of the kingdom remaining in eternal happiness.
Dictionary and topics
Calf — Calves were commonly made use of in sacrifices, and are therefore frequently mentioned in Scripture. The “fatted calf” was regarded as the choicest of animal food; it was frequently also offered as a…
Cattle — Abounded in the Holy Land. To the rearing and management of them the inhabitants chiefly devoted themselves (Deut. 8:13; 12:21; 1 Sam. 11:5; 12:3; Ps. 144:14; Jer. 3:24). They may be classified as,…
Chronology — Is the arrangement of facts and events in the order of time. The writers of the Bible themselves do not adopt any standard era according to which they date events. Sometimes the years are reckoned,…
Covenant — A contract or agreement between two parties. In the Old Testament the Hebrew word berith is always thus translated. Berith is derived from a root which means “to cut,” and hence a covenant is a…
Dove — In their wild state doves generally build their nests in the clefts of rocks, but when domesticated “dove-cots” are prepared for them (Cant. 2:14; Jer. 48:28; Isa. 60:8). The dove was placed on the…
Goat — (1.) Heb. ‘ez, the she-goat (Gen. 15:9; 30:35; 31:38). This Hebrew word is also used for the he-goat (Ex. 12:5; Lev. 4:23; Num. 28:15), and to denote a kid (Gen. 38:17, 20). Hence it may be regarded…
Pigeon — Pigeons are mentioned as among the offerings which, by divine appointment, Abram presented unto the Lord (Gen. 15:9). They were afterwards enumerated among the sin-offerings (Lev. 1:14; 12:6), and…
Sacrifice — The offering up of sacrifices is to be regarded as a divine institution. It did not originate with man. God himself appointed it as the mode in which acceptable worship was to be offered to him by…
Turtle, Turtledove — Turtur auritus (Heb. tor). The name is phonetic, evidently derived from the plaintive cooing of the bird. It is one of the smaller members of the group of birds which ornithologists usually call…
And he said unto him, take me an heifer of three years old,.... This, with what follows, is the sign by which Abram might know that he, that is, his seed, should inherit the land of Canaan; for the whole of this is an emblem of the state and condition of his posterity, until they should enter into that land: wherefore he is ordered to "take" out of his herds and flocks this and the following creatures, which were used in sacrifice before the ceremonial law was given, as well as under it; and the distinction of creatures for sacrifice, though not for food, was known as early, as appears from Genesis 8:20; hence Onkelos renders the phrase, "offer before me"; and the Targum of Jonathan is,"take…
Take me an heifer of three years old. Some, instead of an heifer of three years old translate the passage, three heifers' and in each species of animals enumerated, would make the number three. Yet the opinion of those who apply the word three to the age of the heifer, is more general. Moreover, although God would not deny his servant what he had asked; he yet, by no means, granted what would gratify the desire of the flesh. For, what certainty could be added to the promise, by the slaughter of an heifer, or goat, or ram? For the true design of sacrifice, of which we shall see more presently, was hitherto hidden from Abram. Therefore by obeying the command of God, of which, however, no advan…
Abram's question, "Whereby shall I know that I shall take possession of it (the land)?" was not an expression of doubt, but of desire for the confirmation or sealing of a promise, which transcended human thought and conception. To gratify this desire, God commanded him to make preparation for the conclusion of a covenant. "Take Me, He said, a heifer of three years old, and a she-goat of three years old, and a ram of three years old, and a turtle-dove, and a young pigeon;" one of every species of the animals suitable for sacrifice. Abram took these, and "divided them in the midst," i.e., in half, "and placed one half of each opposite to the other (בּתרו אישׁ, every one its half, cf. Gen 42:25…
With a solemn ceremony, God made a binding covenant with Abram that guaranteed the fulfillment of God’s promises to him.
Rashi on Genesis 15:9
עגלה משלשת means THREE HEIFERS: symbolical of three sacrifices of bullocks, viz., the bullock offered on the Day of Atonement, the bullock offered when the correct interpretation of a precept was unknown (העלם) to leaders of the nation (see Leviticus 4:13), and the heifer whose neck had to be broken (see Deuteronomy 21:4) (Genesis Rabbah 44:14).
ועז משולשת THREE GOATS — symbolical of the goat the blood of which was sprinkled in the Holy of Holies, of the goats of the additional sacrifices on Festivals, and of the goat brought as a sin-offering by an individual (Genesis Rabbah 44:14).
ואיל משולש AND THREE RAMS—symbolical of the trespass offering brought by a man who knows for certain that h…
The Church Fathers: public-domain translations (Ante-Nicene and Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers), verse-indexed by SermonIndex (CC BY 4.0).
— General references
Condescension Of God · Enters into covenant with Abraham — Enters into covenant with Abraham
Covenant · By offering a sacrifice — By offering a sacrifice
Covenant, The · Made with: Abraham — Made with: Abraham
Covenants · Made by passing between the pieces of the divided sacrifices — Made by passing between the pieces of the divided sacrifices
Dove, The · Offered in sacrifice — Offered in sacrifice
Dove, Turtle · Sacrificial uses of — Sacrificial uses of
Goat · As a sacrifice by Abraham — As a sacrifice by Abraham
Goat, The · Offered in sacrifice — Offered in sacrifice
Ox, The · Includes the: Heifer — Includes the: Heifer
Pigeon · Used as sacrifice — Used as sacrifice
Sacrifices · The covenants of God confirmed by — The covenants of God confirmed by
Sheep · Offered in sacrifice from the earliest age — Offered in sacrifice from the earliest age
Sign · .Abraham — .Abraham
Symbols And Similitudes · Sacrificial animals — Sacrificial animals
Vision · .Concerning his — .Concerning his
Dictionary: Easton's (1897) and Smith's (1863), public domain. Topics: Nave's Topical Bible (1896) and Torrey's Topical Textbook (1897), public domain. Both as parsed by NEUU (CC BY 4.0).
