Genesis 15:19-21

Genesis 15:19-21

[19] The Kenites,  and the Kenizzites,  and the Kadmonites,  [20] And the Hittites,  and the Perizzites,  and the Rephaims,  [21] And the Amorites,  and the Canaanites,  and the Girgashites,  and the Jebusites. 

What does Genesis 15:19-21 Mean?

Contextual Meaning

Here Moses named ten of the native tribes then inhabiting the Promised Land. The longest of the27 lists of pre-Israelite nations that inhabited the Promised Land name12entities ( Genesis 10:15-18 a; 1 Chronicles 1:13-18). Sometimes as few as two receive mention, and most of these lists identify six. [1] "Canaanites" is both a general name for all these tribes (a synecdoche) and, as used here, the name of one of them. These "Hittites" lived near Hebron ( Genesis 23:10); they are probably not the same Hittites that lived in Anatolia (Asia Minor, modern western Turkey; cf. Genesis 10:15).
The Abrahamic Covenant is basic to the premillennial system of theology.
"How one understands the nature and function of this covenant will largely determine one"s overall theology and most particularly his eschatology." [2]
This covenant has not yet been fulfilled as God promised it would be. Since God is faithful we believe He will fulfill these promises in the future. Consequently there must be a future for Israel as a nation (cf. Romans 11). Amillennialists interpret this covenant in a less literal way. The crucial issue is interpretation. If God fulfilled the seed and blessings promises literally, should we not expect that He will also fulfill the land promises literally? [3]
The Palestinian, Davidic, and New Covenants are outgrowths of the Abrahamic Covenant. Each of these expands one major promise of the Abrahamic Covenant: the land, seed, and blessing promises respectively.
Now that God had given Abram the covenant, the author proceeded to show how He would fulfill the promises. This is the reason for the selection of material that follows. So far in the story of Abram, Moses stressed the plans and purposes of God culminating in the cutting of the covenant. Now we learn how Abram and his seed would realize these plans and purposes. This involves a revelation of God"s ways and man"s responsibilities. [4]
God"s people can rely on His promises even if they have to experience suffering and death before they experience them. [5]