Genesis 15:

Summary: Abram desires offspring—The Lord promises him seed in number as the stars—He believes the promise—His seed shall be strangers in Egypt—Then, after four generations, they shall inherit Canaan.

Personal Reflection: Okay, okay, I totally stole that summary from the KJV, but I'm very tired. I'm participating in NaNoWriMo this month, and still have approximately ten pages to write. My friend kept me up until 1:30 playing Cities and Knights of Cataan. I am bushed, but still I'm here blogging for my faithful audience, although I suspect the only people who have really been reading are God and myself. On to the real meat.

This chapter really resonated with me. Notice that at the beginning of the chapter that it is after the things that have been recorded that the Lord tells Abram not to fear. Abram trusted in the Lord enough to say that he only wanted it to be possible to say that God had made him rich, but I wonder if there wasn't a little bit of fear in his heart, especially about the fulfilling of the prophecy, that is, that God would give him posterity greater than the stars in the sky. Still, when the Lord speaks he believes him.

There is a Joseph Smith Translation (JST)* that I really love starting in the 9th verse. Abram asks how he the Lord will give him the land. The Lord answers by showing him the life of the savior. Now, technically this isn't doctrine for anybody, but it makes a lot more sense to me why Abram offers sacrifice to the Lord. If you believe that sacrifice is a reminder of the atonement of Christ, it makes a lot more sense that Abram's joy at God's words leads him to offer sacrifice.

There is a lot of revelation and trial going on in this verse. First, Abram speaks with the Lord, is promised many things, and is taught many things. Then "a great darkness [falls] upon him." After this, more is revealed to him by the Lord about his destiny. We will see this pattern later, so don't let me forget about it (e.g. with Joseph Smith).

* I think this is the first time I've mentioned the Joseph Smith Translation. Since I may be reaching a wider audience than members of my faith, here is my quick explanation of the JST. After Joseph Smith translated the Book of Mormon, he decided to translate the Bible. This didn't mean that he picked up the original texts of the Bible and translated them like a book is translated today. Basically it means that Joseph relied on his own understanding and the feelings he received from the Holy Ghost (or Holy Spirit) to make changes he felt were applicable. Technically the JST isn't scripture, but it's just about as close as you can get without being doctrinal.

Note: One more day of double posts tomorrow.