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Now let us look at some of the details of this transaction. Everyone of them is illuminating.
"And the birds of prey came down upon the carcasses, and Abram drove them away." Genesis 14:11
It was Abrams job to drive the birds of prey away. God ordained the sacrificial objects, but to keep them intact was Abrams job. While God appearing to own His sacrifice was deferred, Abram continued to wait.
"Now when the sun was going down, a deep sleep fell upon Abram; and behold, terror and great darkness fell upon him." Genesis 14:12
This was a very profound spiritual experience in which Abram, as a mature, committed believer, went through "terror and great darkness." This was not a common sleep from weariness of carelessness, but a divine ecstasy. The doors of the body were locked up so that the soul might be private and retired, and be more responsive. Theologians determine that the horror that struck Abram was to place within him a holy reverence. Holy fear prepares the soul for holy joy; the spirit of bondage makes way for the spirit of adoption.
In this experience, he sheds light on the horror and darkness of Egyptian slavery of his seed and their final entering into the promised land. The prophetic revelation of Israel in this passage is:
(1) The promised seed will be a persecuted seed.
(2) They will be strangers in need of a land.
(3) They shall be servants in need of a savior
(4) They shall be sufferers in need of deliverance.
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