Genesis 15:16 BSB In the fourth generation your descendants will return here, for the iniquity of the Amorites is not yet complete.
Background
B1 Amorites:
C1 Their ancestor was one of the sons of Canaan (Genesis 10:15-16).
C2 Their country consisted of Syria and Israel (Deuteronomy 1:7 and Deuteronomy 1:19-20).
C3 Their most famous kings were Sihon and Og (Deuteronomy 31:4).
C4 The Amorites were defeated by Israel under Joshua (Joshua 10:10 and Joshua 11:8).
C5 They either died out or blended into Israel (1 Kings 9:20-21 and Amos 2:10).
C6 Their culture was
D1 Less wicked than King Manasseh of Judah. 2 Kings 21:10-11 NLT Then the LORD said through his servants the prophets: 11 King Manasseh of Judah has done many detestable things. He is even more wicked than the Amorites, who lived in this land before Israel. He has caused the people of Judah to sin with his idols.
D2 For King Manasseh’s actions, see 2 Kings 21:6-7, 11, 16-17. You can read 2 Kings chapter 21.
B2 A generation is from when a man has his first born and that son has his first born. In Abraham’s time this was typically 100 years. See Jamieson, Faussett, Brown commentary on this verse, notes on this passage in NIV Study Bible Notes, and compare Genesis 15:13. For more Bible verses and a map about the Amorites, see here.
Punishment for sin
B1 Romans 13:13 NLT Because we belong to the day, we must live decent lives for all to see. Don't participate in the darkness of wild parties and drunkenness, or in sexual promiscuity and immoral living, or in quarreling and jealousy.
B2 Galatians 5:19-21 WEB Now the deeds of the flesh are obvious, which are: adultery, sexual immorality, uncleanness, lustfulness, 20 idolatry, sorcery, hatred, strife, jealousies, outbursts of anger, rivalries, divisions, heresies, 21 envy, murders, drunkenness, orgies, and things like these; of which I forewarn you, even as I also forewarned you, that those who practice such things will not inherit God’s Kingdom.
Provoking
B1 Provoking is making God angry repeatedly. Provoking God or people is evil. See Exodus 23:21 (don’t provoke God), Colossians 3:21 (don’t provoke children), 1 Corinthians 13:5 (don’t provoke spouse). We are to provoke (urge) to good works (Hebrews 10:24).
B2 Deuteronomy 9:8 BSB At Horeb you provoked the LORD, and He was angry enough to destroy you. See Lange: The censure is sharp. There is no concealment of the sins of the people, especially of its ingratitude and rebellion.
God’s patience and message to repent often spreads over many years and decades even centuries.
B1 Exodus 34:6-7 NLT The LORD passed in front of Moses, calling out, "Yahweh! The LORD! The God of compassion and mercy! I am slow to anger and filled with unfailing love and faithfulness. 7 I lavish unfailing love to a thousand generations. I forgive iniquity, rebellion, and sin. But I do not excuse the guilty. I lay the sins of the parents upon their children and grandchildren; the entire family is affected—even children in the third and fourth generations."
B2 Nahum 1:3 LEB Yahweh is slow to anger but great in power; he will certainly not allow the guilty to go unpunished. He marches in storm wind and in gale; storm clouds are the dust of his feet.
B3 The time varies—approximately 120 years for Noah’s generation (1 Peter 3:20) and 40 years for Israel in the wilderness before those 20 and older (Numbers 14:29) at the onset died (Acts 13:18). Other times for many, many years, yet their actions eventually become so evil that God punishes. Compare Nineveh in Jonah’s day (Jonah 3) with Nahum’s time (Nahum 3), which was approximately 150 years.
B4 God’s motive: 2 Peter 3:9 LEB The Lord is not delaying the promise, as some consider slowness, but is being patient toward you, because he does not want any to perish, but all to come to repentance.
B5 The end of patience: Revelation 2:20-21 LEB But I have against you that you tolerate the woman Jezebel, the one who calls herself a prophetess, and teaches and deceives my slaves to commit sexual immorality and to eat food sacrificed to idols. 21 And I have given her time in order to repent, and she did not want to repent from her sexual immorality.
God warns all. Compare Romans 1:18-32.
God does judge and sentence
B1 Judge
C1 1 Peter 4:17 GNB The time has come for judgment to begin, and God's own people are the first to be judged. If it starts with us, how will it end with those who do not believe the Good News from God?
C2 Read Psalm 75.
C3 Some are so evil that they accumulate God’s wrath: Romans 2:5 NLT But because you are stubborn and refuse to turn from your sin, you are storing up terrible punishment for yourself. For a day of anger is coming, when God's righteous judgment will be revealed.
B2 Sentence
C1 Darkness. There is NO light.
D1 Matthew 25:30 NRSV As for this worthless slave, throw him into the outer darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.'
D2 2 Peter 2:17 NRSV These are waterless springs and mists driven by a storm; for them the deepest darkness has been reserved.
C2 Pain by fire: Mark 9:47 NRSV And if your eye causes you to stumble, tear it out; it is better for you to enter the kingdom of God with one eye than to have two eyes and to be thrown into hell.
C3 The severity is according to what people have done. The greater the evil and amount of evil, the greater the punishment. Matthew 16:27 NRSV For the Son of Man is to come with his angels in the glory of his Father, and then he will repay everyone for what has been done.
C4 Eternally suffering the pain of fire: Revelation 20:15 NRSV and anyone whose name was not found written in the book of life was thrown into the lake of fire.
C5 Never ending Matthew 25:46 NRSV And these will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life.
C6 Shame and contempt: Daniel 12:2 NRSV Many of those who sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, some to everlasting life, and some to shame and everlasting contempt.
C7 Described as second death, that is, a never ending and final death: Revelation 21:8 GW But cowardly, unfaithful, and detestable people, murderers, sexual sinners, sorcerers, idolaters, and all liars will find themselves in the fiery lake of burning sulfur. This is the second death.
B3 Result? Some are weepers who wished they had repented and placed their faith into the Lord Jesus, and some are gnashers who curse God for eternity. Matthew 8:12 NLT But many Israelites—those for whom the Kingdom was prepared—will be thrown into outer darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.
Ways of provoking God
B1 Disbelief which results in disobedience—Numbers 32:9-13
B2 Doing evil things—Deuteronomy 31:29
B3 Stealing then covering it up as Achan—Joshua 7:1
B4 Disobedience, even with good intentions, as Uzzah did—2 Samuel 6:6-7 (compare Leviticus 10:1-3, Acts 5:1-11, and Numbers 4:15 (only Kohathites could carry the Ark. It is doubtful that Uzzah was either))
B5 Encouraging others to worship a false god. We must be careful to define God and His character traits correctly, too. See 1 Kings 15:30.
B6 Refusing God’s call to salvation. See Isaiah 65:1-5, Acts 13:46, Psalm 81:11-13, and John 3:19.
B7 Not giving God credit for all He does and not being thankful—Romans 1:21.
B8 So a summary would be disbelief, reject and refusal of God, His plan, His ways, His worldview, His salvation, also disobedience, deliberately being disobedient, refusing to repent, etc.
B9 Sometime and in some place, nations, governments, leaders, businesses, and people provoke God. The time of repentance is over. It is judgment time. Let us ourselves be sure we have our faith in Jesus Christ alone for salvation and pray for all who have not.
B10 Come, Lord Jesus.
1 Corinthians 15:58 NRSV Therefore, my beloved, be steadfast, immovable, always excelling in the work of the Lord, because you know that in the Lord your labor is not in vain.
2 Peter 3:17-18 NRSV You therefore, beloved, since you are forewarned, beware that you are not carried away with the error of the lawless and lose your own stability. 18 But grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To him be the glory both now and to the day of eternity. Amen.
John 14:16-17 NRSV And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Advocate, to be with you forever. 17 This is the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees him nor knows him. You know him, because he abides with you, and he will be in you.
Jude 1:24-25 NRSV Now to him who is able to keep you from falling, and to make you stand without blemish in the presence of his glory with rejoicing, 25 to the only God our Savior, through Jesus Christ our Lord, be glory, majesty, power, and authority, before all time and now and forever. Amen.
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