What did God do when He appeared to Abraham in Genesis 15?
God appeared to Abraham in Genesis 15, went through the rites of transferring the land's title deed to him, and then made a covenant with Abraham that same day, promising the land from the river of Egypt to the great river Euphrates to his offspring.
Les explains that in Genesis 15 God came down and appeared to Abraham, as He often did in the Old Testament, and literally went through the rites of transferring the title deed of the land to Abraham. After doing that, verse 18 says that in the same day the Lord made a covenant with Abraham, saying, “unto thy seed I have given this land from the river of Egypt... to the great river Euphrates.” Les notes the river of Egypt was not necessarily the Nile but another river a little east of the Nile in that area. The land extends through present-day Iraq down to the Persian Gulf, and it will be Israel's homeland when the Kingdom is set up, because she has never had it yet. David and Solomon got part of it, but not nearly all. The day is coming when Israel's land will cover that whole Middle East, including the area south to the tip of the Red Sea and over to the river of Egypt, by virtue of the tribes listed.