LIFE SCRIPTS

As the sun was setting, Abram fell into a deep sleep, and a thick and dreadful darkness came over him. Then the Lord said to him, “Know for certain that for four hundred years your descendants will be strangers in a country not their own and that they will be enslaved and mistreated there. But I will punish the nation they serve as slaves, and afterward they will come out with great possessions. You, however, will go to your ancestors in peace and be buried at a good old age. In the fourth generation your descendants will come back here, for the sin of the Amorites has not yet reached its full measure.”
Genesis 15:12‭-‬16 NIV
https://bible.com/bible/111/gen.15.12-16.NIV

After a whole day of service, Abram fell into a deep sleep as the Sun set. Moments afterwards, scripture says that a ‘great darkness’ befell on him. According to some theologians, he entered into some form of a trance. God was about to speak to him about the chronology of events before the children of Israel, Abram’s descendants, would inherit the land. God began by highlighting the plight of the people of Israel. He spoke of their slavery in the land of Egypt for 400 years. God also spoke of Abram’s life. He assured him that he would depart at a ripe old age to sleep with his ancestors. But also God spoke of the sin of the Amorite. He said that it had not yet reached it’s full measure. When it does, the fourth generation of the children of Israel will come to their land and take possession. This story about the children of the Amorites is representative of the children of Canaan. Canaan was indeed sinful. But God could see through their hearts that they were far from repentance. Instead, they took their sin to the next level and rebelled further against the Lord. They continued separating themselves away from the Lord through their sin. They became more and more apostate by the passing of the day. So the Lord was categorical. Once their sins reached their full measure, they would be punished by destruction as the Israelites took hold of the promised Land. Sin never goes unpunished. It always carries a very dear cost to it.