Genesis 15-17

Abram and the Covenants

The changing geographic scope of the promises struck me as a little odd. The first was as "far as the eye can see". Then we have "from the River of Egypt to the Euphrates". Then finally, the "Land of Canaan."

Likewise, both Ishmael and Sarai's son (she's not even pregnant yet) are promised to have many descendants or nations of people.

From the Nile to the Euphrates is a huge chunk of land and seems to roughly correspond with the modern Arab nation. The Arabs claim to be descendants of Abram though Ishmael. Further, after the 10 tribes go "missing", they could easily have gone to populate this area.

The promise directed to Sarai's son seems to be more specific and in particular, the Land of Canaan and circumcision. But then, Ishmael gets circumcised as well.

Also, so what exactly is a "nation" in this context. This question comes up with people who claim the tribes of Israel are modern nations (particularly, European) nations today. Well, first, at the time of the Abrahamic covenant, modern forms of nations did not exist. Rather, "nation" seems to be a nebulous term and perhaps synonymous with large tribe, city, or collection of cities. What we might call "nations" start appearing in the Bible later on, but they tend to call themselves "kingdoms" or "empires". Second, Europe is neither the land of Canaan or the land between the Nile and the Euphrates.