Command the Raven

1 Chronicles 16:15-19 [show/hide]ERROR: You have exceeded your quota of 5000 requests per day. Please contact the developer of this application if you have questions. (If you're the developer and have questions about this error message, please contact Crossway.)

Be ye mindful always of his covenant; the word which he commanded to a thousand generations;
Even of the covenant which he made with Abraham, and of his oath unto Isaac;
And hath confirmed the same to Jacob for a law, and to Israel for an everlasting covenant.
Saying, Unto thee will I give the land of Canaan, the lot of your inheritance;
When ye were but few, even a few, and strangers in it. [Dake A.R.B.]

This term is the same in meaning as ‘eternal or perpetual’ generations [v15; Gen. 9:12 [show/hide]ERROR: You have exceeded your quota of 5000 requests per day. Please contact the developer of this application if you have questions. (If you're the developer and have questions about this error message, please contact Crossway.)
], and ‘everlasting’ in v. 17. The term is used also in Dt. 7:9 and Ps. 105:8 [show/hide]ERROR: You have exceeded your quota of 5000 requests per day. Please contact the developer of this application if you have questions. (If you're the developer and have questions about this error message, please contact Crossway.)
.

If taken literally it means 50,000 to 1,000,000 years depending on the length of a generation. Men will live 1000 years or more in the Millennium, depending on how old they are when they enter the Millennium.

In the case of the lowest average life-span of today it would mean many thousands of years beyond the Millennium. If one can believe in this he can believe in eternal generations of natural people.

If the covenant is eternal the natural human parties to it must be as eternal as God, for the covenant would be null and void should one of the contracting parties become extinct.

Unto Abraham’s natural seed will be given the land of Canaan for an everlasting possession [v. 11; Gen. 17:8 [show/hide]ERROR: You have exceeded your quota of 5000 requests per day. Please contact the developer of this application if you have questions. (If you're the developer and have questions about this error message, please contact Crossway.)
].

‘Very few’ [v. 19] compared with the many of the nations, even giants, that were in the Promised Land. Abraham had 318 trained servants or warriors when Lot was captured [Gen. 14:14 [show/hide]ERROR: You have exceeded your quota of 5000 requests per day. Please contact the developer of this application if you have questions. (If you're the developer and have questions about this error message, please contact Crossway.)
]. If few men refer to the actual children of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob and their immediate offspring, then they were indeed few in number.

For 25 years Abraham was the only party to the covenant. Then for 60 years there were only Abraham and Isaac. For the next 70 to 80 years there were only Isaac and Jacob. Then came the 12 sons of Jacob and their families, 70 people in all when Jacob went into Egypt. This was exactly 215 years of the 450 years of the total sojourn [Gen. 46:8-27 [show/hide]ERROR: You have exceeded your quota of 5000 requests per day. Please contact the developer of this application if you have questions. (If you're the developer and have questions about this error message, please contact Crossway.)
; note o, Acts 7:14 [show/hide]ERROR: You have exceeded your quota of 5000 requests per day. Please contact the developer of this application if you have questions. (If you're the developer and have questions about this error message, please contact Crossway.)
].

All men were classed as strangers who were not of the seed of Abraham [v. 19; Lev. 17:8-13 [show/hide]ERROR: You have exceeded your quota of 5000 requests per day. Please contact the developer of this application if you have questions. (If you're the developer and have questions about this error message, please contact Crossway.)
; Eph. 2:12-19 [show/hide]ERROR: You have exceeded your quota of 5000 requests per day. Please contact the developer of this application if you have questions. (If you're the developer and have questions about this error message, please contact Crossway.)
]. Israelites were called ‘strangers’ among the Gentiles scores of times [Gen. 15:23 [show/hide]ERROR: You have exceeded your quota of 5000 requests per day. Please contact the developer of this application if you have questions. (If you're the developer and have questions about this error message, please contact Crossway.)
; 17:8-12; 36:7].
- Dake Annotated Reference Bible: page 438