Genesis 15:3

Gen 15:3 And Abram said, Behold, to me thou hast given no seed: and, lo, one born in my house is mine heir.

Ver. 3. And Abram said, Behold, to me, &c.] He harps again upon the same string; when we fall upon crosses we add, we multiply, we rise in our discourse, we are eloquent above measure, and beyond truth sometimes. But how comes Abram to speak thus to God once and again? In former visions God only spake, here Abram answers. It appears he grew in a holy familiarity with the divine Majesty, and a humble boldness, as Cajetan here observeth.

John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Gen 15:3. Behold, to me thou hast given no seed — Not only no son, but no seed. If he had had a daughter, from her the promised Messias might have come, who was to be the seed of the woman; but he had neither son nor daughter.

Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Eliezer of Damascus . . . one born in my house is mine heir--According to the usage of nomadic tribes, his chief confidential servant, would be heir to his possessions and honors. But this man could have become his son only by adoption; and how sadly would that have come short of the parental hopes he had been encouraged to entertain! His language betrayed a latent spirit of fretfulness or perhaps a temporary failure in the very virtue for which he is so renowned--and absolute submission to God's time, as well as way, of accomplishing His promise.

Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

(3) One born in my house.—This is a mistake. Those born in Abram’s house were his servants (Gen_14:14). The Hebrew is, the son of my house, my house-son, not born of me, but the chief of the house next to myself, and its representative. Eliezer was probably born at Damascus.

A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

3. one born in my house] The childless master of the house is here represented as likely to be succeeded by a member of his household. Lot is ignored. For the favourable position of a trusted slave in an Israelite household, cf. 24; 1Sa_9:3-8; 1Sa_9:22; 1Ch_2:34 ff.; Pro_17:2.

The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

And Abram said, behold, to me thou hast given no seed,.... He had bestowed many temporal blessings on him, as well as spiritual ones, having given himself in covenant, and all things in it, but he had not given him a child:

and lo, one born in my house is mine heir; meaning either Eliezer or his son, whom he had made his heir, or intended to make him, since he had no child; or of course he would have been to, Lot his nephew having no sons; and this Eliezer descending from Aram, the youngest son of Shem, was like to be next heir, if Abram should have no child of his own, as Dr. Lightfoot observes (g).

(g) Works, vol. 1. p. 695.

John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Of such see Gen 14:14; Ecc 2:7. And these are opposed to them that are born of a man’s body, Job 19:17; Pro 31:2; Jer 2:14.

Mine heir; either,

1. By nearness of relation, being, as some conceive, descended from Aram the eldest son of Shem. Or,

2. For a recompence of his fidelity: compare Pro 17:2. Or,

3. because he only had the exact knowledge and absolute power of all his master’s estate, Gen 24:10, and therefore could easily keep all after his master’s death. All which reasons concurring might give occasion for this speech.

Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

3. One born in my house — Hebrews, a son of my house. Abram here refers again to Eliezer, whom he has just called a son of possession of my house; and this confirms our view stated above, that the oldest servant of a childless patriarch was regarded as the principal heir.

Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

And Abram said, Behold, to me thou hast given no seed: and, lo, one born in my house (literally, the son of my house, i.e. Eliezer) is mine heir. The language of the patriarch discovers three things:

(1) a natural desire to have a child of his own;

(2) a struggle to hold on by the promise in face of almost insuperable difficulties; and

(3) an obvious unwillingness to part with the hope that the promise, however seemingly impossible, would eventually be realized. This unwillingness it was which caused him, as it were, so pathetically to call the Divine attention to his childless condition; in response to which he received an assurance that must have thrilled his anxious heart with joy.

The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Behold to me thou hast given no seed - Not only no son, but no seed. If he had had a daughter, from her the promised Messias might have come, who was to be the Seed of the Woman; but he had neither son nor daughter.

John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.

הן לי לא נתתה זרע BEHOLD, TO ME THOU HAST GIVEN NO CHILD —What use, then, is all else that thou givest me?

Rashi on the Tanakh — English translations: “The Judaica Press complete Tanach with Rashi, translated by A. J. Rosenberg” (CC BY 4.0); “Pentateuch with Rashi's commentary by M. Rosenbaum and A.M. Silbermann, 1929-1934” (public domain); “The Metsudah Tanach series, Lakewood, N.J” (CC BY 4.0); and “The Book of Joshua, Metsudah Publications, 1997” (CC BY 4.0). Text via Sefaria.

הן לי לא נתת זרע, although You have said to me “I will make you into a great nation and I will make your descendants as numerous as the dust of the earth” (12,2) When Avram said all this to G’d, it did not cross his mind that G’d might have deceived him, lied to him, and that this was why the promise had not come true. He may have thought of one of two reasons being the cause why the promise had not been fulfilled. 1) that he had committed some sin after G’d had made the promise, so that the premise upon which the promise had been based was no longer valid. 2) or, he thought that the seed G’d had spoken of was a reference to some other family member, people carrying many of the same genes. The word זרע does appear in such a sense in Esther 10,3 where Mordechai is described as דובר שלום לכל זרעו, “interceding on behalf of all his seed.” If Mordechai had interceded only on behalf of personal children and grandchildren, this would hardly have been worth mentioning, certainly not worth praising him for. Basically, Avram wanted G’d to know that if G’d had meant that the definition of the word זרעך as mentioned in 12,2 was only in the most general sense, such as in Esther 10,3, then he, Avram, would not consider this reward as something special seeing G’d had not seen fit to make his wife conceive offspring from his seed.

Radak on the Tanakh — English translations: “Sefaria Community Translation” (CC0 1.0 (public-domain dedication)); “Eliyahu Munk, HaChut Hameshulash” (CC BY 4.0); “Rabbi Mike Feuer, Jerusalem Anthology” (CC BY 4.0); and “R. David Kimhi on the first book of Psalms, Translated by R.G. Finch, London, 1919” (public domain). Text via Sefaria.