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(Gen. 15: 16).
pp. 156 - 159
The reader will remember that we are to consider in this article the meaning or
spiritual implications of the words spoken to Abraham concerning the period of affliction
that his seed should endure `For the iniquity of the Amorites is not yet full' (Gen. 15: 16).
The word translated `iniquity' is the Hebrew avon and without actual reference, we
might easily assume that such a word would be employed in Gen. 3: and 6: or 11:, or
in many places in Genesis where the sons of men are recorded following their evil ways.
The fact however is, that avon occurs but four times in Genesis. Once it is used in self
condemnation by the brethren of Joseph for their unnatural hatred (Gen. 44: 16), the
remaining three have peculiar associations with the evil seed. Cain uses it, `my iniquity'
(margin Gen. 4: 13) and he hated his brother; the angel uses it when he spoke of the
wickedness of Sodom (Gen. 19: 15). Now just as Israel were debarred their inheritance
until the iniquity of the Amorite was completed, so Sodom could not be visited with
judgment until Lot had escaped and entered the city of Zoar (Gen. 19: 22).
The four references to `iniquity' avon are therefore closely related, as will be more
clearly seen by the following arrangement of the references:
A | Gen. 4: 13. Cain. The murderer and hater of Abel.
Cain was "of that wicked one".
The first of the seed of the serpent and manifested the `enmity' between them.
B | Gen. 15: 16. Amorite. One of the Canaanite tribes.
The usurping nations, who were spoken of `after that' in Gen. 6: 4.
B | Gen. 19: 15. Sodom.
Linked by Jude 7 with Gen. 6: 4 and destroyed by fire from heaven.
A | Gen. 44: 16. Israelites. The word used as a result of the conscience,
but which was followed by repentance and restoration.
The Hebrew word translated `iniquity' avon is derived from avah `to bend, curve,
twist, distort' and `to be perverse', very much as the English word `wrong' is derived
from the idea of being `wrung' or `twisted'. So in Lam. 3: 9 it is used of `crooked'
paths, and in Isa. 24: 1 it is translated `turn upside down'.
Seeing that the word is used but four times in the book of Genesis, as compared with
38 occurrences in the remaining books of the law, some specific perversion seems to be
implied. We can get confirmation for this particular emphasis by observing the way in
which another Hebrew word is used in Genesis namely the verb chata "to sin". The first
occurrence, Gen. 4: 7 is generally understood to refer to a sin-offering, and if this
reference be excluded, then we must read on in Genesis until we come to the twentieth
chapter before we come to the word chata `to sin'. The next occurrence of the word,
Gen. 31: 39 "I bare the loss" has no bearing upon our search, and so we come to
Gen. 39: 9 before we read the next reference to `sin'. The two passages that stand out
therefore in Genesis as recording specific `sin', are those that speak of Abimelech's