Genesis 15-17

Abram's head must have been spinning after his conversation with God in chapter 15. First God promises the sonless man with a multitude of children. Then he explains that his heirs will be enslaved. As a slave holder Abram understood the status that would create for his descendants (Considering Hagar serving Sari the irony of this reversal of roles should not be overlooked). However, God creates his own paradigm when he explains that the slaves will be emancipated with great wealth. The very sequence of events that Abram anticipated for his slave Eliezer of Damascus would be played out in the lives of his generations (v 2). Then God promised an inheritance for the slave descendants of the rich man. His promise included land. The one possession that Abram had surrendered on his quest to follow God's plan.
Stuart