Count the Stars

Yael Eckstein  |  October 20, 2026

Abram stands outside his tent.
Night has settled over the land. The sounds of the camp fade away—the hushed nighttime voices, the shifting of livestock. There is only the open sky above.
Abram looks up.
At first, only darkness.
Then, light.
One star. Then another. Another still. Stars stretch across the heavens. More stars than Abram can follow.
“Count them,” the voice says.
Abram knows he cannot. But he tries—his eyes moving from one to the next, losing track, starting all over again, the numbers slipping away.
He stands beneath a sky too vast to measure, and a promise that hangs with the stars—ungraspable, uncountable.
And still, Abram keeps looking up.

Genesis 15:5

He took him outside and said, “Look up at the sky and count the stars—if indeed you can count them.” Then he said to him, “So shall your offspring be.”

Living here in Israel, I’m reminded every day that I am part of a story far older than myself. Each stone beneath my feet and each ancient path through the Holy Land carries the footsteps of generations who walked with faith, hope, and trust in God’s promises.

In today’s Bible verse, God brings Abram outside—away from his tent, away from the limits of human sight—and lifts his eyes toward the heavens. Abram looks up at a sky bursting with stars, more than he could ever count. And there, beneath that vast night sky, God makes a promise that would shape history: Abram’s descendants would be as countless as the stars.

This promise was not just for Abram. It was a covenant with the Jewish people—to endure, multiply, and remain connected to God forever.

When I walk through Jerusalem or gaze across the hills of Judea, I think about that promise. Every star overhead is a reminder of God’s faithfulness. And here on this sacred soil, we are surrounded by the “stars” of our history—David and Solomon, Joshua and Deborah, lives that shined brightly even in the darkest moments.

What makes this moment so powerful is who Abram was when he received the promise. He was a nomad. He had no land. He had no children. Nothing in his life seemed to support what God was promising. And yet God asked Abram to look beyond what he could see—to trust not in reality as it appeared, but in His Word.

And that’s what makes this promise speak to us, too. As I stand here today in the very land God promised Abram, looking up at the same sky he once studied in awe, those two parts of the covenant come together. The people and the land. The stars above and the soil below.

As long as we continue to look to the heavens—to look to God—this sacred relationship endures. God’s covenant lives on, shining as brightly as the stars, over the people He chose and the land He promised.

One More Moment

For Christians and Jews alike, prayer is our way to communicate with God. Find out what you know about Biblical and Jewish prayer prayer with our short quiz.