Genesis 15:8-21: a reflection

8He said, “Lord GOD, how will I know that I will inherit it?” 9He said to him, “Bring me a heifer three years old, a female goat three years old, a ram three years old, a turtledove, and a young pigeon.” 10He brought him all these, and divided them in the middle, and laid each half opposite the other; but he didn’t divide the birds. 11The birds of prey came down on the carcasses, and Abram drove them away. 12When the sun was going down, a deep sleep fell on Abram. Now terror and great darkness fell on him. 13He said to Abram, “Know for sure that your offspring will live as foreigners in a land that is not theirs, and will serve them. They will afflict them four hundred years. 14I will also judge that nation, whom they will serve. Afterward they will come out with great wealth; 15but you will go to your fathers in peace. You will be buried at a good old age. 16In the fourth generation they will come here again, for the iniquity of the Amorite is not yet full.” 17It came to pass that, when the sun went down, and it was dark, behold, a smoking furnace and a flaming torch passed between these pieces. 18In that day the LORD made a covenant with Abram, saying, “I have given this land to your offspring, from the river of Egypt to the great river, the river Euphrates: 19the land of the Kenites, the Kenizzites, the Kadmonites, 20the Hittites, the Perizzites, the Rephaim, 21the Amorites, the Canaanites, the Girgashites, and the Jebusites.”

Abram asks God how he can be sure the promise will come true, and God answers with a solemn covenant ceremony. Animals are cut in two, laid in pieces opposite each other. In the custom of the time, both parties to such a covenant would walk between the pieces, in effect saying, may I be cut apart like this if I break my word. But watch what happens. A deep sleep falls on Abram, and darkness. He does not walk between the pieces. Instead, a smoking furnace and a flaming torch, God's own presence, pass through alone.

Notice what that means. Abram is asleep; only God passes between the halves. God takes the entire obligation of the covenant onto himself. He, alone, binds himself to keep it, invoking the penalty on himself if the promise fails. The covenant does not rest on Abram's faithfulness, on his keeping his end; it rests entirely on God's own commitment to be faithful.

That is a picture of grace, and it points forward to the whole gospel. The promises of God do not finally depend on our reliability, which fluctuates and fails; they depend on God, who binds himself to keep them and takes the cost on himself. If you have feared that God's promises to you hang on how well you hold up your end, this ancient scene says otherwise. God passed between the pieces alone. The covenant is guaranteed by his faithfulness, not yours. Rest your hope there, on the God who binds himself to keep his word.

Lord, while Abram slept, you alone passed between the pieces and took the whole covenant on yourself. Thank you that your promises do not depend on my faithfulness but on yours, that you bind yourself to keep your word and bear the cost. When I fear the promise hangs on my reliability, remind me that you passed between the pieces alone.