To review, (using my own paraphrase) God says to Abram, "Dude! Let's cut a covenant." Abram says, "Sweet!" Abram gathers the animal volunteers and prepares them, then shoos away some birds of prey who weren't chosen to be apart of the covenant all (apparently participating in a covenant was a pretty popular thing). Once things have quieted down, v 12 says Abram does what any man would do in that situation: he takes a nap (seriously though, the text says a deep sleep fell upon him – see KJV, NASB, and ESV translations).
Anyway, as the sun was setting, the deep sleep falls upon Abram, and God states His part of the covenant in vv 12-16 and answers Abram's question. He says that Abram's descendants will receive the land, but not for about 400 years and that after being mistreated as slaves. Even then, Abram will live a long life and will die and still not receive the land himself.
God spoke from the time from when the sun started setting to when the sun had set (v 17a).
Then once the sun had set, something weird happened. Scripture says in v 17 that "a smoking firepot" and "a blazing torch" passed between the carcasses (NIV). Then Scripture continues saying that God made a covenant with Abram and gives more details on the land that Abram's descendants will receive.
Let's take a twenty-second time out. I know we're jumping ahead a little bit, but since this is a study of Matthew and not Genesis, we'll going to cheat a little. Where else in Scripture do we see smoke and fire? God speaks to Moses from the fire of a burning bush that is not consumed (Ex 3:2). All throughout the wilderness wanderings, God leads the Children of Israel with a pillar of cloud by day and a pillar of fire by night (Ex 13:21; 40:38; Num 9:15-16). When God "landed," if you will, on Mt. Sinai, Ex 19:18 says it was "covered with smoke, because the LORD descended on it in fire. The smoke billowed up from it like smoke from a furnace..." (NIV).
Before we go back to the text, let's review. The culture of Abram's day says that if two parties are going to cut a covenant, once the conditions of the covenant are agreed upon, they make a sidewalk out of 5 parts sand (already on the ground) to 1 part blood (provided by the previously mentioned volunteers), then each party walks on their newly made sidewalk symbolically stating that if they break their portion of the agreement, they are accept the same fate as the carcasses before them.
Back to the text. Abram is not conscious, so he doesn't sign on the bloodied line, so to speak. However, is it possible that God did go between the carcasses as Abram's culture demanded (the same culture that God had created) to fulfill His responsibility within the covenant? Then, is it possible that He went between the carcasses in Abram's place as if to say, "Abram if you cannot keep your part in this covenant, then may what has happened to these animals also happen to ... Me"? Is it possible that way back in Genesis chapters 12, 15, and 17 we have shadows of the Good News?
But with all of that, I still haven't answered my own question. What is a covenant? A covenant is like a promise or a vow or a treaty or a contract in that the two parties agree to do something or not to do something, etc., however, the thing that separates a covenant from all of the rest of these is one thing: relationship. A covenant is first and foremost a relationship.
Please feel free to comment on this as this is a total guess on my part, but it seems to me that it was people that needed reassurance in their relationships that cut covenants. Examples:
Anyway, as the sun was setting, the deep sleep falls upon Abram, and God states His part of the covenant in vv 12-16 and answers Abram's question. He says that Abram's descendants will receive the land, but not for about 400 years and that after being mistreated as slaves. Even then, Abram will live a long life and will die and still not receive the land himself.
God spoke from the time from when the sun started setting to when the sun had set (v 17a).
Then once the sun had set, something weird happened. Scripture says in v 17 that "a smoking firepot" and "a blazing torch" passed between the carcasses (NIV). Then Scripture continues saying that God made a covenant with Abram and gives more details on the land that Abram's descendants will receive.
Let's take a twenty-second time out. I know we're jumping ahead a little bit, but since this is a study of Matthew and not Genesis, we'll going to cheat a little. Where else in Scripture do we see smoke and fire? God speaks to Moses from the fire of a burning bush that is not consumed (Ex 3:2). All throughout the wilderness wanderings, God leads the Children of Israel with a pillar of cloud by day and a pillar of fire by night (Ex 13:21; 40:38; Num 9:15-16). When God "landed," if you will, on Mt. Sinai, Ex 19:18 says it was "covered with smoke, because the LORD descended on it in fire. The smoke billowed up from it like smoke from a furnace..." (NIV).
Before we go back to the text, let's review. The culture of Abram's day says that if two parties are going to cut a covenant, once the conditions of the covenant are agreed upon, they make a sidewalk out of 5 parts sand (already on the ground) to 1 part blood (provided by the previously mentioned volunteers), then each party walks on their newly made sidewalk symbolically stating that if they break their portion of the agreement, they are accept the same fate as the carcasses before them.
Back to the text. Abram is not conscious, so he doesn't sign on the bloodied line, so to speak. However, is it possible that God did go between the carcasses as Abram's culture demanded (the same culture that God had created) to fulfill His responsibility within the covenant? Then, is it possible that He went between the carcasses in Abram's place as if to say, "Abram if you cannot keep your part in this covenant, then may what has happened to these animals also happen to ... Me"? Is it possible that way back in Genesis chapters 12, 15, and 17 we have shadows of the Good News?
But with all of that, I still haven't answered my own question. What is a covenant? A covenant is like a promise or a vow or a treaty or a contract in that the two parties agree to do something or not to do something, etc., however, the thing that separates a covenant from all of the rest of these is one thing: relationship. A covenant is first and foremost a relationship.
Please feel free to comment on this as this is a total guess on my part, but it seems to me that it was people that needed reassurance in their relationships that cut covenants. Examples:
- God cut a covenant with Noah and his family because Noah and his family had just watched God destroy the world with a flood. They needed reassuring that God wouldn't destroy the world again (Gn 6 & 9);
- With the exception of his nephew, Abram left his extended family (read: his entire social network and support system) and didn't know where he was going. God cut a covenant with Abram to assure him He would care for him and his descendants (Gn 12);
- Jacob and Laban, son-in-law and father-in-law, cut a covenant with each other because they both kept trying to take advantage of the other person financially. Even though they were already family, they still needed a covenant to reassure their relationship (Gn 44);
- David and Jonathan cut a covenant as David was the anointed king-to-be of the Kingdom of Israel; Jonathan was the current King Saul's son. King Saul was trying to kill David (1 Sam 20).
So, a covenant. That's what it is. And that's why it's important, especially when reading the NT.
Give credit where credit is due: a lot, if not all, of the above ideas I have gleaned from hearing RVL speak that one time at that one place. It was real good – you shoulda been there. Later, I found on his FollowtheRabbi.com website a page on covenants, which has tons more info than I'm able to include here. Consider buying a pdf copy for yourself. He doesn't know I'm doing this and his ministries are very worthwhile.
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