Commentary - Genesis 15:7-11

Bird's-eye view

This passage details the formal inauguration of the covenant God makes with Abram. Following the foundational declaration of Abram's faith and imputed righteousness in verse 6, God moves to provide a tangible, legal, and solemn ratification of His promises. Abram, in an act of faith seeking understanding, asks for assurance. God responds not with a word, but with a ceremony. He instructs Abram to prepare a sacrifice in the manner of an ancient and profoundly serious treaty-making ritual. Abram's obedient preparation and his subsequent vigilance in guarding the prepared sacrifice from scavengers demonstrate his active participation in this divine drama. This section sets the stage for God alone to pass through the pieces, signifying a unilateral, unconditional covenant of grace, where God Himself takes upon Himself the curse for any failure.

In short, what we have here is the solemnization of a promise. Faith has been declared, and now the paperwork, written in blood, is about to be signed. This is not Abram seeking to test God, but rather asking for the divinely appointed means of covenantal assurance. The scene is thick with anticipation; the stage is set with blood and animal halves, and Abram stands guard, a faithful steward waiting for the appearance of the great covenant King.

Outline

Context In Genesis

This passage is the direct follow-through of Genesis 15:6, which is one of the theological high points of the entire Old Testament: "And he believed in Yahweh, and He accounted it to him for righteousness." The question naturally arises: what does God do in response to such faith? The answer is that He condescends to formalize His promise in a way that Abram would have understood perfectly. This is the legal ceremony that undergirds the promise. The chapter began with God's promise of a seed, an heir from Abram's own body. Now, the focus shifts back to the other great promise made back in chapter 12: the promise of the land. This ceremony will formally grant the land to Abram and his descendants. This event is therefore the central, formal, covenant-making act of Abram's life, establishing the legal basis for Israel's future claim to the land of Canaan and providing a typological preview of the greater covenant to be cut by Christ.

Key Issues

Cutting a Deal with God

When we moderns think of a deal, we think of a handshake, or a signature on a dotted line. In the ancient world, the most solemn agreements were "cut," not signed. The Hebrew for making a covenant is karath berith, which literally means "to cut a covenant." This is because the ceremony involved cutting animals in half and having the covenanting parties walk between the pieces. This was a self-maledictory oath of the highest order. The person walking the bloody path was saying, in effect, "May I be cut in two like these animals if I fail to uphold my end of this bargain."

So when Abram asks, "How may I know?" he is not expressing a faithless doubt. He has already believed God (v. 6). He is asking for the ceremony. He is saying, "Let us make this official. Let us cut the covenant." He is asking for the objective sign and seal that will ratify the promise he has already embraced by faith. God graciously agrees, and instructs him on how to prepare the elements for this most solemn of transactions. This is not a negotiation between two equal parties; it is a covenant of grant, where a great king (God) formalizes his sworn promise to a vassal (Abram).

Verse by Verse Commentary

7 And He said to him, “I am Yahweh who brought you out of Ur of the Chaldeans, to give you this land to possess it.”

God begins by identifying Himself in two crucial ways. First, "I am Yahweh." This is the covenant name of God, the name that speaks of His self-existence, His faithfulness, and His personal commitment to His people. Second, He identifies Himself by His past actions of grace: He is the one "who brought you out of Ur." God grounds His future promises in His past performance. He is reminding Abram, "I have already proven My power and My commitment to you by calling you out of paganism and idolatry. The one who could do that can certainly fulfill what I am about to promise." The promise itself is restated with clarity: "to give you this land to possess it." This is a gift, an act of sheer grace.

8 And he said, “O Lord Yahweh, how may I know that I will possess it?”

This question must be read in the light of verse 6. It is not the question of a skeptic. It is the plea of a believer who desires the assurance that God is pleased to give. Think of it this way: a man proposes to a woman, and she says "I believe you love me, and I will marry you." It is not a sign of doubt for her then to ask, "So, when do we exchange the rings and say the vows?" She is asking for the ceremony that will formalize and seal the promise. Abram is asking for the covenant ceremony. He is asking for the sign, the seal, the oath. He wants to know on what basis this promise is legally secured. And God is pleased to answer.

9 So He said to him, “Bring Me a three year old heifer, and a three year old female goat, and a three year old ram, and a turtledove, and a young pigeon.”

God's response is an instruction. The assurance will come through obedience. The animals specified are all animals that would later be designated as clean and acceptable for sacrifice under the Mosaic law. They are mature animals, "three years old," representing something of value. This is not a token promise; it will be sealed with a costly sacrifice. The stage is being set for a solemn and bloody affair. This is how God makes his promises sure.

10 Then he brought all these to Him and split them into parts down the middle and laid each part opposite the other; but he did not split apart the birds.

Abram obeys immediately and precisely. He knows what to do because this was a known, if rare and serious, form of treaty-making. He cuts the larger animals in two, creating a grisly pathway between the halves. This path is a path of conditional cursing. It is the place of the oath. The fact that the birds are not split is consistent with later Levitical practice (Lev. 1:17) and may simply be a practical matter, but they are still part of the whole. Abram has now prepared the elements. He has done his part. He has set the stage for the divine oath.

11 Then the birds of prey came down upon the carcasses, and Abram drove them away.

Here we have a moment of high drama and spiritual significance. While Abram waits for God to act, a hostile force appears. Birds of prey, scavengers, unclean birds, descend on the holy sacrifice. This is a picture of the demonic realm, of the world, of all the forces of corruption and death that seek to defile and destroy the promises of God. They want to tear apart the covenant before it is even sealed. But Abram is not passive. He is a watchman. He is a guardian of the promise. He actively "drove them away." This is a picture of militant faith. Faith is not just a quiet assent in the heart; it is an active, vigilant, and protective guarding of what God has promised against all hostile comers. Abram is keeping the covenant way clear for the covenant God.

Application

First, we should see that God delights to give His people assurance. Like Abram, we can ask God to confirm His promises to us. He does not rebuke us for this, but rather meets us in His appointed means. For us, the covenant ceremony is not bloody animals, but the bread and the wine of the Lord's Supper, which is a sign and seal of the New Covenant in Christ's blood. When we take communion, we are walking through the promise and being reassured that it is for us.

Second, we must understand that all of God's promises are secured by a bloody oath. The path between the pieces was ultimately walked by God alone in the form of a smoking fire pot and a flaming torch (v. 17). This signified that God was taking the full weight of the covenant oath, including the curses for failure, upon Himself. This is a staggering picture of the gospel. On the cross, Jesus Christ walked the path of the curse for us. He was torn apart so that the covenant of grace might be established forever and we might be spared.

Finally, we must be like Abram, the vigilant watchman. Having received the promises of God in the gospel, we cannot be passive. The birds of prey are still circling. Doubts, temptations, worldly philosophies, and demonic lies all seek to descend upon the sacrifice and tear our hope to shreds. We are called to an active, robust faith that drives them away. We do this by taking up the sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God, and by standing guard over our hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Assurance is a gift, but it is a gift that must be guarded.