A Covenant – Genesis 15

A text – Genesis 15:1-12, 17-18

¹⁵ After these things the word of the Lord came to Abram in a vision, “Do not be afraid, Abram, I am your shield; your reward shall be very great.” ² But Abram said, “O Lord God, what will you give me, for I continue childless, and the heir of my house is Eliezer of Damascus?” ³ And Abram said, “You have given me no offspring, so a slave born in my house is to be my heir.” ⁴ But the word of the Lord came to him, “This man shall not be your heir; no one but your very own issue shall be your heir.” ⁵ He brought him outside and said, “Look toward heaven and count the stars, if you are able to count them.” Then he said to him, “So shall your descendants be.” ⁶ And he believed the Lord, and the Lord reckoned it to him as righteousness.

⁷ Then he said to him, “I am the Lord who brought you from Ur of the Chaldeans, to give you this land to possess.” ⁸ But he said, “O Lord God, how am I to know that I shall possess it?” ⁹ He 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.” ¹⁰ He brought him all these and cut them in two, laying each half over against the other, but he did not cut the birds in two. ¹¹ And when birds of prey came down on the carcasses, Abram drove them away. ¹² As the sun was going down, a deep sleep fell upon Abram, and a deep and terrifying darkness descended upon him.

¹⁷ When the sun had gone down and it was dark, a smoking fire pot and a flaming torch passed between these pieces. ¹⁸ On that day the Lord made a covenant with Abram, saying, “To your descendants I give this land, from the river of Egypt to the great river, the River Euphrates

A reflection:

This is a story I did not know until I was a grownup. But it is such an amazing story that everyone should know it and remember that God is always keeping God’s promises. It even demonstrates that God himself will be faithful and keep the promise for us, even if it requires the death of God.

In the ancient days of Abraham, or Abram, as he was called before this story took place, when someone lost a battle and the loser had to pledge that his people would obey the winner no matter what, they would “cut a covenant.” The loser had to get animals, just as they would for a sacrifice, big ones and small ones. They would cut the animals in half and let their blood run like a little river between the halved animals. Then the loser who had to pledge obedience to the winner would walk through the blood to demonstrate that he would abide by the winner’s laws and keep all his promises. This walk through blood was like saying, “If anyone breaks any of these promises, may I myself have my blood spilt on the ground, just like these animals.”

God had promised Abram would have offspring and be the start of a mighty nation. Abram asked God over and over how this could be when he and his wife were too old to have children and his only heir was a slave in his household. God promised again, and Abram believed God, and “the Lord reckoned it unto Abram as righteousness.” Because of Abram’s faith in God’s promise, God knew Abram was right, solid, good in his relationship of trust with God. So the Lord did something extraordinary. The Lord had Abram prepare to cut a covenant. Abram killed the animals and cut them in half. He created the river of blood. Just then, the Lord put Abram into a deep sleep, the same kind the Lord put Adam into when he took one of Adam’s ribs: an anesthetic sleep. Abram could not walk through the blood. And then THE LORD walked between the halves of the animals, holding a smoking pot and a flaming torch. The Lord was saying, “If anyone breaks any of these promises, may I myself have my blood spilt on the ground, just like these animals.”

Abram believes God, and so God demonstrates God’s own faithfulness to Abram. Their relationship is right, solid, good. It is righteous. So righteous down the generations that when human beings, even Jewish religious leaders, Abraham’s descendants, had fallen far out of line from this trust in the Lord that they promised they would live in, the Lord came to earth himself to spill his own blood to redeem them. And not just the people of the Jewish covenant. ALL of us. We, all of us, who have sinned, lived in not-right relationship to God, are redeemed by the Lord God, Jesus himself, just as this covenant promises. The Lord was willing to die to keep promises to beloved children of every race and time.

Wow.

A prayer:

Lord God, Thank you for loving us. Thank you for your generous fulfillment of every promise of goodness and mercy. Thank you for the faith of Abraham. Help us to live better in relationship to you. Amen.