Fear No Fear

(All scripture from the World English Bible, ebible.org, all rights reserved)

“It 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. ”
(Genesis 15:17)

God knows how much a visual aid helps us. He didn’t just speak words to Abram. He showed him a picture of the covenant. When a covenant was cut in the ancient world, both parties walked between the pieces. It showed several things. Their willingness to undergo slaughter (figurative or not) if they broke the covenant. Their agreement to be equal partners in the covenant – what one did, the other would be willing to do. And it showed responsibility. Both sides were saying they would do what was needed to keep the covenant no matter what. God didn’t have Abram walk through the pieces. God did it for him. God showed He was making the covenant and would keep it. He was prophetically showing the price Jesus would be willing to pay to keep it. God was showing that what Abram was WILLING to do, GOD would be willing to do. Also, if God was the only one walking the pieces, there were no conditions placed on Abram. God was guaranteeing the covenant all on His own. This was an UNCONDITIONAL covenant, a covenant of grace and mercy.

A smoking furnace passed through the pieces. God refers to the captivity in Egypt as a smoking furnace (Deuteronomy 4:20; 1 Kings 8:51).

A flaming torch passed through the pieces. God pictures His Word as a torch (Psalm 119:105). God Himself often appears through burning fire (Deuteronomy 4:11; Exodus 3:2).

When God travelled with the Israelites in the desert, He led them by a column of smoke in the day and a column of fire at night (Exodus 13:21).

God is light (1 John 1:5). Frequently when He appears, He places thick darkness around us (Exodus 20:21). One reason is that when all around is dark and a light appears, that light becomes your total focus. The light is sharper, clearer, and more intense. The Lord is always the most visible thing in darkness. This was an important moment in Abram’s walk with the Lord and God did not want him distracted or to miss any of it. All Abram could see was the Lord and what He was doing.

The sage Ramban writes: ‘AND BEHOLD, A SMOKING FURNACE, AND A FLAMING TORCH. It appeared to Abraham as if the furnace was all smoke and in its midst a flaming torch was burning, similar to a great smoke, with a fire flashing up. The “smoke” mentioned here is the cloud, and thick darkness mentioned at the giving of the Torah, and “the flaming torch” in its midst is “the fire” mentioned there: And thou didst hear His words out of the midst of the fire; and it is further written: And the appearance of the glory of the Eternal was like devouring fire, etc. Thus the Divine Glory passed between the parts of the sacrifices, and this is the covenant which He made with Abraham forever. This is the meaning of the verse, the Eternal made a covenant with Abraham, as the Holy One, blessed be He, Himself carried through “the covenant of between the parts.” The student versed in the mysteries of the Torah will understand.’

The sage Radak writes: ‘ולפיד אש, a reference to the flame of fire traversing between the cut up carcasses of the sacrificial animals. This vision contained two separate allusions. First and foremost it part in concluding this covenant with Avram, a symbol of two humans walking between two parts of something which represents each party’s portion of the covenant, treaty, pact. We find another example of this kind of confir4ming a pact, a covenant in Jeremiah 34,18 העגל רשר כרתו לשנים ויעברו בין בתריו, “the calf which the cut in two so as to pass between the halves.” Following up on this symbolic phenomenon, we read here in verse 18 “on that day G’d had concluded a covenant with Avram, etc.” In that verse we have the word לאמור, which introduces a second aspect of this covenant, i.e. that during all the many years that the exiles will last, G’d on His part will remember this covenant with the Jewish people, the descendants of Avram, and not totally abandon them. This same flame of fire which originally signified the concluding of the covenant will eventually consume those who defied the bond between Israel and G’d by cruelly suppressing them and trying to wean them away from their G’d. This will occur during the wars of Gog and Magog (Ezekiel 38,22) etc.’

The Torah, A Women’s Commentary writes: ‘The divine being passes between the halves, demonstrating reliability as a covenant partner.’