God's Covenant with Abram / Smoking Furnace

God revealed Himself to Abram in a vision. Abram was still concerned about not having a heir. So God condescended to enter into a solemn covenant with Abram, in a form customary among the ancients. The expression "to conclude" or "to make" a covenant (v. 18), literally, "to cut" a covenant, was derived from the practice here described. The animals Abram was directed to use were precisely those later prescribed as sacrificial beasts by Moses (see Ex. 29:15 Num. 15:27 19:2 Deut. 21:3 Lev. 1:14). The requirement that the quadrupeds were to be "three years old" specifies mature animals.

Each of the three animals was slaughtered and divided, and the two halves placed one against the other, with a space between. The birds were killed, but not divided. One was probably laid on one side, and the other opposite it. Those entering into the covenant were to walk between the divided pieces, symbolically vowing perpetual obedience to the provisions thus solemnly agreed upon. The lives of the animals pledged the lives of those participating in the covenant. This practice remained in force for many centuries, for we find it practiced in Jeremiah's time (Jer. 34:18, 19).

Abram's faith and childlike trust in God did not make him "righteous" rather, the Lord, "counted it to him for righteousness." For the first time these important concepts, faith and justification, are brought together. It is obvious that Abram had no "righteousness" until it was credited to him by God. And if he had none, no man has ever had. Abram was a sinner and needed redemption, as does every other human being but when righteousness was imputed to him, mercy and grace were also extended, effecting the pardon of his sin and bringing the rewards of righteousness. Here for the first time the full importance of faith is brought to view. Here also, for the first time, imputed righteousness is mentioned.

The final phase of the divine revelation was designed to impress Abram with the surety of God's promises. A "smoking furnace" or "burning lamp," symbols of the divine presence, passed between the severed carcasses, as Abram himself had done earlier, by daylight. That this was not merely a vision is evident from the fact that the animals were totally consumed. By this visible token God confirmed His covenant with Abram, who thus for the first time beheld the sacred symbol of the divine presence.