a ritual.

Gen. 15:17-18

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

Not long ago I was having lunch with a friend and one topic of conversation, among others, was meaningful passages of scripture to us. This, a curious verse I thought, was one of his – so much so that he had aspirations to preach his very first sermon on this text, which he did this past Sunday morning.

Now you may ask, "Why this would be one's favorite verse from the Bible?" I did. It seems an odd selection. However, when you really dive into the context, the history, and what this meant for Abram (as well as ourselves), it then becomes much more of a fitting verse to choose.

In Gen 15, we find a humble servant of God expressing his doubts of God's faithfulness to deliver on certain promises He had made him. God offers to show Abram that He will pull through (not how or when, mind you), and asks the doubting servant to perform this sacrificial ritual which was a common oath-taking act in ancient mid-Eastern civilization.

Now a basic insight into the culture of ancient Hebrews: it was only the inferior of the two parties that would walk through this bloodied path. It was understood that it was gracious enough of the superior to simply have relationship or need of the inferior, and because of this, the former was not bound to the violent consequence of breaking such an oath. The inferior would then pass between the halved carcasses in symbolic fashion signifying that the result of breaking such an agreement for himself would be the same as that of the beasts on either side. (If they were peers or of equal socio-economic standing, then both would pass and be held responsible.)

With this insight, so much more weight can be placed on the mystical and divine journey of God down this path in verse 17. In humility, the glory of God descended to the level of Abram and bound Himself out of love and holiness to the covenant He promised. Secondly, we must also note that it was just as amazing that one who passed through it, did, as the one who should have, didn't. Interestingly, God doesn't expect any act or leave any responsibility to Abram, except to believe (which he did, "and it was credited to him as righteousness" // Romans 4:22). He takes all responsibility upon Himself.

I'll leave it to you to take what you want out of this little insight into history, but the action of God in this story is the crux of the matter (literally, and metaphorically) in all of history. Centuries later, the Son also offered Himself out of love and holiness to fulfill a duty and promise, this time taking the consequence of our breaking a standard. And once again, He leaves the same singular responsibility (or opportunity) to the nations (John 3:16).