Genesis 15 - Some Mantic Shiznit
Horrible dreams and floating fires
This is a short and weird passage, containing one of the most important covenants in the Bible (the one that establishes the Nation of Israel) and some pretty weird stuff with animal innards, prophetic dreams, and whatnot--probably not methods likely to be practiced by today's True Believers, and certainly not by those who "appear to be intellectual"!
For some little while, the god has been alluding to a covenant with Abram; here and in the succeeding chapters he spells it out more clearly. See the Lesson on Genesis 12 for more.
The Story
So the god appears to Abram "in a vision" after the events of Chapter 14 (the war with the Mesopotamians, the rescue of Lot, and the exchange with Melchizedek) and says not to be afraid, that he will be protected and rewarded. (This "reward" may be to cheer Abram up, as he got nothing from the encounter with the Mesopotamians.) And Abram asks, "What can you give me, when I have no son to leave it to?" His only heir is a servant, one otherwise-unknown Eliezer of Damascus. (Someone said, "What good is success without a successor?")
The Vision of the Lord Directing Abram to Count the Stars; woodcut by Julius Schnorr von Carolsfeld from the 1860 Bible in Pictures (Wikipedia)
And the god says, No, the servant is not going to be your heir; I will give you a legit son. Then he tells Abe to look at the stars, and challenges him to count them (as with the "dust" in Chapter 13), and tells him his descendants will be that many.
So Abram believes him, which the god "counted to him for righteousness." He reintroduces himself ("I am the LORD that brought you out of Ur of the Chaldees") and restates his purpose ("to give you this land as an inheritance.")
When Abram asks for proof, the god tells him to cut in half some three-year-old animals and toss in a couple of whole birds, and lay them all out under the open sky, where Abram had to chase away "fowls"--presumably buzzards or some other scavengers--that came down to eat the animals' flesh.
At sunset, Abram falls asleep, and has some sort of scary experience ("an horror of great darkness"), then (apparently while he's still asleep) the god tells him that his descendants "will be strangers in a land not their own"--presumably a reference to his great-grandson Joseph and his father Jacob (Israel) and brothers ending up in Egypt--and be "mistreated for four hundred years." But not to worry, they'll be rich when they leave there.
Abram is to die at a "ripe old age" (175, as it turns out) and his descendants will return four generations after... something, because the Amorites are sinning more and more with the passage of time.
Twenty-four hours later, again at sundown, a sort of flying firepot and a burning lamp pass between the split carcasses, without any further explanation. Then the god repeats his promise of land, redefines the terms, and adds a long list of tribes without a grammatical connection to what went before, leaving us to guess what he's talking about.
Divination? Or...
The art of divination, defined as "the practice of seeking knowledge of the future or the unknown by supernatural means," is generally frowned on in the Bible. Numerous verses directly prohibit it, with certain practices resulting in the death penalty. Yet, in English, the root of divination (from the Latin divinare) is the same as that of "divine," or godly.
And herein lies the problem: To turn to other means of knowing the future--cloud-reading, invoking visions through the controlled use of drugs, consulting spirits through mediums, and so on--is to exhibit a lack of faith in what God has in store.
Abram Guarding His Sacrifice; watercolor circa 1896-1902 by James Tissot (Wikipedia)
So this story, of "sacrificial victims" being laid out in the sun, strikes an odd note. But there is some reason to doubt that this is a divinatory act at all.
The key is the moment when a couple of floating fires--one in a brazier, one in a lamp--go floating along between the halved bodies of the animals. (What happened to the two birds is anyone's guess.) It is believed that what we have here is a ceremony for the confirmation of an agreement. It is left unexplained on the theory that the initial hearers/readers of the story would understand exactly what it meant.
Let's say you and I entered into a sort of mutual defense pact, promising to come to one another's aid in the event of attack. We want to seal the deal, but there are no written contracts or notary publics, so what we do is, we kill some animals, lay out their carcasses symmetrically, and walk between them together. The bloodshed (and the act of cutting an animal in two along its midline--yuck) emphasizes the seriousness of the moment, and the scene implies a veiled threat that something similar to this gruesome act could happen to the one who breaks the agreement.
But wait, you say; Abram didn't tiptoe through the gore. That's right, only the god did, in the form of a fire (well, actually, two fires). That's because this is a unilateral promise. Abram doesn't have to do anything but believe in the promise; it's the god, personified by the flames, who has to fulfill the agreement. (Wait 'til you see what humans have to do to swear to the covenant--oy vey!)
So, although it reads like a typical "sacrifice," note that no offering is actually made. And as for divination, there's no reading of the entrails, or throwing them against a rock to see what sticks, or whatever. The god does prophesy, about Abram's descendants going to another land, etc.; but Abram doesn't have to do any "reading." Maybe it's more like stepping on a glass as part of a wedding vow, or having a bishop slap your face at confirmation (a now outdated custom). Only written large.
But: Pity the poor animals.
"I AM"
Some of us were amused to learn at some point in our young lives that Popeye was emulating (if not mocking) the god when he said, "I yam what I yam (and dat's all what I yam!)"
Burning Bush; seventeenth-century painting by Sébastien Bourdon in the Hermitage Museum, Saint Petersburg (Wikipedia)
Because one of the very famous Hebrew names of the god, translated "Jehovah" (but today more correctly rendered "Yahweh"), results from the story, in Exodus 3, about Moses encountering the god in the form of a burning bush. When he gives Moses a commission, Moses asks, "Whom shall I say sent me?" and the god gives his "name":
"I Am That I Am"; and he said, "Thus shalt thou say unto the children of Israel, I Am hath sent me unto you."
We'll get into the Hebrew grammar of this statement when we reach that chapter in a few months, but for now let me tell you this: I have it on good authority that the god refers to himself using phrases that begin "I am" over 300 times in the Bible, and Genesis 15:1 is the very first time.
In fact, he does it twice in this chapter alone. In Verse 1, he tells Abram not to be afraid, because he will protect him, and not to worry about financial matters (having just given up any reward from his actions in Chapter 14), saying, as the KJV has it:
I am thy shield, and thy exceeding great reward.
Then, in verse 7, he identifies himself, not just by his name, but by his actions:
I am the LORD that brought thee out of Ur of the Chaldees, to give thee this land to inherit it.
Jesus will continue this practice in very familiar verses like "I am the bread of life" [John 6:35] and "I am the light of the world" [John 8:12] and so on.
One pious way of referring to the god today is as "The Great I AM."
"The Word of the Lord"
"The Word of the Lord" is another loaded expression. I have obliterated it in my paraphrase, but verse 1 reads:
After these things the word of the LORD came unto Abram in a vision...
and Verse 4:
And, behold, the word of the LORD came unto him, saying...
Now, somewhere in the deep dark recesses of my mind I recall taking a summer course in seminary (yes, I spent a while in a part-time diocesan seminary, intending to become an Episcopal priest; but then I swerved...) Anyway, it was a course in Biblical Hebrew, in which the final exam was to translate the sixth chapter of Jonah (which we had been studying), with the aid, of course, of a dictionary and other "helps."
And even more dimly, if that were possible, I recall that a phrase in the first verse of Jonah, which in the King James is
the word of the Lord came unto Jonah
is better (if less grammatically) translated something like
and there was to Jonah a word of the lord
my point being that the verb was not "came" but "was," a form of the same verb found in (wait for it!) "I AM."
The Word doesn't come, it just is. This is marvelous, and deserves more grokking than I can give it here.
A Deep Sleep Fell Upon Abram and a Horror Seized Him; illustration from the 1728 Figures de la Bible (Wikipedia)
The expression "Word of the Lord" is used to describe the Bible: after lessons are read in the church in which I grew up, the reader would intone, "The Word of the Lord" and the congregation would answer, "Thanks Be to God."
It is also used to mean Jesus: John 1:1 begins,
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.
This is a rich and powerful concept; the Greek word for "word" is logos, which can mean an organizing principle, and is the basis of the -(o)logy ending in words like "biology" and "theology."
But back to Chapter 15 of Genesis: What Abram was experiencing was not a "voice in the ear"; the Word of the Lord came (or was) in the form of visions and dreams. True Believers will tell you this was the Second Person of the Trinity ("The Word") expressing himself (allusion intended) before his incarnation. They are free to believe that, but I see it as more, I don't know, transcendent, or mysterious or something. Boxing it up into a packaged theology just seems to me to be a disservice to the whole story.
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Enough. Let's do the Text and Footnotes thing.
The Text: Shield and Reward (15:1-5)
See the Mini-Sermons on "I AM" and "The Word of the LORD" above
15:1 After Abram rescued Lot and met Melchizedek, the LORD told Abram in a vision, "Don't be afraid, Abram: I will protect you, and reward you greatly."
15:2 And Abram said, "Lord GOD, what can you give me, since I'm childless, and my only heir is Eliezer of Damascus?
15:3 "Look, you have given me no children, and a servant in my house is my heir."
15:4 And the LORD replied, "[Eliezer] will not be your heir; but someone of your own flesh and blood will be your heir."
15:5 And the LORD brought Abram outside, and said, "Look toward heaven, and count the stars, if you are able to number them." And he added, "Your descendants will be the same."
15:1 After Abram rescued Lot and met Melchizedek: KJV just has "After these things"; I have supplied the "things."
15:1 "Don't be afraid…": The source of Abram's possible fear is not given. It has been suggested that he may be afraid of retaliation by the kings; I think it more likely that he would freak out at the sudden appearance of the god.
15:2 "my only heir": KJV has "the steward of my house." This may be a servant or even slave, but as verse 3 makes clear, he will tend Abram's property, not only while Abram lives, but after his death. Bequeathing one's estate to a (usually adopted) slave was not uncommon.
15:3 "children": KJV "seed," as with "descendants" throughout the text
15:4 "someone of your own flesh and blood": KJV "he that shall come forth out of thine own bowels"--a rather shocking image when you think of it, but "bowels" in the KJV can mean "the interior of something," the way we say "the bowels of the earth." The expression "bowels of mercy" was a common one, as the (literal) bowels, like the heart today, were considered the seat of compassion.
15:5 outside: KJV "abroad"
15:5 "count the stars": KJV "tell the stars." The understanding of "tell" as "count" survives in the job description "bank teller" (and ATM!). The number of stars in the universe, incidentally, is today estimated at 1,000,000,000,000,000,000,000. As with the "dust" in Chapter 13, Abe's descendants have a ways to go!
The Text: Slaughter (15:6-11)
15:6 And Abram believed in the LORD, and the LORD counted him righteous for it.
15:7 And the LORD said to Abram, "I am the LORD that brought you out of Ur of the Chaldees, to give you this land as an inheritance."
15:8 And Abram said, "Lord GOD, how can I know that I will inherit it?"
15:9 And the LORD said unto Abram, "Bring me a heifer, and a nanny goat, and a ram, all three years old, and also a dove and a young pigeon."
15:10 And Abram brought him all of these, and cut the animals in half, and laid them out with the halves facing each other; but he didn't cut up the birds.
15:11 Carrion birds came down on the carcasses, but Abram drove them away.
15:6 the LORD counted him righteous for it: Abram had just doubted the god ("what can you give me"), and is about to again ("how can I know?"), but for that split second, this was enough.
15:7 "I am the LORD...": See the Mini-Sermon "I AM" above.
15:7 "that brought you out of Ur of the Chaldees": See the lesson on Genesis 11.
15:8 "how can I know": Interesting to think of Abram demanding proof. Did he get it?
15:9 "three years old": I have no idea why.
15:9 "a dove and a young pigeon": Where did they go? Maybe they were offered as sacrifices?
15:10 "in half": KJV "in the midst"
15:11 Carrion birds: KJV "fowls"
The Text: Prophecy (15:12-16)
15:12 And when the sun was going down, Abram fell deep asleep; and a horrible, great darkness fell over him.
15:13 Then the LORD said, "Know for sure that your descendants will be strangers in a land not their own, and will be slaves there, and will be mistreated for four hundred years;
15:14 "And I will judge the nation your descendants will serve, and when they leave there your descendants will have great material wealth.
15:15 "You will go to your ancestors in peace, and be buried at a ripe old age.
15:16 "But in the fourth generation they will return here, as the sin of the Amorites is still increasing.
15:12 And when the sun was going down: This section and the next begin at sunset (a day apart), the start of the day in Jewish tradition. Both stories involve what would have to be "night moves," things not nearly as impressive by day.
15:12 Abram fell deep asleep etc.: I love the KJV here: "a deep sleep fell upon Abram; and, lo, an horror of great darkness fell upon him."
15:13 "your descendants will be strangers in a land not their own": No one doubts that this "prophecy" (surely written long after it happened) is about Abram's great-grandson Joseph heading into Egypt, and the whole crew staying there until Moses came along to lead them out. Exodus 12:41 says, "And it came to pass at the end of the four hundred and thirty years, even the selfsame day it came to pass, that all the hosts of the LORD went out from the land of Egypt." We'll address the thirty-year discrepancy when we get there.
15:15 "You will go to your ancestors in peace": The insertion of Abram's death here strikes an odd note. He died at 175 years old, in Genesis Chapter 25; Joseph doesn't head for Egypt (as a slave) until Chapter 37, long after his demise. So why?
15:16 "in the fourth generation": "The fourth generation" of what? There's no way that four generations equals four hundred years! My theory: maybe a scribe screwed up (maybe the same one who suddenly stuck Abraham's death in here out of order) and wrote "generation" instead of "century," so it means, "In the fourth century (after they went there), they came back." Or maybe it's simpler than that: the Hebrew word for "generation" can also mean "period of time." So four periods of time (that is centuries) will pass. It's also evocative that Joseph, who (accidentally) initiated the whole Egypt project, was the fourth generation from Abraham (Abraham - Isaac - Jacob - Joseph). Maybe after four generations they went there? I dunno.
The Text: Covenant by Fire (15:17-21)
15:17 When the sun went down, and it was dark, a smoking brazier and a burning lamp passed between the pieces Abram had cut up.
15:18 On that day the LORD made a covenant with Abram, saying, "I have given this land to your descendants, from the river of Egypt to the great river Euphrates:
15:19 "The Kenites, Kenizzites, Kadmonites,
15:20 "Hittites, Perizzites, Rephaims,
15:21 "Amorites, Canaanites, Girgashites, and Jebusites."
15:17 a smoking brazier and a burning lamp... See the Mini-Sermon "Divination? Or..." above.
15:18 the LORD made a covenant: It's official.
15:18 "the river of Egypt": It would be easy to assume this means the Nile, but it seems it doesn't. It may be the Wadi El-Arish, which runs out of the Sinai Peninsula into the Mediterranean fairly close to the modern border between Israel and Egypt, well east of the Nile Delta. See the approximate location on the map above.
15:19-21 "The Kenites" et al: Note that the list is just stuck there; modern translations add before it "in the land of…" to make it grammatical. The original feels more like someone made notes and forgot to flesh out the idea. Anyway, these are the peoples who would be evicted from their land when the Israelites come back in four centuries--allegedly for their sins, and not just out of territorial aggression. I won't belabor the differences between all of these; we met a few of them in the Lesson on Genesis 14.
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And that brings this phantasmagoria to a close. In the next lesson: Call him Ishmael.
'Til soon!