The Terror of the Covenant: God’s Walk Between the Pieces 🥩
The most foundational covenant in the Old Testament is the Abrahamic Covenant (Genesis 15), where God guarantees the promise of land and descendants. The shocking element is the ritual used to seal it, which holds a terrifying, often-overlooked meaning about judgment.
1. The Covenant Ritual
After Abraham expresses doubt, God instructs him to take several animals—a heifer, a female goat, a ram (all three years old), a turtledove, and a young pigeon—and cut them in half, laying the pieces opposite each other to form a bloody pathway (Genesis 15:9-10).
- The Ancient Practice: This act was a common ancient Near Eastern ritual for solemnizing a treaty. The parties would walk through the bloody path and essentially declare: “May I be cut in half, just like these animals, if I break this covenant.” It was a self-maledictory oath.
2. The Shocking Twist
After Abraham falls into a deep sleep, the shocking moment occurs: God alone passes through the pieces, represented by a smoking firepot and a flaming torch (Genesis 15:17).
- The Unilateral Oath: God does not require Abraham to walk through the pieces. Instead, God takes the terrible oath entirely upon Himself. This signifies that the covenant is entirely unilateral and based solely on God’s character, not Abraham’s ability to keep it.
- The Double-Edged Curse: By walking the path alone, God is essentially declaring two terrifying truths:
- If I break My promise to you, may I be cut in half. (Guaranteed commitment to the promise).
- Since you will break the covenant (the Law), I will bear the penalty of being “cut in half” on your behalf. (Foreshadowing Christ’s ultimate sacrifice).
The shocking part is that the omnipresent God volunteers to submit to the curse of utter destruction (death and dismemberment) to guarantee a promise to a human being.
3. The Eschatological Tie
This ritual is the ultimate foundation for the New Covenant. The “cutting” of the covenant is fulfilled by Christ, whose body was “cut” on the cross to satisfy the demands of the ritual and the Law. His blood became the ultimate confirmation of the unilateral, terrifying promise that the righteous penalty has been paid for the redeemed.
The Return Question
If the foundational covenant promise required God Himself to submit to the terrifying curse of being “cut in half,” how does this truth change your view of the cost of grace, and what specific doubt are you still holding onto that implies you distrust God’s willingness to pay the ultimate price?