Genesis 15:10

15:10 So Abram ¹  took all these for him and then cut them in two ²  and placed each half opposite the other, ³  but he did not cut the birds in half.

Genesis 15:17-18

15:17 When the sun had gone down and it was dark, a smoking firepot with a flaming torch ⁴  passed between the animal parts. ⁵  15:18 That day the Lord made a covenant ⁶  with Abram: “To your descendants I give ⁷  this land, from the river of Egypt ⁸  to the great river, the Euphrates River –

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¹ tn Heb “he”; the referent (Abram) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

² tn Heb “in the middle.”

³ tn Heb “to meet its neighbor.”

sn For discussion of this ritual see G. F. Hasel, “The Meaning of the Animal Rite in Genesis 15,” JSOT 19 (1981): 61-78.

⁴ sn A smoking pot with a flaming torch. These same implements were used in Mesopotamian rituals designed to ward off evil (see E. A. Speiser, Genesis [AB], 113-14).

⁵ tn Heb “these pieces.”

⁶ tn Heb “cut a covenant.”

⁷ tn The perfect verbal form is understood as instantaneous (“I here and now give”). Another option is to understand it as rhetorical, indicating certitude (“I have given” meaning it is as good as done, i.e., “I will surely give”).

sn To your descendants I give this land. The Lord here unconditionally promises that Abram’s descendants will possess the land, but he does not yet ratify his earlier promises to give Abram a multitude of descendants and eternal possession of the land. The fulfillment of those aspects of the promise remain conditional (see Gen 17:1-8) and are ratified after Abraham offers up his son Isaac (see Gen 22:1-19). For a fuller discussion see R. B. Chisholm, “Evidence from Genesis,” A Case for Premillennialism, 35-54.

⁸ sn The river of Egypt is a wadi (a seasonal stream) on the northeastern border of Egypt, not to the River Nile.