The Covenant Completed (Genesis 17-21)

17 When the sun had gone down and it was dark, behold, a smoking fire pot and a flaming torch passed between these pieces. [Smoke and fire are symbolic of the presence of God.] 18 On that day the Lord made a covenant with Abram [God alone made the promise], saying, “To your offspring I give this land, from the river of Egypt to the great river, the river Euphrates, 19 the land of the Kenites, the Kenizzites, the Kadmonites, 20 the Hittites, the Perizzites, the Rephaim, 21 the Amorites, the Canaanites, the Girgashites and the Jebusites.” [The rest of the Pentateuch insists that it is the promise to Abram that is the ground for the exodus. The act of making a covenant by walking between splayed animals was common at the time. The representation was that what had happened to the animal should happen to the covenant maker if he were to fail to keep covenant. That God alone walks through, after putting Abram in a deep sleep, points forward to the crucifixion where God died to end an old covenant and begin a new one. Jesus died instead of us who are children of Abraham. Additionally, Abram appears as a sort of priest preparing a sacrifice. Within the OT these same features reappear in the figure of Moses, and the NT sees Jesus as prophet, priest, and king. In exercising faith, the people of the new covenant both imitate Christ and also walk in the footsteps of our forefather Abraham.]