Cutting Animals in Half & Walking Between Them
Something weird happens in Genesis 15.
Abram cuts animals in half, and then God puts him in a trance where he becomes filled with terror. Then a flaming torch appears alongside a pot that would have been used like an oven for cooking. Together, the pot and the torch float between the two piles of animal carcasses that Abram had cut in half.
WHAT IS GOING ON?? This sounds like some straight-up witchcraft or something.
Animal Halves Were Used for Making Contracts
Thankfully, Jeremiah gives us some context on this practice.
Some people have broken My covenant. They didn’t fulfill their end of the contract they made in front of me when they cut the calf in two and passed between its parts. These people are Judah’s officials, Jerusalem’s officials, the court officers, the priests, and all the other Israelites who passed between the parts of the calf. I’ll hand them over to their enemies who seek their lives.
—Jeremiah 34:18–20 (Simple Bible)
It seems like walking between two halves of an animal carcass was a custom the ancient Israelites used for making covenants, alliances, and pledges. Scholars say that this practice implied that if someone broke the contract, they deserved to die just like the dead animals they were walking between.
Israel Walked Through Two Halves of the Red Sea
In Exodus after Pharaoh finally set the Israelites free, God split the Red Sea into two halves and the Israelites walked right through the two halves on dry ground. Every single Israelite walking through those halves would have been familiar with the way contracts were made. As they walked through the two halves of the sea, they must have been thinking about how similar it was to walking between two halves of dead animals. It’s kind of like Israel as a nation was walking into an alliance with God.
Jesus (God) Died to Start a New Contract
The alliance God made in Genesis 15 was between God and Abram. God vowed to give Abram a son who would bring about an entire nation. God promised to bring those people to the land of Canaan (modern-day Israel). Israel was God’s chosen people.
But then when Jesus came, God offered his alliance to non-Israelites too. Now anyone can be a part of God’s chosen people, even if they don’t have a Jewish background.
In a way, God “broke” his alliance with Israel to invite the rest of humanity into the alliance too. Since God broke the alliance, the custom suggests that he should die like the animal halves he walked through. The crazy thing is that God honored the custom and died through Jesus.
That’s how much he wanted to invite us into his alliance.
Related Passages:
Jeremiah 34
Related Articles:
Old Covenant vs New Covenant
Communion