“When the sun had gone down and it was dark, behold, a smoking firepot and a flaming torch passed between these pieces.” (Genesis 15:17)
In Sunday’s first reading, God commits himself to Abraham through a blaze of glory. As we know from Jeremiah (34:18-19), it was customary to walk between cut-in-half animals as a sign of a commitment, the implication being that one who breaks it will be cut in half too.
So when God passed between the split carcasses, He promised to make Abraham’s offspring as many as the stars (Genesis 15:5), while He shone forth with flames, like a star Himself. Abraham in his slumber would never have dreamed that God would break His word and suffer the curse symbolised.
