The sign and the cut animals
The Lord says, “I am the Lord, who brought you out of Ur of the Chaldeans to give you this land to possess.” That word is already pointed to from Gen 11:31 → Gen 15:7 and Gen 12:1 → Gen 15:7; those records are not reversed here, and the land promise of chapters 12 and 13 is pointed to, not taken up again. Abram asks, “Lord GOD, how can I know that I will possess it?” The question comes after he has believed (15:6). The Lord answers, “Bring Me a heifer, a goat, and a ram, each three years old, along with a turtledove and a young pigeon.” Meshullash may mean “three years old” or “threefold”; BSB and the Greek take it as age. Abram “split each of them down the middle, and laid the halves opposite each other. The birds, however, he did not cut in half.” “The birds of prey descended on the carcasses, but Abram drove them away”: the Hebrew has “them” before Abram (אֹתָם אַבְרָם). The Greek has “and Abram sat down with them,” a box line; no Hebrew is reconstructed from it. Josephus notes that “he divided the three former, but the birds he did not divide.” The wording is in Three-year-old animals, halves and birds of prey. The meaning of the rite is taken up at 15:17. See The animals, the birds, and the fire, in early reading.
Claims
- SaysThe Lord who brought Abram out of Ur of the Chaldeans promises the land; Abram asks how he will know; the Lord commands a heifer, a goat, and a ram, each three years old, with a turtledove and a young pigeon; Abram splits the first three and does not cut the birds; the birds of prey descend, and Abram drives them away, with “them” before Abram in the Hebrew.
- ImpliesThe question comes after Abram has believed; the Lord answers it with the rite of 15:9–21; the records that already point to 15:7 from 11:31 and 12:1 are not reversed, and the land promise of chapters 12 and 13 is pointed to, not taken up again.
- UncertainMeshullash may mean three years old or threefold; the Greek “sat down with them” is a box line, and no Hebrew is reconstructed from it; the meaning of the rite is taken up at 15:17.
Citations
- BSB public domain Gen 15:7–11
- OSHB CC BY 4.0 Gen 15:7–11 (WLC/OSHB), cantillation removed
- LXX (Swete) CC BY-SA 4.0 Gen 15:1–21, vol. 1, pp. 23–24 (oldtestamentingr01swetuoft, viewer leaves n54–n55), as recorded in the Greek language notes of this chapter
- Josephus (Whiston) public domain p. 31 (leaf n40)
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2026-11-12
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