Verse 8
Abram requested a sign, a supernatural verification that God would indeed fulfill the distant promise. His request shows that he was taking God seriously.
"Requests for signs were not unusual in Old Testament times. They were not so much to discover God’s will as to confirm it." [Note: Davis, p. 186.]
God responded by making a covenant with Abram (Genesis 15:9-12; Genesis 15:17).
"Only after he had been counted righteous by his faith could Abraham enter into God’s covenant." [Note: Sailhamer, The Pentateuch . . ., p. 152.]
"Four rites are mentioned [in the Old Testament] as parts of the covenant making event. They are the setting of a stone or a group of stones, the taking of an oath, the sacrifice of animals, and/or a communal meal." [Note: Livingston, p. 157.]
This rite (the sacrifice of animals) normally involved two parties dividing an animal into two equal parts, joining hands, and passing between the two parts (cf. Jeremiah 34:18-19). On this occasion, however, God alone passed between the parts indicating that Abram had no obligations to fulfill to receive the covenant promises (Genesis 15:17).
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