Genesis 15:18

18. Made a covenant Hebrews, cut a covenant, in allusion to the cutting of the victims into pieces and passing between them . Abram had passed between the pieces before the sun went down, and now Jehovah completes the cutting of the covenant by causing the burning symbols of his presence to pass between the pieces and repeating, for the fourth time, Unto thy seed have I given this land. Comp . Genesis 15:7; Genesis 15:12, and Genesis 7:13; Genesis 7:15. The utmost boundaries of the land are here given as the river of Egypt on the southwest, unto the great river, the river Euphrates, on the north-east. The designation of the Euphrates as the great river favours the opinion that the river of Egypt is not the Nile, which was also great, but the wady-el-Arish, called the river (or brook נחל ) of Egypt, in Joshua 15:4. This view is further confirmed by the fact that the dominion of Israel did actually extend, in Solomon’s time, between these borders, (see 1 Kings 4:24,) but never extended to the Nile . Most commentators, however, understand the Nile here, and think these two great rivers are mentioned in a general way, as representing the two great nations or world-powers on the east and west of Canaan.