9, 10. The preparations for the covenant ceremony; on
which see below, p. 283. Although not strictly sacrificial,[1]
the operation conforms to later Levitical usage in so far as
the animals are all such as were allowed in sacrifice, and
the birds are not divided (Lv. 117).—of three years old] This
is obviously the meaning of (
Hebrew characters) here (cf. 1 Sa. 124 [G]:
elsewhere = 'threefold,' Ezk. 426, Ec. 412). TO, which renders
'three' (calves, etc.), is curiously enough the only Vn. that
misses the sense; and it is followed by Ber. R., Ra. al. On
the number three in the OT, see Stade, ZATW, xxvi.
124 ff. [esp. 127 f.].—11. The descent of the unclean birds of
prey ((Hebrew characters)), and Abram's driving them away, is a sacrificial
omen of the kind familiar to antiquity.[2] The interpretation
seems to follow in 13-16 (Di. Gu.).—12. (Hebrew characters) (G (Greek characters))
is the condition most favourable for the reception of visions
(see on 221).—a great horror] caused by the approach of the
deity (omit (Hebrew characters) as a gloss). The text is mixed (see below),
and the two representations belong, the one to J, and the
other to E (Gu.). The scene is a vivid transcript of primitive
religious experience. The bloody ceremony just described
was no perfunctory piece of symbolism; it touched the mind
below the level of consciousness; and that impression
(heightened in this case by the growing darkness) induced a
susceptibility to psychical influences readily culminating in
ecstasy or vision.—13-16. An oracle in which is unfolded
the destiny of Abram's descendants to the 4th generation.
It is to be noted that the prediction relates to the fortunes
of Abram's 'seed,' the mention of the land (16) being in-
9. (Hebrew characters) Dt. 3211[B] = young of the vulture; but here = 'young dove';
Ar. ǧauzal; Syr. (Syriac characters).—10. (Hebrew characters)] a technical term; the vb. only here;
cf. (Hebrew characters), Jer. 3418. 19—(Hebrew characters)] [E] (Hebrew characters) (inf. abs.).—(Hebrew characters)] cf. 95; G-K.
§ 139 c.—11. (Hebrew characters)] GA (Greek characters); a conflation of
(Hebrew characters) and (Hebrew characters) (v.17).—(Hebrew characters)] Hiph. of (Hebrew characters) only here in the sense of 'scare
away': so Aq. ((Greek characters)) SV. TO read (Hebrew characters), which is less expressive;
and G (Hebrew characters) is quite inadmissible.—12. (Hebrew characters)—(Hebrew characters)] G-K. § 114 i; cf.
