Breaking The Jewish Code Perry Stone

ceremony, which invoked oaths and binding agreements. God passed between the pieces, sealing the covenant in the sacrificial blood. And it came to pass, when the sun went down and it was dark, that behold, there appeared a smoking oven and a burning torch that passed between those pieces. On the same day the LORD made a covenant with Abram. —Genesis 15:17–18 From the arrangement of the dividing of the parts of the sacrifice came the expression that literally denoted “to cut covenant” (similar idioms are found in Greek and Latin).2 The very Hebrew word for covenant, b’rit , carries the implication of an agreement made with blood since the cutting symbolism involves a cutting and dividing of an animal sacrifice. The division of the animals into two parts represented the agreement between the two parties. Ancient legal contracts (or covenants) had an official seal attached to the parchment. From the time of the Egyptians to the Roman Empire, rings with specific emblems (called signet rings ) were used to seal legal documents by pressing the ring onto hot wax.3 In Genesis 15, God entered a binding covenant with Abraham and sealed the agreement when a flaming torch passed between the pieces of the sacrifices. The Jewish commentaries note that in the ancient East, normally the weaker party in a covenant would walk between the pieces, indicating that person’s fate if he violated the