the sun · definite article + noun, common both genders singular absolute
down
בָּ֔אָהBa.'ah
H935
to go or come (in a wide variety of applications) · verb, qal perfect, 3rd person feminine singular
dark
וַעֲלָטָ֖הva.'a.la.Tah
H5939
dusk · conjunction + noun, common feminine singular absolute
smoking
עָשָׁן֙'a.Shan
H6227
smoke · noun, common masculine singular absolute
furnace
תַנּ֤וּרta.Nur
H8574
a fire-pot · noun, common masculine singular construct
burning
אֵ֔שׁ'Esh
H784
fire (literally or figuratively) · noun, common both genders singular absolute
lamp
וְלַפִּ֣ידve.la.Pid
H3940
a flambeau · conjunction + noun, common masculine singular construct
passed
עָבַ֔ר'a.Var
H5674
to cross over · verb, qal perfect, 3rd person masculine singular
between
בֵּ֖יןbein
H996
between (repeated before each noun · cardinal number, masculine singular construct
pieces
הַגְּזָרִ֥יםha.ge.za.Rim
H1506
something cut off · definite article + noun, common masculine plural absolute
Strong's Exhaustive Concordance (James Strong, 1890/1894), public domain; digitized by Open Scriptures (CC BY-SA). KJV word tagging: eBible.org (public domain). Original-language text, parsing and brief lexicon: STEPBible.org data from Tyndale House, Cambridge (CC BY 4.0).
Cross-references
Jeremiah 34:18-19 And I will give the men that have transgressed my covenant, which have not performed the words of the covenant which they had made before me…
Judges 6:21 Then the angel of the LORD put forth the end of the staff that was in his hand, and touched the flesh and the unleavened cakes; and there ro…
Jeremiah 11:4 Which I commanded your fathers in the day that I brought them forth out of the land of Egypt, from the iron furnace, saying, Obey my voice,…
Exodus 3:2-3 And the angel of the LORD appeared unto him in a flame of fire out of the midst of a bush: and he looked, and, behold, the bush burned with…
1 Chronicles 21:26 And David built there an altar unto the LORD, and offered burnt offerings and peace offerings, and called upon the LORD; and he answered him…
Deuteronomy 4:20 But the LORD hath taken you, and brought you forth out of the iron furnace, even out of Egypt, to be unto him a people of inheritance, as ye…
Judges 13:20 For it came to pass, when the flame went up toward heaven from off the altar, that the angel of the LORD ascended in the flame of the altar.…
2 Samuel 22:9 There went up a smoke out of his nostrils, and fire out of his mouth devoured: coals were kindled by it.
Cross-references from OpenBible.info (CC BY), in the lineage of the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (public domain).
Commentary
Matthew Henry on Genesis 15:17–end
Here is, I. The covenant ratified (Gen 15:17); the sign which Abram desired was given, at length, when the sun had gone down, so that it was dark; for that was a dark dispensation.
1. The smoking furnace signified the affliction of his seed in Egypt. They were there in the iron furnace (Deu 4:20), the furnace of affliction (Isa 48:10), labouring in the very fire. They were there in the smoke, their eyes darkened, that they could not see to the end of their troubles, and themselves at a loss to conceive what God would do with them. Clouds and darkness were round about them.
2. The burning lamp denotes comfort in this affliction; and this God showed to Abram, at the same time that he showed hi…
Take me an heifer, &c.--On occasions of great importance, when two or more parties join in a compact, they either observe precisely the same rites as Abram did, or, where they do not, they invoke the lamp as their witness. According to these ideas, which have been from time immemorial engraven on the minds of Eastern people, the Lord Himself condescended to enter into covenant with Abram. The patriarch did not pass between the sacrifice and the reason was that in this transaction he was bound to nothing. He asked a sign, and God was pleased to give him a sign, by which, according to Eastern ideas, He bound Himself. In like manner God has entered into covenant with us; and in the glory of the…
Smoking furnace and a burning lamp - Probably the smoking furnace might be designed as an emblem of the sore afflictions of the Israelites in Egypt; but the burning lamp was certainly the symbol of the Divine presence, which, passing between the pieces, ratified the covenant with Abram, as the following verse immediately states.
John Gill on Genesis 15:17
And it came to pass, when the sun went down,.... It was going down when the deep sleep fell on Abram, and now it was quite gone or set:
and it was dark; which is not always the case as soon as the sun is set, there is a twilight for a while, and if a clear night the stars appear; but, as Aben Ezra observes, this was a dark and cloudy night; so it was a dark night, a time of great affliction and distress to the posterity of Abram, when their sun was set, or after the death of Joseph:
behold a smoking furnace; or the likeness of one, as Aben Ezra notes; for all this was represented in a visionary way to Abram, and was an emblem of the great troubles and afflictions of the children of Israel…
The Church Fathers
So when the sun had set, a dense darkness came over, and a smoking furnace appeared, and a blazing torch passed between the pieces. This darkness and the fire furnace occurring after the sunset signifies that at the end of the world, the carnal will be judged by fire. For just as the affliction of the City of God, such as never was before and is expected to come under the Antichrist, is signified by the frightening darkness upon Abraham at sunset, that is, as the end of the age approaches; so at sunset, that is, at the end itself, it is signified by this fire that the day of judgment will save the carnal through fire and condemn them in fire.
Therefore, in order that we may not come to this torture of soul, let us awake while there is time for correction and like good, profitable servants seek the will of our Lord. Then when that dreadful day of judgment comes, which is dreaded exceedingly even by the good and was signified by that burning, smoking oven, we will not be tormented in hell by avenging flames in company with carnal people. These souls were signified by the animals, because they can be divided by various contentious desires. Let us rather show the simplicity of the pigeon and the chastity of the turtledove, so that we may be raised to heaven on the spiritual wings of virtue. According to the apostle's words, "We shall be caught up together with them in clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we shall ever be with the Lord" with the help of our Lord Jesus Christ, to whom is honor and glory together with the Father and the Holy Spirit world without end. Amen.
When it is added, "And when the sun was now setting there was a flame, and lo, a smoking furnace, and lamps of fire, which passed through between those pieces," this signifies that at the end of the world the carnal shall be judged by fire. The affliction of the city of God, such as never was before, which is expected to take place under Antichrist, was prefigured by Abraham's horror of great darkness about the going down of the sun. When the end of the world draws nigh, so at the going down of the sun, that is, at the very end of the world, there is signified by that fire the day of judgment, which separates the carnal who are to be saved by fire from the carnal who are to be condemned in the fire. And then the covenant made with Abraham particularly sets forth the land of Canaan and names eleven tribes in it from the river of Egypt even to the great river Euphrates. It is not then from the great river of Egypt, that is, the Nile, but from a small one that separates Egypt from Palestine, where the city of Rhinocorura is.
Dictionary and topics
Calf — Calves were commonly made use of in sacrifices, and are therefore frequently mentioned in Scripture. The “fatted calf” was regarded as the choicest of animal food; it was frequently also offered as a…
Chronology — Is the arrangement of facts and events in the order of time. The writers of the Bible themselves do not adopt any standard era according to which they date events. Sometimes the years are reckoned,…
Covenant — A contract or agreement between two parties. In the Old Testament the Hebrew word berith is always thus translated. Berith is derived from a root which means “to cut,” and hence a covenant is a…
Furnace — (1.) Chald. attun, a large furnace with a wide open mouth, at the top of which materials were cast in (Dan. 3:22, 23; comp. Jer. 29:22). This furnace would be in constant requisition, for the…
Oath — A solemn appeal to God, permitted on fitting occasions (Deut. 6:13; Jer. 4:2), in various forms (Gen. 16:5; 2 Sam. 12:5; Ruth 1:17; Hos. 4:15; Rom. 1:9), and taken in different ways (Gen. 14:22;…
Abraham · General references — General references
Condescension Of God · Enters into covenant with Abraham — Enters into covenant with Abraham
Covenant · By offering a sacrifice — By offering a sacrifice
Covenant, The · Made with: Abraham — Made with: Abraham
Covenants · Made by passing between the pieces of the divided sacrifices — Made by passing between the pieces of the divided sacrifices
Darkness · Caused by the setting of the sun — Caused by the setting of the sun
Behold , a smoking furnace. Again a new vision was added, to confirm his faith in the oracle. At first, Abram was horror-struck with the thick darkness; now, in the midst of a smoking furnace, he sees a burning lamp. Many suppose that a sacrifice was consumed with this fire; but I rather interpret it as a symbol of future deliverance, which would well agree with the fact itself. For there are two things contrary to each other in appearance; the obscurity of smoke, and the shining of a lamp. Hence Abram knew that light would, at length, emerge out of darkness. An analogy is always to be sought for between signs, and the things signified, that there may be a mutual correspondence between them.…
When the sun had gone down, and thick darkness had come on (היה impersonal), "behold a smoking furnace, and (with) a fiery torch, which passed between those pieces," - a description of what Abram saw in his deep prophetic sleep, corresponding to the mysterious character of the whole proceeding. תּנּוּר, a stove, is a cylindrical fire-pot, such as is used in the dwelling-houses of the East. The phenomenon, which passed through the pieces as they lay opposite to one another, resembled such a smoking stove, from which a fiery torch, i.e., a brilliant flame, was streaming forth. In this symbol Jehovah manifested Himself to Abram, just as He afterwards did to the people of Israel in the pillar of…
smoking firepot . . . flaming torch: Fire represented the Lord’s cleansing, consuming zeal and unapproachable holiness (cp. Isa 6:3-7). The holy God made (literally cut) a unilateral covenant with Abram; its promises were absolutely sure because they did not depend on what Abram or his descendants might do.
Rashi on Genesis 15:17
ויהי השמש באה AND IT CAME TO PASS, WHEN THE SUN WENT DOWN —Similar syntactical constructions are (42:35) ויהי הם מריקים שקיהם “And it came to pass when they were emptying their sacks”, and (2 Kings 13:21) ויהי הם קוברים איש “and it came to pass when they were burying a man” — as much as to say, and this thing happened (i. e. after ויהי supply the words דבר זה: “And this thing happened: the sun set etc.”)
השמש באה THE SUN CAME — i.e. set.
ועלטה היה THERE WAS THICK DARKNESS — darkness during the day-time
'והנה תנור עשן וגו BEHOLD A SMOKING FURNACE — He foreshadowed to him that these Monarchies would descend into Gehinom (Pirkei DeRabbi Eliezer 28).
באה IT (SHE) CAME — The accent is on the…
The Church Fathers: public-domain translations (Ante-Nicene and Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers), verse-indexed by SermonIndex (CC BY 4.0).
Fire · .Miraculously — .Miraculously
Lamp · Miraculously appeared at Abraham’s sacrifice — Miraculously appeared at Abraham’s sacrifice
Lamps · Described as: Burning — Described as: Burning
Miracles · .The fire on Abraham’s sacrifice — .The fire on Abraham’s sacrifice
Offerings · .Offered daily, morning and evening — .Offered daily, morning and evening
Sacrifices · The covenants of God confirmed by — The covenants of God confirmed by
Sign · .Abraham — .Abraham
Vision · .Concerning his — .Concerning his
Dictionary: Easton's (1897) and Smith's (1863), public domain. Topics: Nave's Topical Bible (1896) and Torrey's Topical Textbook (1897), public domain. Both as parsed by NEUU (CC BY 4.0).
