Abram’s Smoking Firepot & Blazing Torch

D. HUMOR – PROMISE KEPT?

1. A man loaned each of his 3 best friends -- a lawyer, doctor and clergyman -- $25,000 in cash. He asked that it be repaid at his death.

2. At the funeral, each of the men placed an envelope in the coffin. Afterward, they met and had coffee. The clergyman confessed that he only put $10,000 cash in the envelope.

3. Then the doctor hung his head and confessed that he’d only put $8,000 in cash due to hard times.

4. The lawyer was outraged, "I’m the only one who kept my promise. You are both witnesses that I put a check for the entire $25,000 in there!"

II. ELEMENTS OF COVENANTS FOUND HERE

A. TERMS AND OATH OF COVENANT

1. Moses summarized God's promise to Abraham as “I will make your descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky and I will give your descendants all this land I promised them, and it will be their inheritance forever” (Exodus 32:13).

2. The conditions, though unstated at this point but later stated to the Israelites, was that they were to obey the Lord and He was to be their God.

3. Hebrews says that God swore an oath to Abraham that day; “He swore by himself, saying, ‘I will surely bless you and give you many descendants.’” (Heb. 6:13-16).

B. CUTTING OF ANIMALS IN TWO

1. The cutting of animals in two was one of the oldest rites of the covenant, emphasized by its very name "to cut." The bloody halves were laid upward.

2. The covenanting parties would walk between the cloven animals invoking the curse; "If I fail to fulfill this covenant, may God do to me as is done to these animals."

3. Binding one's self with a curse was considered one of the strongest assurances that the covenant would be fulfilled. For another instance, see Jeremiah 34:18-20.

C. SYMBOL OF THE COVENANT

1. With the covenant of Noah, where God promised to never again flood the world, God gave the token of the rainbow as evidence that He would keep His promise.

2. When God made the covenant with Israel on Mount Sinai, he gave them the Sabbath as its remembrance.

3. With the covenant of Abraham, God gave the Israelites the symbol of circumcision (Genesis 17:11). This was the symbol that the Israelites were in covenant with God.

D. CHANGING OF NAMES

1. Abram and Sarai were given new names in keeping with their new status under the covenant God was making with them (Genesis 17:2-5, 15, 16).

2. Abram would now be called Abraham, "Father of Many." Sarai would now be called Sarah, "Princess, Queen."

III. SMOKING FIREPOT & BLAZING TORCH

A. THE SMOKING FIREPOT

1. A brazier is a portable container for fire, usually a metal bowl or box . (One devoted to burning incense is called a censor.)

2. Abraham took a brazier with him when offering Isaac on Mt. Moriah (Gen. 22:6).

3. The “smoking firepot” may represent the Father’s involvement in the covenant, or it may be a censor offering incense at the time the holy Sacrifice is promised.

B. THE BLAZING TORCH

1. God’s presence is always seen as a bright Light surrounded by cloud (Ex. 3:2; 14:24; 19:18, etc.). The shekinah.