15:1 After these things the Dvar YHWH (יהוה) came unto Avram in a vision, saying:
"Fear not, Avram:
I [am] thy shield, [and] thy exceeding great reward."
15:2 And Avram said, Adonay (אדני) YHWH (יהוה):
"What wilt thou give me, seeing I go childless, and the steward of my house [is] this Eliyezer of Dammesek (דּמּשׂק)?
15:3 And Avram said, hinnei, to me thou hast given no seed: and, lo, one born in my house is mine heir.
15:4 And, hinnei, Dvar YHWH (יהוה) [came] unto him, saying, This shall not be thine heir; but he that shall come forth out of thine own bowels shall be thine heir.
15:5 And he brought him forth abroad, and said, Look now toward shamayim, and tell the stars, if thou be able to number them: and he said unto him, So shall thy zera (descendants) be.
15:6 And he believed in YHWH (יהוה); and he counted it to him for Tzedakah.
15:7(vi) And He said unto him:
ANI YHWH (יהוה) that brought thee out of Ur Kasdim, to give thee this land to inherit it.
15:8 And he said, Adonay (אדני) YHWH (יהוה), whereby shall I know that I shall inherit it?
15:9 And He said unto him:
Take me an heifer(eglah) of three years old, and a she goat (ez) of three years old, and a ram(ayil) of three years old, and a turtledove (tor), and a young pigeon(gozal).
15:10 And he took unto him all these, and divided them in the midst, and laid each piece one against another: but the birds divided he not.
15:11 And when the fowls came down upon the carcases, Avram drove them away.
15:12 And when the sun was going down, a deep sleep fell upon Avram; and, behold, an horror of great darkness fell upon him.
15:13 And HE said unto Avram:
Know of a surety that thy zera (descendants) shall be a stranger in a land [that is] not theirs, and shall serve them; and they shall afflict them four hundred years;
15:14 And also that nation, whom they shall serve, will I judge: and afterward shall they come out with great substance.
15:15 And thou shalt go to thy fathers in shalom; thou shalt be buried in a good old age.
15:16 But in the fourth generation they shall come hither again: for the iniquity of the Amorites [is] not yet full.
15:17 And it came to pass, that, when the sun went down, and it was dark, hinnei a smoking furnace, and a burning lamp that passed between those pieces.
15:18 In the same day YHWH (יהוה) made a Brit with Avram, saying:
"Unto thy zera (descendants) have I given this land, from the river of Mitzrayim unto the great river, the river Perat (Euphrates):
15:19 The Kenites, and the Kenizzites, and the Kadmonites,
15:20 And the Hittites, and the Perizzites, and the Refa'im,
15:21 And the Amorites, and the Kenaanites, and the Girgashites, and the Yevusites.
The Covenant - Brit - is mention 12X in this Chapter it is the rendering of a Hebrew word meaning a "covenant" or agreement (from a verb signifying "to cut or divide," The Greek word Diatheke G1242 - agreement n arrangement - 1 Kefa 3:20 - 2 Kefa 2:5 "spare not" but "save". Beresheet 6:18 first occurance of the word "Brit" "I will establish My Covenant"
Abraham's Children: Race, Identity, and the DNA of the Chosen People (Hardcover)
Khazaria.com - History of Jewish Khazars, Khazar Turk, Khazarian Jews
ּרמשׂק / דּוּמשׂק / דּמּשׂק-Damasek silent is the sackcloth weaver” An ancient trading city, capital of Syria, located in the plain east of Hermon, 130 (205 kilometers) miles northeast of Yerushalayim
According to the ancient Eastern manner of making a covenant, both the contracting parties passed through the divided pieces of the slain animals, thus symbolically attesting that they pledged their very lives to the fulfillment of the engagement they made (see Yerimeyahu 34:18-19). Now in Beresheet 15, Hashem alone, whose presence was symbolized by the smoking furnace and lamp of fire, passed through the midst of the pieces of the slain animals, while Avram was simply a spectator of this wonderful exhibition of Hashem's free grace.
This signified that it was an unconditional covenant, dependent for fulfillment on Hashem alone.
According to another view of this passage, the sacrificial pieces represent the nation of Yisrael.
The vultures speak of the Gentile nations. The land that is not theirs, of course, is Egypt. Yisrael would be delivered from Mitzrites bondage and return to Kenaan in the fourth generation.
The smoking oven and the burning torch describe the national destiny of Israel—suffering and witness-bearing.