{"id":65373,"date":"2019-11-07T10:23:25","date_gmt":"2019-11-07T08:23:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/?p=65373"},"modified":"2022-02-20T12:23:47","modified_gmt":"2022-02-20T10:23:47","slug":"lech-lecha-the-strange-covenant-between-the-pieces","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/lech-lecha-the-strange-covenant-between-the-pieces\/","title":{"rendered":"Lech Lecha: The Strange Covenant Between the Pieces"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"entry-content\"><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[281],"tags":[368,369],"acf":{"old_id":"65373","type":"no","iframe":"","writer":46171,"related_cahpter":"1069","type_929":"2","show_author_image":false,"old_create_date":"","old_url":"","post_main_content":{"description":"They will have to pass through a furnace, but in the end, redemption","content":"<p>In obedience to God\u2019s command, Abraham has left his father\u2019s house and the land of his birth, and now, several episodes later, he hears God speaking to him: \u201cFear not, Abraham, I am thy shield; thy reward shall be exceedingly great\u201d (Gen. 15:1). Abraham has his doubts about the promised reward. Why does he question it and why should God have been telling him just at that point not to fear? What was the meaning of the covenant that demanded that Abraham take a heifer, a she-goat, and a ram and dissect them so that the Divine would later pass \u201cbetween these pieces\u201d (Gen. 15:17\u201318)?<\/p>\n<p>Avner Moriah deciphers this strange covenant. Befitting the Hebrew phrase \u201ccovenant between the pieces,\u201d he divides his painting into ten vignettes. The central depiction illustrates the scene of the covenant, and the eight small squares, four on either side, figure the harsh future awaiting Abraham\u2019s children. Abraham is told not to fear for God will save them from their oppressors, and will eventually give them the land of Canaan, which at the time was home to pagan tribes, portrayed in the long narrow rectangle at the bottom (Gen. 15:19\u201321).<\/p>\n<p>In the central rectangle the artist visualizes the verse, \u201cAnd it came to pass that when the sun went down and there was thick darkness, behold a smoking furnace and a flaming torch that passed between these pieces\u201d (Gen 15:17). The spiral represents the spirit of God, with a green darkened sun, the smoking furnace, the flaming torch, the heads of animals in the furnace, and, above, stars against a stormy red sky. Abraham is raising his head toward God as if questioning his great reward when the promise to give him a child has not yet been fulfilled, and God shows him the multitude of the stars, symbolizing his seed (Gen.15:5).<\/p>\n<p>The first vignette on the right pictures the spirit of God showing Abraham the stars. In the second, Abraham is leaving Ur of the Chaldees, walking toward the land promised to him (Gen. 15:7). In the third, Abraham is standing with the severed animals, holding two birds he was told to take (Gen. 15:10), and in the fourth, \u201cthe birds of prey came down upon the carcasses, and Abraham drove them away\u201d (Gen.15:11).<\/p>\n<p>The top square on the left shows Abraham lying on the ground in a deep sleep and above him, against dark brown skies, are pyramids and images of people in anguish (Gen. 15:12), which prefigures the fate awaiting his children, enslaved in Egypt for 400 years. The next vignette shows the splitting of the Red Sea with the Egyptian soldiers and horses drowning. God tells Abraham that this fearful prophecy is for the future and that he himself is assured of a peaceful death and an honorable burial. The last vignette on the left hints at God\u2019s promise that Abraham\u2019s children will return to Canaan, the Promised Land (Exod. 12:41).<\/p>\n","image":{"ID":65379,"id":65379,"title":"03 Lekh Lekha","filename":"03-Lekh-Lekha.jpg","filesize":0,"url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/03-Lekh-Lekha.jpg","link":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/lech-lecha-the-strange-covenant-between-the-pieces\/03-lekh-lekha\/","alt":"","author":"7","description":"","caption":"","name":"03-lekh-lekha","status":"inherit","uploaded_to":65373,"date":"2019-11-07 06:56:10","modified":"2019-11-07 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