Genesis 15:18

the Lord made a covenant A covenant, or compact, as between man and man, is necessarily impossible between God and man. God in His mercy gives the promise; man in his weakness acknowledges his willingness to obey. For the other covenants in the Pentateuch cf. 9, 17; Exodus 24. The origin of b'rîth= "covenant," is uncertain. Some suggest barah= "eat," in the sense of a "solemn meal." See note on Genesis 15:9.

The fate of the victims was supposed to be invoked upon the head of the party who broke the covenant. Cf. Livy, i. 24, tum illo die, Juppiter, populum Romanum sic ferito, ut ego hunc porcum hic hodie feriam, tantoque magis ferito quanto magis potes pollesque. The idea of Robertson Smith that the two parties to the covenant, standing between the pieces, partook of the mystical life of the victim (Relig. of Semites, p. 480) remains doubtful.

from the river of Egypt The n'har Mizraimis clearly the Nile. The ideal boundaries of the future territory of Israel are here stated in hyperbolical fashion, as extending from the Nile to the Euphrates: so Joshua 13:3; 1 Chronicles 13:5. The Eastern, i.e. the Pelusiac, arm of the Nile is meant.

"The River of Egypt" is to be distinguished from "the Brook of Egypt," naḥal Mizraim, Numbers 34:5; Joshua 15:4; Joshua 15:47, the Rhino-colura, the modern Wady-el-Arish, a watercourse on the extreme S.W. of Palestine, on the confines of Egyptian territory.

unto the great river, the river Euphrates Cf. Deuteronomy 1:7; Deuteronomy 11:24. It was probably only in the days of Solomon that this picture of Israelite greatness was ever approximately realized; see 1 Kings 4:21; Psalms 80:11.