Adventistische Schriften über: "Why did God have Abraham cut animals in pieces when he asked in Genesis 15:8 how the promise or covenant would be fulfilled? The meaning of the ceremony and the sacrifice"

The animals served as a visible sign confirming Abraham’s faith and as a solemn sealing of the covenant according to a customary form of that time. Abraham passed between the pieces of the sacrifice and pledged lasting obedience to God; afterward, signs of the divine presence passed between the pieces and consumed them as a pledge of the covenant. The ceremony also pointed to Christ’s death as the great sacrifice.

The divided sacrifice as a sign of the covenant

»The Lord condescended to enter into a covenant with His servant, employing such forms as were customary among men for the ratification of a solemn engagement. By divine direction, Abraham sacrificed a three-year-old heifer, a three-year-old goat, and a three-year-old ram, divided their bodies, and laid the pieces a little distance apart. […] Reverently he passed between the parts of the sacrifice, solemnly pledging to God perpetual obedience. […] As a pledge of God’s covenant with men, a smoking furnace and a burning lamp, symbols of the divine presence, passed between the divided victims and consumed them wholly. […] The plan of redemption was here opened to him, in the death of Christ, the great sacrifice.«

1 - Ellen Gould White, Patriarchs and Prophets (PP 137.2)

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