The Covenant of the Pieces: A Promise for All Generations?

In Genesis, God establishes two covenants with Abraham. The first is Berit Bein ha-Betarim, “the Covenant of the Pieces” (Gen 15), and the second is Berit Mila, “the Covenant of Circumcision” (Gen 17). Although only a single chapter separates the two, there is at least a fourteen-year gap between them,^[1] and they are very different from each other.

The Covenant of Circumcision requires Abraham and all future descendants to circumcize all males of the community. In turn, God promises to make Abraham the progenitor of many nations and to be the God of Abraham’s descendants. This is לְדֹרֹתָם לִבְרִית עוֹלָם, “an everlasting covenant throughout the ages” (Gen 17:7).

The Covenant of the Pieces

By contrast, the Covenant of the Pieces is completely one-sided. God promises Abram progeny and land, but Abram does not have to do anything actively to fulfill his part of the covenant. It is, as Rabbi Joseph B. Soloveitchik (1903–1993) describes, a covenant of fate,^[2] what will happen to him and his offspring.

At the same time, the way the story is presented, it appears that YHWH only offers Abram this covenant as a response to his doubts.^[3] YHWH had previously promised Abram land and progeny (Gen 13:14–16).^[4] When the account of the Covenant of the Pieces opens, YHWH begins to make another promise to Abram:

^{בראשׁית טו:א} אַחַר הַדְּבָרִים הָאֵלֶּה הָיָה דְבַר יְ־הוָה אֶל אַבְרָם בַּמַּחֲזֶה לֵאמֹר אַל תִּירָא אַבְרָם אָנֹכִי מָגֵן לָךְ שְׂכָרְךָ הַרְבֵּה מְאֹד.

^{Gen 15:1} Some time later, the word of YHWH came to Abram in a vision. He said, “Fear not, Abram, I am a shield to you; your reward shall be very great.”

Abram’s First Interruption

Abram, however, is so concerned that Sarai has not yet had a child that he interrupts YHWH to express doubt, despite the existence of prior promises:

‏^{בראשׁית טו:ב} וַיֹּאמֶר אַבְרָם אֲדֹנָי יֱ־הוִה מַה תִּתֶּן לִי וְאָנֹכִי הוֹלֵךְ עֲרִירִי.... ^טו:ג וַיֹּאמֶר אַבְרָם הֵן לִי לֹא נָתַתָּה זָרַע וְהִנֵּה בֶן בֵּיתִי יוֹרֵשׁ אֹתִי.

^{Gen 15:2} But Abram said, “O Lord YHWH, what can you give me seeing that I shall die childless…?” ^15:3 Abram further said, “Behold, you have granted me no offspring and my steward will be my heir.”

YHWH immediately reassures Abram (v.4) and responds:

^{בראשׁית טו:ה} וַיּוֹצֵא אֹתוֹ הַחוּצָה וַיֹּאמֶר הַבֶּט נָא הַשָּׁמַיְמָה וּסְפֹר הַכּוֹכָבִים אִם תּוּכַל לִסְפֹּר אֹתָם וַיֹּאמֶר לוֹ כֹּה יִהְיֶה זַרְעֶךָ.

^{Gen 15:5} He took him outside and said, “Look toward heaven and count the stars, if you are able to count them.” And He added, “So shall your offspring be.”

After crediting Abram with trusting YHWH (v. 6), YHWH continues the promise He had intended to make Abram:

^{בראשׁית טו:ז} וַיֹּאמֶר אֵלָיו אֲנִי יְ־הוָה אֲשֶׁר הוֹצֵאתִיךָ מֵאוּר כַּשְׂדִּים לָתֶת לְךָ אֶת הָאָרֶץ הַזֹּאת לְרִשְׁתָּהּ.

^{Gen 15:7} Then He said to him, “I am YHWH who brought you out from Ur of the Chaldeans to assign this land to you as a possession.”

Abram’s Second Interruption

Before YHWH can conclude his new promise with a listing of the peoples whose lands Abram will possess (v. 19),^[5] Abram again interrupts Him:

^{בראשׁית טו:ח} וַיֹּאמַר אֲדֹנָי יֱ־הוִה בַּמָּה אֵדַע כִּי אִירָשֶׁנָּה.

^{Gen 15:8} And he said, “O Lord YHWH, how shall I know that I am to possess it?”

At this point, YHWH decides to give this promise the weight of a covenant by adding a ritual act. He first instructs Abram to cut in two several animals (v. 9). After Abram complies, a deep sleep falls upon him, during which YHWH tells him that his descendants one day will suffer enslavement in a foreign land:

^{בראשׁית טו:יג} וַיֹּאמֶר לְאַבְרָם יָדֹעַ תֵּדַע כִּי גֵר יִהְיֶה זַרְעֲךָ בְּאֶרֶץ לֹא לָהֶם וַעֲבָדוּם וְעִנּוּ אֹתָם אַרְבַּע מֵאוֹת שָׁנָה.

^{Gen 15:13} And He said to Abram, “Know well that your offspring shall be strangers in a land not theirs , and they shall be enslaved and oppressed four hundred years.”

Only after these 400 years of exile will YHWH bring the Israelites back to the land to possess it:

‏^{בראשׁית טו:יד} וְגַם אֶת הַגּוֹי אֲשֶׁר יַעֲבֹדוּ דָּן אָנֹכִי וְאַחֲרֵי כֵן יֵצְאוּ בִּרְכֻשׁ גָּדוֹל. ^טו:טז וְדוֹר רְבִיעִי יָשׁוּבוּ הֵנָּה כִּי לֹא שָׁלֵם עֲוֹן הָאֱמֹרִי עַד הֵנָּה.

^{Gen 15:14} But I will execute judgment on the nation they shall serve, and in the end they shall go free with great wealth… ^15:16 And they shall return here in the fourth generation, for the iniquity of the Amorites is not yet complete.^[6]

This covenant is not a step forward in Abram’s relationship with YHWH, but YHWH’s reworking of prior promises to adjust for Abram’s doubts. In fact, some Talmudic opinions suggest that the extended period of slavery and oppression for the Israelites is punishment for Abram’s question:

^{בבלי נדרים לב.} אָמַר רַבִּי אֲבָהוּ אָמַר רַבִּי אֶלְעָזָר: מִפְּנֵי מָה נֶעֱנַשׁ אַבְרָהָם אָבִינוּ וְנִשְׁתַּעְבְּדוּ בָּנָיו לְמִצְרַיִם מָאתַיִם וְעֶשֶׂר שָׁנִים...

^{b. Nedarim 32a} Rabbi Abbahu said that Rabbi Elazar said: For what reason was Abraham our Patriarch punished, and his children enslaved to Egypt for 210 years?...

וּשְׁמוּאֵל אָמַר: מִפְּנֵי שֶׁהִפְרִיז עַל מִדּוֹתָיו שֶׁל הַקָּדוֹשׁ בָּרוּךְ הוּא, שֶׁנֶּאֱמַר: ״בַּמָּה אֵדַע כִּי אִירָשֶׁנָּה״ (בראשית טו:ח).

And Shmuel said: Because he greatly examined [hifriz] the characteristics of the Holy One, Blessed be He, as it is stated: “Whereby shall I know that I shall inherit it?” (Genesis 15:8).^[7]

The Covenant of the Pieces has a limited lifespan: It will last for four hundred years and will achieve its fulfillment when YHWH brings Abram’s descendants into the land He promised and gives it to them. Indeed, Rashbam (R. Samuel ben Meir, ca. 1085–1158) connects God’s remembering of his promise in Exodus with this promise in particular:

^{רשב"ם שמות ב:כד} "ויזכר אלהים את בריתו" – שנשבע לשלשתם לתת להם את ארץ כנען (שמות ו:ד), ועתה נתקרב הזמן של ד' מאות שנה שאמר לאברהם.

^{Rashbam Exod 2:24} “God remembered his covenant”—that he had sworn to the three forefathers to give them the land of Canaan. And now the four hundred years that were mentioned to Abraham were about to elapse.^[8]

Abram’s Covenant Applies to Later Generations

Extending this covenant beyond its original 400-year term, Genesis Rabbah (mid-1st millennium C.E.) interprets the animals that Abram takes^[9] as representing four kingdoms that had subjugated Israel:

^{בראשית רבה (תיאודור-אלבק) מד} ד[בר] א[חר]: "קחה לי עגלה משולשת"—זו בבל שמעמדת שלשה נבוכדנצר ואויל מרודך ובלשצר. "ועז משולשת"—זו מדי שמעמדת שלשה כורש ודריוש ואחשוירוש. "ואיל משולש"—זו יוון....

^{Gen Rab 44} “Take for me Eglah (calf) meshuleshet”^[10] this is Babylon, which had three kings – Nevukhadnezzar, Evil Merodakh, and Belshatzar. “Ez (goat) meshuleshet” refers to Media, which had three kings—Cyrus, Darius, and Achasveirosh. “Ayil (ram) meshulash” refers to Greece…^[11]

The Bird Is Rome

^{בראשית רבה (תיאודור-אלבק) מד} "ותור וגוזל"—זו אדום תור הוא אלא גוזלני.

^{Gen Rab 44} “The turtledove and the young bird”—[Hebrew: gozal] refer to Edom [i.e., Rome], it is a bird, but it steals [playing on the Hebrew gozal (young bird) which sounds like gezel (theft)].

Thus, despite the Torah’s limitation of the Covenant of the Pieces to the period from Abram to the conquest of the land, Genesis Rabbah interprets the enslavement of Israel as hinting at later exiles as well.

The Bird Is the Muslim Empire

Pirkei deRabbi Eliezer (late first millennium C.E.) further imagines the covenant to be saying that, like the Egyptians, those who subjugate Israel will meet their own fate and disappear. Given the late date of this midrash, it adds the Muslim (Yishmaelite) empire:

^{פרקי דרבי אליעזר כח} רַבִּי עֲקִיבָא אוֹמֵר: הֶרְאָה הַקָּדוֹשׁ בָּרוּךְ הוּא לְאַבְרָהָם אָבִינוּ בֵּין הַבְּתָרִים מַלְכֻיּוֹת מוֹשְׁלִין וְאוֹבְדִין, שֶׁנֶּאֱמַר: "וַיֹּאמֶר אֵלָיו קְחָה לִי עֶגְלָה מְשֻׁלֶּשֶׁת"—זוֹ מַלְכוּת רְבִיעִית שֶׁהִיא מַלְכוּת אֱדוֹם שֶׁהִיא כְּעֶגְלָה דָשָׁה. "וְעֵז מְשֻׁלֶּשֶׁת"—זוֹ מַלְכוּת יָוָן... "וְאַיִל מְשֻׁלָּשׁ"—זוֹ מַלְכוּת מָדַי וּפָרָס. "וְתֹר"—אֵלּוּ בְּנֵי יִשְׁמָעֵאל.... "וְגוֹזָל"—אֵלּוּ יִשְׂרָאֵל...

^{Pirkei deRabbi Eliezer 28} R. Akiva says: In Berit Bein ha-Betarim, the Holy One, Blessed be He, showed Abraham our Patriarch the empires which would dominate [Abraham’s descendants] but afterwards disappear, as it says “take a three year old calf”—the calf refers to the fourth empire, Edom [Rome], for it tramples like a calf. The goat refers to the empire of idol-worshipers [the Greeks?]... The ram refers to the kingdom of Persia and Media... The turtledove is the Yishmaelites… The small bird is Israel…^[12]

Moreover, by cutting the animals that represent the nations, Abraham sufficiently weakens them, causing their eventual decline:

^{פרקי דרבי אליעזר כח} רַבִּי יְהוֹשֻׁעַ אוֹמֵר: לָקַח אַבְרָהָם חַרְבּוֹ וּבִתֵּר אוֹתָם כָּל אֶחָד וְאֶחָד לִשְׁנַיִם... אִלּוּלֵי לֹא בִתֵּר אַבְרָהָם לֹא הָיָה הָעוֹלָם יָכוֹל לַעֲמֹד, הוֹאִיל וּבִתֵּר אוֹתָם הִתִּישׁ אֶת כֹּחָם.

^{Pirkei deRabbi Eliezer 28} R. Yehoshua says: Abraham took his sword and sliced each one of them in two.… Had Abraham not split those animals the world would not have survived [their reigns]. Once he split [the animals] he weakened [the nations]….

The Bird Is Israel

Rashi (Rabbi Solomon b. Isaac; 1040–1105) builds on these midrashim, explicitly painting the bird, which is not split, as Israel, which will never disappear:

^{רש״י בראשית טו:י} לְפִי שֶׁהָאֻמּוֹת נִמְשְׁלוּ לְפָרִים וְאֵילִים וּשְֹעִירִים..., וְיִשְֹרָאֵל נִמְשְׁלוּ לִבְנֵי יוֹנָה..., לְפִיכָךְ בִּתֵּר הַבְּהֵמוֹת, רֶמֶז שֶׁיִּהְיוּ הָאֻמּוֹת כָּלִים וְהוֹלְכִים, ״ואת הצפור לא בתר,״ רֶמֶז שֶׁיִּהְיוּ יִשְֹרָאֵל קַיָּמִין לְעוֹלָם.

^{Rashi Gen 15:10} Since the nations of the world are compared to bulls and rams and goats…, while Israel is compared to a young dove…, he split the animals, hinting that the nations would be destroyed and disappear, but the bird he did not split, since they [Israel] will continue eternally.

This metaphorical reading is consonant with Rashi’s encouragement of his fellow Jews that despite the difficulties—both physical and spiritual—that they were enduring in Christian-Crusader Ashkenaz, that God loves them eternally.^[13]

The Haggadah: A Covenant for All Generations

The most extreme version of this shift in understanding the Covenant of the Pieces is found in a source which appears in the Haggadah. It begins:

בָּרוּךְ שׁוֹמֵר הַבְטָחָתוֹ לְיִשְׂרָאֵל, בָּרוּךְ הוּא. שֶׁהַקָּדוֹשׁ בָּרוּךְ הוּא חִשַּׁב אֶת־הַקֵּץ, לַעֲשׂוֹת כְּמוֹ שֶּׁאָמַר לְאַבְרָהָם אָבִינוּ בִּבְרִית בֵּין הַבְּתָרִים....

Blessed is the One who has kept His promise to Israel—blessed is He. For the Holy One calculated the end [of the Egyptian enslavement] and fulfilled what He had spoken to our father Abraham in the Covenant between the Pieces….^[14]

Unlike the midrashim and Rashi, which expand God’s promise to two, three, or four specific empires, the geonic author of this passage generalizes the covenant to include that God will save Israel from any force in any generation which threatens it:

וְהִיא שֶׁעָמְדָה לַאֲבוֹתֵינוּ וְלָנוּ. שֶׁלֹּא אֶחָד בִּלְבָד עָמַד עָלֵינוּ לְכַלּוֹתֵנוּ, אֶלָּא שֶׁבְּכָל דּוֹר וָדוֹר עוֹמְדִים עָלֵינוּ לְכַלּוֹתֵנוּ, וְהַקָּדוֹשׁ בָּרוּךְ הוּא מַצִּילֵנוּ מִיָּדָם.

And this [promise] (the Covenant of the Pieces) is what has stood by our ancestors and us; for it was not only one man who rose up to destroy us, rather, in every single generation people rise up to destroy us—but the Hoy One, Blessed be He, saves us from their hands.

It is this interpretation, which has become the most popularized through its inclusion in the Haggadah, one of the most beloved texts in Jewish tradition.

Dialing the Covenant Back

With the Emancipation (18^th/19^th cent.) came a sense that the era of Jewish alienation and persecution was coming to an end, and a new era of acceptance of Jews into mainstream society was dawning. Beginning with R. Naftali Hertz Wessely (1725–1805), an important figure in Jewish eduction, who worked together with Mendelssohn on his Beur (commentary on the Torah), and continuing through R. David Zvi Hoffmann (1843–1921), a Bible and Talmud scholar who headed the Rabbinical Seminary of Berlin, the Covenant of the Pieces was often interpreted based on its literary context, thereby restoring its original, limited scope:

^{וויזל בראשית טו:ט} ולפי הפשט נראה לי ששלשה מיני בהמות טהורות רומזים לשלשה האבות אברהם יצחק ויעקב, שעמהן נכרת הברית.^[15]

^{Wessely Gen 15:9} According to the simple reading, it seems to me that three pure animals alude to the three patriarchs, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, with whom the covenant was made.

^{הופמן בראשית טו:ט} וייתכן שפרט זה בא כדי לסמל את עם ישראל בתקופה הרביעית, כאשר מושלם יהיה, לאחר שקדמו לו שלושת האבות הראשונים — אברהם, יצחק ויעקב.^[16]

^{Hoffmann Gen 15:9} It would seem that this detail (the three years of age) came to symbolize the people of Israel in the fourth period, when they were ready (to become a nation?), after the three patriarchs preceded them—Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.

Hoffmann offers an alternative explanation understanding the three as referring to the number not age of the animals:

^{הופמן בראשית טו:ט} וגם ייתכן, כי שלוש הבהמות באות לסמל את שלושת הדורות הראשונים, שלא סבלו מן השיעבוד, ואילו תור וגוזל מסמלים את הדור הרביעי, אשר אמנם שועבד;

^{Hoffmann Gen 15:9} But it would also seem that the three animals come to symbolize the three first generations [in Egypt], who did not suffer enslavement (which only began with the Pharaoh preceding the exodus), and the turtledove and chick symbolize the fourth generation, which did suffer enslavement.

Both Hoffmann and Wessely limiting the covenant to past generations, highlighting the sense that Jews are no longer under persistent attack and that God does not need to perpetually swoop in to save them.

Abram’s First Covenant Is Not Overshadowed

In Abram’s story, the limited Covenant of the Pieces appears to be eclipsed, two chapters later, by the Covenant of Circumcision, which is everlasting, demands commitment, and promises an eternal relationship between YHWH and Abraham’s descendants. The reinterpretations of the Covenant of the Pieces, however, have ensured that it has not been overshadowed. They not only match the zeitgeist of the times and places in which they were written, but shape the very notion of Abram’s first covenant with God.

Moreover, despite 19^th century attempts to limit the Covenant of the Pieces to the originally intended patriarchs, the Hagadah’s application to all generations retains a place in Jewish consciousness.