Page:A critical and exegetical commentary on Genesis (1910).djvu/383

 9, 10. The preparations for the covenant ceremony; on which see below, p. 283. Although not strictly sacrificial, the operation conforms to later Levitical usage in so far as the animals are all such as were allowed in sacrifice, and the birds are not divided (Lv. 1$17$).—of three years old] This is obviously the meaning of here (cf. 1 Sa. 1$24$ [G]: elsewhere = 'threefold,' Ezk. 42$6$, Ec. 4$12$). T$O$, which renders 'three' (calves, etc.), is curiously enough the only Vn. that misses the sense; and it is followed by ''Ber. R.'', Ra. al. On the number three in the OT, see Stade, ZATW, xxvi. 124 ff. [esp. 127 f.].—11. The descent of the unclean birds of prey, and Abram's driving them away, is a sacrificial omen of the kind familiar to antiquity. The interpretation seems to follow in 13-16 (Di. Gu.).—12. (G ) is the condition most favourable for the reception of visions (see on 2$21$).—a great horror] caused by the approach of the deity (omit as a gloss). The text is mixed (see below), and the two representations belong, the one to J, and the other to E (Gu.). The scene is a vivid transcript of primitive religious experience. The bloody ceremony just described was no perfunctory piece of symbolism; it touched the mind below the level of consciousness; and that impression (heightened in this case by the growing darkness) induced a susceptibility to psychical influences readily culminating in ecstasy or vision.—13-16. An oracle in which is unfolded the destiny of Abram's descendants to the 4th generation. It is to be noted that the prediction relates to the fortunes of Abram's 'seed,' the mention of the land ($16$) being in-

9. Dt. 32$11$[B] = young of the vulture; but here = 'young dove'; Ar. ǧauzal; Syr. .—10. ] a technical term; the vb. only here; cf. , Jer. 34$18. 19$—] [E] (inf. abs.).—] cf. 9$5$; G-K. § 139 c.—11. ] G$A$ ; a conflation of and (v.$17$).—] Hiph. of only here in the sense of 'scare away': so Aq. SV. T$O$ read, which is less expressive; and G is quite inadmissible.—12. —] G-K. § 114 i; cf.