Genesis 15:17 - Coke's Commentary on the Holy Bible

It came to pass, that when the sun went down, &c.— As in Genesis 15:12 according to our interpretation, mention is made of the rising, so here of the setting sun; nor does it seem probable, that both passages speak of the latter. If any one, however, shall be tenacious of this opinion, we must suppose, that the first appearance to Abram was made in the night, when the command for the sacrifice was given; and great part of the following day being employed in preparing it, the deep ecstasy or sleep, towards sun-setting, fell upon Abram; and after the sun had set, God was pleased, by a symbolical representation, to pass through the divided victims, and to ratify the covenant with Abram, in great condescension, after the manner of men. We have before offered it as a conjecture, that the smoking furnace and burning lamp were significative of what happened afterwards in AEgypt: certain, however, it is, that they were declarative of God's presence, who generally, if not always, appeared in fire, light, and smoke, under the law: and, from the next verse, it seems evidently to follow, that they were, on God's part, a ratification of the covenant which he made, or, according to the original, cut or struck with Abram; which alludes, no doubt, to the ceremony of cutting or dividing the victim, which was so customary with all nations, that the same phrase generally prevailed. The Greeks say, ορκια τεμνειν, and the Latins, foedus icere, to cut the victim: which all amounts to the same thing. And most probably there was, in all this, an allusion to the grand covenant, and the victim to be cut off for the redemption of the world. It is most probable, that the fire and light which passed between, consumed the sacrifice.