All covenants are not the same; one differs from the other. The Bible offers us two types of covenants: unilateral and bilateral. A unilateral covenant is one, whereby the first party dictates the terms of the covenant. The second party has no input, except to agree to the terms, if he wishes to take part in its rewards. The second type of covenant was the bilateral, in which case each party had input and a responsibility toward each other. The first party would agree to do something for the second party and the second would agree to do something for the first party. It was a covenant between equals, or at least the covenant presumed both parties were equal, and each were able to hold up his end of the agreement.
The Mosaic Covenant or the Old Covenant was a bilateral covenant. Although man and God are not ‘equal,’ the covenant presumes they were, and both were able to meet its terms. As far as the covenant the Lord made with Abram in Genesis 15 is concerned, it began as the basic bilateral covenant in which Abram was expected to walk through the animal carcasses with God, and both were required to hold up his end of the agreement. However, this not how the covenant was ratified.
As the sun began to go down over the land, Abram fell into a deep sleep, and an exceedingly fearful darkness fell upon him. As he waited for the Lord, Abram began to consider his own weakness and understood his own inability to hold up his end of the agreement. He despaired, knowing that, while God was able to do what he wished, he, Abram, was unable to provide the seed required to benefit from the blessings and power of God. So, in despair, a deep sleep fell upon him, as the sun was going down upon the slain animals (Genesis 15:12).
As Abram slept, the Lord appeared to him and told him that his descendants would, indeed, be strangers in a land that wasn’t theirs, and they would serve the people of that land for 400 years. However, the Lord would judge that nation, when he came to Abram’s descendants to take them out of that strange land, and they would come out with great riches (Genesis 15:13-14).
As for Abram, the Lord told him he would live to a good old age, after which he would be buried with his fathers in peace (Genesis 15:15). Nevertheless, concerning his descendants, in the fourth generation (400 years) they would come again to this land. As for why it would take this long, the Lord told Abram that the iniquity of the Amorites, vis-à-vis the people with whom Abram was allied (Genesis 14:13), was not yet full. Therefore, judgment upon them would wait (Genesis 15:16)
After the sun went down over the land, and it was dark, a Smoking Furnace and a Burning Lamp passed between the dead carcasses of animals (Genesis 15:17), and in so doing God made a covenant with Abram. In other words, the reason for Abram’s fear was never realized. The Lord changed, what was normally considered a bilateral covenant, and in doing so, he made himself solely responsible to keep the agreement. Thus, it became a unilateral covenant, because the Lord dictated, what would occur. Moreover, because only God walked through the path between the animal carcasses, he alone was responsible to produce the heir from Abram’s body! This was a new understanding, which was added to Abram’s new worldview. God was not dependent upon man for anything that the Lord wished to do. All that the Lord had promised Abram would, surely, come to pass, and there was nothing Abram could do or keep from doing that could break that covenant. Its fulfillment was totally in the hands of God.
The Promised Land was that land, which lay between the river of Egypt to the great river, Euphrates: the land of the Kenites, the Kenizzites, the Kadmonites, and the Hittites, the Perizzites, the Raphims, and the Amorites the Canaanites, the Girgashites and the Jebusites. In other words, the Land of Canaan was the Promised Land (Genesis 15:18-21).
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