Abram Dreamed of Smoking Pot
Yes, Abram dreamed of smoking pot. Done Deal. It’s in the Bible, I believe it, that settles it.
Ok… maybe not. This post doesn’t have anything to do with actual pot smoking, other than as a small jab at those who don’t think it’s necessary to account for historical cultural norms when reading a passage. This post IS about the writers of Genesis and their use of pot(s) smoking in Genesis 15. The meaning of the story is debatable, but I’ll hint at a less common interpretation below. First, let’s get back the pot smoking thing…
‘After this (Abram rescues Lot), the word of the Lord came to Abram in a vision: “Do not be afraid, Abram. I am your shield, your very great reward. ” But Abram said, “Sovereign Lord, what can you give me since I remain childless and the one who will inherit my estate is Eliezer of Damascus?” And Abram said, “You have given me no children; so a servant in my household will be my heir.” Then the word of the Lord came to him: “This man will not be your heir, but a son who is your own flesh and blood will be your heir.”
He took him outside and said, “Look up at the sky and count the stars—if indeed you can count them.” Then he said to him, “So shall your offspring be.” Abram believed the Lord , and he credited it to him as righteousness. He also said to him, “I am the Lord , who brought you out of Ur of the Chaldeans to give you this land to take possession of it.” But Abram said, “Sovereign Lord , how can I know that I will gain possession of it?” So the Lord said to him, “Bring me a heifer, a goat and a ram, each three years old, along with a dove and a young pigeon.”
Abram brought all these to him, cut them in two and arranged the halves opposite each other; the birds, however, he did not cut in half. Then birds of prey came down on the carcasses, but Abram drove them away. As the sun was setting, Abram fell into a deep sleep, and a thick and dreadful darkness came over him. Then the Lord said to him, “Know for certain that for four hundred years your descendants will be strangers in a country not their own and that they will be enslaved and mistreated there. But I will punish the nation they serve as slaves, and afterward they will come out with great possessions. You, however, will go to your ancestors in peace and be buried at a good old age. In the fourth generation your descendants will come back here, for the sin of the Amorites has not yet reached its full measure.” On that day the Lord made a covenant with Abram and said, “To your descendants I give this land, from the Wadi of Egypt to the great river, the Euphrates—
When the sun had set and darkness had fallen, a smoking firepot with a blazing torch appeared and passed between the pieces. the land of the Kenites, Kenizzites, Kadmonites, Hittites, Perizzites, Rephaites, Amorites, Canaanites, Girgashites and Jebusites.”’
Bible, Genesis 15, NLT
So, just to set an assumption….the pot smoking represents God. Agreed? Good. Let’s move on.
Most of us know something about this story, but we sort of gloss over the part about the smoking pot. We also tend to gloss over the significance of cutting the animals in two. In essence, cutting an animal in two, walking between them with making an oath is sort of a BC version of signing a contract.
Imagine you’re in an auto dealership. You’ve been haggling for a week. Finally, the dealer signs, says “you’re killing me, we are losing money…but ok..sold.” You extend for a handshake to seal the deal, but the dealer withdraws and explains that handshaking is not their custom.
You both walk out back and, and to your astonishment, the man slaughters a goat, cuts the carcass in two, and invites you to walk between the halves with him. Still in shock, you follow the salesman through. As you walk through, you and the salesman vow to live up to the promises you’ve earlier agreed to, or else you should “end up like this goat.” This is the origin of the phrase “cutting a deal.” PETA was not very powerful back then, I take it.
Now, I’m not a fan of the current legal system. I am a fan of legal systems, however. I’m certainly glad that when I “cut a deal”, I don’t have to literally do it…I can count on a court to arbitrate. My bringing up interpretation of a popular phrase is really just an excuse to make a point about the biblical origins of the deal that was “cut” in Genesis chapter 15. And that is this: Abraham was not, as one would expect, part of the deal. God and God alone made the vow. Abraham was NOT required to “sign” the deal. Why is that important? I don’t know for sure, but I’m guessing it had a lot to do with grace. Think about it, this was a ONE SIDED PROMISE. Abraham had no real skin in the game, so to speak. Which leads to something I haven’t fully thought through…yet find interesting: In later books in the Bible, aren’t there passages that at least imply that Jews have broken their covenant with the Lord, and therefore are deserving of whatever wrath or vengeance the Lord inflicts upon them? Why would this implication be made, when it seems clear that the Lord did NOT bind Abraham to any covenant? And what does it mean for our interpretation of the following books in light of grace-versus-contract? There seems to be something here that confirms that there is one unchanging and lasting God…that there is no disconnect between the Old Testament God and the New Testament God, only a human clarification of the nature of the one true God. And if this line of thinking holds, it seems obvious that the Bible is more about describing our evolving view of the Divine, rather than the Bible being a static description of the nature of the Divine. Assuming that I haven’t stretched things too far already, doesn’t the next logical question become: “What makes us think that our current view of the Divine is mature?” Think about it…When we see the Bible as a description of OUR view of the Divine instead of a TRUE version of the Divine, we must then ask at what point did our view become the end…the perfected view? Could I make a case that all the cycles of “rough times” in the Old Testament are really nothing than the consequences of mankind’s acceptance, sanctification, and idolization of a particular group’s cultural, geopolitical, technological and evolutionary place in history? In other words…every time humans have become too comfortable, too accepting, too rigid with their understanding of God…bad things happen.