myBibleHistory

Echoes Across Civilizations

Cutting a covenant

Did other peoples seal oaths by cutting animals, as Abram does in Genesis 15?

What the relationship labels mean
  • Possible historical contact: The cultures were in contact, so one tradition could have known the other.
  • Shared literary world: The stories appear to share older roots or a common cultural setting.
  • Similar human experience: Different peoples responding to similar realities, such as river floods.
  • Resemblance only: A real similarity worth noticing; no historical connection has been established.
  • Modern speculative theory: A modern interpretation, not an ancient source. Not supported by authenticated evidence.

Amorite kingdom of Mari · Mesopotamia (Syria)

"Killing a donkey foal" in the Mari letters

Shared literary world
Composed
18th century BC
Earliest surviving copy
Original clay letters from the Mari palace archive, c. 1770 BC

Royal letters describe making a treaty by "killing a donkey foal." In one letter an official refuses to use a puppy and a goat, insisting the treaty must be sealed with a donkey foal in the proper way.

Similar

  • A covenant is made by killing an animal
  • The ritual is the formal, binding act of agreement

Different

  • No passing between pieces is described
  • The parties are human kings, not God and a man

Aramaeans · Syria

The Sefire treaty stelae

Shared literary world
Composed
Mid-8th century BC
Earliest surviving copy
The original inscribed stone stelae from Sefire, near Aleppo

A treaty between two kings, carved in Aramaic, lists curses on the one who breaks it: "As this calf is cut in two, so may Matiel be cut in two, and may his nobles be cut in two."

Similar

  • An animal is cut in two
  • The oath-taker invokes the same fate on himself if he breaks his word

Different

  • A political treaty between kings, with many gods as witnesses
  • The weaker party takes the curse; in Genesis, God alone passes between the pieces

Assyria · Mesopotamia

Treaty of Ashur-nirari V with Mati'ilu

Shared literary world
Composed
c. 754 BC
Earliest surviving copy
Neo-Assyrian clay tablet from Nineveh

A ram is slaughtered and the treaty declares: "This head is not the head of a ram; it is the head of Mati'ilu" and his sons, if he breaks the oath.

Similar

  • The slaughtered animal stands for the oath-taker

Different

  • An imperial vassal treaty enforced by threat

Back to the story

  • God's Covenant with Abraham →God binds Himself to Abram by covenant. Sarai gives Hagar to Abram, and Hagar meets "the God who sees." Abram becomes Abraham, and circumcision becomes the covenant sign.
  • The Covenant Sealed →Moses writes down God's words, builds an altar with twelve pillars, and seals the covenant with blood. The elders see the God of Israel and eat and drink before Him. Then Moses enters the cloud for forty days.