Genesis 15, The Tardemah, the Chashekah,
and the One Who Passed Through Alone

Teaching and Understanding the Paleo-Hebrew

Document 9 of 11

 

Document Seven established the physical reality of darkness, two absolute simultaneous conditions, the division between them, the observation no human being made until December 1968 that Genesis 1:4 had already declared. Document Eight read the Paleo-Hebrew pictures of choshech, the separation, the consuming, the covered, and established that darkness in the covenant text is not the absence of light but a condition with its own nature, already present in the second verse before the light was called.

This document examines what YHWH did in the darkness. Not what he said about it. What he did in it. For the one who was inside it. And could not reach outside it.

 

The Same Root

The darkness of Genesis 1:2, choshech, and the darkness of Genesis 15, chashekah, come from the same Hebrew root. Chet, Shin, Kaf. The separation, the consuming, the covered. The same three pictures. The same condition. Named first in the second verse of the Torah before the light is called. Named again in Genesis 15 as the condition that fell on Avraham before YHWH passed between the pieces alone.

This is not coincidental. The Torah does not reuse the same root accidentally. The darkness that was over the face of the deep in Genesis 1:2, the condition of separation under the consuming, covered, and the darkness that fell on Avraham in Genesis 15 are being declared as the same condition. The choshech of creation and the chashekah of the covenant are the same root. The same pictures. The same declaration.

The condition the second verse of the Torah named, the separation, the consuming, the covered, is the condition into which YHWH entered in Genesis 15 to seal the covenant for the one who was inside it.

Choshech and chashekah. The same root. The same pictures. The darkness of Genesis 1:2 and the darkness of Genesis 15 are the same condition named twice, once before the light was called, and once when YHWH entered that condition to seal the covenant for the one who was inside it.

 

What Genesis 15 Actually Says

The text of Genesis 15 needs to be read carefully and exactly. What it says is remarkable enough without adding to it.

ויהי השמש לבוא ותרדמה נפלה על אברם

Vayehi hashemesh lavo vetardemah naflah al Avram

And it came to pass when the sun was going down that a tardemah fell upon Avram

Tardemah, the deep sleep. Not ordinary sleep. The same word used in Genesis 2:21 when YHWH caused a deep sleep to fall on Adam before taking the rib. A divinely induced unconsciousness. Not Avraham choosing to sleep. Not Avraham resting after a long day. The tardemah falling, naflah, it fell, upon him. Divinely imposed. Removing Avraham from participation in what was about to happen.

 

והינה אימה חשכה גדולה נפלת עליו

Vehineh eimah chashekah gedolah naflah alav

And behold a great darkness, chashekah gedolah, fell upon him

Chashekah gedolah. A great darkness. From the same root as choshech, the separation, the consuming, the covered. And gedolah, great, large, heavy, overwhelming. The great darkness fell upon him. The same word naflah, it fell, used for both the tardemah and the chashekah. The deep sleep fell. The great darkness fell. Two fallings. One upon the other. Avraham unconscious in the great darkness.

Then Genesis 15:17, vayehi hashemesh ba’ah va’alatah hayah. And it came to pass when the sun had gone down and it was dark, and behold a smoking fire pot and a flaming torch that passed between these pieces.

The sun completely down. Full darkness. Avraham in the tardemah. And YHWH, as a smoking fire pot and a flaming torch, passed between the pieces.

The sun going down. The tardemah falling on Avraham. The chashekah gedolah, the great darkness, falling on him. Avraham unconscious. In the darkness. Unable to participate. Unable to feel or see or experience anything. And YHWH passed between the pieces. Alone.

 

The One Who Passed Through Alone

In the ancient covenant-making ceremony of the ancient Near East, the berith, the covenant cutting, both parties would pass between the divided pieces of the animals. The act of passing through declared, may what happened to these animals happen to me if I break this covenant. Both parties passed through. Both parties accepted the obligation. Both parties bore the liability.

In Genesis 15 only one party passed through. YHWH, as the smoking fire pot and the flaming torch, passed between the pieces. Avraham did not pass through. Avraham was unconscious. In the tardemah. In the chashekah. Unable to participate. Unable to accept or reject the obligation. Unable to contribute anything to the sealing of the covenant.

YHWH passed through alone. Bearing both sides. The liability of both parties, the one who would keep the covenant and the one who would break it, borne by the one who passed through alone. The covenant sealed not by two parties agreeing but by one party holding both sides simultaneously. The same one YHWH who holds both sides. The same one whose name declares behold the hand, behold the nail, the connector, the Vav, the one who holds both sides. Passing between the pieces alone in the darkness while Avraham lay unconscious.

The covenant was not conditional on Avraham’s faithfulness because Avraham was unconscious when it was sealed. The covenant was not dependent on Avraham’s agreement because Avraham could not agree, he was in the tardemah, the divinely imposed deep sleep. The covenant was sealed by the one who passed through alone, for the one who was inside the darkness and could not reach outside it, in the condition, the chashekah, the separation under the consuming, covered, that the second verse of the Torah had already named.

YHWH passed through alone. Bearing both sides. For the one who was unconscious in the darkness and could not participate. The covenant sealed for the condition of the darkness, the separation, the consuming, the covered, by the one who entered that condition from the inside to seal it for all who were inside it and could not reach outside it.

 

The Choshech of Genesis 1 and the Chashekah of Genesis 15

The darkness was already there in the second verse of the Torah, choshech, the separation under the consuming, covered. Present before the light was called. Present before the first word of creation was spoken. The condition that existed before anything else existed in the creation.

And in Genesis 15, fourteen chapters later, YHWH entered that condition. The chashekah gedolah, the great darkness from the same root as choshech, falling on Avraham as YHWH prepared to seal the covenant. The darkness that was over the face of the deep in Genesis 1:2 and the darkness that fell on Avraham in Genesis 15 are the same condition, the same root, the same pictures, the same declaration of separation under the consuming, covered.

YHWH entered the condition that the second verse of the Torah named. He went into the separation, the consuming, the covered. Not from outside it, as one who approaches the darkness but remains in the light. From inside it, as the smoking fire pot and the flaming torch passing through the pieces in the full darkness, bearing both sides of the covenant, sealing it for the one who was unconscious inside the very condition that Genesis 1:2 had named before the light was called.

The covenant was sealed for the condition of choshech. For the darkness. For the separation. For the consuming. For the covered. For all who slept inside that condition and could not reach outside it. Sealed by the one who entered it from the inside. Sealed unconditionally, because the one who was asleep inside it could not have contributed a condition even if he had tried. Sealed permanently, because YHWH swore by himself, there being no one greater to swear by, and the oath of the one who swore by himself is not subject to the weather of human faithfulness or the condition of human wakefulness or the ability of the human party to feel or experience or maintain anything.

The darkness of Genesis 1:2 was already there before the light was called. YHWH divided between the light and the darkness, establishing both as real, absolute, simultaneous conditions. And then YHWH entered the darkness, in Genesis 15, in the chashekah gedolah, to seal the covenant for all who were inside the condition that the second verse of the Torah had already named. Before the light was called. Before anything was made. The condition was already named. The covenant was always going to be sealed in it. For all who slept inside it. By the one who was also in the light.

The darkness of Genesis 1:2, already there before the light was called. The darkness of Genesis 15, the condition into which YHWH entered to seal the covenant for all who slept inside it. Same root. Same pictures. Same condition. Named in creation. Entered in covenant. Sealed from the inside. For all who could not reach outside it.

 

The choshech of Genesis 1:2 and the chashekah of Genesis 15, the same root, the same pictures, the same condition. The darkness named before the light was called. The covenant sealed in that darkness by the one who entered it from the inside. For all who slept. For all flesh. From Adam. Forever.

 

 

Genesis 1:2: choshech. The darkness already there. Named before the light was called.

Genesis 1:4: YHWH divided between the light and the darkness. Two absolute conditions. One division.

Genesis 15:12: the tardemah fell on Avraham. The chashekah gedolah fell on him.

Genesis 15:17: YHWH passed between the pieces. Alone. In the full darkness.

 

Same root.

Same pictures.

Same condition.

 

The covenant was sealed in the darkness.

By the one who entered it from the inside.

For all who slept.

Forever.

 

The Gospel Revolution  •  Mike Williams Ministries

William Ethan Massengill  •  Michael Lilborn Williams  •  Daniel Thomas Rouse

Published by Audrey Williams