Bereshit 15 – One Prophecy or Two/2

Chronology of the Covenant Between the Pieces

Exegetical Approaches

Two Events

Chapter 15 comprises two distinct prophecies.  The vision described in the first six verses of the chapter is in chronological order and took place after the battle of the five kings, while the rest of the chapter recounts a separate prophecy (ברית בין הבתרים) which happened earlier when Avraham was 70.

Sources:Mekhilta DeRabbi YishmaelBo 14About Mekhilta DeRabbi Yishmael Shemot, Seder Olam Rabbah13About Seder Olam Rabbah, Baraita of 32 MiddotMiddah 32About Baraita of 32 Middot,  RashbamShemot 12:40-41MS Oxford 271/8About R. Shemuel b. Meir, Chizkuni15:1-7About R. Chizkiyah b. Manoach, RanBereshit 12:5About R. Nissim Gerondi

400 or 430 years ? The motivation for this approach is the discrepancy in the account of the length of the Egyptian exile in Bereshit 15:13 (400 years) and Shemot 12:40-41 (430 years). This position maintains that the 400 years started from the birth of Yitzchak while the 430 count began thirty years earlier, at the Covenant of the Pieces.  Since Avraham was 100 when Yitzchak was born, the covenant must have occurred when he was  70.

Achronology – As Bereshit 12 is explicitly dated to the 75th year of Avraham's life, this approach is forced to say that the Covenant of the Pieces is written out of order. The first part of the chapter, though, is in its chronological place, as both the phrase "אַחַר הַדְּבָרִים הָאֵלֶּה" and Avraham's fear¹ serves to connect it to the war of the five kings in the previous chapter.²

"וְאַבְרָם בֶּן חָמֵשׁ שָׁנִים וְשִׁבְעִים שָׁנָה בְּצֵאתוֹ מֵחָרָן" – Bereshit 12:4 suggests that that Avraham first left to Canaan at 75.   As such, this position must assume either that the covenant took place out of Israel, or, as Seder Olam Rabbah asserts, that Avraham went to Israel at 70 but then returned to live in Charan for five years.  Each assumption is replete with difficulties:

• Occurred out of Israel – Ibn Ezra points out that the phrase, "אֲנִי ה' אֲשֶׁר הוֹצֵאתִיךָ מֵאוּר כַּשְׂדִּים לָתֶת לְךָ אֶת הָאָרֶץ הַזֹּאת" is difficult to reconcile with this suggestion.  Hashem's words assume both that He has already taken Avraham out of Ur Kasdim and that the covenant is taking place in Israel (‏הָאָרֶץ הַזֹּאת).‎³ 
• Returned to Charan – Ralbag questions this on several grounds. He finds it unfathomable that once in Israel and promised the land, that Avraham would have left unless he found himself in dire circumstances (such as famine). In addition, the verse, "וַיֵּצְאוּ אִתָּם מֵאוּר כַּשְׂדִּים לָלֶכֶת אַרְצָה כְּנַעַן וַיָּבֹאוּ עַד חָרָן" suggests that Avraham went from Ur Kasdim, rather than Canaan, to Charan.⁴

Why write the story achronologically?

Night or day?

Introductory formula – "אֲנִי ה'‏"

"וַיֹּאמֶר אֵלָיו"

Avraham's doubts – "הֵן לִי לֹא נָתַתָּה זָרַע"

Avraham's doubts – "בַּמָּה אֵדַע כִּי אִירָשֶׁנָּה"

Belief versus doubt

Vision vs. sleep

One Event

The events of the entire chapter are connected and took place at one time.  This position subdivides regarding when these occurred:

Chronological

The whole chapter is found in its chronological place, after the war of the 5 kings.

Sources:Bereshit Rabbah46:2About Bereshit Rabbah, R. Saadia GaonTafsir Bereshit 11:31Tafsir Bereshit 15:13HaEmunot VeHaDeot 8:4About R. Saadia Gaon, Ibn EzraBereshit 11:29Bereshit 12:1Bereshit 15:1,7,12-13,17Bereshit 24:4Long Commentary Shemot 12:40Short Commentary Shemot 12:40About R. Avraham ibn Ezra, R. Yosef Bekhor ShorBereshit 12:1Bereshit 15:1-8, 12Shemot 12:40About R. Yosef Bekhor Shor, RadakBereshit 11:31Bereshit 12:1Bereshit 15:1-9, 12-13About R. David Kimchi, Ralbag, Abarbanel, Hoil Moshe

Achronological

The entire chapter is written out of order and occurred when Avraham was 70.

¹ See Chizkuni who explains that Avraham feared that surrounding nations would retaliate for his battle, leading Hashem to calm him, "אַל תִּירָא אַבְרָם".

² Most of these sources do not date the war of the five kings and would likely assume that Chapters 12-15:6 follow chronologically and occurred at some point after Avraham was 75.  This is logical since most of the events described are causal and sequential.  (Avraham gains wealth and cattle in Egypt, leading to the dispute between his and Lot's shepherds. as a result Lot decides to move to Sedom. His being taken captive from there is what prompts Avraham to fight the five kings.)  
Seder Olam Rabbah is somewhat ambiguous.  On one hand, he suggests that Avraham's arrival in Canaan, the famine, and the war all took place in the same year, when Avraham was 75.   At the same time, the midrash counts the years of the servitude to and rebellion against the four kings to 26 years, which accoring to his reckoning should make Avraham 74.  According to the latter, Avraham would have had to have been in Canaan not only at 70 for the covenant, but also at 74 for the war.  R. Yechiel of PAris,

³ See Chizkuni who points this out as well and suggests that this is what motivates Seder Olam Rabbah to maintian that Avraham was in Israel during the making of the covenant but then returned.

⁴ Ralbag also posits that it was first at the age of 85 that Avraham despaired of having children, attested to by the story of his taking Hagar as wife in Bereshit 16. As such, he finds it much more reasonable to assume that Avraham's words "וְאָנֹכִי הוֹלֵךְ עֲרִירִי" and the Covenant of the Pieces took place close to that event (which immediately follows) and not fifteen years earlier.
Ralbag's argument assumes that Seder Olam Rabbah understands that the entire chapter took place when Avraham was 70, but it is more likely that they assume that only verses 7ff occurred then.