5 He took him outside and said, “Look up at the heavens and count the stars–if indeed you can count them.” Then he said to him, “So shall your offspring be.” 6 Abram believed the LORD, and he credited it to him as righteousness.

We normally skipped the last part of chapter 15, or simply accepted it as a confirmation of verses 5 and 6. We thought that the covenant was just a way to seal Abraham’s righteousness and remind him of the consequences of his disobedience if he would break the covenant.

This is such a misunderstanding of this passage! We cannot have vision to “count the stars” if we do not understand that God took both sides of the covenant. The smoking firepot is not to be dismissed as some mystery of God. It is the main point.