As the sun was setting, Abram fell into a deep sleep, and a thick and dreadful darkness came over him.
Genesis 15:12 (NIV)
The rabbis say that sleep is a microcosm of death. How would Adam have known to fear death until he was terrorized with unnatural sleep?
And here in Genesis 15, we see it plainly. Darkness hasn’t been mentioned since Genesis 1. This is an echo of Genesis 2.
And the Lord God commanded the man, “You are free to eat from any tree in the garden; but you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for when you eat from it you will certainly die.”
Genesis 2:16-17 (NIV)
Perhaps the man wondered, “what is death?” And shortly after, God causes him to fall into a slumber. A sleep so unnatural that the man must have wondered, “what’s happening? Is this death?”
So the Lord God caused the man to fall into a deep sleep; and while he was sleeping, he took one of the man’s ribs and then closed up the place with flesh.
Genesis 2:21 (NIV)
And after death, there is a new life. Eve’s name means… life.
Perhaps Adam’s waking revelation of another life made from him tells us that in waking from death, we will be joined with another. Complete.
And perhaps the waking tells us another thing: If Adam is like God, his own sleep/death tells us that God will die and rise to be united with his bride, too.