Mark Chavalas wrestles with a particular issue in the dialogue between God and Abram in Genesis 15, namely the identification of the ‘smoking oven and flaming torch’ of v. 17. Before the advent of the decipherment of cuneiform languages in the mid-nineteenth century the interpretation of the passage was rather straightforward; the oven and the torch represented God, who somehow passed through the halves of the animals in this admittedly strange ritual (which appears to have similarities to an event described in Jeremiah  Mark W. Chavalas is Professor Emeritus from the University of Wisconsin-La Crosse, where he taught for over thirty years. He has written or edited a number of books, including Mesopotamia and the Bible, and the IVP Bible Background Commentary: Old Testament. He also has a podcast: Buried Bible Podcast, up and running since February of this year. https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61572416891118#He and his wife Kimberlee have six children and four grandchildren.