And when the sun was going down. Literally, was about to go down. The vision having commenced the previous evening, an entire day has already passed, the interval being designed to typify the time between the pro-raise and its fulfillment (Kalisch).
A deep sleep—tardemah (cf. Adam's sleep, Genesis 2:21); ἔκστασις (LXX.); a supernatural slumber, as the darkness following was not solely due to natural causes—fell upon Abram; and, lo, an horror of great darkness—literally, an, horror, a great darkness, i.
e. an overwhelming dread occasioned by the dense gloom with which he was encircled, and which, besides Being designed to conceal the working of the Deity from mortal vision (Knobel), was meant to symbolize the Egyptian bondage (Grotius, Calvin, Rosenmüller, Keil, Aalisch), and perhaps also, since Abram's faith embraced a larger sphere than Canaan (Hebrews 11:10, Hebrews 11:14, Hebrews 11:16), and a nobler seed than Sarah's son (John 8:56), the sufferings of Christ (Wordsworth, Inglis)—fell upon him.