Why did God do that?

This is not about a New Year's resolution. I always quit those things...or at least forget about them.

I guess I just decided that it was time for me to read the Bible. All of it.

I ran across the ONE YEAR Chronological Bible and decided to give it a shot. What's interesting about this particular publication of the Bible is that it not only breaks the scripture down day-by-day so that you can read the entire Word in a year, but it presents passages in chronological order.

Now to the question at hand....

In today's reading, God, in the process of making a covenant with Abram, instructed Abram to bring various creatures (heifer, goat, ram, turtledove, and pigeon). Abram presented the animals to God, killed them, and cut them (all but the birds) down the middle and laid the halves side by side.

Then, the Bible says "Some vultures swooped down to eat the carcasses, but Abram chased them away."

What in the world? Why on earth did God include the part about the vultures swooping and Abram chasing them away?

This post is not a huge theological question about covenants and blood and etc., etc., etc. It's about why would that little tidbit of information be included.

Please know I'm not being critical. I know I'm dumb as dirt about most things, but that just struck me as so funny.

Imagine an old man, frustrated from chasing down a heifer, goat, and ram (and that does sound frustrating to me...), tired and likely nauseous from the killing...then completely irritated at these nasty ole vultures attempting to feast on all his hard work.

But what's the point of including the information about the vultures? I don't get it at all. Why did God do that?

Just like spiders. Why in the world did God create those?

Cockroaches? Same thing.

All I know is that He can write whatever He wants to write, and that His thoughts are not my thoughts.

Any ideas floating around out there about the swooping vultures? I would love an "ah-ha moment" right about now!