circumcision — Faves of Dave - Bible Study

Gen. 17:9 And God said to Abraham, “As for you, you shall keep my covenant, you and your offspring after you throughout their generations. 10 This is my covenant, which you shall keep, between me and you and your offspring after you: Every male among you shall be circumcised. 11 You shall be circumcised in the flesh of your foreskins, and it shall be a sign of the covenant between me and you. 12 He who is eight days old among you shall be circumcised. Every male throughout your generations, whether born in your house or bought with your money from any foreigner who is not of your offspring, 13 both he who is born in your house and he who is bought with your money, shall surely be circumcised. So shall my covenant be in your flesh an everlasting covenant. 14 Any uncircumcised male who is not circumcised in the flesh of his foreskin shall be cut off from his people; he has broken my covenant.”

Picking up where we left off as God is confirming the covenant promise he made to Abram, now renamed Abraham, the LORD is now giving the sign of the covenant. I’ve already made the point that when the LORD first revealed this covenant to Abram, the LORD took full responsibility for making this covenant viable. The LORD alone passed through the sacrificed animal pieces, making what is understood as an unconditional covenant.

Now, the sign of the covenant is given to Abraham. The sign is male circumcision. The sign is not only for male biological descendants of Abraham. It is for every male who identifies with Abraham and partake of the covenant blessings.

If you're like me, you may be wondering, “Why circumcision?” I cannot say I have found a historical and scholarly answer to that question. So, I will give you an answer that is more of a guess than a rock-solid, authoritative answer. The key to my response is in the word “sign.” It’s a sign of the covenant. Signs are concise messages to those who see them. What better constant reminder/message to every male Hebrew than circumcision? This is a sign that cannot be missed.

Furthermore, it’s a sign that could remind these men about the promised “seed.” We’ve already discussed how “the seed of the woman” has been an ongoing theme since the fall of humanity. Each male descendant should be reminded to walk righteously before the LORD, knowing he may be used to bring about that seed. Finally (and this is a bit of an interpretive stretch), there is a common analogy in the Scriptures that equates the “flesh” with acting according to one’s own desires and not according to the word of God. Is it possible the LORD intended this sign, a removal of flesh, to be a reminder that to receive blessings from the LORD, we need our flesh/fleshly desires removed and trust in God? Whether that has any connection with the sign of circumcision or not, I cannot be sure. I don’t know where that could be defended in Scripture. Yet, the principle is true. Check out Romans 8, where Paul tells Christians they must put to death the deeds of the flesh and walk by means of the Holy Spirit.

The failure of any male to receive this sign is cut off from the people. He is not to receive support or any of the blessings given to the covenant people. This is an important detail that will become important as the greater narrative moves on.

So, how is this important or even relevant to Christians today? We read in Acts 15 that circumcision was not to be imposed upon Gentiles who became Christians. This covenant does not apply to us. Why? The answer lies in that we are under the “New Covenant.” The sacrifice/blood of the New Covenant is that of Christ’s when he died on the cross. We are also given a sign for that covenant. It is the Holy Spirit. Therefore, the sign of our covenant is not a visible sign. It’s the third person of the Trinity who provokes us, encourages us to do what is right and good and to convict us when we don’t.

This story of the Abrahamic Covenant should remind us that our God is a covenant-making and covenant-keeping God. His covenants testify to his holiness, righteousness, justice, love, and so much more. We receive blessings when we follow the Holy Spirit's leading.