Read with Me
Genesis 17:9-14 (HCSB)
God also said to Abraham, “As for you, you and your offspring after you throughout their generations are to keep My covenant. This is My covenant, which you are to keep, between Me and you and your offspring after you: Every one of your males must be circumcised. You must circumcise the flesh of your foreskin to serve as a sign of the covenant between Me and you. Throughout your generations, every male among you at eight days old is to be circumcised. This includes a slave born in your house and one purchased with money from any foreigner. The one who is not your offspring, a slave born in your house, as well as one purchased with money, must be circumcised. My covenant will be marked in your flesh as an everlasting covenant. If any male is not circumcised in the flesh of his foreskin, that man will be cut off from his people; he has broken My covenant.”
Listen with Me
At this point, God initiated the ritual of circumcision, a sign in the flesh of the covenant that He was making with Abraham and his descendants for all generations. Circumcision was the seal of the covenant for Abraham, and the sign of the covenant for subsequent generations. Abraham’s descendants could opt out of the covenant by refusing to circumcise themselves or their children or their slaves. Likewise, even those not directly descended from Abraham could opt into this covenant by being circumcised.
A point that many people find interesting is that circumcision was to be performed on baby boys on the eighth day after their birth. Recent scientific investigations have found that the baby’s blood clotting ability reaches full strength on the eighth day after birth, so circumcision on that day poses far less risk of excessive bleeding than it would if performed earlier. Of course, having designed the human body from the ground up, God was aware of this phenomenon and fitted his requirements to it.
The other facet of this rite of circumcision is that it had to be performed on every male in the household, including slaves and their sons. The covenant affected them as well, so they were required to opt in or their master, a descendant of Abraham, would be seen as having broken the covenant and would be cut off by God. Some might object that this was a cruel thing to do to one’s slaves. But many masters did much harsher things to their slaves, even castrating their male slaves, for which the slaves received no benefit. Abraham’s slaves were treated no more cruelly than his own sons were, and the slaves, being considered part of Abraham’s household, received many blessings from the covenant in exchange.
Pray with Me
Father, it is so easy for us to skip over the requirement of obedience to your commandment, and instead to look at your commandments strictly from a cost-benefit perspective. As Christians who are not physically descended from the line of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, circumcision is not a requirement. But do require that we obey the commandments of Jesus to remain in your New Testament covenant (Matthew 28:18-20; John 14:15, 23-24, 15:1-10, and many others). Again, many Christians look at Jesus’ commandments and rather than simply committing to obey everything that He commanded, we do a cost-benefit analysis to try to determine which specific commandments have the best benefits, and exactly how much we have to obey in order to receive the benefits of living in Your kingdom. Abraham didn’t do that. He understood that obedience to Your requirements is instead an all-or-nothing proposition. Partial obedience was and is seen by You as disobedience. Lord, help me to simply obey Your commandments, so that I can receive every benefit of living in Your kingdom each day. Amen.
Exciting news! The next two volumes in the When We Listen devotional series have been released! Luke and John are now available on Amazon. You can click on the links below for more information or to order them. If you are in the Portland Metro area in Oregon, I will be doing a release party and book signing on Tuesday, October 8, from 6-8 p.m. The new books will be available for purchase at a discounted rate. The release party will be at the Woodburn Area Chamber of Commerce Office, 1755 Mount Hood Ave, Unit 120, Woodburn, Oregon, 97071. It would be great to meet those of you who live nearby!
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