“Circumcision: Both a Symbol of Judgment and of Mercy”
Genesis 17:1-27
Last week we read how God re-created Hagar. In today’s Scripture we are going to read how God re-creates Abram and Sarai. This chapter is the longest speech we have encountered so far in the book of Genesis. It’s basically one long speech of God with bits of narrative thrown in.
It begins by telling us that Abram was 99 years of age. We were told in the previous chapter that Avram was 86 when Ishmael was born, so that makes Ishmael, 13 years old.
Next we read that God appeared and said, verse 1,
“I am God Almighty; walk before me faithfully and be blameless. Then I will make my covenant between me and you and will greatly increase your numbers.”
A better translation might be, “Hey, Abram, remember me? I’m El Shaddai. Shape up, buddy. Walk with me and be blameless. I’m going to bless you and make you exceedingly numerous.”
If you recall, there was such a person who was blameless and walked with God, it was Noah.
But Abram?
He was another story.
God had to come down and actually command Abram to step up and walk right. Which makes us wonder. Based on the last story we just read Abram has not been walking closely with God and he definitely wasn’t blameless.
What is the clue that gives it away?
Check out Abram’s response. Did he say, “Thank you Lord, So good of you to come and take a walk about with me.”
Out of fear he falls down.
We have similar responses from some people when you ask them to come to church, they say,
“Oh no, if I came to church the roof would cave in.”
Right now the roof is caving in on Abram.
Both God and Abram are aware of Abram’s negative behavior. God is approaching Abram with force and power and saying, “Hey, if we’re going to work together, you have to stop what you’re doing.” In fact, God states He was going to make a covenant with Abram that required him to change his ways and God was going to change his name as a sign to show the transformation.
God splits the name Abram and adds a “rah”
causing his name to be Ab-rah-ham,
because the Hebrew word, “hamon” means multitude. Now Abraham would be known as the
“Exalted Father of a Multitude of Nations.”
God then talks about circumcision, which I will come back to, but following the circumcision God informs Abraham that his wife Sarai will also receive a new name. It will be Sarah. Both Sarai and Sarah are variations of the word, “princess.” God then reminds Abraham of His blessing to Sarah and Abraham of a son through Sarah. She would be the mother of nations and kings would come from her.
No sooner had God finished that speech and Abraham fell on his face again.
Abraham looks up and asks, “You’re saying that a couple near the age of 100 are going to give birth?”
And God’s like, “Oh my goodness. Aye, yi, yi. Yes, Abraham, you and Sarah are going to have a kid.”
But Abraham was not convinced. He speaks up and says, “Well you know God, I already have a son, his name is Ishmael. Let Ishmael be the chosen one.”
Yahweh responds with, “Not going to happen. You see I have already worked that out with Hagar. I am going to bless Ishmael, he will become a nation and because you don’t believe me, the son you and Sarah are going to have, we are going to call his name Isaac, which means, ‘laughter.’”
That’s it, God shows up and calls Abram and Sarai to account and tells them to shape up, they are going to be covenant partners with God Almighty. Abram fell down on his face and there was no negotiating. Abram was going to have a son, laugh or not, in fact, they named the son laughter, but he was to be the chosen one. Oh and as for Ishmael, God had him covered, because Abraham certainly didn’t.
This covers all that God was going to do for Abraham and Sarah. Back to the center of all this we read about the thing that God wants Abraham to do.
What’s that thing?
Back to verse 9, I’m going to re-read through to verse 14,
Then God said to Abraham, “As for you, you must keep my covenant, you and your descendants after you for the generations to come.
This is my covenant with you and your descendants after you, the covenant you are to keep: Every male among you shall be circumcised. You are to undergo circumcision, and it will be the sign of the covenant between me and you. For the generations to come every male among you who is eight days old must be circumcised, including those born in your household or bought with money from a foreigner—those who are not your offspring. Whether born in your household or bought with your money, they must be circumcised. My covenant in your flesh is to be an everlasting covenant.
Any uncircumcised male, who has not been circumcised in the flesh, will be cut off from his people; he has broken my covenant.”
This is where circumcision enters the storyline. It is going to play a significant role throughout Jewish culture, especially when we get to the book of Acts and the letters of Paul.
The two scholars that introduce the view I am going to share regarding this scene are Jacob Stromberg and David Andrew Teeter. Their insight is uncanny.
Why did God come up with such a bizarre covenant?
Just think for a moment.
What part of Abram’s body did he just use as a part of the oppression of Hagar?
That part is now being commanded to have a big chunk of it cut off. Eventually, some positive connotations may appear, as when the Israelites become proud of this as their identity. Yet, in the original context, chapters 15 to 17 of Genesis, there is a much more sobering picture.
This may be a speech about blessing and it is God’s covenant promise, but did you notice that Abraham freaked out, and fell on his face?
Although circumcision becomes a symbolism men regard as significant, in the original context, the bare fact of cutting off a part of the human body is not a good thing.
That’s one aspect of this story. Without knowing anything, you could read this story and think, “Wow, that’s intense.” But let’s check in with the literary design and recognize where we are. We are in the midst of the de-creation and re-creation of the violent oppressors.
Which should remind us of the first covenant God made, with Noah, when he got off the ark,
Check out what God said then in Genesis 9:9
“I now establish my covenant with you and with your descendants after you…”
You could actually copy and paste.
What was the symbol of the covenant in chapter 9? It was the bow in the clouds, in English we say “rainbow,” in Hebrew it also means the bow that you shoot with.
God says, verse 11, “Never again will all life be destroyed by the waters of a flood; never again will there be a flood to destroy the earth.”
The Hebrew word for flood is “hammabbul” and what did the flood do? It cut off flesh from the face of the land. God’s covenant with Noah and with all living beings and all living creatures, was that they would no longer be cut off by the “mabbul.” Now, here in Genesis chapter 17, God makes a covenant with Abraham and his seed. The sign for this covenant is “circumcision.” Which is spelled with the same Hebrew letters as “flood,”
Hammabbul = flood
Himmol = circumcision
There are literally the same letters in the same order with only one letter absent. The narrator is inviting us to see circumcision as playing the same role as the flood. Both cut off flesh.
When we think about the flood, would you say that it was good or bad?
It was an act of judgment, but it was also a way for God to remove the violence from the land, washing it clean from the bloodshed and bringing about a re-creation.
Just as in the flood, we are asked to look at circumcision as both an act of judgment on evil and an act of re-creation.
God was judging the part of the body that was used to oppress the immigrant, but He was also marking the body that will be the conduit of the future of the family. The future of the family is what this is all about. As we proceed, we will discover that circumcision is going to mean a lot of different things throughout the rest of Israelite and Jewish history.
Just like the rainbow in the clouds, circumcision is both a symbol of justice and of mercy. Rainbows show up, when? When it’s raining. You think, “Hope we don’t have to go through that flood thing?”
But the rainbow reminds us through its beauty and promise that God won’t ever let that happen again. There is something about circumcision that is really important and quite similar.
It allows us to look back at these three chapters and think, “God managed to deal with these people both severely, but also mercifully.” In the end, whatever happens to this family, it’s going to be on God’s terms. In this chapter God makes it very clear that He wants Abraham and Sarah to stop coming up with their own plans. He reminds them that their future doesn’t depend on what they can scheme up. Their future depends on God’s covenant, on God’s promises.
Check in time.
How many of us get so busy planning our own schemes and working on our own building plans that God has to eventually come down and hit us over the head with a brick and say, “STOP!”
The message God gave Abraham and Sarah is just as significant for us today.
Stop coming up with our own plans.
Stop, and involve God along the way.
He might just need to save us from ourselves.
We need to be reminded our future doesn’t depend on what we can scheme up. We also need to stop justifying our schemes and start bringing them to the LORD for reshaping and redesigning.
The best way to do that is to recognize our future depends on God’s covenant and on God’s promises.
The best way to do that is to take the time to double check our plans and schemes to see if they match God’s covenants and God’s designs.
Let’s pray.
