Genesis 17:9-14
Then God said to Abraham, “Your responsibility is to obey the terms of the covenant. You and all your descendants have this continual responsibility. 10 This is the covenant that you and your descendants must keep: Each male among you must be circumcised. 11 You must cut off the flesh of your foreskin as a sign of the covenant between me and you. 12 From generation to generation, every male child must be circumcised on the eighth day after his birth. This applies not only to members of your family but also to the servants born in your household and the foreign-born servants whom you have purchased.13 All must be circumcised. Your bodies will bear the mark of my everlasting covenant. 14 Any male who fails to be circumcised will be cut off from the covenant family for breaking the covenant.”
Why would God want Abram to cut off his foreskin? Can you imagine if someone came to you and said that God had promised to bless them but that he wanted them to cut off their earlobe. You would be indignant.
Wait… no! God doesn’t ask us to mutilate ourselves!
Except this is exactly what happened.
God made a blood covenant with Abraham and all of his descendants, that he would bless them and give them a promised land. This is the most serious of all covenants and each generation of men are commanded to be circumcised on the eighth day after their birth.
Circumcision is a ceremonial act that reminds them of their covenant. They are a set apart people, chosen to be the people of God. Blessed and fruitful. Holy and separate.
Still, why would God want their foreskins? It was a symbol of fertility and the promise of descendants. However, I think that there was more to it than that. In the ancient world, there were many sex cults. People created idols in the shape of women with wide hips and big breasts, or men with large penises. Sexuality was something that many worshipped and put at the centre of their identities.
The promise of blessing brought the danger of idolatry. We have a complicated relationship with blessings, often prioritising the gift over the giver. I read a Messianic Jewish blog which said, ‘It’s to do with the most graphic symbol there is of fleshly desire, and how our flesh can be at war with God. It’s to do with our innermost being: our hearts.’ Blessing their fertility did not involve license, nor abuse (Hagar!), but rather is blessed by God within restriction.
Unlike pagan cultures who made sex an idol, Abraham was reminded that sex was blessed but not to be elevated above God. They would be a holy nation, marked for worship of God and a blessing to the world.
Why does God call us to live with restrictions?
What would a circumcised life look like today?
