Circumcision
Abram became Abraham in Genesis 17 at the same time when God instituted circumcision. Circumcision of the foreskin was meant to be a constant reminder of the blood covenant partnership between God and each son born into the Abrahamic covenant; generation after generation.
Moses is the man Jews typically look to as their greatest leader as he was the one God raised up to lead the Israelites out of slavery in Egypt. They reject Jesus as Messiah because they have not made the correlation between Moses and Jesus. They assumed since God performed mighty signs, wonders, and miracles through Moses to set His people free from cruel bondage, that the Messiah would be like him in releasing God’s people from their oppression in Rome.
“21 The Lord said to Moses, “When you return to Egypt, see that you perform before Pharaoh all the wonders I have given you the power to do. But I will harden his heart so that he will not let the people go. 22 Then say to Pharaoh, ‘This is what the Lord says: Israel is my firstborn son, 23 and I told you, “Let my son go, so he may worship me.” But you refused to let him go; so I will kill your firstborn son.’””
Most people forget (conveniently?) that Moses wasn’t perfect by any stretch of the imagination. He killed an Egyptian slave master and made several mistakes throughout his life, yet God abundantly graced him. Remember that God established the covenant of circumcision many years prior to his birth, so know for sure that Moses, a descendant of Hebrews (Levites) had been circumcised. However, he did not circumcise his son.
“24 At a lodging place on the way, the Lord met Moses and was about to kill him. 25 But Zipporah took a flint knife, cut off her son’s foreskin and touched Moses’ feet with it. “Surely you are a bridegroom of blood to me,” she said. 26 So the Lord let him alone. (At that time she said “bridegroom of blood,” referring to circumcision.)”
If you’re looking for an odd passage of Scripture, this is in the top 5. Anyway…
It’s fascinating that Moses angered God three times in his original discussion with Him and here, Moses’ Midianite wife, Zipporah, is the one who intercedes for Moses as God was angry that he had not honored God with redeeming his firstborn son. Zipporah was the daughter of Jethro, a priest of Midian, and she, evidently knew about circumcision. (And there are people who say, ‘God doesn’t honor women.’)
The bloodshed brought about by this cutting off of a ring of flesh of every single 8 day old boy was meant to be a symbolic gesture alluding to the cutting of flesh Messiah Jesus would have to endure. Christians are not called to continue the tradition of circumcision because it is a relic of the old covenant/Mosaic Law.
“For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision has any value. The only thing that counts is faith expressing itself through love.”
This is the case because we are neither in the Abrahamic covenant nor the Mosaic covenant. Though they were both established, and reaffirmed, with the blood of bulls, goats, rams, doves, pigeons, and foreskins, they no longer hold any value in the Blood Covenant in Jesus. This means the sacrificial system of killing animals for the vicarious sake of the remission of sins has been eliminated, henceforth forever made obsolete. That’s what Jesus meant when He said, “It is finished.”
“No, a person is a Jew who is one inwardly; and circumcision is circumcision of the heart, by the Spirit, not by the written code. ”
The expectation of Jews is that God ‘smiles on them with favor,’ if you will, because they have been circumcised (This is very similar to the Catholic concept of infant baptism). They were somehow misled into thinking that there was salvation and righteousness in this infant ritual. They also had falsely estimated that God’s promises are found in the obedience to the Torah, which is completely erroneous because …
“The law is only a shadow of the good things that are coming—not the realities themselves. For this reason it can never, by the same sacrifices repeated endlessly year after year, make perfect those who draw near to worship. 2 Otherwise, would they not have stopped being offered? For the worshipers would have been cleansed once for all, and would no longer have felt guilty for their sins. 3 But those sacrifices are an annual reminder of sins. 4 It is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins.”
So, if “the law (Torah) is only a shadow of the good things to come and not the realities themselves,” we must ask the question, “Why should we consider circumcision to be anything but an outward reminder of what should be a private, intimate relationship between God and man just as the penis is the most intimate part of a man and the next generation’s vessel through which they are conceived into the Earth?”*
Photo by Kreated Media on Unsplash
One thing we can extract from this revelation is that we can enjoy the incredible freedom Jesus laid down His life for us to have. We are no longer in bondage to the Laws of the Torah — the Law that made no man free, let alone righteous.
“He has made us competent as ministers of a new covenant—not of the letter [Torah] but of the Spirit; for the letter [Torah] kills, but the Spirit gives life.”
After all the Psalms and Proverbs, and songs written about the praise God deserves for giving mankind the Torah, it accomplished nothing but to reveal just how dependent mankind is on God.
“For in him we live and move and have our being.”
Ultimately, our own, personal relationships with God are just that — personal. They might look different from person to person, but the bottom line is this: we are righteous in the eyes of God because of what Jesus accomplished for us, not because we had a piece of skin removed or we tried really hard to be as perfect as possible. We all know people who are stuck in religiosity that gains them nothing with God and they wonder why He doesn’t respond to them as they think He should. They treat God as if He were a genie, as if He had nothing better to do than wait on them hand and foot and then they condemn Him for not doing what they believe is “His job.”
To be completely up front with you, our relationship with God fully depends on His graceful attitude toward us. If He was a cruel taskmaster as uninformed atheists have raged, He would most likely not put up with us at all, and would most certainly not have given us this second chance we call “life.”
How much of humanity’s squabbles, stressors, and sufferings are you willing to put up with? Think of all the unforgiveness and grudges within the Church today. The early Church had to deal with various arguments over doctrine and the subject of circumcision was hotly contested because there were people who thought circumcision was a basis of right standing before God. Incredibly, these Judaizers, as they came to be known, were willing to cause division in leadership just to validate their extinct religious ideology. How many people have been, as we say, “Hurt by church”?
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Imagine, if one day, everyone simultaneously got over themselves, stopped acting “holier than thou”, got real with each other, and did whatever it took to make amends to everyone we’ve hurt; there would be a dramatic decrease in stressful situations.
“Stress is the byproduct of a loveless situation.”
Chew on that for a minute. If everyone in the world just chose to treat each other as they wanted to be treated, this world would be awesome! The absence of love is the worst place to be. The places where the love of God and man has been replaced with the pursuit of power and money are the places most opposed to the Gospel. Coincidence?
Imagine your life from God’s perspective. Have you ever thought of how you might treat mankind if you were God? How would you treat you?
Why not take some time and think that out? After you have collected your thoughts, take a pen and paper and write a letter to yourself. In addition, take your time and detail how you would do things if you could do them over again — and let the healing begin.
Prayer
Father God, I have discovered that there are things I have been thinking about, not necessarily circumcision, but that are purely religious and have no bearing in Your plans for my life. I choose, today, to repent of, renounce, and reject these things from my life and I choose to receive Your healing presence into my heart and soul. Thank You, my Lord, for Your everlasting kindness to me, and for always seeking the best for me even when I ceased to do so. I thank You for keeping me going in those days when I thought I can’t make it out of bed. Your Word is still just as perfect and powerful as the day You first spoke them into existence. Hallelujah! I thank You for never abandoning me to Hell, as I deserved. Your faithfulness toward me inspires me to do better everyday. Please set a fire in my soul that will carry me into Your loving arms everyday of my life and help me to love myself and others. Please help me to forgive those who have hurt me. I await Your next flow of love into my heart! In Jesus’ name I pray, amen.
*Notice there is no female circumcision because the maintenance of the covenants are always determined through the man as the leader of the family/household and the bearer of the responsibility of that headship before God in the spirit.
Banner photo by Louis Hansel @shotsoflouis on Unsplash