Good Morning.
And God said to Abraham: “As for you, you shall keep My covenant, you and your descendants after you throughout their generations. This is My covenant which you shall keep, between Me and you and your descendants after you: Every male child among you shall be circumcised.” (Genesis 17:9-10)
Can you imagine being told this? Wouldn’t you have had some questions — and maybe some reservations about this? But faithful Abraham received this command and obeyed. It is believed that this odd command was given before Isaac’s birth to signify that Isaac was the promised seed and that he was to be born in holiness.
Perhaps this was also to hint that, because this would be considered bizarre by the rest of the world, the seed of Abraham would be shunned resulting in their being “set apart.” Many centuries later, the Maccabeans fought Antiochus and died for the sake of this command. During that time, many mothers who had circumcised children were executed by the Greeks. Needless to say, the sons of Abraham have always this command seriously.
The Hebrew word for “foreskin,” ערלה orlah, means “a barrier” – something that stands in the way. Inference is that it represents something that would impede God’s will for your life. Obviously, it was always intended to speak to a spiritual issue. Later, Moses would exhort the Hebrew people to “circumcise the foreskin of your heart, and be stiff-necked no longer” (Deuteronomy 10:16). Still later, Paul invoked this command when he reminded us that outward appearances do not necessarily equate to holiness.
“Therefore, if an uncircumcised man keeps the righteous requirements of the law, will not his uncircumcision be counted as circumcision? And will not the physically uncircumcised, if he fulfills the law, judge you who, even with your written code and circumcision, are a transgressor of the law? For he is not a Jew who is one outwardly, nor is circumcision that which is outward in the flesh; but he is a Jew who is one inwardly; and circumcision is that of the heart, in the Spirit, not in the letter; whose praise is not from men but from God. (Romans 2:26-29)
The point would be that we — male and female — are to remove any and all impediments that would interfere with God’s will for our life. There must not be any barriers between us and the Almighty so that His Presence may reign in our hearts. Consequently, what is in our heart will be expressed in our being that the world might know that we are the seed of Abraham — servants of the Almighty.
Blessings and Shalom,
Bill
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