Genesis 17:1-14--Abraham and The Covenant of Circumcision

READ:  https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Genesis+17%3A1-14&version=ESV
LISTEN:  https://www.biblegateway.com/audio/mclean/esv/Gen.17.1-Gen.17.14​

Abraham and the Covenant of Circumcision
17 When Abram was ninety-nine years old the Lord appeared to Abram and said to him, “I am God Almighty; walk before me, and be blameless, 2 that I may make my covenant between me and you, and may multiply you greatly.” 3 Then Abram fell on his face. And God said to him, 4 “Behold, my covenant is with you, and you shall be the father of a multitude of nations. 5 No longer shall your name be called Abram, but your name shall be Abraham, for I have made you the father of a multitude of nations. 6 I will make you exceedingly fruitful, and I will make you into nations, and kings shall come from you. 7 And I will establish my covenant between me and you and your offspring after you throughout their generations for an everlasting covenant, to be God to you and to your offspring after you. 8 And I will give to you and to your offspring after you the land of your sojournings, all the land of Canaan, for an everlasting possession, and I will be their God.”
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9 And God said to Abraham, “As for you, you shall keep my covenant, you and your offspring after you throughout their generations. 10 This is my covenant, which you shall keep, between me and you and your offspring after you: Every male among you shall be circumcised. 11 You shall be circumcised in the flesh of your foreskins, and it shall be a sign of the covenant between me and you. 12 He who is eight days old among you shall be circumcised. Every male throughout your generations, whether born in your house or bought with your money from any foreigner who is not of your offspring, 13 both he who is born in your house and he who is bought with your money, shall surely be circumcised. So shall my covenant be in your flesh an everlasting covenant. 14 Any uncircumcised male who is not circumcised in the flesh of his foreskin shall be cut off from his people; he has broken my covenant.”

When we left Abram at the end of the last chapter, he was 86 years old.  He is now 99 years old, making Ishmael thirteen years old (the age that is considered an adult in Jewish tradition).  God comes to Abram once again to tell him to be blameless in his walk before God.  Let's stop for just a second to discuss the difference between the words "blameless" and" perfect."  Only God is perfect and therefore the only perfect man that ever existed is God.  We even see this wrapped up in the word "good" which has to do with the essence of the thing you're discussing as Jesus would tell the rich, young ruler that "Only God is good."  Jesus would tell his disciples in the Sermon on the Mount to be perfect as their Father in heaven is perfect (an impossible standard which is kind of the point of the Sermon on the Mount).

However, we will meet several people in the Bible that are referred to as "blameless" even though we know they are not perfect.  This means that no one had anything bad to say about their character or reputation.  Sure they were sinners, and God had not forgotten about that, but no one could say a bad thing about them.  We are told many times in the Bible (Old Testament and New Testament) to conduct ourselves in such a way that it blameless so as not to bring reproach on the name of God and God's people and so that, like Abram in this passage, we can experience the fullness of God's blessing.

God reminds Abram this his desire for him is to fulfill His covenant and to make Abram a great nation.  God then changes Abram's name to Abraham and this is how many people know this man, even going so far as to call him "Father Abraham."  Again, for the third time in just a few verses God says that He will establish and fulfill His covenant with Abraham and will make cause him to have many descendants and be the father of many nations.  Then we again see something that not new to our discussion is stated clearly for the very first time.  This covenant is an everlasting covenant between God and the descendants of Abraham.  That covenant is to include possession of the land of Canaan and a promise that they would always be God's people and God would never leave them or forsake them, no matter how much they would rebel against Him.

It may be helpful to some to think about a marriage covenant with what's coming as some readers may not be familiar with any other type of covenant.  While a marriage covenant is between two mortals and only lasts until death separates them from each other in this life, God's covenant is with our eternal part of us (our soul) and will never be broken.  The two people getting married exchange vows which is what God is doing here, though we'll see the other side of the vows in what it means to be the people of God later in the book of Deuteronomy.  Also, a "sign of the covenant" is usually given in the form of the exchanging of rings (at least in Western culture) to remind themselves of their covenant as needs but also to show others that this person is married and not available.

It's this "sign of the covenant" that we're going to talk about next.  God gave Abraham an ordinance to circumcise all male children that were born under this covenant on the eighth day or upon their conversion to being followers of Jehovah God if they were older than this.  This was not voluntary and was required for all male members of the household whether naturally born, adopted, or purchased out of slavery to be a servant in that man's household.  Each man was to have their foreskin circumcised to mark that they belonged to God and to no to no other deity or idol.

This covenant was not made with women or animals in the way that it was made with men.  From the very beginning God had instituted that men would be the ones responsible for keeping His word and for leading their families and communities.  The placement of this sign was of no mistake either because sexual perversion and idolatry usually go hand in hand and it is the male who is active in such roles and needs to be reminded of his identity and that he is under an everlasting covenant with God whereby he is to conduct himself in way that is blameless and upright.  This is no slight to women, but if the men in the culture conduct themselves appropriately there will be no demand for fornication, adultery, prostitution, or other "unnatural acts" with children, animals, or adults of the same sex.  Anyone who was a male adult that refused to live under this covenant and be marked in this way and agree to walk in a way that was blameless before God and men was a danger to the community and must be cast out.  Notice that children would not be held accountable for the obedience of their parents, but the responsibility passes to them as soon as they are adults (13 years of age in Jewish culture).

The age of Ishmael is not accidental here in my opinion.  God is giving Abraham a choice to continue to raise his son to walk in a way that is blameless before God and men, though we know from the prophecy given by the angel of the Lord that Ishmael is going to be "a wild donkey of a man" that will not walk in a way that is considered upright or blameless.  Ishmael is old enough at this point to choose to enter into this covenant or to refuse to enter into the covenant and leave the community.  The choice will be his, but we'll see that just because someone wears a wedding ring doesn't mean they act like a married person and just because someone is marked by circumcision on the outside does not mean that they will act like a man of God.  We will meet many people (not just Ishmael, though he is the first) that will be marked by circumcision and will still rebel against God.

There is no such external sign given to Christians, rather the change is supposed to be internal but still visible to all that see us.  We are told that it is our hearts that are to be circumcised and that we to make sure that it is our heart that does not sin against God because all sin originates in the heart that is deceitfully wicked.  God had to give us a new heart (we'll see this in the promise of the New Covenant in the book of Jeremiah the prophet) and has told us that "by this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another."  And we are also told that "by your fruits, you will know them."  There are definitely outward signs of the inward change, but there is no tattoo or jewelry or mark that we wear on the outside to remind us and tell other who we are and who we belong to, but our lives should broadcast this loud and clear to all those around us both in our words and our deeds.  You don't need to to in the room very long with two married people (or even two people that are dating or engaged) to know that they in a relationship with each other.  They look at each other differently than they look at anyone else in the room and they talk differently to each other and about each other.  In the same way everyone should see the way we look at God and talk to Him and the way He talks to us and the way we talk about Him to others and know instantly that I am His and He is mine.

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