Genesis 17: 1-2 When Abram was ninety-nine years old, God showed up and said to him, “I am The Strong God, live entirely before me, live to the hilt! I’ll make a covenant between us and I’ll give you a huge family.”
3-8 Overwhelmed, Abram fell flat on his face.
Then God said to him, “This is my covenant with you: You’ll be the father of many nations. Your name will no longer be Abram (Exalted Father, Their Shield, Their Protection), but Abraham, meaning that ‘I’m making you the father of many nations.’ (The name Abraham includes everything already implied by the name Abram.) I’ll make you a father of fathers—I’ll make nations from you, kings will issue from you. I’m establishing my covenant between me and you, a covenant that includes your descendants, a covenant that goes on and on and on, a covenant that commits me to be your God and the God of your descendants. And I’m giving you and your descendants this land where you’re now just camping, this whole country of Canaan, to own forever. And I’ll be their God.”
9-14 God continued to Abraham, “And you: You will honor my covenant, you and your descendants, generation after generation. This is the covenant that you are to honor, the covenant that pulls in all your descendants: Circumcise every male. Circumcise by cutting off the foreskin of the penis; it will be the sign of the covenant between us. Every male baby will be circumcised when he is eight days old, generation after generation—this includes house-born slaves and slaves bought from outsiders who are not blood kin. Make sure you circumcise both your own children and anyone brought in from the outside. That way my covenant will be cut into your body, a permanent mark of my permanent covenant. An uncircumcised male, one who has not had the foreskin of his penis cut off, will be cut off from his people—he has broken my covenant.”
Here God institutes circumcision for all of Abraham’s male descendants as a harmless form of cutting covenant. The shedding of blood during the rite of circumcision harks back to the blood covenant God has cut with Abram in Genesis 15. Not only does circumcision honor that covenant, but it also marks all Jewish males as being dedicated to the Lord. Sadly, there will be those who reject this mark of God’s covenant with Abram. Centuries later, during the Greco-Roman period, some young Jewish men will undergo painful operations to reverse the circumcision so that they can exercise naked in the gymnasiums without ostracism, essentially breaking that covenant.
15-16 God continued speaking to Abraham, “And Sarai your wife: Don’t call her Sarai any longer; call her Sarah. I’ll bless her—yes! I’ll give you a son by her! Oh, how I’ll bless her! Nations will come from her; kings of nations will come from her.” (The names Sarai and Sarah both come from the same root, meaning “to rule” or “to be strong;” however, the name Sarah also has international implications. Some people translate Sarah to mean “Princess.”)
17 Abraham fell flat on his face. And then he laughed, thinking, “Can a hundred-year-old man father a son? And can Sarah, at ninety years, have a baby?”
18 Recovering, Abraham said to God, “Oh, keep Ishmael alive and well before you!”
19 But God said, “That’s not what I mean. Your wife, Sarah, will have a baby, a son. Name him Isaac (Laughter). I’ll establish my covenant with him and his descendants, a covenant that lasts forever.
20-21 “And Ishmael? Yes, I heard your prayer for him. I’ll also bless him; I’ll make sure he has plenty of children—a huge family. He’ll father twelve princes; I’ll make him a great nation. But I’ll establish my covenant with Isaac whom Sarah will give you about this time next year.”
22 God finished speaking with Abraham and left.
23 Then Abraham took his son Ishmael and all his servants, whether house born or purchased—every male in his household—and circumcised them, cutting off their foreskins that very day, just as God had told him.
24-27 Abraham was ninety-nine years old when he was circumcised. His son Ishmael was thirteen years old when he was circumcised. Abraham and Ishmael were circumcised the same day together with all the servants of his household, those born there and those purchased from outsiders—all were circumcised with him.
We’ve already discussed circumcision, but notice Abraham’s obedience. Abraham doesn’t argue with God or question Him. “That very day,” Abraham circumcises every male in his household, no matter their origins. Why would all these men willingly undergo circumcision? First, there was Abraham’s character. These men knew Abraham and trusted him implicitly; if Abraham told them that the One True Living God had ordered circumcision, they would obey. Second, circumcision was not a new phenomenon; the Egyptians and other groups had practiced circumcision for years. There might have been some men scratching their heads in confusion; however, they trusted Abraham and they knew Abraham trusted God. By his instant obedience, Abraham proved that he was worthy of God’s trust. And God rewarded Abraham for his faithfulness.
Abraham also reaped another reward by his instant obedience in ordering circumcision for all males of the household: Sarai was renamed Sarah and God promised that she would bear a son in her old age, and that they would name the boy “Isaac,” which means “laughter.” The blood shed during the household circumcisions constituted a form of blood sacrifice.
It is fascinating to speculate what might have happened had Abraham not obeyed God in the matter of circumcision. Would Isaac still have been born or would Sarah have remained barren? Would God have blessed Ishmael and multiplied him as He had promised? Would the story of the Jewish people have ended with Abraham for lack of obedience? Praise God that these are idle speculations, for Abraham was obedient and the results would be miraculous!
PRAYER: Father God, thank You for loving us and caring for us. Lord, help us to be obedient even in the hard and difficult things. In the mighty and precious Name of King Jesus. Amen.
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