This chapter is full of the beautiful promises God made to Abram, as part of His covenant, along with the change of name for Abram and his wife Sarai - to Abraham and Sarah respectively. I imagine it must have been hard to get used to a new name, similar though it may be, at age 100 (or 90, for Sarai/h). Of course getting yourself circumcised, along with all of the male members of your household, would be even harder to do! My wife and I are about to have our new son circumcised, probably tomorrow, and while I'm sure it will hurt him a bit at least it will not be a memory when he grows up. Kudos to Abraham for his faith and follow through!
In this passage we also see that Ishmael is not included in the main covenant between God and Abraham. Sorry Arabs, but this means that the Israelites are the ones who have rights to the Promised Land.
This chapter in:
New America Standard, New King James, New International
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15 years ago
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2 comments:
Why circumcision? The text says, "...it shall be the sign of the covenant between Me and you." The sign of the covenant. A sign for only the one circumcised? This just sounds really weird. A sign is usually meant for everyone to see, but this one is something only the man & his close family will see. I trust that it is what He wants, but just wonder why something so personal was chosen. Or maybe that's just it. Because it was so personal, He knew the person making the decision was heartfelt in his obedience. Just a thought...
A good point, though since future circumcisions would take place on the eigth day of a boy's life, it was probably more a reminder to the parents of their commitment.
Another interesting note: Ishmael is thirteen here, which means it's been at least a decade and a half since the original promise. Man, that's some kind of faith!
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