Q:
Why did God require the Jews to be circumcised? Was it for health reason? And
why is this no longer required of God's people today? What I am really asking
is, what was circumcision all about?
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A:
That is an interesting question! Why did God
give Abraham the law regarding circumcision, which was mandatory not
just for Abraham and his natural offspring, the Jews, but also for every male
slave of theirs? This is what
Insight On the Scriptures says regarding the law of circumcision:
"Jehovah God made circumcision mandatory for Abraham in 1919 B.C.E., a year before Isaac’s birth. God said: 'This is my covenant that you men will keep ... Every male of yours must get circumcised.' Every male in Abraham’s household of both his descendants and dependents was included, and so Abraham, his 13-year-old son Ishmael, and all his slaves took upon themselves this 'sign of the covenant.' New slaves brought in also had to be circumcised. From then on, any male of the household, slave or free, was to be circumcised the eighth day after birth. Disregard for this divine requirement was punishable by death.—Ge 17:1, 9-14, 23-27 (it-1 p. 469 Circumcision)
Note that Abraham was given the law of circumcision after
Abraham had already been dwelling in the land of Canaan for 24 years. In other
words, God had made the promise to Abraham—to give him the promised land; to make a great nation out of him; and to have
all
the nations of the earth bless themselves by means of his seed—while he was
still in his uncircumcised state. Notably, before Abraham received the law of
circumcision, he had already become father to his son Ishmael, by his slave girl
Hagar. (Gen. 12:1-7;
15:1, 5-7,
18;
22:17-18)
It is highly significant that God gave Abraham the covenant of circumcision one
year before Isaac was born, while Abraham was yet uncircumcised; but his
circumcision was unnecessary in connection with Ishmael's birth thirteen years
earlier. It demonstrates, as the apostle Paul explains, that God's blessings
would come to the uncircumcised nations by means of the promised seed through
Isaac. (Rom. 4:8-12;
9:6-8;
Gal. 3:7-9,
14-18)
Abraham was ninety-nine years old when he received the law of circumcision, at which time God changed his name from Abram to Abraham,
"because," as God told him, "a father of a crowd of nations I will make you. And
I will make you very, very fruitful and will make you become nations, and kings
will come out of you." (Exodus 19:6;
Rev. 1:6;
5:10;
20:6) God commanded Abraham to become circumcised, saying: "As for you, you are
to keep my covenant, you and your seed after you according to their generations.
This is my covenant that you men will keep, between me and you men, even your
seed after you: Every male of yours must get circumcised. And you must get
circumcised in the flesh of your foreskins, and it must serve as a sign of the
covenant between me and you." Every male born into Abraham's household, and even
every man purchased as a servant, was to be circumcised. Indeed, God said that
every male who would not get circumcised "must be cut off from his people. He
has broken my covenant." (Gen. 17:1-14)
Through Isaac, and Abraham's grandson Jacob, Abraham did indeed become a great nation; and the
promised seed arrived
at God's appointed time, almost two thousand years after Abraham's circumcision.
(Matt. 1:1-16;
Luke 3:23-34;
Rom. 4:16-25;
Gal. 3:16) John the Baptist
identified Jesus to the Jews, when he pointed to him and said, "See, the Lamb of God that takes away the sin of the world."
The long-awaited promised seed, the Messiah, proved to be "God's only begotten Son"
who came down from heaven, and "became flesh
and resided among us." (John 1:14,
29-34; 3:16;
8:39-47)
Now, reflect for a moment: How can an imperfect man born in sin, such as Abraham
was, become
the forefather of the "Son of God," holy, born perfect without sin? (John 6:69)
We know that Adam could not pass on to his offspring the perfection that he lost
upon his rebellion in the Garden of Eden. It is as Job said: "Who can produce
someone clean out of someone unclean? There is not one." (Job 14:4;
Eccl. 7:20;
Rom. 3:23)
A man born in sin can only pass on to his offspring his own
sinfulness. (Psalms 51:5) Therefore, in order to make it possible for the
promised seed to "come out of the loins" of Abraham, Jehovah required that
Abraham and all his future male offspring be circumcised, that is, have their
reproductive powers "sanctified" by the removal of the foreskin. (Lev. 12:1-4; compare
Lev. 19:23-24) This would yield a small amount of
blood, because as Paul explains: "Yes, nearly all things are cleansed with blood
according to the Law." (Heb. 9:22; Lev. 17:11; compare
Exodus 4:24-26)
Accordingly, it was by
circumcising the flesh, which drew blood (though minimal), that God cleansed the
lineage from which the Messiah would be born by holy spirit, thus keeping it
sanctified, holy. (Lev. 19:2;
Matt. 1:18-21) Since all of God's servants were
under the Law of circumcision (it became part of the Mosaic Law), including non
Israelites who became proselytes, it prevented uncircumcised persons from
contaminating the lineage. And once Jesus had arrived, there was no longer any need for circumcision; something that many of the Jews, who had become
Jesus' disciples, were slow to understand. In fact, as Paul argued many times, continuing to practice circumcision according to the Law amounted
to denying that the Messiah had arrived. (Acts 15:1, 5;
Gal. 5:2,3)
No, it was not for any health reason that the law regarding circumcision was given to
the Jews, as many have suggested.
Circumcision was
a necessary "sign of the covenant"
for the purpose of keeping Abraham's
lineage throughout the many generations sanctified, that is, holy, until the promised Messiah
arrived. This further helps us to better appreciate why
the nation of Israel needed to keep itself separate from any
contamination due to intermarriage with any uncircumcised people of the nations. (Compare
Gen. 34:8,9,
13-22;
Ezra 9:1-4,
14;
10:10--12, 18-19;
Acts 10:28,
45; 15:5-9)
The Bible speaks of another sort of circumcision, a "circumcising of the heart,"
that is vital for God's people today.
Moses told the assembled Israelites, as they were poised to enter the promised land: "And
you must circumcise the foreskin of your hearts and not harden your necks any
longer." (Deut. 10:16; see
Jer. 4:4,
14) This circumcising
involves
the removal of all uncleanness and unrighteousness from our hearts, which grants
us a clean standing before God; and which is made possible by our faith in the
"blood of the covenant." (Matt. 26:27,28;
2 Cor. 7:1;
Heb. 9:14;
1 Peter 3:21)
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