Genesis 35 - Gen. 16:14-17:27 The Birth of Ishmael and Brit Milah

In this podcast we will study the covenant of circumcision or in Hebrew BRIT MEELAH בְּרִית מִילָה‎.  Perhaps you as I always thought that this was something unique to the Bible; circumcision was some bloody ritual God made up that was like a right of initiation to be a Hebrew.  Wow, is that wrong.  It seems that all this is connected to the fact that Moses wrote the Torah, the 1^st five books of the Bible to the Hebrews who came out of Egypt.  These former slaves were the ones who would have first heard God’s word read to them.  Moreover. When they would have gotten to Genesis 17 and the covenant of circumcision, they would have immediately related it to the ritual practiced in Egypt.  This was not new to them. The Hebrews knew that circumcision in ancient Egypt was thought to be a mark of passage from childhood to adulthood.

The picture above (public domain and accessible at Wikimedia) is dated to 2355-43 B.C. hundreds of years before Abraham ever was alive.  The alteration of the body and ritual of circumcision was supposed to give access to ancient mysteries reserved solely for the initiated. Circumcisions were performed by priests in a public ceremony, using a stone blade. It is thought to have been more popular among the upper echelons of the society, although it was not universal and those lower down the social order are known to have had the procedure done.  (See Gollaher, David (February 2001). "1, The Jewish Tradition." Circumcision: A History Of The World's Most Controversial Surgery. Basic Books).

So, once again, as we put the Bible into its historical perspective, we find circumcision was a man made ritual.  It may have been performed by those Hebrews who had assimilated into the Egyptian culture.  This seems very likely.  But now God comes and takes what they knew and changes it completely.  It becomes something more.  It’s not a sign anymore of a boy becoming a man.  Not a special way to know the mysteries of the gods.  That’s done.  Now it is a sign that this baby boy is part of the covenant of Abraham and a sign to all Israel there is a new citizen born again among God’s kingdom of Israel.  And, once we see what the original meaning was when God changed circumcision, we now begin to see how all this becomes a picture for us.  As disciples of the Lord we have become new creatures in Messiah and new citizens of the final Kingdom of Adonai and we are “circumcised” by the Spirit as in Rom. 2:28-29.  True “children of Abraham” are those who follow Abraham’s example of believing God (Genesis 15:6). Physical circumcision does not make one a child of God; faith does. Believers in Jesus Christ can truly say they are children of “Father Abraham.”

“If you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the promise” (Galatians 3:29).

Who is this guy, Rev. Ferret?  What's his background?  Why should we take time to listen to him?  Here's a link to check out his background - https://www.dropbox.com/s/ortnret3oxcicu4/BackgrndTeacher%20mar%2025%202020.pdf?dl=0