THE EIGHTH DAY

“On the eighth day, the baby’s foreskin is to be circumcised.”
Leviticus 12:3

As we have studied over the past twenty-six weeks, we have seen this word ‘circumcised’ or ‘circumcision’ quite a few times. The term itself is nothing new, nor the command behind it. Going back to Genesis 17, we see Abram’s son, Ishmael, was born not only of Hagar as opposed to Sarai, but also born when Abraham was not yet circumcised. It wasn’t until later when Abraham was 99 that he and Ishmael, as well as all the other males within the camp, were circumcised. It was also at this time that God spoke that another son would be born to Abraham. This time the son would be birthed by Sarah, and his name would be Isaac.
The next mention of circumcision that comes to my mind was the instance concerning the men of Shechem. In Genesis 34, it was Shechem whose heart was full of lust for Jacob’s daughter, Dinah. His lust for her burned so deep in him that he defiled her (Gen 34:5). Jacob wanted to keep it quiet, but when this truth became known to her brothers, they devised a plan to have all the men in the city circumcised. While still in their pain, the band of brothers attacked Shechem and his men. For Shechem, his lust betrayed his people.
Recently I wrote on circumcision and its relationship to chametz. If you recall, I wrote in relation to Y’hoshua (Joshua) 5, that the Isra’elites had crossed the Jordan and were about to attack Jericho. Yet before doing so, a command was given to Y’hoshua while in Gilgal to circumcise the men again. Again? Yes again, because while traveling in the desert for forty years the older circumcised generation had died off and the new younger generation had not yet been circumcised.
The question remains as to why the cutting of the foreskin carried so much weight. According to the Jewish law, circumcision was the proof that the person was God’s. So in following the command given to him, Joshua made flint knives and circumcised the men of Isra’el, rolling away the reproach of Egypt. It is still to this day that male babies are circumcised. It may not be on the eighth day this is done in our culture, as I know for a fact my son had this done of his second day of life, yet it is widely done in America. Is this something we do simply out of forced habit? Possibly. But having grown up and wanting this for my son, I say that we need to allow this. Please note that I am not talking of a physical circumcision now, but more a circumcision from sin. As I shared recently, so I leave you to consider now. There are health issues that are related to not being circumcised, which may be one reason why God required this of His people. So then there are spiritual health issues such as sins of pride, selfishness, arrogance, and so many other spiritual ‘diseases’, related to us not being circumcised. I doubt this is something we really want.

Leviticus 12:1 – 13:23