Genesis 17: Covenant Circumcision

¹ When Abram was 99 years old, the LORD appeared to him, saying, "I am God Almighty. Live in My presence and be devout. ²I will establish My covenant between Me and you, and I will multiply you greatly."

 The Lord not only spoke to Abram, He appeared before him and tells him He is the God Almighty. He tells Abram to live in His presence and be devout, which I think means that Abram must follow God and have complete faith in Him. He again reminds Abram that He has not forgotten the covenant between them, to reassure Abram's doubts that God might have forgotten about their covenant.


Verse 5, God tells Abram that his name will no longer be Abram, but it will now be Abraham, and the Lord says "I will make you the father of many nations". He continues to promise great things to Abraham in verse 6-8, "⁶ I will make you extremely fruitful and will make nations and kings come from you. ⁷ I will keep My covenant between Me and you, and your offspring after you throughout their generations, as an everlasting covenant to be your God and the [God] of your offspring after you. ⁸ And to you and your offspring after you I will give the land where you are residing—all the land of Canaan—as an eternal possession, and I will be their God".


Then God tells Abraham that to serve as a sign of the covenant, all his male offsprings and slaves must be circumcised physically. One thing that came to mind was this was for cleanliness. In those days, these people most likely didn't shower daily, or use as much caution as we do nowadays when it comes to personal hygiene. So, by cutting away the foreskin, bacteria forming can be prevented in this area. Just like how God watched out for us when it came to eating meat, and making sure we cooked it fully to kill bacteria. I'm not sure why God wanted this circumcision to happen on the eighth day, but it's probably the best time to perform the circumcision, the baby isn't too young and has had time to mature a bit and be exposed to the world. If any man of Abraham is uncircumcised, that is a sign that he has broken the covenant and will be cut off from his people.


Then in verse 15, God renames Abraham's wife. She is no longer Sarai, she is now Sarah. Verse 16 God says "I will bless her; indeed, I will give you a son by her. I will bless her, and she will produce nations; kings of peoples will come from her". To remove confusion on Abraham's part, God tells him that his children will come from Sarah, not from other surrogate mothers. In his heart, Abraham doubted God, verse 17 "Can a child be born to a hundred-year-old man? Can Sarah, a ninety-year-old woman, give birth?" Abraham fell to the ground laughing, because God had the power to make what seemed impossible possible. 


God reassures Abraham once again that Sarah will bear his son, and he will be names Isaac. Then, in verse 20, God says he has heard Abraham, and will bless his son Ishmael. God says although in verse 20 " I will make him fruitful and will multiply him greatly. He will father 12 tribal leaders, and I will make him into a great nation", verse 21 "but I will confirm My covenant with Isaac, whom Sarah will bear to you at this time next year." So although Ishmael recieves the Lord's blessing, He will confirm His covenant with Isaac. And to further reassure Abraham, he gives him the specific date that Sarah will bear Isaac. When the Lord finished telling this to Abraham, he left.


After the Lord left, Abraham took all the men that he owned, whether they were born in his house or he purchased them, and they were all circumcised. Abraham and Ishmael were also circumcised. They were all circumcised that very day that the God told Abraham that they must be circumcised. This shows his faith and obedience to the Lord. He knew what the Lord had asked of him to show sign of their covenant, so he did it immediately.