COVENANT OF THE CIRCUMCISION Sarai had been thinking in a human way, watching the great wealth that flooded them. And how she and her husband grew old, with nobody to inherit them except Eliezer of Damascus. So she committed her husband to go to her maidservant, something that became to her and her descendants after her a bitterness of soul. God, however, was beholding Abram’s faith, to establish a new eternal covenant with him and his descendants after him, through a sign in the flesh of every male child (Circumcision), as a way to enjoy the New Testament, set by our Lord Jesus Christ by His body on the cross, reconciling us with His heavenly Father. 1- God’s covenant with Abram 1-8. 2- The sign of Circumcision 9-14. 3- Sarah enjoys the blessing 15-17. 4- Between Isaac and Ishmael 18-22. 5- Realization of the Circumcision 23-27. 1- GOD’S COVENANT WITH ABRAM “When Abram was ninety-nine years old, the Lord appeared to Abram and said to him, I am Almighty God; walk before Me and be blameless, and will make My covenant between Me and you, and will multiply you exceedingly” (Gen. 17:1-2). The story of God with man is one of continuous and renewed covenants, through which God proclaims His love for man, and yearns that, man would love Him in return. In all that, God seeks man, not out of need for anything, nor for a desire of control. But in his fatherhood. He opens up His bosom to him, and receives him as a son, to enjoy the fellowship of His glories. At the beginning of creation - before falling - the covenant was set on the basis of love, with no apparent sign, man, in God’s image and likeness, was responding to his Creator with love, yearned to Him and ran toward Him to hear His voice and rejoiced to behold Him. Yet, after the fall, as man started to become internally confused, and the land was cursed to produce thorns and thistles, there was need for setting a covenant between God and man, to be renewed every now and then. As the world was renewed by the water of the great flood, God proclaimed: “I will never again curse the ground for man’s sake...; I establish My covenant with you and your descendants after you” (Gen. 8:21; 9:9), and gave a sign of that covenant, a rainbow in the clouds. Now, as God establishes a covenant with Abram, He makes that sign steady in the flesh of every male (Circumcision). Man, along the generations, saw through this sign, a shadow for a greater covenant, to be presented by our Lord Jesus Christ in His flesh, for reconciliation on an eternal level. The prophet says: “Incline your ear and come to Me, Hear and your soul shall live. And I will make an everlasting covenant with you - the sure mercies of David. Indeed I have given him as a witness to the people, a leader and commander of the people. Surely you shall call a nation you do not know, And nations who do not know you shall run to you, because of the Lord your God, and the Holy One of Israel, For He has glorified you” (Isaiah 55:3-5). This call, for the nations, to enter into the divine covenant, has been realized when the Lord Christ offered His blood as a new covenant for the forgiveness of sins (Matthew 26:38; Luke 22:20; 1 Corinthians 11:25). 4 St. Clement of Alexandria1 believes that God did not just invite Abram to enter with Him into a covenant, but delivered Himself a covenant to him; the Book says: “As for Me, Behold, My covenant is with you” (Gen 17:4). A covenant, according to St. Clement, is not just oral or written promises, but it is the acceptance of God Himself, in Whom we find our peace, satisfaction, and fulfillment of all our needs. When we say that the Lord Christ offered His Body and Blood, as a new covenant for the forgiveness of sins, actually He delivered Himself to us, so we can find in Him the Father’s complacency; and the Father finds in Him our complacency. Thus, in Christ Jesus, the Father and men, both find their true pleasure. The Father sees us in His Son, justified with His blood; and we find in Him a heavenly Father, who opens His bosom to us. Thus God Himself is an eternal covenant for us. St. Jerome comments on the saying of God: “No longer shall your name be called Abram, but your name shall be Abraham” (Gen. 17:5). [His name in Ur of the Chaldeans has been ‘Abram.’ But, in heaven, he is called ‘Abraham,’ so his name is changed to ‘Abraham,’ as he became a star2.] St. Augustine believes that changing the names of Abram and Sarai, came together with the circumcision, as a sign of an overall change, saying: [What is the significance of circumcision, but the renewal of human nature through rooting out the old man? And what is the significance of the 8 days (for the circumcision), but a reference to Christ, who was raised after completing the week, namely, after the Sabbath? The names of the parents were changed, and everything is proclaimed new3.] 2- THE SIGN OF CIRCUMCISION “This is My covenant which you shall keep, between Me and you, and your descendants after you: Every male child among you shall be circumcised. And you shall be circumcised in the flesh of your foreskin, and it shall be a sign of the covenant between Me and you. He who is eight days old among you shall be circumcised, every male child in your generations, he who is born in your house or bought with money from any stranger who is not your descendant. He who is born in your house, and he who is bought with your money must be circumcised, and My covenant shall be in your flesh for an everlasting covenant. And the circumcised male child, who is not circumcised in the flesh of his foreskin, that person shall be cut off from his people; he has broken My covenant” (Gen. 17:10-14). Circumcision has been of great importance, as it was the distinction between the descendants of Abraham, those with the covenant, and the Gentiles. Its importance is proclaimed in God’s words concerning the uncircumcised: “that person shall be cut off from his people; he has broken My covenant.” Circumcision had been confined to males, as a woman was sanctified in man, if he is sanctified in God. Denying circumcision of females does not imply that God underestimate her or does not care for making a covenant with her, but He wished to confirm the unity of human family; what the male does, is in the name of both of them (male and female). A proof of this is that God commanded the circumcision of slaves “who is born in your house, and who is bought with your money” (Gen. 17:13). Slaves could not be better than the wives, mistresses of the house. He wants to make a covenant with all: the rich and the poor, through the circumcision of every male. Medically, circumcision of males is 1 Strom. 1:29. 2 On Ps. hom 56. 3 City of God 16:26. 5 healthy, while that of females is harmful. The importance of circumcision in the Old Testament is demonstrated, that every time the people proclaim repentance, they return to God through three things: circumcision of every uncircumcised male, reading the Law, and keeping the Sabbath. The issue of circumcision used to preoccupy the minds of Jews in a strong way, that they were called “People of circumcision.” And when they received faith in the Lord Christ, some of them insisted on the circumcision of the Gentiles before their entrance into the fellowship of the Church, something for which the apostle Paul dedicated several chapters of his epistle, confirming that, in Jesus Christ, there is no need for circumcision of the flesh, but for that of the spirit; and that circumcision is realized through baptism, by which the old man is put off, and the new man, according to the image of his Creator, is put on (Colossians 3:9-10). Circumcision is done on the eighth day after birth of the male child, as the figure 8 refers to “eternal life” or “the second life.” The figure 7 is referring to the present life (seven days of the week), so the eighth day means entering into what is beyond the present life. Circumcision thus means the crossover to eternal life, through putting off love of the worldly, and acceptance of the eternal work of Christ and His heavenly Kingdom. If the people put much importance on the circumcision of flesh, God, on the other hand, kept on persuading them to care for the spiritual circumcision of the heart and that of the ear (Deuteronomy 30:6; 10:16; Jeremiah 4:4). The following are some sayings of the Fathers concerning the spiritual circumcision that touches our whole life: The people of God get the sign of circumcision in their inner heart, as the heavenly sword cuts the (foreskin) of the mind, namely, that defilement of sin. St. Macarius the Great In the plan of the God of the Law, ”circumcision is that of the heart, in the Spirit and not in the letter” (Romans 2:29)... Thus Moses says: “Circumcise the foreskin of your hearts” (Deuteronomy 10:16 LXX)1. Tertullian Your ear is circumcised, if it does not hear insults and blasphemies; if it is closed before treachery, lies, and anger, “to listening to blood;” If it is not open to listen to unclean songs and entertainment; if it does not seek lowly things, but separates from corruptible issues. That is the circumcision of ear, presented by the Church to its children; and it is, in my opinion, the ear that the Lord Christ meant, when He said: “He who has ears to hear, let him hear” (Matthew 13:9); as nobody can hear the pure words of the Lord, words of wisdom and truth, by an uncircumcised or impure ear. When we stop talking filth about others, and bridle our tongue, we would have the circumcised mouth. When we get inflamed with carnal lusts; when we commit adultery in our hearts (Matthew 5:28), we have uncircumcised hearts; When we welcome the thoughts of heretics, and harbor blasphemous thoughts against the knowledge of Christ, we have uncircumcised hearts. But if we keep having the purity of faith with a straightforward conscience, we are having circumcised hearts, and become worthy of hearing the voice: “Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God” (Matthew 5: 8). 1 Adv. Marc 5:14. 6 We can say that our hands, senses, and touches, all need circumcision as well. For a man of God to be perfect, all his members should be circumcised: His hands should refrain from stealing, and killing, and extend to do God’s work. Legs should be circumcised, so as not to hasten to shedding blood, nor “to the counsel of the ungodly” (Psalm 1:1); but do not care except to reach to our God. Eyes should be circumcised, so as not to envy others for the good they have, and not to look at a woman to lust for her (Matthew 5:28)... And so on, even when we eat or drink, etc., we should do everything for the glory of God. Look how the apostle asks for the circumcision, even for taste… Actually, if our members serve oppression, they are uncircumcised, and we are not in a covenant with God. But if they serve righteousness (Romans 6:19), to reach for holiness, in them, the promise to Abraham is realized1. Origen I wish that we, who received the spiritual circumcision by the Holy Spirit in the water of baptism, strife to stay circumcised in all our members and inner life, in order to enjoy the divine promise, and be in an eternal covenant with God. Origen2 believes that if we confess the Lord Christ with our lips, and did not reveal His covenant in our flesh through our life, we would be like the Jews who take pride in the circumcision of the flesh, and deny God by their work. He also comments on the divine verse: “My covenant shall be in your flesh an everlasting covenant,” by saying: [If we manage to create a balance and to set a unity in between members, in order that all our movements are going according to the Law of God, His covenant would be in our flesh; Seek how God’s covenant could work in the body be realized in it. “If we put to death our members which care on earth” (Col. 3:5), we would realize God’s covenant in our body. If I am “always carrying about in the body the dying of the Lord Jesus” (2 Cor. 4:10), His covenant is in my body. If we endure, we shall also reign with Him (2 Tim. 2:2), and so I would reveal His covenant in my flesh3.] 3- SARAH ENJOYS THE BLESSING If God changed Abram’s name to ‘Abraham;’ so also Sarai enjoyed the change of her name to ‘Sarah.’ Abram had been dignified in the Lord - the word ‘Abram’ meaning a ‘dignified father;’ but, entering with God into the covenant of circumcision in the name of the whole Church, his name was changed to ‘Abraham,’ meaning ‘father of many nations’ (Gen. 17:4). The name ‘Sarai,’ meaning ‘my princess’ - as she carried the motherhood for believers - was changed to ‘Sarah,’ meaning princess.’ She is no longer just Abraham’s princess, but became for all believers a mother and a princess. For the first time, God openly proclaims that Abraham’s heir will be from Sarah, his wife: “I will bless her and also give you a son by her, then I will bless her, and she shall be a mother of nations; kings of peoples shall be from her” (Gen. 17:16). Abraham could not hearken to this promise: “He fell on his face and laughed, and said in his heart, ‘Shall a child be born to a man who is one hundred years old? And shall Sarah, who is ninety years old, bear a child?” (Gen. 17:17). His laughing does not imply unbelief, but rather his great astonishment at the work of God with him, God who gives a child to a man hundred years old, and to a barren woman ninety 1 In Gen. hom 3:5, 6. 2 In Gen. hom 3:7. 3 In Gen. hom 3:6, 7. 7 years old... A sign of his belief was his fall on his face to give thanks. Abraham did not doubt God’s promise, but as the apostle says: “who contrary to hope, in hope believed, so that he became the father of many nations, according to what was spoken, ‘So shall your descendants be;’ and not being weak in faith he did not consider his own body, already dead, (since he was about a hundred years old), and the deadness of Sarah’s womb. He did not waver at the promise of God through unbelief, but was strengthened in faith, giving glory to God” (Romans 4:18-20). Though Sarah’s womb was as good as dead, and he was an old man, yet he, contrary to hope, in hope believed in God’s promises, to set living descendants from that death. Likewise, some believed that Sarah’s womb was like stones, lifeless and incapable of giving birth. But God set from these stones children for Abraham. Because of that, St. John the Baptist said to the Pharisees and the Sadducees: “Do not think to say to yourselves, ‘We have Abraham as our father,’ for I say to you that God is able to raise up children to Abraham from these stones” (Matthew 3:9). St. John Chrysostom says that this analogy came on account that that people were descendants of Isaac who was given to Abraham through the womb of Sarah, that was barren as though of stones1. 4- BETWEEN ISAAC AND ISHMAEL “And Abraham said to God, ‘Oh, that Ishmael might live before you” (Gen. 17:18). Abraham did not feel frustrated, even when he saw that all his riches would probably be inherited by some stranger; and when Hagar gave birth to Ishmael, he took it for granted that the child would be his heir. And now, as Ishmael was 13 years old, and Abraham got the promise to have a son from Sarah, he did not harbor any doubt, even though he thought of that promise as very great, which made him laugh. Now, he prays to God proclaiming his satisfaction with what God gave him through the maidservant as his heir. God, appreciating the situation of Abraham, as the first human to be given such promise - to have a child in his advanced age and from an old barren wife -, reconfirmed to him: “No, Sarah, your wife shall bear you a son, and you shall call him Isaac. I will establish My covenant with him for an everlasting covenant, and with his descendants after him” (Gen. 17:19) He confirmed to him the promise, and chose the child’s name, in order to root out from his mind, any thought that the child born to him according to the power of nature (body) would be his heir. But his heir would be the son of promise, whose birth was not possible according to nature. Yet, in response to Abraham’s prayer for the first child, he promised to bless him and to make him fruitful, multiply him exceedingly, and make him a great nation. St. Augustine compares between the two sons, saying: [Here, there are far more positive promises that establishing great nations would be from Isaac, namely, the son of promise; in reference to grace and not to nature; as that child was promised for an old man and an old barren woman. Thus, if it is God, who works even in natural birth, yet, when the weakness or failure of nature is revealed, the role of God comes in, and His grace is proclaimed much more2.] Isaac is therefore represents, not him who is born according to the flesh, but according to the renewal through God’s grace in the water of baptism. Because of this, if our souls are still walking according to the flesh, there is need for someone to cry . 1 راجع الإنجيل بحسب متى، ١٩٨٣ ، أصحاح ٣ 2 City of God 16:26. 8 out to God, as Abraham, the Patriarch did: “Oh, that they might live before you! That they might enjoy the new birth by Your grace, to become the new ‘Isaac’! If God granted Abraham “Isaac” as a son, a name meaning ‘laugh,’ since Sarah laughed in some doubt, and Abraham laughed with astonishment, then our new man, gained in the water of baptism, is the true Isaac, we accept as a ‘laugh’ (meaning sanctified love due to exceeding spiritual joy and astonishment), for the great gift granted to us through baptism! 5- REALIZATION OF THE CIRCUMCISION Abraham entered into a covenant with God and was circumcised, together with Ishmael and every male in his household. The circumcision was the seal on that covenant.
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