Circumcision Begins
Genesis 17
As if God hadn't already established his covenant with Abram from earlier, God reiterates his promise to Abram that his descendants will inherit the land of Canaan, so long as Abram continues to walk faithfully with God. But this time around, God also instructs Abram to make sure every male in his household was circumcised, and every future male among them be circumcised once they're eight days old. This was the Israelite way to keep the covenant, and any Israelite male who refused to be circumcised was to be "cut off from his people".
And thus, Abram and all the men in his household, young and old, were circumcised. Abram was 99 years old when he was circumcised, while Ishmael was 13 years old at the time.
This passage also signifies the starting moment when Abram's name officially becomes "Abraham", for he would become the "father of many nations", yielding several kings. Additionally, Sarai's name officially becomes "Sarah". So from now on, we will refer to them as Abraham and Sarah, respectively.
There is also a promise from God that Sarah herself would finally bear a son for Abraham a year later, with the son to be named Isaac. That said, God also reassures Abram that his current son, Ishmael, will also be blessed and become the father of rulers. However, the covenant will be re-established through Isaac rather than through Ishmael.
This is the gist of the passage. Note, by the way, that the covenant was meant to be "everlasting", and yet this doesn't seem to be the case at all, given the later history of Israel and the current global situation. Of course, Christians (following later Apostolic views) have their own interpretations of this passage. Muslims as well. But if we wish to be intellectually honest, it's important that we try to determine what the originally intended interpretation of the passage was meant to be. I'm personally not going to pretend to know what is meant by the promise that Abraham would become the "father of many nations", but perhaps our resident scholars will provide us with some answers.
One other thing before I end this post, while Abraham was subservient to God (as indicated by his kneeling facedown before God), he was allowed to laugh at what God had to say and even respond to him with boldness. This to me suggests that Abraham had a privileged sort of relationship with God that was not enjoyed by most of his later descendants (according to the stories, I mean). God here is depicted as rather forgiving of Abraham's apparent rudeness, as opposed to the vindictive deity later depicted in the Bible. And we get to see more of this sort of privileged relationship later on in Genesis.
Genesis 17
As if God hadn't already established his covenant with Abram from earlier, God reiterates his promise to Abram that his descendants will inherit the land of Canaan, so long as Abram continues to walk faithfully with God. But this time around, God also instructs Abram to make sure every male in his household was circumcised, and every future male among them be circumcised once they're eight days old. This was the Israelite way to keep the covenant, and any Israelite male who refused to be circumcised was to be "cut off from his people".
And thus, Abram and all the men in his household, young and old, were circumcised. Abram was 99 years old when he was circumcised, while Ishmael was 13 years old at the time.
This passage also signifies the starting moment when Abram's name officially becomes "Abraham", for he would become the "father of many nations", yielding several kings. Additionally, Sarai's name officially becomes "Sarah". So from now on, we will refer to them as Abraham and Sarah, respectively.
There is also a promise from God that Sarah herself would finally bear a son for Abraham a year later, with the son to be named Isaac. That said, God also reassures Abram that his current son, Ishmael, will also be blessed and become the father of rulers. However, the covenant will be re-established through Isaac rather than through Ishmael.
This is the gist of the passage. Note, by the way, that the covenant was meant to be "everlasting", and yet this doesn't seem to be the case at all, given the later history of Israel and the current global situation. Of course, Christians (following later Apostolic views) have their own interpretations of this passage. Muslims as well. But if we wish to be intellectually honest, it's important that we try to determine what the originally intended interpretation of the passage was meant to be. I'm personally not going to pretend to know what is meant by the promise that Abraham would become the "father of many nations", but perhaps our resident scholars will provide us with some answers.
One other thing before I end this post, while Abraham was subservient to God (as indicated by his kneeling facedown before God), he was allowed to laugh at what God had to say and even respond to him with boldness. This to me suggests that Abraham had a privileged sort of relationship with God that was not enjoyed by most of his later descendants (according to the stories, I mean). God here is depicted as rather forgiving of Abraham's apparent rudeness, as opposed to the vindictive deity later depicted in the Bible. And we get to see more of this sort of privileged relationship later on in Genesis.
