Or, The Sign and Son of the Covenant
Scripture: Genesis 17:9-27
Date: June 19, 2016
Speaker: Sean Higgins
It’s pleasing to break into new preaching territory today. I had prepared sermons, to one degree or another, from Genesis 1:1 through Genesis 17:8 in 2008-2010, and thankfully I didn’t have to throw away all of my notes when preparing for this second round through starting in 2015. If you’ve read ahead, you’ll also notice that I happened to stop with the students right before circumcision. It was providential.
This time around and 51 messages into Genesis we’ve been in mostly narrative passages. Some of them we’ve been able to cover more quickly, some really required a slower pace in order to miss less of the worldview framing pieces of story. Hopefully we’re getting better at appreciating the story elements without treating them the same way we do epistles.
We’ve also been considering the generation (toledot) of Terah since near the end of chapter 11; the reason is Abram. As of the beginning of chapter 17 we can legitimately call him “Abraham,” a father of a multitude, because God Almighty changed his name to reflect the renewed covenant promises. Not only will Abraham have offspring a’plenty, they will be offspring of importance, ruling and leading nations as kings. Not only does Yahweh make the promise to Abraham, Yahweh promises that He will care for and keep covenant with his offspring. The covenant is for more than one generation, the covenant is everlasting. Canaan will be for an everlasting possession, and God will be their God eternally.
This is all of God. Verse 4 could be translated, “I, for my part, will do this.” In verses 9-14, God said, “As for you,” Abraham, here is your part. Then in verses 15-21, God said, “As for Sarai, your wife,” here is her part. Then verses 22-27 record Abraham’s obedience to God’s Word.
God told Abraham that he should walk before Him and be blameless (17:1). Such integrity would identify Abraham to the world. Now God told Abraham to practice a ritual, to receive a sign that would mark him as separated for God. This is the longest of the five speeches from God in the chapter.
And God said to Abraham, “As for you, you shall keep my covenant, you and your offspring after you throughout their generations. This is my covenant, which you shall keep, between me and you and your offspring after you: Every male among you shall be circumcised. (Genesis 17:9–10)
Verse 11 calls it a sign of the covenant, but verse 10 simply calls it my covenant. The responsibility is Abraham’s and his offspring after him. God charged Abraham to make sure that every male among you…be circumcised.
Circumcision is the key word, used in some form six times in this paragraph. The beginning of verse 11 defines it as a cut “in the flesh of your foreskins.” Our English word derives from the Latin word circumcidere meaning “to cut around.” It’s only a sign for the males and is a procedure with permanent outcome on the end of the male reproductive organ.
Circumcision was not new. There’s evidence that a number of other Near Eastern peoples practiced it, even if for different reasons and at different times.
At least three W questions are answered with specifics: Where circumcision happens, when it happens, and who it should happen to.
You shall be circumcised in the flesh of your foreskins, 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 throughout your generations, whether born in your house or bought with your money from any foreigner who is not of your offspring, both he who is born in your house and he who is bought with your money, shall surely be circumcised. So shall my covenant be in your flesh an everlasting covenant. (Genesis 17:11–13)
The reason given to Abraham is for this to be a sign of the covenant. In the Near East:
Philo (Special Laws, 1.2–11) lists four reasons given by others for circumcision: (1) for health, to prevent infection, (2) for purification, (3) for teaching the similarity between procreation and thought, and (4) for improving fertility. (quoted in Gordon Wenham)
God doesn’t say it is for medical reasons, though it could also have that benefit. God doesn’t say that is a sign of puberty or entrance into manhood, as in some cultures, because this was for he who is eight days old. Parents would know, the priest might know, and the boy’s future wife would know. God doesn’t say it is to remind Himself, as He did with the public rainbow. This is a sign to remind men about God’s promises especially about a fruitful future.
Interesting who it was for: the ones born in your house or bought with money from any foreigner who is not your offspring. The sign is not only for the biological offspring, those with Abrahamic DNA, but for those related to Abraham’s house. The sign is also not restricted by social status; house is a word with a wide roof. Which also means, as we’ll see at the end of the chapter, Ishmael receives the sign of the covenant even though he is not elect.
Aside: This is one of the decisive differences between the sign of the old covenant and the sign of the new covenant, between circumcision and baptism. This is not to say that persons can’t be baptized even if not elect/believing. But baptism is a sign that brings individuals into community, not a community sign to be sorted out according to individuals later. Nowhere in the New Testament does God command, “Believe, be baptized, and your offspring after you.” An assumption must be made to apply baptism to eight day-old boys of Christians.
Any uncircumcised male who is not circumcised in the flesh of his foreskin shall be cut off from his people; he has broken my covenant.” (Genesis 17:14)
Serious consequences apply to those who are not circumcised, at the moment by all who were old enough to know what they were receiving, or rejecting. For eight year-olds, it wouldn’t be their responsibility, but if their parents were unfaithful, they would need to pursue it when they learned about it. They would probably wish that their parents had been obedient on their behalf for sake of their pain remembrance.
To be cut off from one’s people for not having anything cut off is ironic. How exactly a man would be cut off is uncertain. The passive verb, shall be cut off leaves the subject unidentified. Perhaps God Himself will do it, that is, cause the man’s isolation or death, not that the elders of the community would excommunicate, as summarized by: “he that is not circumcised will be ostracized” (Hamilton). God almost killed Moses for not circumcising his son (see Exodus 4:24-26).
This paragraph answers a key detail that we, along with Abraham, have been wondering about for almost three chapters.
And God said to Abraham, “As for Sarai your wife, you shall not call her name Sarai, but Sarah shall be her name. I will bless her, and moreover, I will give you a son by her. I will bless her, and she shall become nations; kings of peoples shall come from her.” (Genesis 17:15–16)
God promised Abraham offspring multiple times and, at first, he must have assumed it would be through Sarai. As time went by, Abram wondered whether it would be a servant instead of a son (chapter 15), and then Sarai herself suggested getting a son through Hagar (chapter 16). Now there is no doubt.
First, God changes here name from Sarai to Sarah. Both forms probably mean “princess.” It’s not quite as overt as the change from Abram to Abraham, but it still designated God’s attention and care. Sarah “is the only woman in the Bible whose name is changed” (Waltke).
Second, God said, I will bless her, and moreover, I will give you a son by her. And, overlapping with Abraham, she will become nations, kings of peoples shall come from her. Sarah will be blessed, affirmed twice, and exalted in fruitfulness.
As much faith as Abraham had, he found this word difficult in a couple ways.
Then Abraham fell on his face and laughed and said to himself, “Shall a child be born to a man who is a hundred years old? Shall Sarah, who is ninety years old, bear a child?” And Abraham said to God, “Oh that Ishmael might live before you!” (Genesis 17:17–18)
First, it was difficult to believe because Abraham and Sarah were too old. Paul wrote that he was “as good as dead” at 100 and her, too, at 90. So he fell on his face and laughed. Was this RotFL? It’s ironic because in a few verses we learn the name of the promised son which means “laughter.” Sarah will laugh also, though the LORD rebukes her for it. Abraham finds this promise incredible, laughable.
He also finds it problematic. He counters, Oh that Ishmael might life before you! Perhaps Abraham is concerned that Ishmael will have no place now, no piece of the zero-sum pie of promises. This would mean that Abraham isn’t asking God to forget about a son through Sarah, but asking for a place for both.
That may be possible, but the laughing and questioning in the immediate verse lean in the direction that Abraham prefers the son he has to the son not yet born. A new son just complicates things. But God…
God said, “No, but Sarah your wife shall bear you a son, and you shall call his name Isaac. I will establish my covenant with him as an everlasting covenant for his offspring after him. As for Ishmael, I have heard you; behold, I have blessed him and will make him fruitful and multiply him greatly. He shall father twelve princes, and I will make him into a great nation. But I will establish my covenant with Isaac, whom Sarah shall bear to you at this time next year.” (Genesis 17:19–21)
As clear as a lighthouse on a sunny day, it won’t be Ishmael. Ishmael has a place. The angel of the LORD already promised Hagar as much. Ishmael will be blessed, fruitful, and great, but he is not the child of promise. The covenant is established by unconditional election by God (as Paul explains in Romans 9), and it won’t be Ishmael.
Sarah your wife will bear you a son, and you shall call his name Isaac. I said already, “Isaac” means “laughter” or “he laughs.” Who is laughing is uncertain. Isaac? Abraham? God? Probably the least likely is option God, since every time God laughs in the Old Testament it is His condescension toward rebels. Regardless, the promise is of a child and will also be to that child with him as an everlasting covenant for his offspring after him.
All of this would take place at this time next year.
Without any dialogue, the final paragraph of the chapter stresses Abraham’s immediate and complete obedience.
When he had finished talking with him, God went up from Abraham. Then Abraham took Ishmael his son and all those born in his house or bought with his money, every male among the men of Abraham’s house, and he circumcised the flesh of their foreskins that very day, as God had said to him. Abraham was ninety-nine years old when he was circumcised in the flesh of his foreskin. And Ishmael his son was thirteen years old when he was circumcised in the flesh of his foreskin. That very day Abraham and his son Ishmael were circumcised. And all the men of his house, those born in the house and those bought with money from a foreigner, were circumcised with him. (Genesis 17:22–27)
We usually realize that God has left a conversation when the subject changes. Here Moses includes, God went up from Abraham. The reason seems to be to highlight the timeline: as soon as the talking was done, circumcising was begun.
The circumcising was as God had said to him. Verse 23 and 27 repeat the list, it was all who were supposed to be. Verses 24-26 stress the circumcision of Abraham himself and Ishmael.
Most interesting is Ishmael. He received the sign of the covenant because of his connection with Abraham, but the covenant was not for him. God had special things for Ishmael, but not to be his God (see 17:8).
God gives good to many, and it is real good, but not always the best good or eternal good. Some receive good because they are connected to men who receive particular (redeeming) promises and grace, though they themselves are not chosen.
For Abraham, God made it clear that another son was coming, and God chose that son instead of Ishmael, to be in covenant with Him. To bring it about, God will work a miracle. Laughter of unbelief will eventually turn into laughter of surprise, thanks, and joy. It happens soon, though still three more chapters of stories before Sarah has Isaac.
For believing Gentiles, if circumcision is practiced, it isn’t because of God’s command to Abraham. We also don’t baptize our baby boys because the promise of the gospel is for those who believe, not for parents to pass on. We identify children of promise by their faith, not by their father’s house.