
For this week, read Exo 4:27 – 6:13.[a]
We’ve been discussing God’s promises and will continue with the specific promises to Moses as he prepares to leave Midian for Egypt and approach Pharaoh. In Exo 4:24-26,[b]
we see what appears to be an excursion from the story line. What do you guys remember from last week’s discussion.[c]
What is the requirement of the sons of Israel that is found in Gen 17:10-11. [d]
Do you see a difference between the requirement in verse 10 and 11? [e]
Remember God is working to move us from the physical to the spiritual……what is the requirement in verse 10? [f] Then in 11, what is the sign of that requirement? [g]
Use the text of those two verses to answer.
Can you see the differences? [i]
Does this help understand the actions of Zipporah? [j]
We’ll discuss the detail on Tuesday.[k] Then on to the history of Moses’ return to Egypt.
We’ve been discussing God’s promises and will continue with the specific promises to Moses as he prepares to leave Midian for Egypt and approach Pharaoh. In Exo 4:24-26,[b]
Ex 4:24–26----24 And it came to pass on the way at the lodging-place, that Jehovah met him, and sought to kill him. 25 Then Zipporah took a flint, and cut off the foreskin of her son, and cast it at his feet; and she said, Surely a bridegroom of blood art thou to me. 26 So he let him alone. Then she said, A bridegroom of blood art thou, because of the circumcision. American Standard Version. (1995).[2] we see what appears to be an excursion from the story line. What do you guys remember from last week’s discussion.[c] https://webmaster220.blogspot.com/2019/03/project-for-period-of-3122019.html
What is the requirement of the sons of Israel that is found in Gen 17:10 [d] Gen 17:10-11 This is my covenant, which ye shall keep, between me and you and thy seed after thee: every male among you shall be circumcised. 11 And ye shall be circumcised in the flesh of your foreskin; and it shall be a token of a covenant betwixt me and you. [3]
Do you see a difference between the requirement in verse 10 and 11? [e]
10 introduces circumcision and 11 explains what it means to be circumcised
Remember God is working to move us from the physical to the spiritual……what is the requirement in verse 10? [f]
Gen 17:10-11...every male among you shall be circumcised
Then in 11, what is the sign of that requirement? [g]
Gen 17:10-11 in the flesh of your foreskin which represents a change on the outward side of an individual
Now think through circumcision of the heart verses circumcision of the flesh!! [h]
Can you see the differences? [i]New testament circumcision is of the heart and it is Symbolic
Does this help understand the actions of Zipporah? [j] Moses would have done it himself if he could have but God had him in a physical encounter so Moses asked Zipporah to perform the operation instead of breaking free from God's grip on him and doing the operation. Zipporah sounded very irritated by this whole scene
Circumcision
CIRCUMCISION IS THE PROCESS of cutting off all or part of the foreskin of the male genital organ. Circumcision is performed as a religious rite by Jews on the eighth day of life (Lev. 12:3; Luke 1:59; 2:21; Phil. 3:5). It was practiced in ancient Egypt, Herodotus said, for hygienic reasons, and anthropologists have found it was performed by certain tribes in Africa, America, Malaysia, and Polynesia. Today it is frequently performed as a hygienic measure, usually shortly after birth. Both in the past and currently, some tribal peoples perform circumcision as a rite of passage from childhood to adulthood, usually at puberty.
God told Abraham that circumcision was “the sign of the covenant” between God and Abraham and his descendants (Gen. 17:11–14). “Abraham was ninety-nine years old when he was circumcised” (17:24). The fact that Ishmael was thirteen when he was circumcised (17:25) explains its practice in Islam when boys are thirteen. Since circumcision involves the shedding of blood, it may have signified the ratification of the covenant relationship. Commanded in conjunction with the change of Abram’s name to Abraham and God’s promise to make him “very fruitful” (17:6) and “the father of many nations” (17:4) and His promise of a son by Sarah (17:16, 19), circumcision can signify dependence on God, dedication to Him, and separation to Him from the world and its practices.
Despite God’s command to Abraham concerning circumcision, its observance apparently was not always maintained in Israel’s history (Exod. 4:25–26; Josh. 5:2–5). Circumcision eventually became a routine external religious rite. By New Testament times it had become a mark of Jewish ethnic and religious pride, and Jews looked on the uncircumcised with contempt. The apostle Paul confronted a form of this when the Jewish Christians from Judea came to Antioch and claimed that gentile believers must be circumcised to be saved (Acts 15:1). The same demand for gentile circumcision was made and rejected at the Council of Jerusalem (15:5–29). But the conflict with “the circumcision group” continued (Gal. 2:11–13; Titus 1:10).
The spiritual foundation for circumcision and its true significance was underscored by Moses in his farewell to Israel on the east side of the Jordan River: “Circumcise your hearts, therefore, and do not be stiff-necked any longer” (Deut. 10:16). Similarly just before the Babylonian captivity Jeremiah told the people of Judah and Jerusalem, “Circumcise yourselves to the LORD, circumcise your hearts” (Jer. 4:4). These were calls to separation from self and the world and to dedication to God as His covenant people.
As a Jew “circumcised the eighth day” (Phil. 3:5), the apostle Paul recognized circumcision’s spiritual significance. He wrote, “Circumcision has value if you observe the law” (Rom. 2:25), and “A man is not a Jew if he is only one outwardly, nor is circumcision merely outward and physical. No, a man is a Jew if he is one inwardly; and circumcision is circumcision of the heart, by the Spirit” (2:28–29). Paul recognized, however, that the advantage “in being a Jew” and the value “in circumcision” was that circumcised Jews “have been entrusted with the very words of God” (3:1–2).
The time will come when God will redeem and restore His chosen people, Israel, and fulfill His covenantal promises to Abraham. Then, as Moses said, “The LORD your God will circumcise your hearts and the hearts of your descendants, so that you may love him with all your heart and with all your soul, and live” (Deut. 30:6). In this present church age, however, “Neither circumcision nor uncircumcision means anything; what counts is a new creation” (Gal. 6:15). “For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision has any value. The only thing that counts is faith expressing itself through love” (5:6). As a result of our faith in Jesus Christ and our position in Him we are “circumcised, in the putting off of the sinful nature, not with a circumcision done by the hands of men but with the circumcision done by Christ” (Col. 2:11). —JAW
Acknowledge the Holy Spirit’s spiritual surgery of circumcising your heart
to separate you from the world to Christ.
--Witmer, J. A [4]
We’ll discuss the detail on Tuesday. [k]
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See you guys on Tuesday.
Appendix / Bibliography
[4] Witmer, J. A. (2000). Circumcision. In C. R. Swindoll & R. B. Zuck (Eds.), The Theological Wordbook (pp. 57–59). Nashville, TN: Word Publishing, Inc.
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| [5]
Harris, W. H., III, Ritzema, E., Brannan, R., Mangum, D., Dunham, J.,
Reimer, J. A., & Wierenga, M. (Eds.). (2012). The Lexham English
Bible (Ac 7:8). Bellingham, WA: Lexham Press. [6]Harris, W. H., III, Ritzema, E., Brannan, R., Mangum, D., Dunham, J., Reimer, J. A., & Wierenga (Eds.). (2012). The Lexham English Bible (Ro 2:25). Bellingham, WA [7]Harris, W. H., III, Ritzema, E., Brannan, R., Mangum, D., Dunham, J., Reimer, J. A., & Wierenga, M. (Eds.). (2012). The Lexham English Bible (Ro 2:26). Bellingham, WA: Lexham Press. [8]Harris, W. H., III, Ritzema, E., Brannan, R., Mangum, D., Dunham, J., Reimer, J. A., & Wierenga, M. (Eds.). (2012). The Lexham English Bible (Ro 2:29). Bellingham, WA: Lexham Press. [9]Harris, W. H., III, Ritzema, E., Brannan, R., Mangum, D., Dunham, J., Reimer, J. A., & Wierenga, M. (Eds.). (2012). The Lexham English Bible (Ro 3:1). Bellingham, WA: Lexham Press. [10]Harris, W. H., III, Ritzema, E., Brannan, R., Mangum, D., Dunham, J., Reimer, J. A., & Wierenga, M. (Eds.). (2012). The Lexham English Bible (1 Co 7:19). Bellingham, WA: Lexham Press. [11]Harris, W. H., III, Ritzema, E., Brannan, R., Mangum, D., Dunham, J., Reimer, J. A., & Wierenga, M. (Eds.). (2012). The Lexham English Bible (Col 2:11). Bellingham, WA: Lexham Press. |
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