Genesis 17
Sunday Morning Bible Study
February 25, 2007
Introduction
Back in Genesis 15, after Abram had turned down the wealth of Sodom, God told Abram that He would be Abram’s reward. Abram reminded God that there was still a little problem about babies. Abram didn’t have a son, he didn’t have a proper heir. God promised Abram that he would have a child from his own body to be an heir.
In Genesis 16, we were reminded that God still hadn’t kept His promise to Abram. Sarai came up with a way to make things happen. She had an Egyptian handmaid, Hagar, and encouraged Abram to take Hagar as a second wife. Abram didn’t seem to have a problem with that arrangement. When Hagar got pregnant, she started getting cocky and began to give Sarai a difficult time. Sarai kicked Hagar out of the house and pregnant Hagar started to make her way back to Egypt when The Angel of the Lord stopped her and sent her back. The baby boy was born and named “Ishmael”.
:1-8 Renewed covenant, new name
:1 When Abram was ninety-nine years old, the LORD appeared to Abram and said to him,
It’s now been close to fifteen years since God last spoke to Abram.
:1 "I am Almighty God;
Almighty God – El Shaddai – this is the first time this name is used for God.
:1 walk before Me and be blameless.
walk before Me – literally, “walk before My face”, walk in His presence.
blameless – tamiym – (KJV – “perfect”) The word does not mean “sinless”. It means “single-hearted, wholly devoted to the Lord.” It describes what is complete or entirely in accord with truth and fact. We call this “integrity.
Lesson
Integrity
The Romans coined a word “sin-cere”, which literally meant “without wax”. When you walked into the market place and wanted to buy something from the merchant selling pottery or things carved out of stone, you would ask if it was “sin-cere”, “without wax”. Some unethical merchants would take damaged pottery or broken statues and repair them with wax. In the early morning light you couldn’t tell that the big clay pot had a large crack in it. You couldn’t tell that the statue had an arm that was previously broken. But if you took the pot home and let it sit in the hot afternoon sun, the wax would melt and your new pot didn’t hold water. Your statue’s arms might fall off.
Integrity, sincerity means that you aren’t phony. It means that what people see is what they get. It means that you are exactly like you pretend to be.
Jesus often warned about hypocrisy.
(Mat 15:7-8 NKJV) "Hypocrites! Well did Isaiah prophesy about you, saying: {8} ’These people draw near to Me with their mouth, And honor Me with their lips, But their heart is far from Me.
The word “hypocrite” comes from the Greek word used to describe an “actor”. It was someone who played a part, someone who pretended to be something they weren’t.
God doesn’t want to be represented by phonies.
(Rom 12:9 NKJV) Let love be without hypocrisy.
How do I stop being a phony?
Admit the truth of who you are. Ask God to change you. Be the real you.
:2 "And I will make My covenant between Me and you, and will multiply you exceedingly."
:3 Then Abram fell on his face, and God talked with him, saying:
:4 "As for Me, behold, My covenant is with you, and you shall be a father of many nations.
:5 "No longer shall your name be called Abram, but your name shall be Abraham; for I have made you a father of many nations.
Abram – ‘Abram – “exalted father”
Abraham – ‘Abraham – “father of a multitude”
:6 "I will make you exceedingly fruitful; and I will make nations of you, and kings shall come from you.
:7 "And I will establish My covenant between Me and you and your descendants after you in their generations, for an everlasting covenant, to be God to you and your descendants after you.
:8 "Also I give to you and your descendants after you the land in which you are a stranger, all the land of Canaan, as an everlasting possession; and I will be their God."
The “covenant” with Abraham not only included children, but also the land. God promised that the land of Canaan would belong to Abraham.
:9-14 Sign of the covenant: Circumcision
:9 And God said to Abraham: "As for you, you shall keep My covenant, you and your descendants after you throughout their generations.
:10 "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;
:11 "and you shall be circumcised in the flesh of your foreskins, and it shall be a sign of the covenant between Me and you.
Lesson
Circumcision
It was meant to be a sign of God’s covenant with Abraham. Abraham wasn’t circumcised in order to make the covenant with God; he was circumcised because of the covenant that God made with Abraham.
Circumcision was an outward sign of something that had already taken place.
Baptism is like this for the believer. We aren’t baptized to get saved. We are baptized because we’ve been saved.
Note: Circumcision is tied with the part of the covenant that promises the land of Canaan to Abraham and his family
Salvation and circumcision
For the Jews, circumcision became the thing that showed you were a God follower.
In the early church, initially all the believers were Jews, and that means they were all circumcised. But as the Good News about Jesus began to be heard by non-Jewish people, the question arose about whether a person needed to be circumcised and become a Jew in order to be saved.
a group of legalistic Jewish believers began to upset the early Gentile believers by telling them they needed to be circumcised and strictly follow the Law of Moses to really be saved (Acts 15:1).
In the beginning of the church, Jews were the only people who were getting saved. Does a Gentile need to become a Jew, become circumcised and follow the Law of Moses in order to be saved?
Paul wrote much in his letters about circumcision because he was dealing with the legalistic fellows who kept telling the Gentiles that they needed to be circumcised and follow the Law of Moses in order to be saved.
Paul used Abraham himself, the first one to be circumcised, to prove a point.
(Rom 4:9-12 NKJV) Does this blessedness then come upon the circumcised only, or upon the uncircumcised also? For we say that faith was accounted to Abraham for righteousness. {10} How then was it accounted? While he was circumcised, or uncircumcised? Not while circumcised, but while uncircumcised. {11} And he received the sign of circumcision, a seal of the righteousness of the faith which he had while still uncircumcised, that he might be the father of all those who believe, though they are uncircumcised, that righteousness might be imputed to them also, {12} and the father of circumcision to those who not only are of the circumcision, but who also walk in the steps of the faith which our father Abraham had while still uncircumcised.
Circumcision came AFTER Abraham was counted as “righteous” for having believed God.
Circumcision doesn’t bring righteousness, faith brings righteousness.
If you are a person wanting to know God, I’ve got good news for you. You don’t have to be physically circumcised to know God. But you do have to trust God. You do have to have faith that Jesus died on a cross to pay for your sins.
Is there any value to circumcision?
Health benefits:
Last year I came across an article in the news: July 11, 2006 – MSN, Reuters
The World Health Organization reported year that data from research in Africa showed that men who had been circumcised had a significantly lower risk of infection with the AIDS virus. They calculated that if all men were circumcised over the next 10 years, some two million new infections and around 300,000 deaths could be avoided.
Spiritual lessons:
Circumcision could be defined as a “cutting away” of the flesh.
It’s a picture of cutting away my sin nature.
Paul wrote,
(Rom 2:28-29 NKJV) For he is not a Jew who is one outwardly, nor is circumcision that which is outward in the flesh; {29} but he is a Jew who is one inwardly; and circumcision is that of the heart, in the Spirit, not in the letter; whose praise is not from men but from God.
In talking about the legalistic false-teachers, Paul didn’t call them “circumcisers” but “mutilators”. He talked about a “true” circumcision:
(Phil 3:2-3 NKJV) Beware of dogs, beware of evil workers, beware of the mutilation! {3} For we are the circumcision, who worship God in the Spirit, rejoice in Christ Jesus, and have no confidence in the flesh,
Lesson
Spiritual circumcision
God wants His people to live by better influences than just what their fleshly sin nature urges tell them to do. He wants us to live after the influence of the Spirit.
Paul wrote,
(Gal 6:7-8 NKJV) Do not be deceived, God is not mocked; for whatever a man sows, that he will also reap. {8} For he who sows to his flesh will of the flesh reap corruption, but he who sows to the Spirit will of the Spirit reap everlasting life.
There’s an old Eskimo proverb that says within every person there are two dogs that are fighting. The dog you feed is the dog that wins.
Inside me there is flesh and Spirit. Which one do I feed?
If I am constantly feeding my flesh by the things I watch on TV, things I see on the internet, books I read, conversations I have with people, junk I put into my body – will it be any surprise if I have trouble doing the things that please God? Should I be surprised when I find it difficult to say “no” to temptation?
Illustration
It reminds me of the story of the young boy Sammy who loved to go fishing. One day he found a huge jackpot of worms under a stump. Every time he baited his hook and tossed his line into the water he felt a stinging on his hand. He ignored the little bit of pain because these worms were helping him catch the biggest fish he ever caught. He made his way home and met the sheriff who looked terrified. Sammy hadn’t noticed that his arms had swelled up to twice their normal size. Sammy shared how he had found the best bait ever, but the sheriff looked at the worms to discover that they were baby rattlesnakes. Sammy had the best catch ever that day, but he died because he was using poisonous bait.
What are we using to bait the hook for life? What are we trying to catch life with?
If we live our life after the fleshly sin nature, we’re poisoning ourselves. We need to be “circumcised” and live after the Spirit.
:12 "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 foreigner who is not your descendant.
eight days old – doctors tell us that a baby’s blood does not have the ability to clot until eight days old.
:13 "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.
:14 "And the uncircumcised 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."
cut off – karath – to cut, cut off, cut down, cut off a body part, cut out, eliminate, kill, cut a covenant
This is the same word used to describe the making of a covenant, used back in Gen. 15:18. The ancients used to “cut a covenant”.
Abraham had cut the sacrificial animals in half and, according to custom, the covenant makers would walk down the middle of the cut up animals. The idea is that if you break the covenant, you get cut up like the animals.
It’s interesting that this word is used for the one who breaks the covenant by not being circumcised.
God sees circumcision as the thing that makes a person part of Israel.
Before Moses arrived back in Egypt to bring the people out of Egypt, he ran into trouble. He had never circumcised his own son. Before God would allow Moses to deliver Israel, he required the boy to become a part of Israel by being circumcised (Ex. 4).
While the Israelites wandered in the wilderness, none of the boys born in the wilderness were circumcised. But at the end of the forty years, when they finally crossed the Jordan into the Promised Land, they stopped and circumcised all the males (Josh. 5). God would not allow them to take the land He had promised them until they remembered to do the thing that was to remind them that God had promised the land to them.
:15-22 Sarah’s new name and the promised child
:15 Then God said to Abraham, "As for Sarai your wife, you shall not call her name Sarai, but Sarah shall be her name.
Sarai – Saray – “princess”, or “my princess”
Sarah – Sarah – “noblewoman”, or “princess”
:16 "And 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."
:17 Then Abraham 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?"
laughed – tsachaq – to laugh, mock, play
Abraham was laughing. Do you know what “lol” (laughing out loud) means in email terms? He was “fdroflol” (falling down rolling on floor laughing out loud) laughing. Since he was the man of “faith”, is seems his laughing wasn’t because he couldn’t believe it. But it did strike him as funny.
:18 And Abraham said to God, "Oh, that Ishmael might live before You!"
Abraham seems to be wondering if this means that Ishmael would have to die, or perhaps that Ishmael was going to be cut off from Abraham’s blessings.
Ishmael has grown up with Abraham. At this point, he is the only son Abraham has ever known. He’s a thirteen year old young man.
We can totally understand from the human aspect why Abraham is asking for Ishmael.
Yet in the spiritual lessons that come from the life of Abraham, Ishmael is a reminder to us of our flesh, of our sin nature. Ishmael was conceived because of Abraham’s obvious mistake with Hagar (Gal. 4:23).
And in the spiritual sense, it might not be a good idea to ask for Ishmael to live.
It might be better if we learned to let Ishmael, our own fleshly nature die.
Amy Carmichael was a missionary to India. She wrote to a friend who was perplexed about a painful experience, “I will say what our Heavenly Father said to me long ago, and says to me still very often: ‘See in it a chance to die.’”
:19 Then God said: "No, Sarah your wife shall bear you a son, and you shall call his name Isaac; I will establish My covenant with him for an everlasting covenant, and with his descendants after him.
Isaac – Yitschaq – “he laughs”
:20 "And as for Ishmael, I have heard you. Behold, I have blessed him, and will make him fruitful, and will multiply him exceedingly. He shall beget twelve princes, and I will make him a great nation.
Ishmael – Yishma‘e’l – “God will hear”
heard – shama‘– to hear – this is the root word in Ishmael’s name
The child was named “Ishmael” because God wanted Hagar (his mom) to remember that God had heard her when she cried out to God in her affliction.
But now Abraham would also remember that “God hears”.
:21 "But My covenant I will establish with Isaac, whom Sarah shall bear to you at this set time next year."
God would listen to Abraham’s prayers for Ishmael and bless him.
But God’s covenant wouldn’t be with Ishmael, it would be with Isaac. The land wouldn’t belong to Ishmael but to Isaac.
:22 Then He finished talking with him, and God went up from Abraham.
:23-27 Circumcision performed
:23 So Abraham took Ishmael his son, all who were born in his house and all who were bought with his money, every male among the men of Abraham’s house, and circumcised the flesh of their foreskins that very same day, as God had said to him.
:24 Abraham was ninety-nine years old when he was circumcised in the flesh of his foreskin.
:25 And Ishmael his son was thirteen years old when he was circumcised in the flesh of his foreskin.
:26 That very same day Abraham was circumcised, and his son Ishmael;
:27 and all the men of his house, born in the house or bought with money from a foreigner, were circumcised with him.
Abraham obeyed God.
I wonder what the men of Abram’s household thought when he announced that he was changing his name to “father of a multitude”. I wonder if he heard them laugh as well.
I wonder what the men of Abram’s household thought when he announced that they were all going to get circumcised. “You want me to circum-what???”
Yet Abraham believed God. Abraham obeyed God.
And the people that were under his roof would know exactly where he stood with God.
Do the people around you know where you stand with God?
