Why Jewish And Arab Males Are Circumcised (MP 22)

When Abram became ninety-nine years old,
And his first wife Sarai was eighty-nine,
God confirmed His former promises told
Of land and offspring coming through his line!
“Your name is now Abraham, and Sarai’s
Is Sarah; by this time of the next year,
You’ll see her bear you a son with your eyes,
Isaac, chosen, this covenant next to hear!
But you must be circumcised, as a sign,
Between you and me; all male offspring
As well, to show them to be of your line;
Or else, be cut off, denied ev’rything!”
Abraham obeyed, and Ishmael, his son;
And males in his camp, all had cutting done!

Scripture Quoted: Selected from Genesis 17 (NIV)
V.1-2—“When Abram was ninety-nine years old, the Lord appeared to him and said, ‘I am God Almighty; walk before me and be blameless. I will confirm my covenant between me and you and will greatly increase your numbers.’ “
V. 5a-6—“ ‘No longer will you be called Abram; your name will be Abraham… I will make you very fruitful; I will make nations of you, and kings will come from you.’ “
V. 8—“ ‘The whole land of Canaan, where you are now an alien, I will give as an everlasting possession to you and your descendants after you.’ “
V. 10—“ ‘This is my covenant with you and your descendants after you; this covenant you are to keep: Every male among you shall be circumcised.’ “
V. 15-16a—“God also said to Abraham, ‘As for Sarai your wife you will no longer call her Sarai; her name will be Sarah. I will bless her and will surely give you a son by her,,,’ “
V. 21—“ ‘But my covenant I will establish with Isaac, whom Sarah will bear to you by this time next year.’ “

Commentary
Ishmael, Abram’s son by Hagar the maid, was 12 years old when Abram was visited by God and reminded that Ishmael was not to be the son promised as his heir and chosen to inherit the covenant of blessing coming to Abram’s offspring. It must have come as a surprise to Abram. He was now 99 years old, and Sarai 89 and presumably too old to conceive a child. He even laughed to himself (which God, of course, was able to detect). There was already considerable conflict in his tent between the puffed-up Hagar and Sarai, who had regretted her suggestion that Abram use the maid for a surrogate mother. You can imagine how much worse things became when Sarai learned that God would miraculously allow her to become pregnant with Isaac. It brought about the expulsion of Hagar and Ishmael from Abram’s household. The descendants of Ishmael, the Arab race, have never accepted Isaac as the rightful heir. It even brought into existence a new religion, Islam, in the seventh century A.D., which claims that Jews and Christians corrupted the Bible, and that Ishmael was the true heir of Abram. I believe that Islam is a counterfeit religion concocted by Satan to delude men and women and keep them from becoming Christians.

God confirmed His covenant with Abram and his descendants through Isaac. He changed Abram’s name to Abraham, and Sarai’s name to Sarah. He commanded Abraham to become circumcised, as well as all males in his camp and all male offspring as a sign of the covenant, This included Ishmael and his descendants, the Arab race, as well as the coming Isaac and the Jewish race. When Jesus came 2000 years later bringing the gospel of Christianity, He established the spiritual Kingdom of God; each Christian is considered a descendant of Abraham also, but his circumcision is spiritual, said by Paul to be “circumcision of the heart”. Combining Christians, Jews, and Arabs all as descendants of Abraham verifies how numerous his offspring actually was as it was prophesied.

“For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son, that whoever believes in him will not die, but have everlasting life.” (John 3:16)

“That if you confess with your mouth, ‘Jesus is Lord’, and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.” (Romans 10:9)