May the mumbling commence!
It’s time for a covenant in the
flesh… a covenant to remind us of the promise God has given. Through pain, there’s promise. Read from Peterson’s The Message:
When Abram was ninety-nine years old, God
showed up and said to him, “I am The Strong God, live entirely before me, live to the hilt! I’ll make a covenant between us and I’ll
give you a huge family.”
Overwhelmed, Abram
fell flat on his face.
Then God
said to him, “This is my covenant with you: You’ll be the father of many
nations. Your
name will no longer be Abram, but Abraham, meaning that ‘I’m making you the
father of many nations.’ I’ll make you a father of fathers – I’ll make nations from you, kings will issue from you. I’m
establishing my covenant between me and you, a
covenant that includes your descendants, a covenant that goes on and on and on,
a covenant that commits me to be your God and
the God of your descendants. And I’m giving you and your descendants this land where you’re now
just camping, this
whole country of
Canaan, to own forever. And I’ll be their
God.”
God
continued to Abraham, “And you: You will honor
my covenant, you and your descendants, generation after generation. This is the covenant that you are to
honor, the covenant that pulls in all your descendants: Circumcise every male.
Circumcise by cutting off the foreskin of
the penis; it will be a sign of the covenant
between us. Every male
baby will be
circumcised when he is eight days old, generation
after generation – this includes house-born slaves and slaves bought from outsiders who are
not blood kin. Make sure you circumcise both your own children and anyone
brought in from the outside. That way my covenant
will be cut into your body, a permanent mark of my
permanent covenant. An uncircumcised male, one who has not had the foreskin of his penis cut off, will be cut off from his people – he has broken my
covenant.” (Genesis 17:1-14)
Now read the same passage from the
NIV translation:
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."
Abram fell facedown, and God said to him, "As
for me, this is my covenant with you: You
will be the father of many nations.
No longer will you be called Abram; your name will be Abraham,
for I have made you a
father of many nations. I will make you very fruitful; I will make nations of you, and kings will come from you. I will
establish my covenant as an everlasting covenant between
me and you and your descendants after you for
the generations to come, to be your God and
the God of your descendants after you. 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; and I will be their God."
Then God said to Abraham, "As for you, you must keep my covenant, you
and your descendants after you for the
generations to come. This is my covenant with you and your descendants after you, the covenant you are
to keep: Every male among you shall be
circumcised. You are to undergo circumcision, and it will be the sign of the covenant between me and you. For the
generations to come every male among you who is eight
days old must be circumcised, including
those born in your household or bought with money from
a foreigner – those who are not your offspring. Whether born in your
household or bought with your money, they must be circumcised. My covenant in your flesh
is to be an everlasting covenant. Any uncircumcised
male, who has not been circumcised in the flesh,
will be cut off from his people; he has broken my covenant."
(Genesis 17:1-14)
The covenant of circumcision… and
every guy says, “Ouch!” The words of
Peterson makes this painful sign of the covenant clear in exacting language…
the foreskin of the penis must be cut off.
There is much red in this passage,
but much of the red is good updating of the words of the NIV. I do take issue with a couple of things. And both of them come down to verbs.
Was God making a covenant
(Peterson) or confirming God’s covenant (NIV)?
I believe the covenant was already given earlier in chapter twelve. It was only confirmation.
And how are we to embrace the covenant? Are we to honor it (Peterson)? Or are we to keep it (NIV)? I think both are possible, but I believe that
the NIV has it closer. To honor the covenant
we must keep it.
Enough mumbling for now…
Peace Out
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