The topic of circumcision is another unpopular topic that many disagree on and many believers today feel that it something that no longer is required of followers of YESHUA. We will discuss the importance of circumcision the eternal covenant, who was circumcised, can you be circumcised after the 8th day, and the circumcision of the heart.
We must never forget the words of YESHUA in Mathew 5:17-18
“Do not think that I came to destroy the Torah or the prophets. I did not come to destroy but to complete. For truly, I say to you, till the heavens and the earth pass away, one yod or one tittle shall by no means pass from the Torah till all be done.”
When does heaven and earth pass away?
Revelation 21;1-2
“And I saw a renewed heaven and a renewed earth, for the former heaven and earth had passed away, and the sea is no more. And I, John, saw the holy city, renewed Jerusalem, coming down out of the heavens from ELOHIM, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband.”
We know that none of this has occurred yet; therefore, the commandments still apply to us today. Furthermore, the Torah will be kept when YESHUA reigns for 1,000 years see: (Isaiah 2 and Micah 4:1-8).Understanding His Words helps us to know that YESHUA did not abolish any laws, but only came to show us how to walk in them as He did; and to show us that they are holy and good. I will show that obeying YAHWEH’s command of circumcision is both physically and of the heart.
YESHUA, John the Baptist, Isaac, and Paul circumcised on 8th day
We already read from Mathew 5:17 from YESHUA Himself that the Torah is not done away with, which would make sense that He would be circumcised Himself.
Luke 2:21
“And when eight days were completed for Him to be circumcised, His Name was called YESHUA, the Name given by the messenger before He was conceived in the womb.”
Luke 1:59-60
“And it came to be, on the eighth day, that they came to circumcise the child. And they were calling him by the name of his dad, Zekaryah. And his mother answering, said, “Not so, but he shall be called John.”
Genesis 21:4
“And Abraham circumcised his son Isaac when he was eight days old, as ELOHIM had commanded him.”
And yes Paul, the one who many point to saying not to get circumcised was circumcised on the 8th day.
Philippians 3:3-5
“For we are the circumcision, who are serving ELOHIM in the Spirit, and boasting in Messiah YESHUA, and do not trust in the flesh, though I too might have trust in the flesh. If anyone else thinks to trust in the flesh, I more-circumcised on the eighth day, of the race of Yisra’el, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of Hebrews, according to Torah a Pharisee…”
Leviticus 12:3
“And on the eighth day the flesh of his foreskin is circumcised.”
Eternal Covenant made with Abraham
Genesis 17:10-14
“This is My Covenant which you guard between Me and you, AND YOUR SEED AFTER YOU: EVERY MALE CHILD among you is to be circumcised. And you shall circumcise the flesh of your foreskin, and it shall become a SIGN of the Covenant between Me and you. And a son of eight days (Leviticus 12:3) is circumcised by you, EVERY MALE CHILD IN YOUR GENERATIONS, he who is born in your house or bought with silver from any foreigner who is NOT OF YOUR SEED. He who is born in your house, and he who is bought with your silver, has to be circumcised. So shall My Covenant be in your flesh, for an EVERLASTING COVENANT. And an UNCIRCUMCISED male child, who is NOT circumcised in the flesh of his foreskin, his life shall be cut off from his people-he has broken My Covenant.”
Notice how YAHWEH says that circumcision is an everlasting covenant and that it is a sign of His covenant in your flesh. He also says that every male must be circumcised even the foreigner (gentile) who was bought with silver.
Genesis 17:23-27
“And Abraham took Ishmael his son, and all those born in his house and all those bought with his silver, EVERY MALE among the men of Abraham’s house, and circumcised the flesh of their foreskins that same day, as ELOHIM told him. And 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. Abraham and his son Ishmael were circumcised that same day. And all the men of his house, born in the house or bought with silver from a FOREIGNER, were circumcised with him.”
If circumcision wasn’t a big deal, YAHWEH would have told Abraham not to be circumcised and to wait to start with his son Isaac. However, we see Abraham was 99 years and old, Ishmael was 13 and the men of his house (meaning adults) were all circumcised that same day. And we know that YAHWEH established is covenant with Isaac who was circumcised on the 8th day and not Ishmael. We see that Abraham’s faith brought for obedience to His commands he did not remain uncircumcised.
Jubilees 15:25-32
This Torah is FOR ALL GENERATIONS FOREVER, and there is no circumcising of days (not a single day should be cut off or removed) and no omission of one day out of the eight days; for it is an ETERNAL ORDINANCE, ordained and written on the heavenly tablets. And everyone that is born, the flesh of whose foreskin is not circumcised on the eighth day, does not belong to the children of the covenant which YAHWEH cut with Abraham, but to the children of destruction; nor is there, moreover, any sign on him that he is YAHWEH’s, but is destined to be destroyed and killed from the earth, and to be uprooted from the earth, for he has broken the covenant of YAHWEH our ELOHIM. For all the messengers of the presence and all the messengers of holiness have been created this way from the day of their creation (The angels were created already circumcised) and before the messengers of the presence and the messengers of holiness He has set Yisra’el apart, that they should be with Him and with His holy messengers. And command the children of Yisra’el and let them guard the sign of this covenant for their generations as an eternal ordinance, and they will not be uprooted from the land. For the command is ordained for a covenant, that they should guard it FOREVER among all the children of Yisra’el. For YAHWEH did not draw Ishmael and his sons and his brothers and Esaw, and He did not choose them, because they are the children of Abraham, because He knew them, but He chose Yisra’el to be His people. And He set it apart, and gathered it from all the children of men; for there are many nations and many peoples, and all are His, and He has placed spirits in authority to lead them astray from Him. But over Yisra’el He did not appoint any messenger or spirit, for He alone is their ruler, and He will preserve them and require them at the hand of His messengers and His spirits, and at the hand of all His powers in order that He may preserve them and bless them, and that they may be His and He may be theirs from now on and forever.”
Prophecy of Future Apostasy (Modern day believers from what Christianity teaches)
Jubilees 15:33-34
“And now I announce to you that the children of Yisra’el will DENY this ordinance (As Christianity has done), and they will NOT circumcise their sons according to all this Torah; for in the flesh of their circumcision they will omit this circumcision of their sons, and all of them, sons of Beliyya’al, will leave their sons UNCIRCUMCISED as they were BORN. And there will be great wrath from YAHWEH against the children of Yisra’el. Because they have forsaken His covenant and turned aside from His word, and provoked and blasphemed; inasmuch as they do not guard the ordinance of this Torah. For they have treated their members like the nations (gentiles), so that they may be removed and uprooted from the land. And there will no more be pardon or forgiveness to them, for all the sin of the ETERNAL ERROR.”
Can you be circumcised after the 8th day?
As always, I say to take everything to our Father YAHWEH in prayer and see what He tells you, because your situation may have been different and only He knows this. Our ELOHIM is merciful which is why He sent His Son YESHUA to die for us. I personally believe that we should do everything according to the word of YAHWEH and His instructions, but I’m sure many will want to know what happens if they didn’t know better or their parents neglected to circumcise them as children, or they found out this information after coming into the faith. This would more than likely be the part where ELOHIM’s grace and mercy comes in, but again please take it to Him in prayer, I can only go what the word states and I can provide a few examples of this happening after the 8th Day, but I’m not the judge.
We have read from multiple scriptures the importance of being circumcised on the 8th day, but Jubilees 15:33 says that they will leave their sons uncircumcised as the day they were born, so it’s definitely not right to remain uncircumcised. We read that Abraham was circumcised when he was 99, Ishmael was 13, and the adult men in Abraham’s house were circumcised. The only two example’s I can think of is Timothy and those with Joshua after crossing the Jordan:
Acts 16:1-3
“And he came to Derbe and Lustra. And see, a certain disciple was there, named Timothy, the son of a certain Jewish woman who believed but his dad was a Greek-who was well spoken of by the brothers who were at Lustra and Ikonion. Paul wanted to have this one go with him. And he took him and circumcised him because of the Jews who were in those places, for they all knew that his dad was Greek.”
So Timothy was half Jew and half Greek and yet he was still circumcised by Paul. And most scholars say that Timothy was somewhere between 17 and 30 years old meaning he wasn’t circumcised on the 8th day, because his Greek dad did not allow it; however, he was still circumcised. This is an example that we will see when we discuss Acts 15 as all the gentile converts were adults.
Joshua 5:7-10 (Parenthesis mine)
“And Joshua circumcised their sons whom He raised up in their place; for they were uncircumcised, because they had not been circumcised on the way (in the wilderness). And it came to be, when they had completed circumcising ALL the nation, that they stayed in their places in the camp till they were healed.”
This would mean that many of them who were born in the wilderness were adults, being that they wandered in the wilderness for 40 years and then they were circumcised by Joshua. Men, boys, and children were circumcised that day and it was so many of them that Joshua 5:3 says “So Joshua made knives of flint for himself, and circumcised the sons of Yisra’el at the Hill of Foreskins.” We also have to remember that the gentiles who were grafted in were traveling with the native-born and one example of this is Kaleb son of Yephunnah the Kezzinite.
Exodus 12:37-38
“And the children of Yisra’el departed from Ramses to Sukkoth, about six hundred thousand men on foot, besides the little ones. And a MIXED MULTITUDE (gentiles) went up with them too, also flocks and herds, very much livestock.”
Numbers 11:4
“And the MIXED MULTITUDE who were in their midst lusted greatly, so the children of Yisra’el also wept again and said, “Who is giving us meat to eat?”
Romans 4:11-13
“And he (Abraham) received the sign of circumcision (Genesis 17), a seal of the righteousness of the belief in uncircumcision, for him to be a father of all those believing through uncircumcision, for righteousness to be reckoned to them also, and the father of circumcision to those who not only are of the circumcision, but who also walk in the steps of the belief which our father Abraham had in uncircumcision.”
Abraham was righteous through his faith without being circumcised, but his faith led to obedience to be circumcised at 99 years old when YAHWEH made the covenant with him, which is why Paul says righteousness in obedience through uncircumcision. However, that righteousness would be reckoned to those who follow his example, by the uncircumcised gentiles who will be following Abraham’s example of faith leading to obedience to be circumcised. Which is why Paul says he would be a father of all those believing through uncircumcision, because he believed before being circumcised, and the end result was that he got circumcised. We know that the gentiles are grafted in as part of the seed of Abraham (Galatians 3:27) therefore, he is your model and example to follow.
Romans 3:31
“Do we then nullify the Torah through the faith? LET IT NOT BE! On the contrary, we establish the Torah.” As we see Abraham’s faith did not nullify the Torah and the same concept applies today.
What about Acts 15?
What was said that got the new converts stirred up and worried?
Acts 15:1
“And certain men came down from Judah and were teaching the brothers, “Unless you are circumcised, according to the practice of Moses, you are unable to be saved.”
Firstly, these Pharisees were preaching a works only doctrine, they already did not believe in YESHUA. So they said unless that you are circumcised you cannot be saved! But the question is when does one commandment save us alone? We are saved by the blood atonement of YESHUA! We don’t earn salvation by keeping the commandments, but we keep the commandments through obedience by our faith in YESHUA. And keeping the commandments is how we LOVE and KNOW Him! As I’ve heard it said we don’t keep the commandments to be saved, we keep them because we are saved.
John 14:21
“He who possesses My Commands and guards them, it is he who LOVES Me. And he who loves Me shall be loved by My Father, and I shall love him and manifest Myself to him.”
1 John 5:3
“For this is the LOVE for YAHWEH, that we guard His Commands, and His Commands are not burdensome…”
1 John 2:3-4
“And by this, we know that we KNOW Him, if we guard His Commands. The one who says, “I KNOW Him,” and does not guard His Commands, is a liar, and the truth is not in him.”
This is why we keep the commands out of obedience or as Paul says:
Romans 1:5
“Through whom we have received favor and office of the emissary for BELIEF-OBEDIENCE among all the nations on behalf of His Name…”
Romans 16:25-26
“And to Him who is able to establish you according to my Good News and the preaching of YESHUA HA’MASHIACH, according to the revelation of the secret which has kept silent since times of old, but now has been made manifest, and by Scripture of prophecy has been made known to ALL NATIONS, according to the Command of the everlasting ELOHIM, for BELIEF-OBEDIENCE.”
Your faith in YESHUA should produce obedience to His Commandments.
Acts 15:2
“So when Paul and Barnabas had no small dissension and dispute with them, they arranged for Paul and Barnabas and certain others of them to go up to Jerusalem to the emissaries and elders, about this question.”
So we see the question is presented at the Jerusalem Council and we will see that James the half-brother of YESHUA who was the head of the Council says in verse 19:
“Therefore I judge that we should not trouble those from among the gentiles who are turning to ELOHIM, but that we write to them to abstain from the defilements of idols, and from whoring, and from what is strangled, and from blood.”
James is saying that the Pharisees were trying to put too much on the gentile converts at one time. They were just now turning to ELOHIM and they were needing the milk and not the meat. Let them develop their faith in YESHUA and let them immediately turn away from defilements of idols, and from whoring, and from what is strangled, and from blood, if they want to join in with the believers. By thinking this is the only things that gentile converts have to do means they are permitted to commit adultery, murder, dishonor parents, bear false witness and covet because they were not mentioned right? False! This was a basis that the gentile converts had to start with immediately and verse 21 is critical to understanding this passage:
“For from ancient generations Moses (Torah) has, in EVERY CITY, those proclaiming him-being read in the congregations every Shabbat.”
The Torah was taught in congregations in every city on the Shabbat. So the gentile converts will still have a chance to learn and grow on every Shabbat and hear the laws and commands of YAHWEH and to perform them as they grew stronger in the Word and faith. These new converts were already attending Shabbat to learn as we read in Acts 13:42
“And when the Jews went out of the congregation, the gentiles begged to have these words spoken to them the next Shabbat.” Verse 44 “And on the next Sabbath almost all the city came together to hear the Word of YAHWEH.” Verse 46 “But speaking boldly, Paul and Barambah said, “It was necessary that the Word of ELOHIM should be spoken to you first (native-born), but since you thrust it away, and judge yourselves unworthy of everlasting life, see we turn to the gentiles.”
So as we can see the gentiles attended the congregations on the Shabbat to hear the Word of YAHWEH; therefore, they would have time to get acclimated with the ways of YAHWEH through the disciples. You give a baby milk before you give him meat, a baby must crawl before they walk. Nowhere in the chapter does anyone conclude that circumcision would not apply to the gentiles converts.
Gentiles had to be circumcised like native-born to eat Passover
Exodus 12:42-49
“It is a night to be observed unto YAHWEH for bringing them out of the land of Egypt. This night is unto YAHWEH, to be observed by all the children of Yisra’el throughout their generations.” And YAHWEH said to Moses and Aaron, “This is a Law of the Passover: No son of a stranger (Nekar) is to eat of it, but any servant a man has brought for silver, when you have circumcised him, then let him eat of it. A sojourner and a hired servant does not eat of it. It is eaten in one house, you are not to take any of the flesh outside the house, nor are you to break any bone of it. All the congregation of Yisra’el are to perform it. And when a stranger sojourns with you (Ger) and shall perform the Pesach to YAHWEH, let all his males be circumcised, AND THEN let him come near and perform it, and he shall be as a native of the land. But let NO UNCIRCUMCISED eat of it.”
Joshua 5:7-10 (Parenthesis mine)
“And Joshua circumcised their sons whom He raised up in their place; for they were uncircumcised, because they had not been circumcised on the way (in the wilderness). And it came to be, when they had completed circumcising ALL the nation, that they stayed in their places in the camp till they were healed. And YAHWEH said to Joshua, ‘Today I have rolled away the reproach of Egypt from you.” So the name of the place is called Gigal to this day. And the children of Yisra’el camped in Gilgal, and performed the Passover on the fourteenth day of the month at evening on the deserts plains of Jericho.”
Numbers 14:33-38
“And your sons shall be wanderers in the wilderness forty years, and shall bear your whorings, until your carcasses are consumed in the wilderness. According to the number of the days in which you spied out the land, forty days-a day for a year, a day for a year-you are to bear your wickedness forty years, and you shall know My breaking off. I am YAHWEH, I have spoken, I shall do this to all this evil congregation who are meeting against Me: In the wilderness they are consumed, and there they die. And the men whom Moses sent to spy out the land, who returned and made all the congregation grumble against him by bringing an evil report of the land, even those men who brought the evil report about the land, died by the plague before YAHWEH. Of those men who went to spy out the land, only Joshua son of Nun, Kaleb son of Yephunneh remained alive.”
So here we see that those who rebelled against YAHWEH in the wilderness were cut off as they wandered for 40 years and would not enter into the Promised Land, but the children who were born to them in the wilderness were not yet circumcised. So notice that after Joshua circumcised them that they were allowed to eat the Passover four days later? That’s because no uncircumcised can eat Passover as YAHWEH commanded in Exodus 12.
It’s also about circumcision of the heart
I believe YAHWEH wants us to be physically circumcised as it is a part of the eternal covenant of His covenant in our flesh, but also to be circumcised of the heart.
Ezekiel 44:7-9
“That you brought in sons of a foreigner, uncircumcised in heart AND uncircumcised in the flesh, to be in My Sanctuary to profane it, My House! That you brought near My food, the fat and the blood, and you broke My Covenant because all of your abominations. And you did not guard the charge of that which is holy to Me, but you have put others to guard the charge of My Sanctuary for you.” ‘Thus said the Adon YAHWEH, “No son of a foreigner, uncircumcised in heart and uncircumcised in the flesh, comes into My Sanctuary, even any son of a foreigner who is among the children of Yisra’el.”
Deuteronomy 10:16
“And you shall circumcise the foreskin of your heart, and harden your neck no more.”
Jeremiah 4:4
“Circumcise yourselves unto YAHWEH, and take away the foreskins of your hearts, you men of Judah and inhabitants of Jerusalem, lest My wrath come forth like fire and burn, with none to quench it, because of the evil of your deeds.”
Acts 7:51
“You stiff-necked and uncircumcised in heart and ears! You always resist the RUACH HA’KODESH (The Holy Spirit), as your ancestors did, you also do.”
Jubilees 1:23
“And after this they shall turn to Me in all uprightness and with all their heart and with all their being, and I shall circumcise the foreskin of their heart and the foreskin of the heart of their seed, and I shall create in them a holy spirit, and I shall cleanse them so that they shall not turn away from Me from that day unto eternity.”
I just want to say that I don’t believe that Paul preached against circumcision, I believe that many have misunderstood him. But even if he did, we know that Mathew 18:16 and even Paul himself says this in 2 Corinthians 13:1 “At the mouth of two or three witnesses every word shall be established.” Just something to think about for all who point to Paul’s letters to say he did away with something, which I don’t believe he did. Even if Paul was preaching lawlessness you must present another witness to align with his words to form a sound doctrine and you will not find it.
As always, may our Father YAHWEH bless you all in YESHUA’s Name!