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But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness Gal 5:22 |
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Dear
Friend,
If you do not already have a habit of gathering daily manna the first thing in the morning (we can look at the example given to us in Exodus 16 and find the pattern for make it a habit. Establish your life and your schedule to allow you the necessary time to do your daily collection first thing every morning to give you the strength to make it through the day. And remember that today’s manna will not be sufficient for tomorrow; tomorrow’s manna must be collected tomorrow morning. Wednesday, July 27, 2022
Today's Passage : Today's Passage :The Story of Abraham [17] - Circumcision Bible Verse:Genesis 17:9-14 (ESV) "And God said to Abraham, “As for you, you shall keep my covenant, you and your offspring after you throughout their generations. This is my covenant, which you shall keep, between me and you and your offspring after you: Every male among you shall be circumcised. You shall be circumcised in the flesh of your foreskins, and it shall be a sign of the covenant between me and you. He who is eight days old among you shall be circumcised. Every male throughout your generations, whether born in your house or bought with your money from any foreigner who is not of your offspring, both he who is born in your house and he who is bought with your money, shall surely be circumcised. So shall my covenant be in your flesh an everlasting covenant. Any uncircumcised male who is not circumcised in the flesh of his foreskin shall be cut off from his people; he has broken my covenant.”" Message:
The text today is the source of the oddest feature of the old covenant, a symbolic sacrifice of the body that has lasted until this very day and often stands as the symbol of Judaic religious observance. In fact, modern Jews who make almost no religious observance — even atheists! — will circumcise male children when they are eight days old, usually in a ceremony called a “bris”, which is Hebrew for “covenant”.
The language of the Scripture could not be clearer: circumcision is mandatory. If a Jewish man is not circumcised, he is not Jewish. He is cut off from his people; he is an outcast.
Judaism is by no means a proselytizing religion; you will never see young men in white shirts and black ties knocking on your door to talk about Judaism, or people who want to give you pamphlets. To the contrary, Judaism was traditionally somewhat exclusionary. Being descended from Abraham has some importance, for it was with Abraham and the progeny of his flesh with whom the covenant was established.
Which leaves us with another oddity, the command to circumcise male slaves. Judaic law is immense and convoluted; there is almost no aspect of Judaism that can be fully discussed in less than a full book! But to give the short version, slaves bought with money in early Hebrew society had to be circumcised, not only because of the specific commandment given to Abraham in today's text, but also because Jews could not live with or be served by an uncircumcised male, whether Jewish or not. Gentile slaves were thus always circumcised; however, they were usually given the option of whether to become “Jewish” or simply be circumcised Gentiles.
This passage became very important in early Christian churches. As we see in Galatians and Acts, there was a close debate over whether Gentile men should, or must, be circumcised to become Christians — quite a difference from later history, when Judaism was often seen as inimical to Christianity, rather than a prerequisite.
Meditation : Prayer : Oh Heavenly Father, in whom I live and move and have my being, I humbly pray you so to guide and govern me by your Holy Spirit, that in all the joys, occupations, and cares of this day I may never forget you, but remember that I am ever walking in your sight. In Christ’s name, I pray,.......Amen |
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