“Generation after generation, every male among you who is eight days old is to be circumcised, including slaves born within your household and those bought from a foreigner not descended from you… thus my covenant will be in your flesh as an everlasting covenant” (Genesis 17:12).
Most people have heard of a bris or the ceremony when a Jewish baby boy is circumcised when he is eight days old. The b’rit-milah ceremony is filled with Jewish blessings and traditions, even though the command for circumcision itself is not a Jewish tradition. The bris or ‘cutting of the foreskin’ is one of the covenants given to Abraham by Adonai and symbolizes Abraham’s faith in the promises of the covenant.
“In fact, he [Abraham] received circumcision as a sign, as a seal of the righteousness he had been credited with on the ground of the trust [faith] he had while he was still uncircumcised. This happened so that he could be the father of every uncircumcised person [gentile] who trusts [believes] and thus has righteousness credited to him, and at the same time be the father of every circumcised person [Jew] who not only has had a b’rit-milah, but also follows in the footsteps of the trust [faith] which Avraham avinu [our father] had when he was still uncircumcised” (Romans 4:11-12, Complete Jewish Bible).
The words brit-milah mean ‘covenant of circumcision’ though when I was in Israel, a Jewish friend explained another meaning for b’rit-milah in modern Hebrew: covenant of the word. She said, “Who is the Word in flesh? Yeshua.” So, ‘circumcision’ is entering into a covenant with the Word in the flesh or Yeshua, through the flesh. This was the faith of Abraham, our father of faith, who saw the days of Yeshua and the coming Kingdom with a ‘circumcised heart’ and spiritual eyes and was ‘sealed’ because of his righteousness (John 8:56-58, Hebrew 8:10).
Recently, I attended the bris of my new grandson. He came into our family the way we all enter the family of Adonai –– through adoption (Romans 8:13). His birth mother is Jewish and wanted her son raised with Jewish traditions, the Torah, and also with faith in Yeshua of Nazareth as Messiah. As all Jewish sons begin their lives with the b’rit-milah so did his.
Being part of this event, especially when it involved my son’s son, my grandson, changed my faith walk and heart. I could say the ‘circumcision of my heart’ cut deeper as our family entered more fully into understanding another of Adonai’s covenants through obedience. I have never witnessed an event in my life that brought forth joy and awe together expressing itself through laughter and tears simultaneously –– except perhaps the moment Adonai first circumcised my heart and grafted me into the Olive Tree of Israel (Isaiah 44:5).
The Bible says that by faith we are ‘children of Abraham,’ yet we are not taught about or encouraged to embrace the ‘sign’ or ‘seal’ of the covenant Adonai established with Abraham; the ‘sign’ that Abraham would be the ‘father of many nations’ –– not just the one nation of the Jewish people or the people of Israel, but of all nations on earth. Because Abraham first had a ‘circumcised heart,’ he was able to receive the ‘circumcision of the flesh’ and his ever-enlarging family of faith was born –– a family of peoples that has become as numerous as the stars in the sky and the grains of sand on the seashore.
Thousands of years after our father Abraham circumcised the members of his household in Genesis 17, a moyel, Rabbi Levy, came into my son’s home and circumcised my grandson. As he entered the covenant of Avraham through b’rit-milah, he received his Hebrew name and truly became a “son of Abraham”.
The details of the actual ‘cutting’ are not as significant as the prayers and blessings found in the Sidur or Jewish prayer book. The bris ceremony begins with honoring Phineas, the high priest who received Adonai’s eternal covenant of shalom (Numbers 25). An eternal covenant of shalom and promise that exists to this day and into the world to come. That’s eternal.
We were reminded that the place where Adonai put His Name and from where His Torah and His Word emanate, the eternal city of Jerusalem, is never to be forgotten (Psalm 137). It is the city called the New Jerusalem, not built with human hands that our Father Abraham was looking forward to, the city with permanent foundations of which the architect and builder is God (Hebrews 11:9-10).
Together, this family of Jews and non-Jews joined together through adoption recited the Shema: Hear O Israel, the LORD is our God, the LORD is One” (Deuteronomy 6). This is what “making every effort to preserve the unity the Spirit gives through the binding power of shalom” (Ephesians 4:3). The Shema is a powerful Biblical statement of faith and is recited twice a day in the life of a follower of the G-d of Israel.
The words from Psalm 118 were also read confirming the Kingship of yod-hey-vav-hey: “The LORD is King, the LORD was King, the LORD shall be King for ever and all time.” These words state the basic foundation of the faith that Abraham laid; and this faith is to be renewed generation after generation through the b’rit-milah ceremony.
My son asked his father, my husband, to be the sandek or the appointed man to hold my grandson on a special chair called the Throne of Elijah. Elijah is central not to just the Passover, but also the b’rit milah. The prophet Malachi says the spirit of Elijah will “turn the hearts of the fathers back to their children and the hearts of the children to their fathers” (Malachi 4:5-6). This brings a deeper meaning to the circumcision when a father places his son in the arms of a moyel for the ‘cutting of the covenant.’ There is a reciprocal purpose in the father watching his son suffer the ‘cutting’ that he has forgotten. As my grandson was prepared for his entrance into the Abrhamic covenant of faith, the following blessing was spoken:
“For Your salvation I wait, O LORD. I await Your deliverance, LORD, and I observe your commandments. Elijah, angel of the covenant, behold: yours is before you. Stand at my right hand and be close to me. I await your deliverance, LORD. I rejoice in Your Word like one who finds much spoil. Those who love Your Torah [teachings and instructions] have great shalom, and there is no stumbling block before them. Happy are those You choose and bring to dwell near Your courts” (Genesis 49, Psalm 119, Psalm 65).
The establishment of any covenant includes blood and the ‘cutting of the foreskin’ becomes that part of the offering establishing the perpetual covenant through another generation. He didn’t even really cry during the procedure because the circumcision performed by the moyel is quick and humane, and honors the humanity of the baby. After the ‘cutting of the foreskin’ and the joy from the mozel tov’s, a blessing was spoken over him by his parents, my son and daughter-in-law. After the blessing, Rabbi Levy took a swaddled son of Abraham for a walk outside to keep him calm and cover him with more prayers and blessings.
“Blessed are You, LORD our God, King of the Universe, who has made us holy through His commandments, and has commanded us to bring our son into the covenant of our father Avraham.”
My son, daughter-in-law, my husband and I talked with Rabbi Levy following the bris. We explained that we are God-fearers, and he acknowledged that we are more Jewish than most Jews he knows. I told him that this b’rit-milah was a culmination in my personal faith walk. He responded that it’s actually a new beginning. Yet for me, as I explained, it was not only a confirmation, but a culmination with how I raised my children in the Torah ways of Adonai; and now it becomes a new beginning for my son, his wife, and my grandson in those ways. He smiled and said, “Yes, that is exactly right.”
As we discussed my grandson and his adoption into our family, he also explained that in Judaism there are two different ways of receiving answers to prayer. The first is the natural way. You pray a prayer and sooner or later, the prayer is answered in a natural way. It’s like praying for rain. You pray for rain and eventually you get rain. Or, you pray for a specific job, and eventually you get that job. It happens naturally or according to natural process.
The second way for answered prayer is supernatural. This type of prayer comes from being persistent in requesting something from Adonai. He used the example of Hannah in 1 Samuel chapters 1 and 2. She prayed persistently and constantly for a child –– so much so that the priest thought she was drunk! When Adonai gave her a son, she dedicated him to His service. When she gave Eli, the priest, her weaned son, she said she was giving him the son she for whom she ‘prayed.’ The Hebrew word she used for ‘prayed’ refers to the supernatural persistent prayer that actually creates an answer –– a son specific to her prayer. Her son, Samuel, became a great prophet in Israel.
This is the testimony of my grandson. He is the supernatural answer to ten years of prayers, not just of a few, but of many, many people in many places around the world. He is the supernatural answer to prayers born of tears, pain, and disappointment. A friend told me that in the Bible women were barren until they were prepared spiritually for the child Adonai gave them to raise. The truth in that statement will be seen as my son and daughter-in-law raise him in the Torah of Adonai, but the unique answer of him specifically to all the prayers was confirmed by Rabbi Levy’s explanation. He is the revelation of supernaturally answered prayer; his life has a special anointing by Adonai. We all know it; we all sense it spiritually. Already, the lives he has touched and transformed are numerous.
The b’rit-milah is as important in the walk of a gentile follower of Yeshua as it is for every Jewish family. After all, if the son of Adonai had a bris at eight days and was given the name Yeshua, the name appointed for the unique son of Adonai, then why do those who say they are part of Abraham’s family not take part in the command? Why have the nations been duped to believe that the ‘sign’ of circumcision has become null and void when it’s the ‘sign’ of a righteous faith?
The bris is as powerful and significant for all followers of Yeshua just as being immersed in water to show forth the death and resurrection of Messiah, honoring the Biblical Sabbath as it was created by Adonai on the seventh day, entering into the covenant of marriage where two (male and female) become one flesh, living out Torah as Yeshua the Rabbi taught his disciples, and even not eating ‘unclean’ foods as outlined in Leviticus chapter 11 and explained by Peter in Acts chapter 10.
Adonai commanded His people of faith –– not just Jews, but foreigners in Abraham’s household –– to express their faith in Him through His commanded ‘sign.’ Everyone in Abraham’s household were circumcised. To enter into the family of Abraham, a ‘seal’ was given to his children: circumcision of the male’s foreskin. Through obeying Adonai’s instructions each person gains a deeper understanding of Adonai, receives special blessings from Him, and faithfully grows closer to His heart and ultimately to His Son.
The b’rit-milah ceremony ended with everyone saying in unison:
“Thank the LORD for He is good; for His love endures for ever. May this boy, son of Jesse, become great. Just as he has entered into the covenant, so may he enter into Torah, marriage and good works.”
AMEN and Mazel Tov!
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