The Meaning of Circumcision

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Let me say it again: the story of the Patriarchs (Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob) in Genesis 12-36 is a story of their education and formation into what family life will need to be like if the covenant will need to be passed down generation to generation. An important part of that covenant is circumcision, but what does it really mean?

I found this comment from Leon Kass to be helpful:

“Male circumcision was, of course, a custom already widely practiced in the ancient world. In pagan societies, circumcision, performed at the time of puberty, was part of a male rite of passage (it may also have served symbolically as an act of human sacrifice to the gods). A mark on his maleness, circumcision was a sign not only of the youth’s new sexual potency but also of his initiation into the male role and male society (putting an end to his primary attachment to his mother and the household, to the society of women and children). But in the new way of ancient Israel, the special obligation of the covenant gives the practice of circumcision a new and nearly opposite meaning. An initiation rite of passage of young males into adult masculinity is transformed into a paternal duty regarding the male newborn. Israel’s covenant with God begins by transforming the meaning of male sexuality and manliness altogether.

I find that really interesting: the Lord is teaching Abraham and his descendants that true masculinity is not a conquering masculinity but a masculinity that is dedicated to something greater than itself, namely toward others.

 

Today’s Scripture

Genesis 17:10-27

The Egyptian Woman

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The key to understanding Genesis 12-36 is to see it as a story about the education of the patriarchs as patriarchs, that is as the founders of a family that will be able to successfully pass on the covenant, generation to generation.

Or, to put it more succinctly:

Genesis 12-36 is about what it takes to make family work.

In Egypt, Abraham gives his wife to Pharaoh. But, the Lord rescues her and Pharaoh sends them on their way. The lesson for Abraham: a wife is not the same thing as a sister.

Now, it’s as if the roles are reversed: Sarah gives Abraham her Egyptian slave Hagar. The Lord permits Abraham and Sarah to make a mess of things, but then steps in and blesses Hagar’s son with Abraham, Ishmael.

Abraham will subsequently learn that a wife is not the same thing as a concubine.

In each episode, Abraham is learning what the Lord requires of him to be the founding patriarch of a people.

For us, I think the lesson is clear: you can’t have God’s ends apart from God’s means. Trusting in God’s promises means trusting that God will bring them about without your having to force them to happen.

 

Today’s Scripture

Genesis 16:1-16

You "Cut" A Covenant

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In the Ancient Near East, when two parties made an agreement the weaker party would cut animals in half and walk through the halves, in essence saying: “May this be done to me if I don’t uphold my side of the covenant.” Ancient Hebrew reflects this understanding because in Hebrew you don’t “make” a covenant, you “cut” a covenant.

What’s amazing about the covenant the Lord makes with Abraham in Genesis 15 is that only the Lord passes between the animals, not Abraham.

CHRISTIAN READER, DO YOU UNDERSTAND?!

The Lord says to Abraham, I will uphold both my side and your side of the covenant, even if it takes my life.

WOW WOW WOW WOW WOW WOW.

(Jesus was crucified.)

“For God so loved the world that he gave his only son….”

P.S. Note that 15:16 implies that the Canaanites won’t be kicked out of the land until they deserve it; that time finally comes when Joshua leads the Israelites to conquer Canaan, several hundred years later.

 

Today’s Scripture

Genesis 15:1-21

How to Delay The Blessings God Has Planned For You

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This is what the Lord said to Abraham in his initial command:

“Go from your country, your people and your father’s household to the land I will show you.” [Genesis 12:1]

Here’s what happens next:

“So Abram went, as the Lord had told him; and Lot went with him.” [Genesis 12:4]

I think it’s possible that Abram wasn’t willing to completely break from his father’s household, which is why he brought his orphaned nephew along with him. But, Lot isn’t the heir the Lord has in mind, and it’s no surprise that they eventually have to part. No doubt the parting was painful, but it opens the door for Abram’s own son to (eventually!) be born.

The surest way to delay God’s blessings for your life is to be only partially obedient to God’s command. God’s purposes will be realized no matter what; the problem with partial obedience is that it hurts us by delaying what God wants to give us.

P.S. Lest you think that I’m being too hard on Abraham here, let me make up for it by pointing out that Abraham’s greatness is shown in the episode that immediately follows his parting with Lot. 1. Abraham initially avoids entanglement in this war of the kings; 2. But when Lot is in danger, Abraham risks his own life to rescue him; 3. Abraham devises a cunning plan whereby his inferior force routs a superior one; 4. Abraham blesses Melchizedek, proving that those who bless Abraham will be blessed; 5. Abraham refuses the spoils of war offered to him from the King of Sodom; 6. but he graciously speaks up for his fighting men and allows them to be rewarded. Not a bad business!

 

Today’s Scripture

Genesis 13:1-14:24

Were There Other Hypothetical Abrahams?

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[Scroll down to the end for some bonus content about “That Hideous Strength” from Friday’s post, including a complete answer to my trivia question.]

Were there other men whom the Lord called and commanded to leave their homes and families who refused to go? Were there others with whom the Lord wanted to make a covenant, if only they would obey? Were there other hypothetical Abrahams? If so, then certainly part of Abraham’s greatness—just like the Virgin Mary’s, millennia later—was his unique willingness to say, “Yes.”

You have no idea what hinges on your obedience today. Abraham said “Yes,” and history changed forever.

P.S. As we will see, the stories of the patriarchs—Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob—are primarily concerned with their education about family; family is what God will use to pass on the covenant, so it’s important that Abraham and the others learn how to make family work. (It doesn’t come naturally!) So, in this strange story about Sarah and Pharaoh, Abraham is learning that a “wife” is not the same thing as a “sister”.

 

Today’s Scripture

Genesis 12:1-20

 
 

Bonus Content: “That Hideous Strength

On Friday, I wrote about Babel and entitled my post “That Hideous Strength.” I asked you to identify the source of that title.

No one actually got the answer right (or at least not completely). Yes, it is the title of the 3rd novel in C.S. Lewis’s Space Trilogy, but none of you actually explained why Lewis gave his novel that title or why I used it in the title of my post. So, let me tell you:

I re-read the Space Trilogy last year and was struck by the epigraph on the title page of That Hideous Strength. Here’s what it says:

“The shadow of that hyddeous strength

Sax myle and more it is of length”

Sir David Lindsay: from Ane Dialogue [describing the Tower of Babel]

Sir David Lindsay was a poet of the late Renaissance, who wrote Ane Dialogue in 1555 (which explains the strange spelling). Lewis, remember, was an expert on English Renaissance literature; when he wrote his novel about the dangers of technological powers joined with spiritual evil, he used the striking phrase “that hyddeous strength” as his title. I think the description of Babel is terrifying: an evil tower so high that it’s very shadow is six miles long.

So, there ya go.

That Hideous Strength

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The Babel story is about humanity’s desire to save itself through technological innovation. Genesis 1-11 is a descending spiral of humanity’s attempts—and failures—to find life apart from God; Babel is the culmination.

Note that they have the technology before they have a use for it. First, they have bricks, and only then do they decide to make a city and a tower. In other words, the means drive the ends. What a true description of our current struggles with technological innovation—we gain the power, and then we think of ways to use it. Just because we can do something, however, doesn’t mean it’s wise for us to do so.

I predict that the great struggle for humanity in the 21st century will be a struggle over technology: either we will master our technological powers, or be mastered by them. In the Babel story, God stops the builders before they can complete their project. Will God need to save us from ourselves in the same way?

P.S. I’ll give a gold star to readers who can correctly identify the source of this post’s title.

The Point of The Genealogy in Genesis 10

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3 quick points about the genealogy in Genesis 10, the descendants of Noah:

  1. The Bible wants us to understand that the spread of peoples over the earth is just as much part of God’s plan as the creation of the animals in Genesis 1. People are of course freely moving and spreading out, but this is nonetheless a fulfillment of God’s command that humanity be fruitful and multiply.

  2. All of humanity is part of the same family, even though the different nations seem so different.

  3. Israel is a small nation among many, and yet it’s the one God uses to save the world.

 

Today’s Scripture

Genesis 10:1-32

Did God Make a Mistake With the Flood?

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God wipes the slate clean with The Flood and starts over with Noah.

Unfortunately, Noah’s potential for sin wasn’t wiped clean, and after he begins to rebuild civilization, he foolishly gets drunk and lies “uncovered” in his tent. Seeing his father in that state, Noah’s son Ham does something shameful to him. (At the very least, he doesn’t respect his father and tells his brothers about his father’s foolishness; at the most, there could be some kind of incestuous activity.)

Either way, the man who was supposed to be the hope for humanity clearly isn’t, and neither is his family.

Did God make a mistake?

I think the message of Genesis 1-11 is that there is no simple fix for humanity. Even the good ones among us are susceptible to sin and foolishness.

God will have to fix humanity another way….

 

Today’s Scripture

Genesis 9:18-28

When's the Last Time You Reflected on a Rainbow?

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Like everyone else I know, I get excited when I see a rainbow in the sky.

“Look! Look! A Rainbow!”

But, I’m not sure I’ve ever seen a rainbow and consciously reflected that it is a sign of God’s mercy and steadfast love. Have you?

Next time I see one in the sky, I want to do better.

P.S. Note that this first giving of the law includes in it the fact that every single person is equal before the law: no one’s “blood” is more or less valuable than anyone else’s.

 

Today’s Scripture

Genesis 9:1-17

Earth's Permanence & God's Promise

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After The Flood, the Lord promises that he will never destroy the earth. I think this means that we can be certain that complete destruction will not come from outside. What the Lord does not promise, however, is that destruction might not come from inside.

Would the Lord permit us to destroy Creation from within?

I’d be interested in your thoughts.

 

Today’s Scripture

Genesis 8:1-22

The Uncreating

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When God created the heavens and the earth, he brought order out of disorder. He separated light from dark, and the waters from the land, and fixed a boundary for the waters. Etc.

Now, with the Flood, God is uncreating that which he previously created:

“In the six hundredth year of Noah’s life, on the seventeenth day of the second month—on that day all the springs of the great deep burst forth, and the floodgates of the heavens were opened.” [Genesis 7:11]

God removes the boundaries and allows the waters of chaos to roll back in.

The question is, Why?

We’ll need to keep reading to answer that question.

 

Today’s Scripture

Genesis 7:1-24

The Nephilim and Other Weird Stuff in Genesis 6

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Genesis 6:1-8 is a very strange and confusing passage. Some quick thoughts:

  • The entire prologue of the Bible (Genesis 1-11) is about how the creatures God made rebelled against his rule, from the Garden of Eden to the Tower of Babel.

  • This is the pattern of that rebellion: they “see” what they want, desire it as “good”, and they “take” it.

  • In the Garden, the woman sees the fruit, desires it as good, and takes it.

  • In the Garden, the man and the woman wanted to become godlike.

  • Here, there is a reverse rebellion: the angelic/spiritual beings God created want to cross the boundary and become united with humanity

  • The sons of God “see” the human women, desire them as “good” (the word translated “beautiful” in v.2 is the Hebrew word for “good”), and they “take” them.

  • It’s the same pattern of rebellion.

  • A note on the “sons of God": every time the phrase “sons of God” appears in the Old Testament, it signifies the angelic/spiritual beings that God made.

  • It seems reasonable to conclude that the serpent in Genesis 3 is a rebellious spiritual being.

  • Genesis 6 is telling us (in terse language) of one form the rebellion of these spiritual beings took.

  • Just as God will not allow humanity to marry technological progress with human wickedness (the story of Babel in Genesis 11, which we’ll read next week), so here God will not allow the fallen spiritual beings to combine with humanity.

 

Today’s Scripture

Genesis 6:1-8

This Insight Makes the Genealogy Worth Reading

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With the birth of Seth to Adam and Eve, things look promising. But, a few chapters later, we read of the intense evil of man and of God’s plan to destroy wicked humanity with The Flood. Why? What happened?

Leon Kass has a fascinating paragraph about the genealogy in Genesis 5, of all things(!):

 

“To discover the worm in the family tree, we must read with a magnifying glass—and with a timeline and a calculator. Because the text reports the lives of these antediluvians [people who lived before the flood] in sequence—chronicling each man’s birth, the number of years he lived before and after begetting his first son, his life span, and his death—the complacent reader does not notice that there is more than a half century (between the year 874, in which Lamech is born, and the year 930, in which Adam dies) during which all nine generations of human beings, from Adam to Lamech, are alive at the same time, with all their myriad descendants. Then, suddenly, in the year 930, Adam drops dead. Next, in 987 (readers can do the calculations for themselves), Enoch “was not, for God took him.” And in 1042, Seth also dies. Readers of the Garden of Eden story need no longer remain in suspense: the prophecy of human mortality (“you shall surely die”; 2:17) is, at long last, fatally—and fatefully—fulfilled. Indeed, this may well be the purpose of reciting the entire genealogy in all its numerological detail: to prepare the…reader to learn…how human beings—especially the men—react to the discovery of their unavoidable finitude. For with the death of Adam, and after nearly a millennium of “immortal” human existence, natural death has entered the human world.”

—Leon Kass, The Beginning of Wisdom: Reading Genesis, 154.

 

Did you catch that? If you read the genealogy carefully, you notice that all of a sudden death finally comes upon mankind. The unavoidably reality of death had been delayed for a while, but when it comes, it comes quickly, and the fear of death and the desperation it brings may be the reason humanity turns so wicked in the next chapter, setting up The Flood.

I find that fascinating: there is a 50 year period in which all 9 generations are alive at the same time!!

 

Today’s Scripture

Genesis 5:1-32

MLK: How Can You Break Out of the Descending Spiral Today?

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“The ultimate weakness of violence is that it is a descending spiral begetting the very thing it seeks to destroy; instead of diminishing evil, it multiplies it. Through violence you may murder the liar, but you cannot murder the lie, nor establish the truth. Through violence you may murder the hater, but you do not murder hate. In fact, violence merely increases hate.

Returning violence for violence multiplies violence, adding deeper darkness to a night already devoid of stars. Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that.”
— Martin Luther King, Jr., “Where Do We Go From Here?” [196])
 
 

Lamech, who collects women as property, brags that he is more vicious and violent than anyone else.

Genesis 4-11 describes what Martin Luther King, Jr., called a “descending spiral” of violence: you hit me, and then I hit you back harder.

The only way out is sacrificial love. The only way to break the cycle is grace—to give your enemy not what he deserves, but grace.

With whom can you break the descending spiral today by showing grace?

 

P.S. From where did Cain get his wife? Short answer: we don’t know. Longer answer: either it was his sister (remember Genesis 4-11 is what happens when people do what is right in their own eyes), or there were other people created that we didn’t hear about.

 

Today’s Scripture

Genesis 4:17-26

Why Doesn't God See Cain's Offering as Favorable?

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It is human nature to want to control or manipulate God (or the gods) so we can get the outcome we want. Think about the lucky rabbit’s foot or the baseball slugger’s warmup superstitions or avoiding broken mirrors: these are little practices that are supposed to make things go well for us. Offering sacrifice is the purest form of this behavior. “I will make an offering so that God or the gods will either be pleased with me or at least will feel placated and will leave me alone.”

Now, consider Cain: we know he is a farmer, and so he is dependent on the weather, which is outside of his control. God does not ask for or desire sacrifice in order to be favorably disposed towards Cain, but Cain wants to manipulate God by offering a sacrifice. When he offers some of his produce to God, he is showing a desire to be in control.

When God is not favorably disposed to the offering, Cain shows murderous rage and jealousy towards his brother Abel. Cain wants his offering to gain favor with God, and when it doesn’t, his anger is the anger of a prideful man who feels he has been humiliated; it is the anger of an entitled man who doesn’t get what he wants.

The irony of the Cain and Abel story is that, after the murder, God shows his character by being merciful to Cain.

I think Abel’s gift of the firstborn from his flock is meant to be seen as a gift of thanksgiving toward God—it cost him more, and I think it is reasonable to assume he gave it freely and joyfully, as opposed to trying to manipulate God.

How are you giving to God today—like Cain, or like Abel?

 

Today’s Scripture

Genesis 4:1-16

"He Will Crush Your Head"

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[Image: “Virgin Mary Consoles Eve.” Crayon and pencil by Sister Grace Remington, OCSO, 2003, Sisters of the Mississippi Abbey.]

[Image: “Virgin Mary Consoles Eve.” Crayon and pencil by Sister Grace Remington, OCSO, 2003, Sisters of the Mississippi Abbey.]

As part of the curse that the Lord God pronounces over the serpent, we read:

“And I will put enmity
    between you and the woman,
    and between your offspring and hers;
he will crush your head,
    and you will strike his heel.

—Genesis 3:15

What does this mean?

God is here saying that a child of the woman will one day defeat the serpent, though he will be wounded in the process.

In other words, it’s a messianic prophecy: it is exactly what happens with Jesus, who defeats Evil by being crucified.

SO GREAT! Thank you, Jesus!

Speaking of great, how about that picture above? Be sure to look at Mary’s feet.

 

Today’s Scripture

Genesis 3:14-24

Toxic Masculinity

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It’s risky in our current cultural climate to comment publicly on the differences between the sexes, but I guess I’m in a foolish mood, because that’s exactly what I want to do. See, I still hold onto the shocking belief that men and women are different: not different in value or intelligence or courage or any other virtue, but nevertheless different in more ways than just our physical bodies.

For example, I think men and women usually face different temptations. This is not to say that men always face certain temptations and women never face those same temptations, but that usually this is how things are.

That being said:

I think passivity is the primal temptation in the heart of man.

In Eden after the Fall, the man tries to pin the blame on the woman, and then onto God:

“The woman you put here with me—she gave me some fruit from the tree, and I ate it.”

Now, blame-shifting and a refusal to take responsibility is certainly a part of human nature (the woman doesn't hesitate to claim the serpent tricked her), but I’m wondering if passivity is more often found on the male side of the species than the female.

Think about a problem in your family, or the family next door: my suspicion is that, more often than not, a passive male in the family is the root of that problem.

Passivity can take two equal and opposite forms:

  • the obvious form—lazy, unmotivated, weak-willed;

  • but it can also take the opposite form: controlling, domineering, violent.

Both forms are the two sides of the same passive coin.

The opposite of passivity is responsibility.

This modern concept of “toxic masculinity” is often focused on the second form passivity takes. See, a passive man places himself in the center of his world and demands that everyone else meet his needs in the way he wants them met. This passivity often takes the form of violence and coercion, but it is still passive, since it’s about his refusal to take responsibility for himself and his anger that the world won’t work the way he wants it to.

The opposite of passivity is not domination, but responsibility. Responsibility is not controlling, but loving.

I don’t know any woman personally who wants to be controlled by the various men in her life, but at the same time I don’t think I know a single woman personally who doesn’t want the men in her life to exercise more responsibility.

I think one of our social problems—part of the so-called “Crisis of Masculinity”—is that men in our culture are forcing women to carry a double load of responsibility—the woman’s own responsibility, as well as shouldering the man’s responsibility, too. Don’t misunderstand: I’m not talking about gender roles in the household or things like that. Rather, I’m talking about the basic responsibilities that human flourishing requires:

  • accepting the idea that no one owes you anything;

  • believing that nothing in life comes without a cost;

  • understanding that the most important relationships require sacrificial commitment;

  • knowing that delaying gratification is a necessary skill.

For reasons I don’t understand, women seem more ready than men (broadly speaking) to accept those hard, necessary responsibilities and to move forward. This is not to say that women don’t also struggle with passivity, but just that passivity seems to be more of a fundamental temptation in the hearts of men.

Taking responsibility, of course, means that you can’t point fingers at another person: it is only about you, and your choices, reactions, and results. Where are you failing to take responsibility?

Or, I guess I should say: where am I?

 

Today’s Scripture

Genesis 3:8-13

A Close Look at the Fall of Man

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Now the serpent was more crafty than any of the wild animals the Lord God had made.

 

What do we know about the serpent?

  • He was made by God;

  • He is a beast, i.e., not a man;

  • He is wise. The other times the Hebrew word “arum” is used in the Bible, it has a positive sense, like “prudent” or “clever.” Here, the serpent is using his wisdom to undermine the harmony of God’s creation.

So, who is the serpent? Some kind of spiritual being who is in rebellion against God. Putting together what we learn from the rest of the Bible, we can see that the serpent is the devil, who is some kind of fallen angel.

We are totally free in our actions, and totally accountable for our actions. But it is also true that there is a dark power that tempts and trips and teases us into making the wrong choice. Who among us has not felt it? If you have ever given over to sudden, snarling rage, for example, you know exactly what I’m talking about: you made the choice to be angry, but there was also a strong pull towards anger, as if something were urging you on.

 

He said to the woman, “Did God really say, ‘You must not eat from any tree in the garden’?”

 

Notice how the serpent insidiously flips around what God actually said.

Rather than focusing on ALL the trees that God gave the man and the woman, the serpent draws her attention to the ONE tree that’s forbidden.

Whenever we focus on what we lack rather than on what we have, we are imitating the devil’s voice, so to speak.

 

The woman said to the serpent, “We may eat fruit from the trees in the garden, but God did say, ‘You must not eat fruit from the tree that is in the middle of the garden, and you must not touch it, or you will die.’”

 

The serpent’s work is already bearing fruit:

Although the woman correctly states that God gave the humans the trees in the garden for food, note how she nevertheless focuses on the prohibition, and even intensifies it, as God, as far as we know, has not forbidden them to touch the fruit.

 

“You will not certainly die,” the serpent said to the woman. “For God knows that when you eat from it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.”

 

As we will shortly see, it is literally true that they do not drop dead when they eat from the tree, but it is the case that their innocence immediately dies, and, once lost, can never be regained. And, literal death inevitably follows. The serpent cleverly mixes in just enough truth to bait the woman.

The devil is a liar. Don’t ever believe what he says.

And here’s the other thing: the man and the woman already are like God. What do we read on page one of the Bible?

So God created mankind in his own image,
    in the image of God he created them;
    male and female he created them.

So, the serpent tricks the woman into forgetting what God has already given her, namely his own image.

See what’s at stake when you focus on what you lack rather than on what you possess? You end up totally forgetting the most important things about you.

 

When the woman saw that the fruit of the tree was good for food and pleasing to the eye, and also desirable for gaining wisdom, she took some and ate it.

 

Although God’s prohibition was as clear as possible, the woman decides that she knows best and reaches out and takes and eats the fruit. She is “wise in her own eyes.”

 

She also gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate it.

 

I’m convinced that passivity is the primal temptation of men.

 

Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they realized they were naked; so they sewed fig leaves together and made coverings for themselves.

 

They were beguiled by the serpent’s prediction that they would become god-like, but the only result of their sin is their awareness of their own shame.

Sin always works that way: promises the world, and delivers woe.

 

Today’s Scripture

Genesis 3:1-7

What is the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil?

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The Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil is deciding for oneself, independently, what is right or wrong in one’s own eyes.

In the middle of Eden, therefore, the man and the woman face a choice: obey the Lord God and trust and accept that what the Lord God says is good or bad is good or bad, or else decide for themselves what is good or bad. Later in the Bible in the Book of Judges, this will be described as “doing what is right in their own eyes.”

You can see how this choice had to be present in Eden: since God made the man free, the man was free to trust God, or not. The man was free to obey, and free to disobey.

He made his choice.

(And so have we all.)

 

Today’s Scripture

Genesis 2:15-25