Let’s talk a little bit about the act of circumcision.
Here’s what you’ve got to understand.
The act of circumcision existed BEFORE Abraham.
A lot of folks are surprised to learn that some form of this ancient rite was actually practiced by various Ancient Near Eastern cultures, including the Egyptians and many tribes in Africa.
According to Josephus, the Egyptians, the Ethiopians, the Syrians, and the Phoenicians, all practiced circumcision.
However, none of that matters.
Do you know how the Lord will take an already entrenched custom or tradition and make it His own?
Well, that’s exactly what He did with circumcision.
Through the covenant He made with Abraham, the Lord gave the rite of circumcision a spiritual meaning.
What spiritual meaning are we talking about exactly?
Simple, from the Lord’s perspective, circumcision indicated inclusion in His Holy Kingdom.
Hence, and this is a very important “hence”, to MISUSE circumcision for any other purpose is perverse and a rebellion against HASHEM of the highest order.
Let’s take a look at an incident in Torah when the rite of circumcision was grossly misused.
Because their sister Dinah had been defiled, Jacob’s sons replied deceitfully as they spoke to Shechem and his father Hamor. They said to them, “We can’t do such a thing; we can’t give our sister to a man who is not circumcised. That would be a disgrace to us. We will enter into an agreement with you on one condition only: that you become like us by circumcising all your males. Then we will give you our daughters and take your daughters for ourselves. We’ll settle among you and become one people with you. But if you will not agree to be circumcised, we’ll take our sister and go.” Their proposal seemed good to Hamor and his son Shechem. The young man, who was the most honored of all his father’s family, lost no time in doing what they said, because he was delighted with Jacob’s daughter.-Genesis 34:13-19
Here we can see that the sacred act of circumcision was used as a vicious tool of deception to create an opportunity to commit revenge and murder.
“All the men who went out of the city gate agreed with Hamor and his son Shechem, and every male in the city was circumcised. Three days later, while all of them were still in pain, two of Jacob’s sons, Simeon and Levi, Dinah’s brothers, took their swords and attacked the unsuspecting city, killing every male. They put Hamor and his son Shechem to the sword and took Dinah from Shechem’s house and left.”-Genesis 34:24-26
So three days later following the circumcision of all the males of the town of Shechem, Simeon and Levi led a posse that systematically slaughtered all the men when they were physically ill and still recovering from what must have been an extremely painful surgical operation in those days.
What were the consequences for Simeon and Levi’s actions?
Let’s read from chapter 49 of the Book of Genesis.
“Simeon and Levi are brothers—
their swords are weapons of violence.
Let me not enter their council,
let me not join their assembly,
for they have killed men in their anger
and hamstrung oxen as they pleased.
Cursed be their anger, so fierce,
and their fury, so cruel!
I will scatter them in Jacob
and disperse them in Israel.”
-Genesis 49:5-7
Just as Reuben was cursed for his infidelity with Jacob’s concubine Bilah, so too were Simeon and Levi cursed for their actions.
Here’s what I want you to get.
On the surface, it would appear that Simeon and Levi were cursed because they committed murder.
However, what is more important and this is something that is commonly overlooked, Simeon and Levi being cursed had more to do with their horrible abuse and misuse of the sacred ritual of circumcision.
Remember, circumcision is the key to turning a gentile into a member of Israel and it happens with the reproductive organ…
…which as I mentioned earlier is so important because the Abrahamic Covenant is all about fruitfulness and reproduction.
The next time we meet, I’m going to discuss the Apostle Paul’s thoughts on circumcision and how he warned gentiles not to abuse their “circumcision of the heart”.
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