GENESIS
CHAPTER 17-JOSEPH SMITH TRANSLATION1 And when Abram was ninety and nine years old, the Lord appeared to Abram, and said unto him, I, the Almighty God, give unto thee a commandment; that thou shalt walk uprightly before me, and be perfect.
2 And I will make my covenant between me and thee, and I will multiply thee exceedingly.
3 And it came to pass, that Abram fell on his face, and called upon the name of the Lord.
4 And God talked with him, saying, My people have gone astray from my precepts, and have not kept mine ordinances, which I gave unto their fathers;
5 And they have not observed mine anointing, and the burial, or baptism wherewith I commanded them;
6 But have turned from the commandment, and taken unto themselves the washing of children, and the blood of sprinkling;
7 And have said that the blood of the righteous Abel was shed for sins; and have not known wherein they are accountable before me.
8 But as for thee, behold, I will make my covenant with thee, and thou shalt be a father of many nations.
9 And this covenant I make, that thy children may be known among all nations. Neither shall thy name any more be called Abram, but thy name shall be called Abraham; for, a father of many nations have I made thee.
10 And I will make thee exceedingly fruitful, and I will make nations of thee, and kings shall come of thee, and of thy seed.
11 And I will establish a covenant of circumcision with thee, and it shall be my covenant between me and thee, and thy seed after thee, in their generations; that thou mayest know forever that children are not accountable before me until they are eight years old.
12 And thou shalt observe to keep all my covenants wherein I covenanted with thy fathers; and thou shalt keep the commandments which I have given thee with mine own mouth, and I will be a God unto thee and thy seed after thee.
13 And I will give unto thee and thy seed after thee, a land wherein thou art a stranger; all the land of Canaan, for an everlasting possession; and I will be their God.
14 And God said unto Abraham, Therefore thou shalt keep my covenant, thou and thy seed after thee, in their generations.
15 And this shall be my covenant which ye shall keep between me
10 And I will make thee exceedingly fruitful, and I will make nations of thee, and kings shall come of thee, and of thy seed.
11 And I will establish a covenant of circumcision with thee, and it shall be my covenant between me and thee, and thy seed after thee, in their generations; that thou mayest know forever that children are not accountable before me until they are eight years old.
12 And thou shalt observe to keep all my covenants wherein I covenanted with thy fathers; and thou shalt keep the commandments which I have given thee with mine own mouth, and I will be a God unto thee and thy seed after thee.
13 And I will give unto thee and thy seed after thee, a land wherein thou art a stranger; all the land of Canaan, for an everlasting possession; and I will be their God.
14 And God said unto Abraham, Therefore thou shalt keep my covenant, thou and thy seed after thee, in their generations.
15 And this shall be my covenant which ye shall keep between me
and thee and thy seed after thee; every man-child among you shall be circumcised.
16 And ye shall circumcise the flesh of your foreskin; and it shall be a token of the covenant betwixt me and you.
17 And he that is eight days old shall be circumcised among you, every man-child in your generations;
18 He that is born in the house, or bought with money of any stranger, which is not of thy seed.
19 He that is born in thy house, and he that is bought with thy money, must needs be circumcised, and my covenant shall be in your flesh for an everlasting covenant.
20 And the uncircumcised man-child, whose flesh of his foreskin is not circumcised, that soul shall be cut off from his people, he hath broken my covenant.
21 And God said unto Abraham, as for Sarai thy wife, thou shalt not call her name Sarai, but Sarah thou shalt call her name.
22 And I will bless her, and I will give thee a son of her; yea, I will bless her, and she shall be blessed, The mother of nations; kings and people shall be of her.
23 Then Abraham fell on his face and rejoiced, and said in his heart, There shall a child be born unto him that is an hundred years old, and Sarah that is ninety years old shall bear.
16 And ye shall circumcise the flesh of your foreskin; and it shall be a token of the covenant betwixt me and you.
17 And he that is eight days old shall be circumcised among you, every man-child in your generations;
18 He that is born in the house, or bought with money of any stranger, which is not of thy seed.
19 He that is born in thy house, and he that is bought with thy money, must needs be circumcised, and my covenant shall be in your flesh for an everlasting covenant.
20 And the uncircumcised man-child, whose flesh of his foreskin is not circumcised, that soul shall be cut off from his people, he hath broken my covenant.
21 And God said unto Abraham, as for Sarai thy wife, thou shalt not call her name Sarai, but Sarah thou shalt call her name.
22 And I will bless her, and I will give thee a son of her; yea, I will bless her, and she shall be blessed, The mother of nations; kings and people shall be of her.
23 Then Abraham fell on his face and rejoiced, and said in his heart, There shall a child be born unto him that is an hundred years old, and Sarah that is ninety years old shall bear.
24 And Abraham said unto God, Oh that Ishmael might live uprightly before thee!
25 And God said, Sarah thy wife shall bare thee a son, and thou shalt call his name Isaac; and I will establish my covenant with him also, for an everlasting covenant with his seed after him.
26 And as for Ishmael, I have heard thee; Behold, I have blessed him, and will make him fruitful, and will multiply him exceedingly;
27 Twelve princes shall he beget, and I will make him a great nation.
28 But my covenant will I establish with Isaac, whom Sarah shall bear unto thee at this set time in the next year.
29 And he left off talking with him; and God went up from Abraham.
30 And Abraham took Ishmael his son, and all that were born in his house, and all that were bought with his money, every male among the men of Abraham’s house; and circumcised the flesh of their foreskin in the selfsame day, as God had said unto him.
31 And Abraham was ninety and nine years old when he was circum cised in the flesh of his foreskin. 32 And Ishmael was thirteen years old when he was circumcised in the flesh of his foreskin.
33 In the selfsame day Abraham was circumcised, and Ishmael his son; and all the men of his house, which were born in his house, and bought with money of strangers, were also circumcised with him.
26 And as for Ishmael, I have heard thee; Behold, I have blessed him, and will make him fruitful, and will multiply him exceedingly;
27 Twelve princes shall he beget, and I will make him a great nation.
28 But my covenant will I establish with Isaac, whom Sarah shall bear unto thee at this set time in the next year.
29 And he left off talking with him; and God went up from Abraham.
30 And Abraham took Ishmael his son, and all that were born in his house, and all that were bought with his money, every male among the men of Abraham’s house; and circumcised the flesh of their foreskin in the selfsame day, as God had said unto him.
31 And Abraham was ninety and nine years old when he was circum cised in the flesh of his foreskin. 32 And Ishmael was thirteen years old when he was circumcised in the flesh of his foreskin.
33 In the selfsame day Abraham was circumcised, and Ishmael his son; and all the men of his house, which were born in his house, and bought with money of strangers, were also circumcised with him.
**FULL DISCLOSURE**
What I am about to share requires an understanding of what happens during a circumcision, so if you’d rather not hear all of the details, you can turn back now. (Although, I wouldn’t just because I think that it’s pretty cool as it relates to our relationship with God.)
When a boy is born, the tip (or glans) of his penis is covered by a piece of skin called a foreskin. The foreskin adheres to the glans when the boy is young and, under normal circumstances, gradually detaches as the boy ages. Typically, by the time the boy has passed puberty, the foreskin is able to be completely retracted from the glans, though there are instances when it does not and then requires correction.
Because an uncircumcised male’s glans is covered by the foreskin, proper hygiene must be regularly performed to keep the area between the glans and the foreskin clean. A substance called smegma-a buildup of dead skin cells, oils, and debris-needs to be regularly cleaned off from underneath the foreskin. Smegma can give off an unpleasant odor and can also cause some unhealthy conditions of the genito-urinary tract.
When a male baby is circumcised, the adhesions between the foreskin and the glans are forcefully broken. This is a very painful experience. The majority of my sons’ circumcisions were performed using the following process. After anesthetics have been administered and have taken effect, a small incision is made in the foreskin to widen the opening in order to accommodate the insertion of an instrument which is placed between the foreskin and the glans. This instrument is then turned so that all of the adhesions between the foreskin and the glans are broken. A sterilized piece of plastic is sized to the glans and then inserted underneath the foreskin. The majority of the foreskin is then ligated and removed, commonly leaving a portion of the foreskin in order to accommodate growth and erections in adulthood. During the recovery process, the glans is an open sore. It is painful to the touch. The piece of plastic serves as a temporary protection for the glans, preventing contact from a diaper or touch during diaper changes. The plastic falls off, however, once the foreskin has healed and this happens, quite often, before the glans has healed completely. This means that, for a time after the plastic falls off, extra care must be taken to not only prevent unnecessary contact to the still-sensitive glans, but to also frequently manually retract the remaining foreskin to prevent the redevelopment of adhesions around the base of the glans. When adhesions redevelop, they are easily broken again with a retraction of the foreskin, but not without pain. There is also the possibility that the plastic might not be inserted completely during the procedure, allowing adhesions to reattach at the base of the glans while the plastic still covers the rest. These adhesions must also be broken again.
Even with use of anesthetics during modern circumcisions, both the procedure and the recovery can be pretty painful. When I observed one of my own sons’ circumcision, the practitioner informed me that that was because the glans has nerve endings that are extremely difficult to numb completely. The foreskin numbs very well, enabling a pain-free ligation of it, but the glans remains sensitive during both the procedure and the recovery process. Once healing is complete, cleanliness of the glans is much easier to maintain. The removal of the foreskin precludes the buildup of the dead skin cells, oil, and debris.
I should also note that God’s instructions regarding circumcision were that male infants were to be circumcised on the eighth day after they were born (see Genesis 17:12). There are many reasons for this, in my opinion, not the least of which is the fact that newborns are unable to immediately produce vitamin K-a necessary factor in the process of blood clotting. Vitamin K is normally produced within the digestive tract by intestinal bacteria and it takes a few days for a supply of that bacteria to build up and begin producing the vitamin K.
Like all other ordinances, physical circumcision is a metaphor that is infused with deep spiritual meaning. This fact hit me like a lightning bolt one day as I was reading Deuteronomy 10:16, which reads: “Circumcise therefore the foreskin of your heart, and be no more stiffnecked.” At once, I realized the parallels between circumcision and the requirements for and process of a spiritual rebirth and baptism of fire.
The foreskin represents the “natural man”. The glans represents the “new creature”--that which is quickened at the time of our rebirth. Before we circumcise the “foreskin of [our] heart”, our sensitive “hearts”-that which would naturally yield to the enticings of the Holy Spirit-are covered by the “foreskin” of the natural man-that which is unprofitable, at best, and which simultaneously keeps us unclean. Maintaining cleanliness is a constant day-to-day practice of one’s own endeavor. No matter how well you clean yourself on any given day, you will inevitably have more to clean the next. At circumcision, the foreskin must be killed. We purposely obstruct the flow of blood to it and it becomes dead to us. What little of the foreskin that remains has the potential to become attached once again while the glans is healing, but, with very little effort, our desire to completely heal motivates us to keep the remaining foreskin in a retracted position until the glans has healed. Failing to keep the foreskin in a retracted position will allow the adhesions to return and will require the painful experience of breaking them once again. Likewise, at our rebirth, we make a conscious decision to kill the natural man in us. It dies and what remains is something that has gone through a painful experience, but that is cleaner and better able to remain clean. When the natural man tries to re-adhere, our abhorrence of evil and the recent painful experience that we now understand comes with evil motivates us to hold the natural man back and to not allow its influence our lives. If we do not do this and we allow the natural man to re-attach itself, the process of detachment must happen again in order for us to become completely clean and whole.
There is a minimum level of understanding that must be reached in order for the circumcision of our hearts to be effective. We have to be able to benefit from the procedure. If it is done too early, it is not of benefit. Part of the reason why the covenant of circumcision was given was so that men may "know forever that children are not accountable before me until they are eight years old." (Genesis 17:11) We learn more of this in Moroni, chapter 8:
"8 Listen to the words of Christ, your Redeemer, your Lord and your God. Behold, I came into the world not to call the righteous but sinners to repentance; the whole need no physician, but they that are sick; therefore, little children are whole, for they are not capable of committing sin; wherefore the curse of Adam is taken from them in me, that it hath no power over them; and the law of circumcision is done away in me."
Many have interpreted this scripture to mean that a physical circumcision--the removal of the foreskin from a male penis--is no longer part of any law which we need to obey. This interpretation may seem to be correct, especially in light of many of Paul's writings which seem to indicate the same. But Paul's writings don't completely do away with the practice. Rather, they condemn the practice when performed as an obligatory submission to a carnal set of commandments that would supposedly save men or when used by men to judge others as to how well they follow a carnal set of commandments. Carnal commandments, alone, don't save men. Being transformed into the image of Christ saves men. I would like to suggest, then, that the "law of circumcision" in Moroni is the circumcision of the heart and not a physical circumcision. This law of circumcision is "done away in [Christ]" because "little children are whole", "they are not capable of committing sin", "the curse of Adam is taken from them in [Christ]" and it has "no power over them". We learn from Genesis that children are not accountable before God until they are eight years old. The law of the circumcision of their hearts is of no benefit to them before they are eight years old and that law is done away in Him.
There is some debate as to whether or not circumcision is still part of Christ's gospel. For me, the symbolism of circumcision has taken on a very beautiful meaning. It illustrates the depths of humility and sorrow and submission to God that we must achieve before we can be born of God. It accurately conveys the idea that we must kill and be rid of the natural man that stifles the inner workings of the spirit in us. Truly, the covenant of circumcision is a token to be found in all who are of Abraham's house, whether by virtue of being direct seed or by virtue of adoption.