Thirteen years have passed since Hagar bare Abram a son, Ishmael. Although Abram loves Ishmael, he and Sarai still have no child. She is well past the age for having children, and certainly this has been a long time of testing.

1 And when Abram was ninety years old and nine, the Lord appeared to Abram, and said unto him, I am the Almighty God; walk before Me, and be thou perfect.

2 And I will make My covenant between Me and thee, and will multiply thee exceedingly.

3 And Abram fell on his face: and God talked with him, saying,

4 As for Me, behold, My covenant is with thee, and thou shalt be a father of many nations. 5 Neither shall thy name any more be called Abram, but thy name shall be Abraham; for a father of many nations have I made thee. 6 And I will make thee exceeding fruitful, and I will make nations of thee, and kings shall come out of thee.

Look carefully at verse 5 above. Abram’s name had always meant “exalted father.” When God changes Abram to Abraham – it changes to “father of many.” But the even more significant thing is that God attaches part of His own name to Abram’s. YHWH –   sounds something like “hey” or the sound made when exhaling strongly.

Abram +  = Abram or Abraham

 means “spirit.” The letter occurs twice in YHWH. The Lord takes one of the letters and inserts it into the middle of Abraham’s name. This is similar to when God – ” And the Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul.” Genesis 2:7

7 And I will establish my covenant between Me and thee and thy seed after thee in their generations for an everlasting covenant, to be a God unto thee, and to thy seed after thee.8 And I will give unto thee, and to thy seed after thee, the land wherein thou art a stranger, all the land of Canaan, for an everlasting possession; and I will be their God.

God has stated His part of the Covenant:

• Abraham will be the father of many nations
• Abraham will have exalted descendants
• This is an everlasting Covenant

Now God states Abram’s part of the Covenant:

9 And God said unto Abraham, Thou shalt keep My covenant therefore, thou, and thy seed after thee in their generations.10 This is My covenant, which ye shall keep, between Me and you and thy seed after thee; Every man child among you shall be circumcised.

11 And ye shall circumcise the flesh of your foreskin; and it shall be a token of the covenant betwixt me and you.12 And he that is eight days old shall be circumcised among you, every man child in your generations, he that is born in the house, or bought with money of any stranger, which is not of thy seed.

13 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.14 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.

Genesis 17: 1-14

Why circumcise? Always keep in mind that the nation of Israel was chosen by God to be a light unto the world. Everything that they experienced throughout the long history of the Old Testament was portraying and preparing for the Messiah.

The outward circumcision is a symbolic representation of what occurs on the inside man when he belongs to YHWH.

” And the Lord thy God will circumcise thine heart, and the heart of thy seed, to love the Lord thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy soul, that thou mayest live.” Deuteronomy 30:6

” Circumcise yourselves to the Lord, and take away the foreskins of your heart, ye men of Judah and inhabitants of Jerusalem: lest my fury come forth like fire, and burn that none can quench it, because of the evil of your doings.” Jeremiah 4:4

“But he is a Jew, which is one inwardly; and circumcision is that of the heart, in the spirit, and not in the letter; whose praise is not of men, but of God.” Romans 2:29

[As an interesting side note – from Dr. M.R. De Haan, “Chemistry of the Blood,” that a newborn baby has natural resistance to infection in the first seven days of life – but it is only on the eighth day, that the infant develops blood coagulating ability. While modern science has medications to prevent excessive bleeding – certainly, ancient peoples could not have been aware of this type of blood chemistry. Also. Dr. De Haan states – “Circumcision is probably the greatest factor in the prevention of venereal disease.” While Dr. De Haan wrote his book in 1943, his research has been more recently validated – see here. ]

As we will explore during our journey through the Word of God – outward disease was used of God to represent inward sin.