For many who have chosen to take this important step of drawing near to the covenant of Abraham—even without converting to the Jewish religion—the subject of circumcision can be quite stressful.
Having been born Jewish, one of the things I’m most grateful for is that I never had to worry about my brit milah (circumcision).
I was only a baby when it was performed, so I didn’t have to go through the stress of imagining what was going to happen or when.
For those who convert to Judaism—and even for many who decide to take this important step of entering the covenant of Abraham without formally converting—the matter of circumcision can be quite stressful.
Did God really have to confirm this covenant with Abraham in that particular place?
There’s a reason why, in His mercy, the Creator ordained that this commandment be carried out on baby boys when they are eight days old—sparing them the anxiety of facing it as adults.
Yet, on the other hand, just as there are adults today who choose to undergo circumcision, there are also examples in Scripture where this act takes place at pivotal moments in biblical history.
The Establishment of the Covenant of Abraham
9 God said to Avraham, “As for you, you are to keep my covenant, you and your descendants after you, generation after generation.
10 Here is my covenant, which you are to keep, between me and you, along with your descendants after you: every male among you is to be circumcised.
11 You are to be circumcised in the flesh of your foreskin; this will be the sign of the covenant between me and you.
12 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.
13 The slave born in your house and the person bought with your money must be circumcised; thus my covenant will be in your flesh as an everlasting covenant.
14 Any uncircumcised male who will not let himself be circumcised in the flesh of his foreskin—that person will be cut off from his people, because he has broken my covenant.”Genesis 17:9-14
23 Avraham took Yishma‘el his son, all the slaves born in his house and all who had been bought with his money, every male among the people in Avraham’s household, and circumcised the flesh of their foreskin that very day, just as God had said to him.
24 Avraham was ninety-nine years old when he was circumcised in the flesh of his foreskin,
25 and Yishma‘el his son was thirteen years old when he was circumcised in the flesh of his foreskin.Genesis 17:23-25
We must first pay attention to the timeline of these events. Yehovah did not ask Abram to be circumcised at the time He called him to “leave his country” — when Abram was 75 years old. More than twenty years passed before this command was given. Abraham was already an old man when he was circumcised, and his son was thirteen! The rest of his servants were presumably of various ages.
From that moment on, every newborn male would be circumcised at eight days old — including his son who would be born a few months later, Itzjak (Isaac).
The key point here is that regardless of age, grown men had to undergo this “procedure” as an act of obedience and a visible sign of their faithfulness to the covenant of Abraham — especially as it related to the promise of inheriting the land.
More than six generations later, this difficult task would fall upon Yehoshua (Joshua) once again.
The Entry into the Land and the Sign of the Covenant
2 It was at that time that Yehovah said to Y’hoshua, “Make yourself knives of flint, and circumcise the people of Isra’el again, a second time.
3 So Y’hoshua made himself knives of flint and circumcised the people of Isra’el at Giv‘at-Ha‘Aralot [the hill of foreskins].
4 The reason Y’hoshua circumcised was that all the people who had left Egypt who were males, all the fighting men, had died in the desert along the way after leaving Egypt.
5 For although all the people who left Egypt had been circumcised, all those who had been born in the desert on the way as they went on from Egypt had not been circumcised;
6 because the people of Isra’el walked forty years in the desert until the whole nation, that is, the fighting men who had left Egypt, had died out; because they had not heeded what Yehovah said. Yehovah had sworn that he would not allow them to see the land which Yehovah swore to their ancestors that he would give us, a land flowing with milk and honey.
7 So he raised up their children to take their place, and it was these whom Y’hoshua circumcised; till then they had been uncircumcised, because they had not been circumcised while traveling.
8 When all the nation had been circumcised, every one of them, they stayed where they were in camp until they had healed.
9 Yehovah said to Y’hoshua, “Today I have rolled off from you the stigma of Egypt.” This is why the place has been called Gilgal [rolling] ever since.Joshua 5:2-9
Just before the Children of Israel entered the Promised Land, Joshua received special instructions. Let us remember that the original covenant given to Abraham was established specifically in connection with that Land. So, it makes perfect sense that at the very threshold of entering it, there would be a pause to focus on that covenant once again.
But from another point of view, the timing seemed utterly inappropriate. Can you imagine how one feels before going to war? The rush of adrenaline, the fear, the physical and mental preparation—Israel was about to attack Jericho and finally step into the Promised Land! Yet there was a pause.
A pause to remember why they were there and why they were about to do what they were about to do.
While everyone’s mind was on the coming battle, the Creator told Joshua:
“They must first focus on the covenant.”
Knowing full well that Israel’s enemies would see this ritual as nothing more than an act of bodily mutilation—one that would leave the men incapacitated for days—the Almighty required it nonetheless as a non-negotiable prerequisite for entering the Land.
With the same resolve that Abraham had shown generations earlier, Yehoshua son of Nun did not hesitate to “get to work,” obeying the will of the Creator and preparing his people not only for the physical battle ahead, but for the spiritual one as well.