Genesis 17:1-12a, 15-16

17:1 When Abram was ninety-nine years old, the LORD appeared to Abram, and said to him, “I am God Almighty; walk before me, and be blameless. 2 And I will make my covenant between me and you, and will make you exceedingly numerous.” 3 Then Abram fell on his face; and God said to him, 4 “As for me, this is my covenant with you: You shall be the ancestor of a multitude of nations. 5 No longer shall your name be Abram, but your name shall be Abraham; for I have made you the ancestor of a multitude of nations. 6 I will make you exceedingly fruitful; and I will make nations of you, and kings shall come from you. 7 I will establish my covenant between me and you, and your offspring after you throughout their generations, for an everlasting covenant, to be God to you and to your offspring after you. 8 And I will give to you, and to your offspring after you, the land where you are now an alien, all the land of Canaan, for a perpetual holding; and I will be their God.”

9 God said to Abraham, “As for you, you shall keep my covenant, you and your offspring after you throughout their generations. 10 This is my covenant, which you shall keep, between me and you and your offspring after you: Every male among you shall be circumcised. 11 You shall circumcise the flesh of your foreskins, and it shall be a sign of the covenant between me and you. 12 Throughout your generations every male among you shall be circumcised when he is eight days old, (Genesis 17:1-12a, NRSV)

[including the slave born in your house and the one bought with your money from any foreigner who is not of your offspring. 13 Both the slave born in your house and the one bought with your money must be circumcised. So shall my covenant be in your flesh an everlasting covenant. 14 Any uncircumcised male who is not circumcised in the flesh of his foreskin shall be cut off from his people; he has broken my covenant.” Genesis 17:12b-14, NRSV)]

15 God said to Abraham, “As for Sarai your wife, you shall not call her Sarai, but Sarah shall be her name. 16 I will bless her, and moreover I will give you a son by her. I will bless her, and she shall give rise to nations; kings of peoples shall come from her.” (Genesis 17:15-16, NRSV)

On January 31, 2008 (Thursday in the week of the Third Sunday after the Epiphany, Year Two), comments on Genesis 16:15-17:14 were repeated with editing and supplement from January 26, 2006 (Thursday in the week of the Third Sunday after the Epiphany, Year Two). On January 1, 2007 (Monday, Festival of the Holy Name of Our Lord Jesus Christ, Year One), comments were combined with revision and adaptation from January 1, 2005 (Festival of the Holy Name, Year One), and from comments on Genesis 16:15-17:14 from January 26, 2006 (Thursday in the week of the Third Sunday after the Epiphany, Year Two). The comments of January 31, 2008 and January 1, 2007, are combined here with adaptation here:

In this week of the First Sunday after Christmas, Year One, the Old Testament readings of the Daily Office Lectionary include three from Genesis this week, but not consecutive or in order. In Year Two (years when readings from Jan. to Nov. are in an even-numbered year, e.g. 2006), the reading for January 12 is from Genesis 49, and this is soon followed by six weeks of consecutive readings from Genesis (Gen. 1 to 35 in the weeks of the First to Sixth Sundays after the Epiphany, unless interrupted by an early Ash Wednesday). So it is clear that the Genesis readings this week are collected for special reasons, and today’s reading is especially appropriate for the Festival of the Holy Name. James Kiefer explains the celebration of this day as follows:

On January 1st, we celebrate the Circumcision of Christ. Since we are more squeamish than our ancestors, modern calendars often list it as the feast of the Holy Name of Jesus, but the other emphasis is the older. Every Jewish boy was circumcised (and formally named) on the eighth day of his life, and so, one week after Christmas, we celebrate the occasion when Our Lord first shed His blood for us. It is a fit close for a week of martyrs, and reminds us that to suffer for Christ is to suffer with Him. (James Kiefer, “The Holy Name of Jesus, or the Circumcision of Christ,” http://www.satucket.com/lectionary/Holy_Name.htm, accessed again December 30, 2008)

Dr. Barbara Worden’s Christmas poem for 2004, “Circumcision,” plays on this theme:

To remind God, he is now a man

A human wound, seal of Israel’s son.

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

More wounds will seal his death to life, his life

To death foretold by the mohel’s knife.

This reading also connects with the Christian Feast of the Holy Name in its reporting of the renaming of Abram to Abraham (Gen. 17:5), and of Sarai to Sarah (v. 15). According to Rabbi J. H. Hertz, “The change of name emphasizes the mission of Abraham, which is ‘To bring all the peoples under the wings of the Shechinah’.” The name change signifies that he will be “the ancestor of a multitude of nations.” “Ab means ‘father’; and the second half of the new name is an Arabic word for ‘multitude’ (Pentateuch & Haftorahs, 2^nd ed., 24^th printing, 1981, on Gen. 17:5). Sarah’s new name means “lady, gentlewoman” (William L. Holladay, Hebrew and Aramaic Lexicon, s.v. I śārāh) or “princess” (David M. Carr, NOAB, 3^rd ed., 2001, on Gen. 17:15). According to Jon D. Levenson, “The change of name here [v. 5] and in v. 15 signifies a change in destiny. The childless couple will become the ancestors of many nations, including royal dynasties (v. 6 [cf. v. 16])” (The Jewish Study Bible, 2004, pp. 37-38, on Gen. 17:5).

Earlier in Genesis we read about Hagar who, while pregnant with Ishmael (Gen. 16:4), was treated harshly by Sarai and fled to the wilderness (v. 6b), when, in a theophany, she was encountered by the angel of the LORD and, after being reassured, returned to Abram and Sarai (vv. 7-14). Later we read the report of Ishmael’s birth, “Hagar bore Abram a son; and Abram named his son, whom Hagar bore, Ishmael” (Gen. 16:15), and a reminder of Abram’s age at the time, for he was “eighty-six years old when Hagar bore him Ishmael” (v. 16).

Today’s reading, which begins a few years later, reports that “when Abram was ninety-nine years old, the LORD appeared to Abram, and said to him, ‘I am God Almighty (yD1w1 lx2, ’ēl šadday); walk before me, and be blameless’ ” (Gen. 17:1). According to Jon D. Levenson, “El Shaddai is believed to have originally meant ‘God, the One of the Mountain’ and thus to have expressed the association of a deity with his mountain abode well known in Canaanite literature (cf. the ‘LORD, Him of Sinai’ in Judg. 5:5)” (The Jewish Study Bible, 2004, on Gen. 17:1). Ronald Hendel presents a similar explanation, and adds, “God’s revelation of this name to Abraham will be superseded by his revelation of the name Yahweh to Moses in the next covenant (Ex. 6:3 . . .)” (HarperCollins Study Bible, rev. ed., 2006, on Gen. 17:1). Rabbi J. H. Hertz says, “The derivation of the Divine Name, Shaddai, is uncertain. The usual translation, ‘Almighty,’ is due to the Vulgate” (Pentateuch & Haftorahs, 2^nd ed., 1981, on Gen. 17:1). The injunction to “walk before me, and be blameless” (v. 1) is followed by a promise: “And I will make my covenant (tyr9B4, b^erîth) between me and you, and will make you exceedingly numerous” (v. 2).

According to Jon D. Levenson, “Source critics identify ch. 17 as the P(riestly) version of the covenant with Abraham (of which the J version appears in ch. 15. Nothing in ch. 17,” he adds, “indicates any awareness that the covenant mandated there has, in fact, already been established two chapters earlier” (on Gen. 17:1-27). Victor P. Hamilton argues–not against Levenson directly, but against the “source critics” he cites:

The traditional view argues that ch. 17 represents a reconfirmation of God’s covenant promises and oath to Abraham. Since at least eleven years had elapsed from the first announcement of a covenant, since Sarai was still sterile, and since the patriarch’s household was rife with rancor and deep strife, one might wonder if the covenant promises still hold true. Or have these promises been amended to [adapt] to novel circumstances? (The Book of Genesis, Chapters 1-17, NICOT, 1990, on Gen. 17:1-8).

Rabbi Hertz distinguishes the covenant passages in chapters 15 and 17. “What follows [in chap. 17] is not a compact between God and the Patriarch, but a statement of the plans which He had designed for Abram and his descendants” (loc. cit.). He would concur with the traditional view described by Hamilton (above), as he indicates in an additional note entitled, “Are there two conflicting accounts of Creation and the Deluge in the Bible?” (ibid. pp. 198-200) which criticizes the theory of four Pentateuchal sources J, E, D and P. As the narrative continues, we are told that “Abram fell on his face” (v. 3a), an “Oriental mode of expressing gratitude” (Ibid., on 17:3), and God defines the promises of the covenant. “As for me, this is my covenant with you: You shall be the ancestor of a multitude of nations. No longer shall your name be Abram, but your name shall be Abraham; for I have made you the ancestor of a multitude of nations. I will make you exceedingly fruitful; and I will make nations of you, and kings shall come from you” (vv. 4-6). This promises a change of Abram’s name to Abraham, and that he will be “the ancestor of a multitude of nations,” stated twice (vv. 4, 5) for emphasis. (Later in Genesis Sarai becomes Sarah, Gen. 17:15, which continues this account of the appearance and promises of the LORD to Abraham.) For Abram/Abraham, the name change signifies that he will be “the ancestor of a multitude of nations.” According to Rabbi Hertz, “Ab means ‘father’; and the second half of the new name is an Arabic word for ‘multitude’. The change of name emphasizes the mission of Abraham, which is ‘To bring all the peoples under the wings of the Shechinah’ ” (ibid., on Gen. 17:5).

God’s promise continues, elaborating the promise of a multitude of nations, and promising the land. “I will make you exceedingly fruitful; and I will make nations of you, and kings shall come from you. I will establish my covenant between me and you, and your offspring after you throughout their generations, for an everlasting covenant (Ml!Of tyr9B4, b^erîth ‘ôlām), to be God to you and to your offspring after you. And I will give to you, and to your offspring after you, the land where you are now an alien, all the land of Canaan, for a perpetual holding; and I will be their God” (vv. 6-8).

As the narrator continues–using Abraham’s new name– God instructs Abraham: “As for you, you shall keep my covenant, you and your offspring after you throughout their generations” (v. 9). And God directs Abraham and his offspring to be circumcised as a sign of this covenant. “This is my covenant, which you shall keep, between me and you and your offspring after you: Every male among you shall be circumcised. You shall circumcise the flesh of your foreskins, and it shall be a sign of the covenant between me and you” (vv. 10-11).

The word “covenant” (tyr9B, b^erîth) appears repeatedly in Genesis, chapter 17 (cf. vv. 2, 4, 7 [twice], 9, 10, 11, 13 [twice], 14, 19 [twice], 21). The term appears in Genesis 15:18, the only other occurrence in the Abraham narratives. Circumcision, introduced in chapter 17, is to become the hallmark of Jewish identity (cf. Gal. 2:7-10). It is so regarded by Rabbi J. H. Hertz, who comments on the words “this is My covenant which ye shall keep” (Gen. 17:10):

The meaning is not that the Covenant is to consist in the rite of circumcision, but that circumcision is to be the external sign of the Covenant. As the following verse declares, ‘it shall be a token of a covenant,’ just as the rainbow was the token of the covenant with Noah. . . . To whatever origin and purpose it might be traced . . . It is the rite of the covenant; and unbounded has been the loyalty and devotion with which this vital and fundamental institution of the Jewish Faith has been and is being observed. Jewish men and women have in all ages been ready to lay down their lives in its defence. The Maccabean martyrs died for it. . . . (I Maccabees I, 61). The same readiness for self-immolation in defence of this sacred rite we find in the times of the Hadrianic persecution, in the dread days of the Inquisition, yea, whenever and wherever tyrants undertook to uproot the Jewish Faith. Even an excommunicated semi-apostate like Benedict Spinoza declares: ‘Such great importance do I attach to the sign of the Covenant, that I am persuaded that it is sufficient by itself to maintain the separate existence of the nation for ever.’ (ibid., on Gen. 17:10)

The instructions are specific as to who must be circumcised. “Throughout your generations every male among you shall be circumcised when he is eight days old, including the slave born in your house and the one bought with your money from any foreigner who is not of your offspring. Both the slave born in your house and the one bought with your money must be circumcised. So shall my covenant be in your flesh an everlasting covenant” (vv. 12-13). And the command to be circumcised is enforced with a sanction. “Any uncircumcised male who is not circumcised in the flesh of his foreskin shall be cut off from his people; he has broken my covenant” (v. 14). As noted above, Sarai’s name is changed to Sarah. “God said to Abraham, “As for Sarai your wife, you shall not call her Sarai, but Sarah shall be her name. I will bless her, and moreover I will give you a son by her. I will bless her, and she shall give rise to nations; kings of peoples shall come from her” (vv. 15-16). According to Rabbi Hertz, “Sarah,” the new name “brings out more forcibly the meaning ‘Princess’ than the archaic form Sarai’ ” (ibid., on v. 15).

Colossians 2:6-12

Fullness of Life in Christ

6 As you therefore have received Christ Jesus the Lord, continue to live your lives in him, 7 rooted and built up in him and established in the faith, just as you were taught, abounding in thanksgiving.

8 See to it that no one takes you captive through philosophy and empty deceit, according to human tradition, according to the elemental spirits of the universe, and not according to Christ. 9 For in him the whole fullness of deity dwells bodily, 10 and you have come to fullness in him, who is the head of every ruler and authority. 11 In him also you were circumcised with a spiritual circumcision, by putting off the body of the flesh in the circumcision of Christ; 12 when you were buried with him in baptism, you were also raised with him through faith in the power of God, who raised him from the dead. (Colossians 2:6-12 , NRSV)

On January 1, 2007 (Monday, Festival of the Holy Name of Our Lord Jesus Christ, Year One), comment combined and revised comments from January 1, 2005 (Festival of the Holy Name, Year One), and selected comments from those on Colossians 2:8-23 of April 21, 2005 (Thursday in the week of the Fourth Sunday of Easter, Year One) that were repeated on May 5, 2006 (Friday in the week of the Third Sunday of Easter, Year Two). On April 11, 2008 (Friday in the week of the Third Sunday of Easter, Year Two), comments on Colossians 2:8-23 were repeated with editing and supplement from May 3, 2007 (Thursday in the week of the Fourth Sunday of Easter, Year One), comments that were repeated on May 5, 2006 (Friday of the week of the Third Sunday of Easter, Year Two) from April 21, 2005 (Thursday in the week of the Fourth Sunday of Easter, Year One). The following comments are based on these earlier comments:

Paul has reported his prayer for the Colossian believers (Col. 1:3, 9, cf. vv. 9-13), followed by a very strong christological statement about Christ, who “is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation” (1:15, cf. vv. 15-20), a description of the transformation which Christ has brought in the lives of the Colossian believers (1:21-23), and an extended statement of his own calling, mission and pastoral concerns (1:24-2:5). Today’s reading begins with an exhortation to continue in Christian faith and living. “As you therefore have received Christ Jesus the Lord, continue to live your lives in him, rooted and built up in him and established in the faith, just as you were taught, abounding in thanksgiving” (2:6-7).

But Paul then turns to a warning against “the Colossian heresy,” not heretical beliefs of the Colossian Christians themselves, but a kind of religious movement or teaching to which they were exposed. “See to it,” says Paul, “that no one takes you captive through philosophy and empty deceit, according to the elemental spirits of the universe, and not according to Christ” (Col. 2:8). Paul includes the term “philosophy” here, but the movement he describes was a kind of religious movement–what we might call a cult–and not academic philosophy as it is known today. “Philosophy,” says Jennifer K. Berenson Maclean, “includes ethical and religious teachings” (NOAB, 3^rd ed., 2001, on Col. 2:8). But the reference to “elemental spirits” of the universe, she adds, refers to “spiritual entities or perhaps the four primal elements” [earth, air, fire and water], which she says are “associated with the Jewish law (Gal. 4:1-5, 9-10)” (ibid.). Various forms of “sophistry” and misuses of “philosophy” were prevalent at the time, and may well have been an aspect of the views Paul warns against. He emphasizes the complete adequacy of Christ, “in [whom] the whole fullness of deity dwells bodily” (v. 9). “You [Colossian believers] have come to fullness in him,” says Paul, “[him = Christ] who is the head of every ruler and authority” (v. 10). The Colossian believers “were circumcised with a spiritual circumcision, by putting off the body of the flesh in the circumcision of Christ” (v. 11). This happened, says Paul, because “when you were buried with him in baptism, you were also raised with him through faith in the power of God, who raised him from the dead” (v. 12). Maclean notes that “circumcision marked membership in Israel,” and adds that “spiritual circumcision refers to baptism (v. 12)” (on v. 11). Quakers may well ask, If the reference here is to spiritual circumcision, why not also to spiritual baptism? Elsewhere Paul says, “a person is a Jew who is one inwardly and real circumcision is a matter of the heart–it is spiritual and not literal” (Rom. 2:29; cf. Deut. 10:16; 30:6, 8; Jer. 4:4; 9:16; Ezek 44:9, refs. by Neil Elliott, NOAB, 3^rd ed., 2001, on Rom. 2:29). “When you were buried with him [Christ] in baptism,” says Paul in the present passage, “you were also raised with him through faith in the power of God, who raised him from the dead” (Col. 2:12).

Today’s reading concludes at this point, but as further definition of the “Colossian heresy,” we may note the continuation in Colossians, chapter 2. The Colossian believers “ were dead in trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, [but] God made [them] alive together with him [Christ]” with all their trespasses forgiven (v. 13). In this way God was “erasing the record that stood against us [them, but including us] with its legal demands.” (v. 14). God, says Paul, “disarmed the rulers and authorities (ajrcaiv, archai, and ejxousivai, exousiai) and made a public example of them, triumphing over them in it” (v. 15). The words “rulers and authorities” refer, according to Maclean, to “spiritual beings, probably hostile (1:13, 2:15; Eph. 6:12)” (op. cit., ref. on Col. 2:15 to 1:16n).

Because their salvation in Christ is thus definitive and complete, they are not to submit to any superfluous regulations about “food and drink” or “festivals, new moons, or sabbaths” (v. 16), or self-abasement, “worship of angels” or “dwelling on visions” (v. 18). “These,” says Paul, “are only a shadow (skiav, skia) of what is to come, but the substance (sw:ma, sōma) belongs to Christ” (v. 17; cf. Heb. 10:1). The combination of other elements mentioned here is usually considered a mixture of religious beliefs, some from Judaism and some from other forms of Greco-Roman religion. There is strong evidence of a Jewish presence in the Lycus valley, but the “Colossian heresy” is not pure Judaism. Mixing of religious views from various sources is called syncretism. The “substance” of true religion “belongs to Christ” (v. 17). Christ is all that they need. Paul’s readers–and we–should hold “fast to the head [i.e., Christ, cf. 1:18], from whom the whole body, nourished and held together by its ligaments and sinews, grows with a growth that is from God” (v. 19).

The chapter closes with a further warning not to associate with the religious movement–the “Colossian heresy”–that Paul has been describing. “If with Christ you died to the elemental spirits of the universe,” asks Paul, “why do you live as if you still belonged to the world? Why do you submit to regulations, ‘Do not handle, Do not taste, Do not touch’?” (vv. 20-21). “All these regulations,” says Paul, “refer to things that perish with use; they are simply human commands and teachings” (v. 22). Maclean apparently includes Jewish regulations here (for she refers to Mk. 7:7, 19), but while some of the regulations are about “festivals, new moons, or sabbaths” (v. 16), as noted above, there is a mixture of non-Jewish elements, for example, “worship of angels” (v. 18). These “human commands and teachings,” says Paul, “These have indeed an appearance of wisdom in promoting self-imposed piety, humility, and severe treatment of the body, but they are of no value in checking self-indulgence” (v. 23).

John 16:23b-30

Very truly, I tell you, if you ask anything of the Father in my name, he will give it to you. 24 Until now you have not asked for anything in my name. Ask and you will receive, so that your joy may be complete.

Peace for the Disciples

25 “I have said these things to you in figures of speech. The hour is coming when I will no longer speak to you in figures, but will tell you plainly of the Father. 26 On that day you will ask in my name. I do not say to you that I will ask the Father on your behalf; 27 for the Father himself loves you, because you have loved me and have believed that I came from God. 28 I came from the Father and have come into the world; again, I am leaving the world and am going to the Father.”

29 His disciples said, “Yes, now you are speaking plainly, not in any figure of speech! 30 Now we know that you know all things, and do not need to have anyone question you; by this we believe that you came from God.” (John 16:23b-30, NRSV)

The following comments are based on earlier comments, from April 5, 2008 (Saturday in the week of the Second Sunday of Easter, Year Two), from January 1, 2007 (Monday, Festival of the Holy Name, Year One), and earlier as noted there:

In the larger context of this reading, Jesus presents a saying that has been interpreted as referring to the crucifixion, “A little while, and you will no longer see me,” but also to the resurrection, “and again a little while, and you will see me” (Jn. 16:16). “This was the view of most of the Greek fathers,” says Raymond E. Brown, (The Gospel according to John XIII-XXI, Anchor Bible 29A, p. 729 on Jn. 16:16). But he discusses another view, that the saying refers to the Parousia, the Second Coming of Christ, and suggests that “we can combine what is best of both of the views” (ibid.). “Jesus may have promised to his disciples blessings that would be theirs after his victory over death and evil, but his expectation of what that victory would consist in may not have been clearly defined (ibid., p. 730). The disciples certainly pondered the meaning of this statement (v. 18), and Jesus explains: “Very truly, I tell you, you will weep and mourn, but the world will rejoice; you will have pain, but your pain will turn into joy” (v. 20).

The promises to the disciples given here seem almost unbelievable. When they fully understand they will be able to petition in prayer according to God’s will (i.e. “in my name” vv. 23, 24), and “he [the Father] will give it to you” (v. 23). “Ask and you will receive,” says the Lord, “so that your joy may be complete” (v. 24). But I am reminded of two qualifications given here. It’s about asking in my name, that is, in Jesus’ name. And it is asking “so that your joy may be full.” Joy, as C. S. Lewis and others have reminded us, is not mere happiness or pleasure. Paul called upon the Thessalonians to “Rejoice always” (1 Thess. 5:16), even in the unpleasant circumstances of real or potential persecution. Asking “in my name” surely means something like this: Ask in a manner that is appropriately related to God’s will. I believe that if we really understood what is in our best interest, we would understand what God wants for us. He has our best interest at heart. So asking in his name will be asking for God’s best blessings on our lives, and lead to joy.

After Jesus refers to saying “these things . . . in figures of speech (paroimivai, paroimiai),” he says, “The hour is coming when I will no longer speak to you in figures, but will tell you plainly of the Father” (v. 25). The term paroimiva (paroimia) occurs six times in the New Testament, meaning “proverb” (2 Pet. 2:22, in reference to the citation from Prov. 26:11, cf. Prov. 1:1, 26:7), but in John’s Gospel meaning “dark saying, figure of speech” (Jn. 10:6; 16:25 twice, and v. 29 twice) (F. Wilbur Gingrich, Shorter Lexicon of the Greek New Testament, 1965, s.v. paroimiva, paroimia). Jesus then repeats the promise about asking “in my name,” with a qualification that suggests going directly to the Father (v. 26) because “the Father himself loves you, because you have loved me and have believed that I came from God” (v. 27). When Jesus adds, “I came from the Father and have come into the world; again, I am leaving the world and am going to the Father” (v. 28), the disciples recognize this not as a “figure of speech” (paroimiva, paroimia) but plain speech (v. 29). One might have thought that Jesus earlier statement, “But now I am going to him who sent me” (v. 5a), was plain enough. But the situation was complex. The present reading concludes with a confident statement of understanding from the disciples which includes clearer understanding of Jesus’ identity–a major theme throughout John’s Gospel. “Now we know that you know all things, and do not need to have anyone question you; by this we believe that you came from God” (v. 30).

As we look ahead we note that Jesus is glad that they seem to understand, or so they claim (v. 29). “Do you now believe?” asks Jesus (v. 31). He adds the warning about their being scattered (v. 32) and his desire “that in me you may have peace. In the world you face persecution. But take courage; I have conquered the world” (v. 33). And with that he concludes the discussion and begins his “high priestly prayer” (chap. 17).

Ronald D. Worden, Ph.D.

rdworden@hgst.edu

deanworden@comcast.net