Ancient Customs

Jacob’s life was always steeped in family drama and divine intervention. Years earlier, Jacob had fled his home after he deceived his father Isaac and incurred his brother Esau’s wrath (Gen 27:41-45). He sought refuge with his uncle Laban in Paddan-aram, where he married Laban’s daughters, Leah and Rachel (Gen 29:15-30).

Jacob’s relationship with Laban grew increasingly strained over the next two decades. Laban changed Jacob’s wages repeatedly and attempted to manipulate the flocks breeding to his own advantage (Gen 31:7-9). Despite these challenges, God blessed Jacob and multiplied his herds (Gen 30:43). Not only did Jacob feel cheated, but his wives felt that their father had cheated them as well. Now, Jacob heeds God’s call to return to the land of his fathers (Gen 31:3) and prepares to leave Laban’s household. 

In Genesis 27:36, Esau laments that Jacob, “took away my birthright, and behold, now he has taken away my blessing.” The birthright usually belonged to the oldest male heir in a family. The oldest son, usually, received double the inheritance of his younger brothers. With this double portion came the responsibility of caring for the extended family which would include the widow of the deceased and any unwed sisters. Thus, the double portion of the material inheritance was to ensure that the recipient of the birthright had the means to take care of the family. 

2 And Abraham said to his servant, the oldest of his household, who had charge of all that he had, “Put your hand under my thigh, 3 that I may make you swear by the LORD, the God of heaven and God of the earth, that you will not take a wife for my son from the daughters of the Canaanites, among whom I dwell, 4 but will go to my country and to my kindred, and take a wife for my son Isaac.” (Gen. 24:2–4 ESV)

There are a lot of things in the Bible that are strange and outlandish to us. The traditions and cultures of people in the ancient Near East who lived thousands of years ago were, needless to say, very different from our own. For us it is common to place our right hand on a Bible to take an oath. Abraham had his servant swear by putting his hand under Abraham’s thigh. This is probably one of the most unusual customs in the Bible.

Why did God command the circumcision of a ninety-nine year old man? God changed Abram’s name to Abraham in Genesis 17 and along with the new name came a new covenant. Why another covenant? Wasn’t one already made in Gen 15? 

It appears that Abraham participated in two covenants. (1) The unilateral covenant in Gen 15 where only God obligated Himself with no requirements from Abraham (other than faith). (2) The covenant of circumcision in Gen 17. At first these don’t appear to be two covenants, but one. However, Acts 7:8 calls the Gen 17 covenant the “covenant of circumcision” after referring to the Gen 15 covenant separately in the preceding verses. Therefore, it seems that these were two covenants

God has added the rite of circumcision to the existing covenantal relationship He established in Gen 15. Why did God add circumcision as a sign of the covenant (Gen 17:11)? In what way was circumcision a sign? What did this rite mean to people in that part of the world during that time in history?