Male Circumcision, A Living Commandment: "When Thou Wast in Thy Blood"

God is a spirit.  He is invisible to the natural eye; He doesn’t do magic; He is the Creator of all things visible and invisible.  All creation is a product of the handiwork of the invisible God and it was accomplished by His knowledge, wisdom, and understanding. 

Blessings and cursings are not magic: There is a cause and effect.  Concerning the curse, Proverbs 26:2 reads:

As the bird by wandering, as the swallow by flying, so the curse causeless shall not come.

Because God’s Word is the truth, all His commandments and directives are correct.  Inherent within God’s commandments and directives is a blessing or a curse: A blessing if we obey—the result of doing the right thing; a curse if we disobey—simply the result of doing the wrong thing.  This feature will make this childlike principle very clear. 

Concerning the sons and daughters of Adam, the most consequential verse in the entire Bible is John 3:3:

Jesus answered and said unto him, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.

Christ’s instruction to man regarding “born again” will result in either eternal, glorious life in Christ Jesus or eternal damnation in the Lake of Fire.  This is the ultimate example of a commandment having inherent within it a blessing or a curse. 

Have you been born again—literally born a second time—this time of the Spirit of God?  Will today be your day of salvation?  You can become a brand-new creature today, with a new name, a new Father, a new, eternal purpose, and a new promise of eternal life.  Make your move now.  Click onto “Further with Jesus” for childlike instructions and immediate entry into the Kingdom of God.  NOW FOR TODAY’S SUBJECT.  

GOD SAID, Genesis 17:10-14:

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.

GOD SAID, Ezekiel 16:6:

And when I passed by thee, and saw thee polluted in thine own blood, I said unto thee when thou wast in thy blood, Live; yea, I said unto thee when thou wast in thy blood, Live.

MAN SAID: Circumcision has no real value.  In 1971, the prestigious American Academy of Pediatrics said, “Circumcision may have some religious reason, but it delivers no medical benefit whatsoever.”  Up until that time, male circumcision was routine in America. 

Now THE RECORD: Welcome to GodSaidManSaid feature 826 that will once again contend for and defend the full inerrancy of God’s Holy Bible.  All of these features are archived here in text and streaming audio for the building-up of the faith and as bait for the fishers of men.  Every Thursday eve, God willing, they grow by one.  Thank you for visiting.  May God’s face shine upon you and your house with grace and mercy. 

Circumcision: God commanded it.  In it is found a blessing.  Famed Jewish historian Josephus wrote in The Antiquities of the Jews the following concerning Jewish tradition and circumcision:

On the eighth day from the birth, whatever day of the week that was, they invariably performed the rite of circumcision.  Three stools were set in the house, or sometimes in the synagogue; one for the person who held the child; one for the operator, whose official name was mûl, or the cutter off; and one for Elias (Elijah), who was supposed to be spiritually present as a zealous defender of the divine law.  The attendants were commonly ten in number, some of which carried torches of twelve wicks, to represent the twelve tribes of Israel, and others a knife for the operation, a cup of red wine to act as a styptic, a basin of sand, into which to throw the prepuce, a basin of olive oil to anoint the part, and a towel and water.  When everything was ready, the female employed by the mother brought the child to the door of the apartment or synagogue, and gave it to him who was appointed to hold it during the operation, who, on entering, was hailed by the company in the following words: “Blessed be he who comes.”  When the operation was finished, the operator said, “Blessed be the Lord our God, who has sanctified us by his precepts, and given us the law of circumcision.”  To which the father replied, “Who hath sanctified us by his precepts, and hath commanded us to enter the child into the covenant of Abraham our father;” and the bystanders added, “As thou hast made this child enter, as thou hast received him into the covenant of Abraham our father, cause also that he may enter into the law of Moses, into matrimony, and into good works.”  The operator having washed, received a cup of wine, consecrated it with the usual benediction, and added for the child the following prayer: “O Lord our God, the God of our fathers, strengthen this child, and preserve him to his parents.  May his name be among the people of Israel, (here he, or the father, or mother, or neighbours, gave him his name, Ruth 4:17, Samuel 4:21, Luke 1:59).  Let his father, who begot him, rejoice and be glad; let his mother delight in the fruit of her womb, according as it is written, ‘Thy father and thy mother shall be glad, and she that bare thee shall rejoice.’  And as it is said by the prophet, ‘And when I passed by thee, and saw thee polluted in thine own blood, I said unto thee, when thou was in thy blood, Live; yea, I said unto thee, when thou wast in thy blood, Live.’”  Here he dipped his finger in the basin where the blood was, and touched the child’s face two or three times, with the hope that, according to the prophet, he might live so much longer in the blood of circumcision; adding, “David also says, ‘He hath remembered his covenant for ever, his word which he commanded to a thousand generations.’”  He then prayed to God that all might be safe who confirmed the covenant, and wished long life to the parents and the child; after which a cup of wine was given to all present, and the child conveyed to his mother.

Children dying before the eight day were circumcised in the cemetery, on the lid of the coffin, and names given them, that they might be known at the resurrection of the just; but no prayers were offered on the occasion.  [End of quotes]

Circumcision is the token of God’s covenant with Abraham and his seed; according to Ezekiel 16:6 quoted earlier, it is associated with life.  Thousands of years before man’s science comes knocking, he finds that God is already there.  Because the inerrant God is the author of the Scriptures, every position He takes is beyond error—that really galls the camp of the ungodly.  The issue of circumcision is an excellent example of this. 

Can you believe that organizations exist for the sole purpose of discrediting God’s directive to circumcise male children?  Several years ago, a visitor named CJ emailed a challenge to the credibility of GodSaidManSaid’s reporting on this subject.  Several excerpts follow:

Adherents to the Scriptures know that God's commandments deliver very real physical as well as spiritual benefits. But just as the Old Testament's blood sacrifice, Passover celebration, Sabbath observation, dietary laws (which were all shadows of the coming Messiah), were fulfilled in Christ, so has the Godly dictum of circumcision also been fulfilled. The following nine verses in the New Testament concern the principle of fulfillment: Romans 2:28-29, I Corinthians 7:18, Galatians 6:15-16, Philippians 3:1-3, and Colossians 2:10-11. It must be noted that the supernatural benefits of Christ's fulfillment of the law are not relevant to the vast, vast majority of the world in its unregenerated state, and for them, adherence to the commandments is physically critical. The physical benefits of male circumcision are monumental.

The following e-mail is from C.J.:

I am concerned that your organization is spreading false information on circumcision. Your site does not mention the countless physicians and cancer organizations including the American Cancer Society which officially stated in February 1996, in a letter to the American Academy of Pediatrics, "The American Cancer Society does not consider routine circumcision to be a valid or effective measure to prevent such [genital] cancers. Research suggesting a pattern in the circumcision status of partners of women with cervical cancer is methodologically flawed, outdated and has not been taken seriously in the medical community for decades." I do not think that it is fair that certain research gets picked to prove your point when there is much more research that proves that the health benefits of circumcision do not outweigh the benefits of being uncircumcised.

Sincerely, C.J.

C.J. must first be aware that the American Cancer Society is not the be-all and end-all concerning the subject of cancer. But because C.J. reveres their stance, we will use their data to support the previous GodSaidManSaid articles concerning circumcision.

C.J. attempts to discredit two of the many benefits of circumcision listed on this website. His first challenge was sparked by the following statement published in the GodSaidManSaid article titled, "Circumcision." It reads, "In 50,000 penile cancer cases recorded in the U.S., 49,990 were among uncircumcised men. Only 10 of those cancer victims were circumcised! Ten thousand of the 50,000 penile cancer patients died as a result of the disease." [End of quote]

American Cancer Society also published these following excerpts in May of 2006 titled, "What Are the Risk Factors for Penile Cancer?"

In men who are not circumcised and therefore, have an intact foreskin, secretions can build up underneath. This can worsen with improper cleaning. Sometimes the foreskin becomes constricted and difficult to retract. This condition is known as phimosis. Oily secretions from the skin, dead skin cells, and bacteria accumulate under the foreskin. The result is a thick, sometimes odorous substance called smegma.

Circumcision is the removal of a part or all of the foreskin at birth or later on in life. In the United States, men who are circumcised in childhood have a lower rate of penile cancer. It''s not known whether this is due to the absence of the foreskin or other lifestyle factors. Recent studies have found that circumcised men are less likely to be infected with HPV (human papillomavirus), even after this risk is adjusted for differences in sexual behavior. Other studies suggest that circumcision may reduce the risk of more invasive forms of penile cancer. A recent study reported that uncircumcised men who had phimosis in the past were at increased risk of developing penile cancer. [End of quote]

The following tell-all sentence is found in the 2006 ACS news article titled "Can Penile Cancer Be Prevented?" It reads, "Perhaps the most important factor in preventing penile cancer in uncircumcised men is good genital hygiene." [End of quote] Of course, this problem very rarely occurs in circumcised males.

C.J.'s second challenge concerned the following GodSaidManSaid statement: "The circumcision issue also affects the female. Studies have documented higher rates of cervical cancer in women who have had one or more uncircumcised partners." [End of quote] C.J. said:

Research suggesting a pattern in the circumcision status of partners of women with cervical cancer is methodologically flawed and has not been taken seriously in the medical community for decades.

American Cancer Society published an article in 2002 concerning cancer of the cervix. The article's title is "New Study Shows Benefit of Male Circumcision." The following paragraphs are from that article:

Women are less likely to develop cancer of the cervix if their partners are circumcised men rather than men who are not circumcised, said a report in The New England Journal of Medicine (Vol. 346, No. 15: 1105-1112).

Experts believe a penis that has been circumcised is less likely to harbor human papilloma virus (HPV), a virus associated with almost all cases of cervical cancer.

Circumcision has become controversial in recent years. Its advocates in the medical community argue that it prevents urinary tract infections in male babies. It also lowers sexually transmitted infections with HPV that cause genital warts in men. Finally, penile cancer arises less often in men who were circumcised as babies.

Those who do not support the use of circumcision believe that these reasons don't make up for the pain and possible "mutilation" it causes, as well as the occasional complications.

Now a group of international researchers, led by Xavier Castellsague, MD, of the Lobregat Hospital in Barcelona, Spain, have uncovered another reason to favor circumcision. They found that women whose partners were uncircumcised were more likely to develop cancer of the cervix.

The researchers also tested for HPV infection in the males by taking specimens from their penises. The results were matched with whether the men were circumcised.

The first discovery was that men who weren't circumcised were more than twice as likely to be infected with HPV. In both groups, the chance of HPV infection increased with high-risk sexual activity such as unprotected sex, early age of first sexual activity, and number of partners.

But even more striking was the effect on their partners. Women whose male partners were uncircumcised and had high-risk sexual behavior were two to five times more likely to develop cervical cancer. This high rate of cancer was almost certainly caused by the high rate of HPV infection in these men. [End of quote]

In the April 27, 2006 issue of Medical News Today, under the heading, "Circumcision and Fidelity More Effective HIV Prevention Method Than Condoms, Abstinence, Researchers Say," the following excerpts were found:

Promoting male circumcision and fidelity to one partner seems to be more effective at curbing the spread of HIV than promoting abstinence and condom use, USAID researcher and technical adviser Daniel Halperin said last week, the Chicago Tribune reports. As Halperin and other researchers analyze 20 years of studies on HIV/AIDS throughout Africa, they have tried to "put aside intuitions, emotions, ideologies and look at the evidence in as coldhearted a way as we can."

In comparison, faithfulness to one partner has worked at reducing HIV prevalence in Uganda and Kenya, according to Halperin. Because a person is more likely to transmit HIV during the first three weeks of contracting the virus, an HIV-positive person who has just one partner during that time is likely to pass the disease to that one person. But if an HIV-positive person in the highly infectious stage has many sexual partners at a time, "the virus spreads like wildfire" as those people in turn have sex with other people, Halperin said. In addition, circumcision has been shown to reduce male-to-female HIV transmission by 60% to 75% (Goering, Chicago Tribune, 4/23). A study published in the November 2005 issue of PLoS Medicine of men living in South Africa finds that male circumcision might reduce the risk of men contracting HIV through sexual intercourse with women by about 60%. Male circumcision might also reduce the risk of HIV transmission from HIV-positive men to their female partners, according to a study of couples in Rakai, Uganda (Kaiser Daily HIV/AIDS Report, 2/9). [End of quote]

In the December 2006 issue, The International Jerusalem Post weighed in on the subject of male circumcision under the heading, "Israeli experts: Circumcision helps fight AIDS." The following statements are from that article:

Israeli experts are urging a visiting World Health Organization (WHO) team to promote circumcisions of both adults and newborns in the Third World to help reduce HIV transmission.

Current research shows that six in 10 circumcised men are immune to HIV infection, but only about a fifth of men around the world have been circumcised for religious, medical, or cultural reasons.

A major study at Orange Farm, South Africa, last year showed circumcision offered men significant protection against HIV infection, equivalent to what any highly effective vaccine would have achieved.

"What we learned in Israel," said Farley (of the WHO's department of reproductive health and research), "will be useful to inform other countries interested in expanding male circumcision of babies and adults. The WHO doesn't have funds to subsidize this, but it can encourage countries to improve and expand circumcision services. We are especially interested in clinic-based circumcision in sub-Saharan Africa." [End of quote]

The following paragraphs are from a December 2006 news release published by Reuters under the headline, "U.N. Urges Circumcision In AIDS-Hit Southern Africa:"

AIDS-stricken Southern African nations should develop a policy of mass male circumcision to fight the disease, the head of the United Nations anti-AIDS agency said on Tuesday.

Several recent medical studies have reported circumcision cuts the risk of HIV infection among men by 50-60 percent, and the findings have been backed by UNAIDS.

"These (African) countries should now prepare how to introduce circumcision on a large scale," UNAIDS chief Dr. Peter Piot told Reuters. "The science is clear."

Baby boys should be targeted first but then attention should switch to adolescent boys and adult men, said Piot, who is in New Delhi to meet Indian officials on how they plan to tackle the world''s largest HIV/AIDS caseload. [End of quote]

This final news release published November 6, 2006, again by Reuters, says circumcision loud and clear. The title of the release is, "Circumcision Cuts STD Risk, Major Study Finds." The subhead reads, "25-year study finds substantial benefit to controversial procedure." Following are a few excerpts:

Circumcised males are less likely than their uncircumcised peers to acquire a sexually transmitted infection, the findings of a 25-year study suggest.

According to the report in the November issue of Pediatrics, circumcision may reduce the risk of acquiring and spreading such infections by up to 50 percent, which suggests "substantial benefits" for routine neonatal circumcision.

The authors estimate that had routine neonatal circumcision been in place, the rate of sexually transmitted infections in the current cohort would have been reduced by roughly 48 percent.  [End of quote]

The following is a quick bullet point review of GodSaidManSaid's first article on this topic titled, "Circumcision:"

• Birth records of 219,755 male children born in U.S. Armed Forces hospitals from 1975 to 1979 were examined. It was found that the uncircumcised experienced an 1100% higher incidence of urinary tract infections. After nine different studies were reviewed, the finding was that the uncircumcised suffered urinary tract infections 12 times more often than those who were circumcised.
• The uncircumcised are 800% more likely to acquire AIDS via a heterosexual relationship.
• In 1947, a study of 1,300 consecutive patients in a Canadian Army unit showed that being uncircumcised was associated with a nine-fold higher risk of syphilis and three times more gonorrhea.
• In 50,000 penile cancer cases recorded in the U.S., 49,990 were among uncircumcised men. Only ten of those cancer victims were circumcised! Ten thousand of the 50,000 penile cancer cases died as a result of the disease.
• Uncircumcised men have twice the incidence of prostate cancer.
• Later in a man's life, the uncircumcised are twice as likely to have erectile dysfunction as his circumcised counterpart.
• Studies have documented higher rates of cervical cancer in women who have had one or more uncircumcised partners. The benefits from male circumcision run on and on. [End of quotes]

The following paragraphs are from the GodSaidManSaid feature, “The Amazing Word of God—Updates—Circumcision, Pigs, Church, Breast-Feeding:”

It is astonishing that the detractors of God’s Word continue to resist.  Millions are sick and suffering, dying and dead as a result of man’s rebellion.  The following Associated Press feature, titled “Study: Male Circumcision Helps Prevent 2 STDs,” was published March 25, 2009.  The following excerpts are from that feature:

LOS ANGELES—Circumcision not only protects against HIV in heterosexual men, but it also helps prevent two other sexually transmitted infections, a large new study found.  Circumcised males reduced their risk of infection with HPV, or human papillomavirus, by 35 percent and herpes by 28 percent.  However, researchers found circumcision had no effect on the transmission of syphilis.

Landmark studies from three African countries including Uganda previously found circumcision lowered men’s chance of catching the AIDS virus by up to 60 percent.  The new study stems from the Uganda research and looked at protection against three other STDs.  The findings are reported in Thursday’s New England Journal of Medicine.

“Evidence now strongly suggests that circumcision offers an important prevention opportunity and should be widely available,” Drs. Matthew Golden and Judith Wasserheit of the University of Washington wrote in an accompanying editorial.

Worldwide, only about 30 percent of men are circumcised.  The figure is higher in the United States, where about 79 percent of men are circumcised, according to surveys by the National Center for Health Statistics.

An international team of researchers who conducted the study said circumcision, the surgical removal of the foreskin from the penis, should be an accepted method to reduce sexually transmitted infections among heterosexuals.  [End of quotes]

One last fact to remember is that God commanded the male child to be circumcised on the eighth day. Why the eighth day? On the eighth day of the human life span, vitamin K, which causes blood to clot, reaches its peak—the very day God commanded circumcision to be performed. God said to circumcise the male child over 40 centuries before medical science had the foggiest idea of the benefits. He commanded it to be performed on the eighth day. This is just another proof that God is. [End of quote]

Circumcision: God commanded it and inside this commandment is a blessing or a curse.  Believe the beautiful Book.  It is true and righteous altogether—a place to build a life that will last forever. 

GOD SAID, Genesis 17:10-14:

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.

GOD SAID, Ezekiel 16:6:

And when I passed by thee, and saw thee polluted in thine own blood, I said unto thee when thou wast in thy blood, Live; yea, I said unto thee when thou wast in thy blood, Live.

MAN SAID: Circumcision has no real value.  In 1971, the prestigious American Academy of Pediatrics said, “Circumcision may have some religious reason, but it delivers no medical benefit whatsoever.”  Up until that time, male circumcision was routine in America.

Now you have THE RECORD.

 

 

References:

Authorized King James Version

GodSaidManSaid, “Circumcision IV and CJ’s Challenge”

GodSaidManSaid, “The Amazing Word of God—Updates—Circumcision, Pigs, Church, Breast-Feeding”

Josephus, The Antiquities of the Jews

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