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Circumcision
George
L. Faull
DEAR BROTHER FAULL,
If circumcision was such a big deal to the Jews, why
didn't God ordain a practice that the women could have taken part in? Were they just left out of the loop...not
important...too low on the social scale to worry about?
Was the plan that the husband was to be the one so
devoted to the Lord that his wife would naturally fall in line with him, not
needing that mark upon her body?
I have never received a satisfactory answer to this
question and don't have one myself!
ANSWER:
God ordained they would be one flesh. The man was to be the spiritual leader. As sad as it seems to us today in this day
of Christian grace, the woman was only considered to be property in that
era. This is not because God desired
such. That was the culture. God did
not try to change the culture all at once.
It is kind of like when my father-in-law visited me, I told him that if
he were going to smoke he would have to smoke outside. It is not that I approved of smoking. It was that I was regulating behavior. Many of the Old Testament laws must be
looked at in that light.
The Patriarch was the focal point. The women were in the covenant by
extension. The man could override even a woman's vow to the Lord. Men had to go to Jerusalem each year, not
women.
Today, when you get in a car, the driver is
responsible if there is an open alcohol container or if the passengers are not
buckled up. The others are responsible
morally but not legally. You are responsible for your under-age children. The man was to be the one dealing with God
and if he did, then the woman who was his underling, was his responsibility
legally but not morally. This was why it was ludicrous for a Jew to marry a
heathen. How could he possibly hope to live in a covenant with God when he was
in covenant with an unbeliever. The
wisest man in the world could not do it. Unbelieving women led Solomon’s heart
from God.
Remember that circumcision was a sign of the
covenant, it was not the covenant. So, since God did not require the woman have
the sign, she was in the covenant when she was submissive to a man in the
covenant. Just as if there was a
private under a Sergeant who was under a Colonel, one only needs to be in
subjection to the one who is their immediate superior to be a faithful soldier.
I hope this helps.