The Connection of Brit-Milah (Circumcision) to the Olam Haba (World to Come)

Vayikra {12:1} HaShem spoke to Moshe (Moses), saying, {12:2} Speak to the bnei of Yisrael( children of Israel), saying, If an ishah (woman) conceive seed, and bear a man-child, then she shall be tamei (ritually unclean) seven days; as in the days of the impurity of her sickness shall she be tamei. {12:3} In the eighth day the flesh of his foreskin shall be brit-milah (circumcised).

In light of what I taught on last week from Parsha Shemini, the brit-milah of a male child on the eighth day perhaps takes on new meaning.

Many people have often wondered why HaShem required a male child to be brit- milah on the eighth day. Even Yeshua was brought to Yerushalayim (Jerusalem) by his parents to have his brit-milah on his eighth day.

Uri (Luke) 2:27 And he came by the Spirit into the Temple: and when the parents brought in the child Yeshua, to do for him after the custom of the Torah,..

The "custom of the Torah" Uri is talking about here is of course brit-milah.

Now, it has been suggested that the reason male children are brit-milah on the eighth day is for medical reasons. It is claimed that a child's blood coagulates the fastest, in fact reaches its peak, eight days after birth. All well and good and perhaps this is a valid reason. However, what does the coagulation factor of the blood have to do with the removal of the foreskin of a male child, seeing of course that part of the ritual of brit-milah is the requirement that blood is spilled, all be it only a tiny amount. No, there must be something else HaShem had in mind with this mitzvah (command). I offer here my suggestion.

We know from Scripture that brit-milah was intended as a token of the covenant HaShem made with Avraham (Abraham). The word token as used here, I believe is very significant. When someone gives you a gift and says it is as a token of their appreciation, the gift is not their appreciation rather it is but a token or a sign of their appreciation. In other words their appreciation is far grater than the token. Well then perhaps brit-milah was a token, a sign from G-d of something far greater than the token! In order to explain, I offer here one of the unconditional promises HaShem made to Avraham of which brit-milah was a token:

Bereshit (Genesis) {17:7} I will establish My brit (covenant) between Me and you and your seed after you throughout their generations for an everlasting brit, to be a G-D to you and to your seed after you.

This as we read, was an everlasting brit in which HaShem promised to be a G-d to us forever, of which being brit-milah on the eighth day was a token.

From last week's teaching, we learned that the rabbis reckon the number eight as representing new beginnings. We then associated this number eight with the age following the Millennial Age of Mashiach Yeshua, a time when the old order will pass away and a new order will be established with a new heaven and a new earth.

A number of times in Scripture HaShem has promised to be a G-d to Yisrael (us) but all those times it was conditional as in:

Vayikra {26:3} If you walk in My statutes, and keep my mitzvot, and do them; {26:4} then I will give your rains in their season, and the land shall yield its increase, and the trees of the field shall yield their fruit. {26:12} I will walk among you, and will be your G-D, and you shall be My people.

Do you see the conditional nature of this promise, the "If"? However, the same promise, to be a G-d to Yisrael, made to Avraham was unconditional. HaShem was well aware that Yisrael would not follow His Torah, He knew that they would not walk in His statutes nor keep His mitzvot, that is why the "If" is here. Therefore, it can be concluded that the promise to Avraham was for a future time, a time where there will be no "If," a time for which brit-milah was a token, a time represented by the eighth day. This is the time I spoke about in Parsha Shemini, a time where HaShem said:

HaHitgalut (Revelation) 21:3 And I heard a great voice out of heaven saying, Behold, the tabernacle of G-d is with men, and He will dwell with them, and they shall be His people, and G-d himself shall be with them, and be their G-d.

Brit-Milah is HaShem's token / sign, made permanently on our flesh, a token of the unconditional promise that He will fulfil His promise to be a G-d to us forever in Olam Haba / the world to come.

Rabbi Jack "Yaacov" Farber is the spiritual leader of Congregation Melech Yisrael in Toronto, Canada.

Copyright 2005