Genesis 17:14

Genesis 17:14

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.

a. NLT: Any male who fails to be circumcised will be cut off from the covenant family for breaking the covenant.”

b. NIV: Any uncircumcised male, who has not been circumcised in the flesh, will be cut off from his people; he has broken my covenant.”

c. YLT: and an uncircumcised one, a male, the flesh of whose foreskin is not circumcised, even that person hath been cut off from his people; My covenant he hath broken.'

d. Amplified Bible: And the male who is not circumcised, that soul shall be cut off from his people; he has broken My covenant.

e. Septuagint: And the uncircumcised male, who shall not be circumcised in the flesh of his foreskin on the eighth day, that soul shall be utterly destroyed from its family, for he has broken my covenant.

f. Stone Edition Chumash: An uncircumcised male the flesh of whose foreskin shall not be circumcised, that soul shall be cut off from its people; he has invalidated My covenant.”

1. “And the uncircumcised man child whose flesh of his foreskin is not circumcised…”

a. the uncircumcised [6189 * ‘arel] [Strong: rom 6188; properly, exposed, i.e. projecting loose (as to the prepuce); used only technically, uncircumcised (i.e. still having the prepuce uncurtailed):--uncircumcised (person).]

b. man child [2145 * zakar] [Strong: from 2142; properly, remembered, i.e. a male (of  man or animals, as being the most noteworthy sex):--X him, male, man(child, -kind).]

c. whose [834 * ‘aher] [Strong: a primitive relative pronoun (of every gender and number); who, which, what, that; also (as an adverb and a conjunction) when, where, how, because, in order that, etc.:--X after, X alike, as (soon as), because, X every, for, + forasmuch, + from whence, + how(-soever), X if, (so) that ((thing) which, wherein), X though, + until, + whatsoever, when, where (+ -as, -in, -of, -on, -soever, -with), which, whilst, + whither(- soever), who(-m, -soever, -se). As it is indeclinable, it is often accompanied by the personal pronoun expletively, used to show the connection.]

d. flesh [1320 * basar] [Strong: from 1319; flesh (from its freshness); by extension, body, person; also (by euphem.) the pudenda of a man:--body, (fat, lean) flesh(-ed), kin, (man-)kind, + nakedness, self, skin.]

e. his foreskin [6190 * ‘oriah] [Strong: feminine of 6189; the prepuce:--foreskin, + uncircumcised.]

f. circumcised [4135 * muwl] [Strong:  a primitive root; to cut short, i.e. curtail (specifically the prepuce, i.e. to circumcise); by implication, to blunt; figuratively, to destroy:--circumcise(-ing), selves), cut down (in pieces), destroy, X must needs.]

1). Although there is not a Hebrew word for “not” in the text. I trust the scholars to discern it refers to a male not circumcised.

2. “…that soul shall be cut off from his people; he hath broken my covenant.”

a. that soul [5315 * nephesh] [Strong: from 5314; properly, a breathing creature, i.e. animal of (abstractly) vitality; used very widely in a literal, accommodated or figurative sense (bodily or mental):--any, appetite, beast, body, breath, creature, X dead(-ly), desire, X (dis-)contented, X fish, ghost, + greedy, he, heart(-y), (hath, X jeopardy of) life (X in jeopardy), lust, man, me, mind, mortally, one, own, person, pleasure, (her-, him-, my-, thy-)self, them (your)-selves, + slay, soul, + tablet, they, thing, (X she) will, X would have it.]

b. shall be cut off [3772 * karath] [Strong: a primitive root; to cut (off, down or asunder); by implication, to destroy or consume; specifically, to covenant (i.e. make an alliance or bargain, originally by cutting flesh and passing between the pieces):--be chewed, be con-(feder-)ate, covenant, cut (down, off), destroy, fail, feller, be freed, hew (down), make a league ((covenant)), X lose, perish, X utterly, X want. ]

1). It is interesting that the same Hebrew word used to make a covenant is the same word used to cut someone off from the covenant.

c. from his people [5971 * ‘am] [Strong:  from 6004; a people (as a congregated unit); specifically, a tribe (as those of Israel); hence (collectively) troops or attendants; figuratively, a flock:--folk, men, nation, people.]

d. he hath broken [6565 * para] [Strong: a primitive root; to break up (usually figuratively, i.e. to violate, frustrate:--X any ways, break (asunder), cast off, cause to cease, X clean, defeat, disannul, disappoint, dissolve, divide, make of none effect, fail, frustrate, bring (come) to nought, X utterly, make void.]

e. my covenant [1285 * briyth] [Strong: from 1262 (in the sense of cutting (like 1254)); a compact (because made by passing between pieces of flesh):--confederacy, (con-)feder(-ate), covenant, league.]

1). Many scholars believe this is the explanation for the incident for what happened to Moses in Exodus while on his way to Egypt, where the text declares that God attempted to kill Moses.

a). Exodus4:24-26 And it came to pass by the way in the inn, that the LORD met him, and sought to kill him.

4:25 Then Zipporah took a sharp stone, and cut off the foreskin of her son, and cast it at his feet, and said, Surely a bloody husband art thou to me.

4:26 So he let him go: then she said, A bloody husband thou art, because of the circumcision.

2). During the 40 years in the desert Israel did not circumcise their young, and it wasn’t until Israel crossed the Jordan that they circumcised their young again:

a). Joshua 5:2-9 At that time the Lord said unto Joshua, Make thee sharp knives, and circumcise again the children of Israel the second time.

5:3 And Joshua made him sharp knives, and circumcised the children of Israel at the hill of the foreskins.

5:4 And this is the cause why Joshua did circumcise: All the people that came out of Egypt, that were males, even all the men of war, died in the wilderness by the way, after they came out of Egypt.

5:5 Now all the people that came out were circumcised: but all the people that were born in the wilderness by the way as they came forth out of Egypt, them they had not circumcised.

5:6 For the children of Israel walked forty years in the wilderness, till all the people that were men of war, which came out of Egypt, were consumed, because they obeyed not the voice of the Lord: unto whom the Lord sware that he would not shew them the land, which the Lord sware unto their fathers that he would give us, a land that floweth with milk and honey.

5:7 And their children, whom he raised up in their stead, them Joshua circumcised: for they were uncircumcised, because they had not circumcised them by the way.

5:8 And it came to pass, when they had done circumcising all the people, that they abode in their places in the camp, till they were whole.

5:9 And the Lord said unto Joshua, This day have I rolled away the reproach of Egypt from off you. Wherefore the name of the place is called Gilgal unto this day.

3). Rabbinic teaching regonizes that although the Hebrew penalty sated in Genesis 17:14 is not the death penalty, they assert that Moses was held to a higher standard and thus put his life in danger for failure to circumcise his son.