As we near the Pecach, the command to be circumcised has come before the Qodeshiym, asking: Is it necessary to be physically circumcised as it is understood in the modern world? Let’s consider a couple of verses first:
Devariym (Deuteronomy) 10:16
Circumcise therefore את the foreskin of your heart, and be no more stiffnecked.
Devariym (Deuteronomy) 30:6
And Yahuah Elohayka will circumcise your heart, and the heart of your seed, to love Yahuah Elohayka with all your heart, and with all your soul, that you may live.
Yovheliym (Jubilees) 1:24
And after this they will turn to me in all uprightness and with all their heart and with all their soul, and I will circumcise the foreskin of their heart and the foreskin of the heart of their seed, and I will create in them a ruach ha’qodesh, and I will cleanse them so that they shall not turn away from me from that day unto eternity.
Yirmeyahu (Jeremiah) 4:4
Circumcise yourselves to Yahuah, and take away the foreskins of your heart, ye men of Yahudah and inhabitants of Yerushalayim: lest my fury come forth like fire, and burn that none can quench it, because of the evil of your doings.
What is the foreskin of the heart?
The word in Ivriyt translated as “foreskin” is (עׇרְלָה) orlâh (Strong’s H6190). This is a feminine noun, usually interpreted as the prepuce: the foreskin, or being uncircumcised.
However, it is derived from the primitive root verb (עָרֵל) ârêl (Strong’s 6188), which means properly, to strip; literally to go naked or figuratively to refrain from using.
The word in Ivriyt translated as “heart” is (לֵבָב) levav (Strong’s H3824). This is a masculine noun, usually interpreted as the heart (as the most interior organ).
However, it is like the word (לֵב) lêv (Strong’s 3820) meaning the feelings, the will and even the intellect.
Simply put, it is the naked feelings, the naked will, and the naked intellect.
Or the feelings, will, and intellect made naked. But what of the instruction of Yah to Avraham?
Bere’shiyth (Genesis) 17:10-12
This is my covenant, which ye shall guard, between me and you and your seed after you; Every male child among you shall be circumcised. 11 And ye shall circumcise את the flesh (besor) of your foreskin (orlah); and it shall be a sign of the covenant betwixt me and you. 12 And he that is eight days old shall be circumcised among you, every male child in your generations, he that is born in the house, or bought with money of any stranger, which is not of your seed.
What is to be circumcised?
However, we find the word (נָמַל) namal (Strong’s H5243) in only one verse: Bere’shiyth (Genesis) 17:11. The complete word found there in the unrevised text is (וּנְמַלְתֶּם).
We find this word (וּמַלְתֶּם) in only one verse and no other.
Devariym (Deuteronomy) 10:16
Circumcise therefore את the foreskin of your heart and be no more stiffnecked.
When a word appears only once, we may have to ask whether such a word is misspelled.
Bere’shiyth (Genesis) 17:10
זאת zoth This בריתי brit’i my covenant אשׁר asher which תשׁמרו t’shemar’u – they will guard ביני beni my son וביניכם v’beni’kem and their sons ובין v’benin between זרעך zerach their seed אחריך akhar’ich your posterity המול h’mul the cut לכם כל l’kem kole to them all זכר zakar man).
Literal translation: This is my covenant which they will guard between my son and their sons, the seed of your posterity; the cut to all the men.
Bere’shiyth (Genesis) 17:11
ונמלתם v’namal’tem And we will cut as you did את eth בשׂר besor – flesh ערלתכם orl’oth’kem of their nakedness והיה v’hayah and it will be לאות l’oth to you a sign ברית brit covenant ביני ben’i my son וביניכם v’ben’i’kem and their sons.
Literal translation: And we will cut as you did the flesh of their nakedness, and it will be to you a sign of the covenant with my son and with their sons.
Bere’shiyth (Genesis) 17:12
ובןv’ ben And sonשׁמנת shemen’tah after eight ימים yomiym days ימול y’mul he will cut לכם l’kem to you כל kole all זכר zakar menלְדֹרֹתֵיכֶם l’dor after the generations of them יליד yelid child בית beyt house ומקנת v’miknah and bought כסף keseph silver מכל m’kole from all בן ben son נכר nekar foreign אשׁר asher which לא lo not מזרעך m’zerach from seed הוא hu his.
Literal translation: My son, after eighth days he will cut to you all men after the generations of them, the child of the house bought with silver from all the foreign sons which are not from his seed.
Bere’shiyth (Genesis) 17:10-12 (Literal translation:)
This is my covenant which they will guard between my son and their sons, the seed of your posterity; the cut to all the men. And we will cut as you did the flesh of their nakedness, and it will be to you a sign of the covenant with my son and with their sons. My son, after eight days he will cut to you all men after the generations of them, the child of the house bought with silver from all the foreign sons which are not from his seed.
But does mul (מול) really mean to cut?
The tedusha of the word does not reveal that result, which is uncommon in Ivriyt.
Lamed = the shepherd’s staff
Vav = the nail
Mem = water, or the opened womb
This seems to indicate that the shepherd’s staff marked with the nail is now over the water (or the open womb). That the shepherd’s staff (your rod and your staff) of leadership, and the vav (the nail of Yahusha) is in priority over the opened womb.
The better word may be “submit”!
And what of that incredible demand found in Shemoth?
Shemoth (Exodus) 4:22-26
And you shall say unto Phar`oh, Thus says Yahuah, Yashar’el is my son, even my firstborn: 23 And I say unto you, Let my son go, that he may serve me: and if you refuse to let him go, behold, I will slay your son, even your firstborn. And it came to pass by the way in the inn, that Yahuah met him, and sought to kill him. 25 Then Tsipporah took a sharp stone, and cut off the foreskin of her son, and cast it at his feet, and said, Surely a bloody man are you to me. 26 So he let him go: then she said, A bloody man you are, because of the circumcision.
So what does this mean: “And it came to pass by the way in the inn, that Yahuah met him, and sought to kill him."?
Shemoth (Exodus) 4:22-26
ויהי v’yahi – And Yah, he בדרך b’derek – on the road במלון b’malon in the caravanseri ויפגשׁהו v’y’pagashah’u and he met him יהוה Yahuah ויבקשׁ v’y’baqash – and he sought המיתו ha’moot’u the death of him.
Shemoth (Exodus) 4:25-26
Then Tsipporah took a sharp stone, and cut off the foreskin of her son, and cast it at his feet, and said, Surely a bloody man are you to me.
The word for “cut off” here is not namal or mul, but rather is kârath (כָּרַת) (Strong’s H3772), which is a primitive root meaning to cut off, to destroy or consume, and specifically to covenant, originally by cutting flesh and passing between the pieces.
The tedusha here is interesting:
Caf = the open hand
Resh = the human head or mind
Tav = the mark of salvation
Salvation of the head through the open(ing) hand.
But a circumcision which is not of the heart is no circumcision at all!
Yirmeyahu (Jeremiah) 9:25-26
Behold, the days come, says Yahuah, that I will punish all them which are circumcised with the uncircumcised; 26 Mitsrayim, and Yahudah, and Edom, and the children of Ammon, and Mo’av, and all that are in the utmost ends, who dwell in the wilderness: for all these nations are uncircumcised, and all the house of Yashar’el are uncircumcised in the heart.
Yet Mashiach accomplished the circumcision on the eighth day!
Luqas (Luke) 2:21-22
And when eight days were accomplished for the circumcising of the child, his name was called Yahusha, which was so named of the angel before he was conceived in the womb. 22 And when the days of her purification according to the Torah of Mosheh were accomplished, they brought him to Yerushalayim, to present him to Yahuah;
Now let us consider the meaning of the “circumcision of the heart” restated in the opening verses of our discussion:
Devariym (Deuteronomy) 10:16
Submit therefore את the nakedness of your will and be no more stiffnecked.
Devariym (Deuteronomy) 30:6
And Yahuah Elohayka will bring into submission your heart, and the heart of your seed, to love Yahuah Elohayka with all your heart, and with all your soul, that you may live.
Yovheliym (Jubilees) 1:24
And after this they will turn to me in all uprightness and with all their heart and with all their soul, and I will bring into submission the nakedness of their heart and the nakedness of the heart of their seed, and I will create in them a ruach ha’qodesh, and I will cleanse them so that they shall not turn away from me from that day unto eternity.
Yirmeyahu (Jeremiah) 4:4
Submit yourselves to Yahuah, and take away the nakedness of your heart, ye men of Yahudah and inhabitants of Yerushalayim: lest my fury come forth like fire, and burn that none can quench it, because of the evil of your doings.
Do we know of the nakedness of the heart/will/intellect? Sure we do.
Bere’shiyth (Genesis) 3:6-7
And when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree to be desired to make one wise, she took of the fruit thereof, and did eat, and gave also unto her man with her; and he did eat. 7 And the eyes of them both were opened, and they knew that they were naked; and they sewed fig leaves together, and made themselves aprons.
Chizayon (Revelation) 3:17-18
Because you say, I am rich, and increased with goods, and have need of nothing; and know not that you are wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked: 18 I counsel you to buy of me gold tried in the fire, that you may be rich; and white raiment, that you may be clothed, and that the shame of your nakedness do not appear; and anoint your eyes with eye salve, that you may see.