Four thousand years ago Abraham was instructed by God to circumcise males on the eight day for we read: “This is my covenant with you and your descendants after you, the covenant you are to keep: Every male among you shall be circumcised. You are to undergo circumcision, and it will be the sign of the covenant between me and you. For the generations to come every male among you who is eight days old must be circumcised, including those born in your household or bought with money from a foreigner—those who are not your offspring.” (Genesis 17:10-12).
Approximately 3,500 years ago God instructed Moses to carry out the same command: “And on the eighth day the flesh of his foreskin shall be circumcised.” (Leviticus 12:3).
The question naturally is why did God give this command to carry out circumcision on the eight day?
Not until fairly recently did mankind have any idea if there were any medical reason for the eight day, however, the Bible almost 4,000 years ago, while it didn’t say why the eight day, did know something that took mankind 4,000 years to understand. And it all has to do with the way blood clots.
Before we talk about blood clotting, I believe that God intentionally didn’t share the medical reason for the eight day in the Bible because like many scientific facts he left it up to man to discover why, sometimes hundreds and sometimes thousands of years later, in order to give us just another amazing proof that the Holy Scriptures are truly inspired by God. As we have already shared, in several past devotions, when man discovers something that the Bible said long before science caught up with the Scriptures, it only allows us to have our faith strengthened and give us pause to glorify God for His wonderful foreknowledge.
According to the website, Evidence-For-The-Bible:
“The human body has 2 blood clotting elements. One of them is called Vitamin K. Vitamin K is not formed in the body up until the 5th to the 7th day. The 2nd clotting factor which is essential is called Prothrombin. It surprisingly enough develops to 30% of normal by the 3rd day of life and after that…peaks at 110% on the 8th day, just before leveling off at 100% of normal.
“If vitamin K is not present when a baby boy is circumcised, the baby will bleed to death. The reason why Yahweh established, Day Eight for circumcision is that vitamin K peaks in a newborn at 8 days of age. The 8th day is the optimum day for circumcision because of the highest presence of the clotting factor vitamin K. Today when baby boys are circumcised within a couple of days of birth, they are administered vitamin K to help with blood clotting.”1
How did Abraham and Moses decide on the eight day? According to Dr. McMillen: “Abraham did not pick the eighth day after many centuries of trial-and-error experiments. Neither he nor any of his company from the ancient city of Ur in the Chaldees ever had been circumcised. It was a day picked by the Creator of vitamin K.”2
1 Scientific Evidence For Circumcision On The Eighth Day – Evidence-For-The-Bible (evidence-for-the-bible.com)
2 Biblical Accuracy and Circumcision on the 8th Day — Silvertime Wellness
Thank you.
This scientific explanation of the necessity to wait until the eighth day begs the question “Beyond science, is there redemptive significance for circumcision being commanded on the eighth day?”
This excerpt from Nick Batzig, an associate editor for Ligonier Ministries, answers the question:
Jesus receives the sign of salvation and the name of Savior at the same time. The bloody sign showed what work He had come to do. Jesus shed blood at His birth and blood at His death. The blood that He shed at His birth was the blood of the sign that prefigured what He would do in His death.
On a seven-day week structure (instituted by God) the eighth day is one and same as the first day of the week. The first day represents “beginnings” or “creation,” and the eighth day represents the new creation. This is signified by the eight day Sabbaths found throughout the Old Covenant feasts and festivals. It prefigures the joy and rest that we enjoy in the new creation through the finished work of Christ. It was for this reason that Jesus rose from the dead on the eighth day of the week (i.e. the first day of the week). He appeared to His disciples every eight days, signifying the significance of the first/eighth day resurrection, which secured that the presence of God would be with His people.
If you were an Old Covenant Israelite, reading the divine prescriptions concerning the observance of the Old Covenant ceremonies, you would be compelled to ask the question, “Why, if the Sabbath Day, from creation to the giving of the Law on Sinai, was the seventh day of the week, is there explicit reference to eighth day Sabbaths attached to the festivals?” For instance, in Leviticus 23:36-39–at the institution of the Feast of Tabernacles. This was all a prefiguration of the incarnation. The Apostle John tells us, “The Word became flesh and tabernacled among us” (John 1:14). The purpose of the incarnation was to restore the lost presence of God to His chosen people. In order for this to occur, the incarnation was necessary; but–and this should be carefully noted–reconciliation was only possible through the sin-removing, substitutionary death of Jesus. In order for God to dwell with His people their sins need to be atoned for and His wrath needs to be satisfied. This is what Christ accomplished in His death. In His bloody death, He underwent the ultimate circumcision. The incarnation (tabernacling) made this possible.
Hi David:
Thanks for the Batzig comment. I agree with the redemptive significane and appreciate your sharing.
Regards
Curt
Excellent teaching on the eighth day. I like the implications to other scriptures, like “plant gardens and eat the produce.”