Abrahamic covenant
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Abrahamic covenant is the name given to the quid pro quo covenant that Chapter Seven of Genesis alleges exists between God and Abraham. According to Genesis 7, God promises Abraham:
Neither shall thy name any more be called Abram, but thy name shall be Abraham; for a father of many nations have I made thee. And I will give unto thee, and to thy seed after thee, the land wherein thou art a stranger, all the land of Canaan, for an everlasting possession; and I will be their God.[1]
In return, Abraham is to:
Thou shalt keep my covenant therefore, thou, and thy seed after thee in their generations.
This is my covenant, which ye shall keep, between me and you and thy seed after thee; Every man child among you shall be circumcised. And ye shall circumcise the flesh of your foreskin; and it shall be a token of the covenant betwixt me and you. And he that is eight days old shall be circumcised among you, every man child in your generations, he that is born in the house, or bought with money of any stranger, which is not of thy seed. He that is born in thy house, and he that is bought with thy money, must needs be circumcised: and my covenant shall be in your flesh for an everlasting covenant.[2]
The Scripture also says that God has changed Sarai’s name to Sarah (which suggests nobility) and that she shall bear Abraham a son.
Questioning the Abrahamic covenant
Many have wondered why God would create men with a foreskin with documented protective, immunological, sensory, and sexual physiological functions only to required that it be cut off after eight days of life.
Some contemporary Jewish parents feel that circumcision is a painful amputation that inflicts pain, physical, sexual, and psychological harm to a child. They wish to protect a son from such harm and so have adopted a non-cutting naming ceremony usually called Brit Shalom instead of the traditional Brit Milah.