The Lesser Blood of Abraham
Circumcision, the Altar, and Eternal Forgiveness
A Rabbi’s Insight
In the 8th-9th century work Pirkei DeRabbi Eliezer, that is, The Chapters of Rabbi Eliezer, one finds a very curious account.
Like many other places in the vast Midrashic corpus, one is here met with something of a glimpse into the extreme past. Discrepancies and disputes to the side, many of these Midrashic books represent the well-established tradition of the House of Israel today, for better or worse.
According to the twenty-ninth chapter of Rabbi Eliezer, Rabban Gamaliel (the teacher of St. Paul) explains the fascinating connections between the Covenant of Circumcision, the Altar of Sacrifice, and the forgiveness of sins on Yom Kippurim. He says:
Know then that on the Day of Atonement Abraham our father was circumcised. Every year the Holy One, blessed be He, sees the blood of our father Abraham's circumcision, and He forgives all the sins of Israel.
שביום הכפורים נמול אברהם, ובכל שנה ושנה הקב"ה רואה דם הברית של מילה של אברהם אבינו, ומכפר על כל עונותינו
While many Orthodox Jews today may contend that there is no need to rely on blood to obtain the forgiveness of sins, and that the sacrifices of prayer and worship are sufficient, Rabbi Gamaliel maintains the contrary. It is on the basis of God’s covenant with Abraham, signified as it commonly is by reference to his circumcision, that He passed over the transgressions of His people on Yom Kippur.
God’s remembrance of Abraham appears in Scripture many times. For instance, Genesis 19:29:
So it was that, when God destroyed the cities of the valley, God remembered Abraham and sent Lot out of the midst of the overthrow when he overthrew the cities in which Lot had lived.
וַיְהִי בְּשַׁחֵת אֱלֹהִים אֶת־עָרֵי הַכִּכָּר וַיִּזְכֹּר אֱלֹהִים אֶת־אַבְרָהָם וַיְשַׁלַּח אֶת־לוֹט מִתּוֹךְ הַהֲפֵכָה בַּהֲפֹךְ אֶת־הֶעָרִים אֲשֶׁר־יָשַׁב בָּהֵן לוֹט׃
Another similar occurrence is in Deuteronomy 4:21, in which Moses calls heaven and earth to witness his proclamations to the children of Israel, his warnings and blessings. Moses says:
For the Lord your God is a merciful God. He will not leave you or destroy you or forget the covenant with your fathers that he swore to them.
כִּי אֵל רַחוּם יְהֹוָה אֱלֹהֶיךָ לֹא יַרְפְּךָ וְלֹא יַשְׁחִיתֶךָ וְלֹא יִשְׁכַּח אֶת־בְּרִית אֲבֹתֶיךָ אֲשֶׁר נִשְׁבַּע לָהֶם׃
In the same way, God says1 that His own unchangeable nature is the reason He remains merciful to His people:
For I the LORD do not change; therefore you, O children of Jacob, are not consumed.
כִּי אֲנִי יְהֹוָה לֹא שָׁנִיתִי וְאַתֶּם בְּנֵי־יַעֲקֹב לֹא כְלִיתֶם׃
God’s faithfulness to Abraham is as unchangeable as His own character. When Rabbi Gamaliel refers to the blood of Abraham’s circumcision, he is speaking of God’s faithfulness to His own words, for which Abraham’s circumcision stands.
Perhaps even more strikingly, he notes that the forgiveness with which the Hebrews were blessed under the Mosaic Law was not itself of the Mosaic Law. Though this forgiveness is bestowed on Yom Kippurim, the basis for it is ultimately the blood of Abraham — that is, the covenant God cut with Abraham, signified by his circumcision. Therefore, according to Rabbi Gamaliel in this passage, the keeping of the Mosaic Law itself was emphatically not the grounds of Israel’s forgiveness.
Rabbi Gamaliel then connects the altar of sacrifice to Abraham’s circumcision, saying:
In that place where Abraham was circumcised and his blood remained, there the altar was built, and therefore, "And all the blood thereof shall he pour out at the base of the altar" (Lev. 4:30). (It says also), "I said unto thee, In thy blood, live; yea, I said unto thee, In thy blood, live" (Ezek. 16:6).
ובאותו מקום שנמול אברהם ונשאר דמו, שם נבנה המזבח, ולכך נאמר (ויקרא ד, כה): "וְאֶת כָּל דָּמוֹ יִשְׁפֹּךְ אֶל יְסוֹד הַמִּזְבֵּחַ", (יחזקאל טז, ו): "וָאֹמַר לָךְ בְּדָמַיִךְ חֲיִי וָאֹמַר לָךְ בְּדָמַיִךְ חֲיִי".
The curious nature of Rabbi Gamaliel’s explanation lies in that he points the things of the Law back to the covenant of Abraham as their ultimate ground. Abraham’s blood is the blood which surrounds Israel, and into which God commands, “Live!” Indeed, when Abraham was “as good as dead”2 God commanded lives as numerous as the stars to proceed from him.
It seems that this is to be understood in much the same way as St. Paul describes3 Levi having tithed to Melchizedek from the loins of Abraham:
One might even say that Levi himself, who receives tithes, paid tithes through Abraham, for he was still in the loins of his ancestor when Melchizedek met him.
καὶ ὡς ἔπος εἰπεῖν, δι' Ἀβραὰμ καὶ Λευὶ ὁ δεκάτας λαμβάνων δεδεκάτωται, ἔτι γὰρ ἐν τῇ ὀσφύϊ τοῦ πατρὸς ἦν ὅτε συνήντησεν αὐτῷ Μελχισέδεκ.
God’s remembrance of Abraham’s blood, that is, His upholding of His promise to Abraham, is the basis for Israel’s forgiveness on Yom Kippurim.
The Lord preserved Israel in order to bring the Messiah into the world from among their brethren.4 Yet there is a greater blood than Abraham’s to which the Patriarch bore witness.
Greater Blood
Rabbi Gamaliel’s explanation of this covenantal structure is further elucidated in the New Testament. In John chapter 8, while Jesus is celebrating Sukkot, that is, the Feast of Booths, and teaching the crowds, the chief priests and Pharisees came to question Him. As these religious leaders rejoiced in their being the offspring of Abraham, Jesus says that Abraham himself rejoiced in Him.5
Your father Abraham rejoiced that he would see my day. He saw it and was glad.
Ἀβραὰμ ὁ πατὴρ ὑμῶν ἠγαλλιάσατο ἵνα ἴδῃ τὴν ἡμέραν τὴν ἐμήν, καὶ εἶδεν καὶ ἐχάρη.
What does this mean?
Interestingly enough, the Rabbis themselves provide an interpretation of Abraham’s covenant which perfectly coheres with Christ’s statement.
In the interpretive Aramaic translation of the Torah, Targum Pseudo-Jonathan, one reads Genesis 15:6 rendered thus:
And he believed in the Lord, and had faith in the (Memra) Word of the Lord, and He reckoned it to him for righteousness, because he parleyed not before him with words.
וַהֲוַת לֵיהּ הֵימְנוּתָא בְּמֵימְרָא דַיְיָ וְחַשְׁבָהּ לֵיהּ לִזְכוּ דְלָא אַטַח לְקַמֵיהּ בְּמִילִין
Jesus, the Word of God, the Logos,6 is the selfsame Memra in whom Abraham places his faith so many generations ago.
Abraham trusts this Word, obeys Him, and as Jesus says, rejoices to see His day and did indeed see it! He calls this Word “My Lord” and “Yahweh.”7 Thus, Jesus Himself is the very God with Whom Abraham spoke and communed, and Who made the covenant of circumcision with him. And as this covenant began in Abraham’s blood,8 so also is it brought to Jesus’ blood, poured out in the inauguration of a new covenant9 better than Moses.10
Just as the blood of bulls and goats can never take away sins,11 in the same way Abraham’s blood itself can never intercede for man with his God.12 It is as deficient to the conscience as the altar that was founded in its place.13
Whereas Abraham’s blood stands for God’s covenant to bring the Messiah through His offspring, Jesus’ blood is the lifespring of Abraham’s offspring.
Abraham’s blood stands only for what was to come, but Jesus’ blood reconciles all things to Himself and makes peace.14
By his blood, Abraham witnessed that the coming of the Messiah was guaranteed; and by the blood of the Messiah the forgiveness of those who believe in Him as Abraham did is made eternal.15
It is possible to be the offspring of Abraham but not fulfill what this ultimately entails. In John 8:37 Jesus says to the Pharisees and chief priests, “I know that you are offspring of Abraham,” while in verse 39 He stipulates, “If you were Abraham's children, you would be doing the works Abraham did.”
What is it to do as Abraham did? It is to believe in Jesus Christ, the Word of God, just as He did, and be counted righteous in this way just as he was.
Malachi 3:6
Hebrews 11:12
Hebrews 7:9-10
Genesis 22:18; Deuteronomy 18:15; John 4:22
John 8:56
John 1:14-18
Genesis 15:2,8
Genesis 17:26-27
Luke 22:20
Hebrews 7:22
Hebrews 10:4
1 Samuel 2:25
Hebrews 10:2-3
Colossians 1:20
John 5:24