Expert: Pastor Don Carpenter - 4/7/2006

Question
Pastor Don

   In Exodus chap. 12, the Lord gives Moses
instructions for the passover meal.
   In verse 43 it says only an Israelite can
eat the meal, but then in verse 48 it says an
alien living in your land can eat the meal as long as they are circumcised.
   This seems to be a contradiction.
   what do you think?
                      thanks
                      Bob  

Answer
Hi Bob,

I believe that the kind of uncircumcision that God cannot abide with is the uncircumcision of the heart, the unwillingness to be different than everyone else around us in order to please God.

Ezekiel 44:7-9
7 In that ye have brought into my sanctuary strangers, uncircumcised in heart, and uncircumcised in flesh, to be in my sanctuary, to pollute it, even my house, when ye offer my bread, the fat and the blood, and they have broken my covenant because of all your abominations.  8 And ye have not kept the charge of mine holy things: but ye have set keepers of my charge in my sanctuary for yourselves.  9 Thus saith the Lord GOD; No stranger, uncircumcised in heart, nor uncircumcised in flesh, shall enter into my sanctuary, of any stranger that is among the children of Israel.

The King James Version, (Cambridge: Cambridge) 1769.

Acts 7:51
51 Ye stiffnecked and uncircumcised in heart and ears, ye do always resist the Holy Ghost: as your fathers did, so do ye.
The King James Version, (Cambridge: Cambridge) 1769.

God would accept the strangers as long as they were willing to submit to God's ordanances in their hearts.

I hope that this helps.

In Christ
Pastor Don