{"id":34466,"date":"2012-08-21T21:11:00","date_gmt":"2012-08-22T02:11:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/?p=34466"},"modified":"2021-04-23T21:13:39","modified_gmt":"2021-04-24T02:13:39","slug":"could-you-explain-the-importance-of-waiting-eight-days-for-circumcision","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/could-you-explain-the-importance-of-waiting-eight-days-for-circumcision\/","title":{"rendered":"Could you explain the importance of waiting eight days for circumcision?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\n

Question:<\/h2>\n

Could you explain the importance of waiting eight days for circumcision?<\/p>\n\t

Answer:<\/h2>\n

“Speak to the children of Israel, saying: ‘If a woman has conceived, and borne a male child, then she shall be unclean seven days; as in the days of her customary impurity she shall be unclean. And on the eighth day the flesh of his foreskin shall be circumcised. She shall then continue in the blood of her purification thirty-three days. She shall not touch any hallowed thing, nor come into the sanctuary until the days of her purification are fulfilled<\/em>” (Leviticus 12:2-4).<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Whenever a woman had her monthly blood flow, she was unclean for seven days. “If a woman has a discharge, and the discharge from her body is blood, she shall be set apart seven days; and whoever touches her shall be unclean until evening. Everything that she lies on during her impurity shall be unclean; also everything that she sits on shall be unclean. Whoever touches her bed shall wash his clothes and bathe in water, and be unclean until evening. And whoever touches anything that she sat on shall wash his clothes and bathe in water, and be unclean until evening. If anything is on her bed or on anything on which she sits, when he touches it, he shall be unclean until evening<\/em>” (Leviticus 15:19-23). Since a birth also includes a blood flow, the mother is unclean for seven days and technically so is the child. So waiting until the eighth day takes both the mother and child past the week of uncleanness.<\/p>\n

Interestingly, we have learned in recent years that prothrombin, which is essential in blood clotting, peaks in a child eight days after birth, making the eighth day the safest for a child to receive a wound. Vitamin K is necessary to produce prothrombin but that vitamin is produced by bacteria in the intestine. It takes several days (seven as a matter of fact) for the bacteria to get established and start producing sufficient quantities of vitamin K. Prothrombin is actually present in greater than normal quantities on the eighth day before it settles down to a steady level. Because vitamin K levels are low from the second to fifth days after birth, wounds can be dangerous for a child. [Bert Thompson, “Biblical Accuracy and Circumcision on the 8th Day<\/a>,” Apologetics Press]<\/p>\n

In countries where circumcision is practiced, it is standard procedure to give a child a vitamin K shot because the doctors don’t wait for the eighth day to do the surgery. Of course, the New Testament declares that circumcision is an unnecessary procedure. “For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision avails anything, but faith working through love<\/em>” (Galatians 5:6).<\/p>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Question: Could you explain the importance of waiting eight days for circumcision? Answer: “Speak to the children of Israel, saying: ‘If a woman has conceived, and borne a male child, then she shall be unclean seven days; as in the days of her customary impurity she shall be unclean. And on the eighth day the…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[20],"tags":[480,115],"class_list":["post-34466","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-answer","tag-circumcision","tag-old-law"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":28467,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/why-was-a-woman-unclean-less-time-after-the-birth-of-a-boy-than-after-the-birth-of-a-girl\/","url_meta":{"origin":34466,"position":0},"title":"Why was a woman unclean less time after the birth of a boy than after the birth of a girl?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"August 15, 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: In Leviticus 12 it says that the woman who gave birth to a boy is only unclean for seven days, but one who gave birth to a girl is unclean for two weeks.\u00a0 Why is that? Answer: \"Speak to the children of Israel, saying: 'If a woman has conceived,\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":18515,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/where-does-it-say-that-a-man-cant-be-with-his-wife-during-her-monthly-periods\/","url_meta":{"origin":34466,"position":1},"title":"Where does it say that a man can’t be with his wife during her monthly periods?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"April 24, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Where in the Bible does it talk about a woman's monthly cycle and that a man should not be with her while she is on her monthly?\u00a0 My man and I were having a Bible discussion yesterday and he said he read something about that in the Bible but\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":9647,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/is-having-sex-while-a-woman-is-having-her-period-a-sin\/","url_meta":{"origin":34466,"position":2},"title":"Is having sex while a woman is having her period a sin?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"May 2, 2007","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Is having sex with a woman while she is having her period (menstrual cycle) a sin in the Bible? I know it is mention somewhere in the Old Testament that it is a sin. What does the New Testament say? Answer: Under the Old Testament, the Israelites were told\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":69694,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/why-was-one-woman-called-daughter-instead-of-woman\/","url_meta":{"origin":34466,"position":3},"title":"Why was one woman called “daughter” instead of “woman”?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"September 7, 2024","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Good morning, brother. I have been reading Luke 7 about the woman who was a sinner and brought an alabaster flask of fragment oil. She stood at Jesus' feet, washed His feet with her tears, and wiped them with the hair of her head. Jesus refers to her in\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":30222,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/why-were-women-valued-less-than-men-in-the-old-testament\/","url_meta":{"origin":34466,"position":4},"title":"Why were women valued less than men in the Old Testament?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"November 9, 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: I love God.\u00a0 I am a strong woman and have always asserted myself and believe that men and women are equal in the eyes of God.\u00a0 There is actually a scripture that says \"all of mankind is created equal in the eyes of God.\" I do know there are\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":23831,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/was-fornication-not-a-sin-under-the-old-testament\/","url_meta":{"origin":34466,"position":5},"title":"Was fornication not a sin under the Old Testament?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"July 14, 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Since the Old Testament had no shedding of blood for fornication, could it be considered a sin under the Old Testament? 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A sin-offering was given when the person's sin did not have restitution included in\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34466","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=34466"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34466\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=34466"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=34466"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=34466"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}