04.04.02 Lk. 2:21 (See also Mt. 1:25b)
JESUS CIRCUMCISED AND NAMED
21 When the eight days were completed for His circumcision, He was named Jesus —the name given by the angel before He was conceived.
“He was named Jesus.” Jesus received His circumcision (b’rit-milah) on the eighth day of life as prescribed by the Law of Moses (Gen. 17:10ff) and with the typical Jewish blessing recited by Joseph.[1] At this time that He was officially given His name of Jehoshua ben Yosef,[2] meaning Jesus, son of Joseph [3] but became known by the shortened form of Yeshua, which in Greek is Jesus. It originated with Joshua and means God saves, or the Lord God is salvation.[4]
The rite of circumcision and the giving of a name would have been performed at the local synagogue in Bethlehem. Circumcision was a sign of the eternal and unconditional covenant God had with Abraham and His people (Gen. 17:11). This made Jesus, as well as all the people of Israel, eligible to fulfill the promises God pledged to Abraham. The Apostle Paul referred to this in Galatians 3:16 concerning the promises to the patriarch and his “seed,” meaning Christ. In the Hebrew Bible, circumcision was proof of divine ownership and was required of all male children and male converts.[5] Later in the New Testament era, Paul wrote that real circumcision is of the heart and is spiritual (Rom. 2:29; cf Phil. 3:3).
However, while Moses prescribed circumcision on the eighth day, the rabbis permitted the rite to be performed on other days, if extenuating circumstances warranted it. This is an example of how the Oral Law demonstrated grace and compassion, an attribute often overlooked. The following is an example:
A child can be circumcised on the eighth, ninth, tenth, eleventh, or twelfth day, but never earlier and never later. How is this? The rule is that it should be done on the eighth day; but if the child is born at twilight the child is circumcised on the ninth day; if a Festival-day falls after the Sabbath, the child is circumcised on the eleventh day; and if the two Festival-days of the New Year fall after the Sabbath the child is circumcised on the twelfth day. If a child is sick, it is not circumcised until it becomes well.
Mishnah, Shabbath 19.5
[1]. Stern, Jewish New Testament Commentary. 162-63.
[2]. Vincent, Word Studies in the New Testament. 1:16.
[3]. Stern, Jewish New Testament Commentary. 162-63.
[4]. Gundry, A Survey of the New Testament. 171; Mills and Michael, Messiah and His Hebrew Alphabet. 7.
[5]. Erickson, Christian Theology. 1036.