The Holy Quran with Five Volume Commentary (Vol 1) — Page 112
CH. 2 AL-BAQARAH out of thee. . . 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 the uncircumcised man child whose flesh of his foreskin is not circumcised, that soul shall be cut off from his people; he hath broken my covenant. " The circum- cision here spoken of is treated as a symbol of spiritual purification in the Scriptures (Lev. 26:41 & Jer. 4:3, 4; 9:25). The Jews retained the outward form of the rite of circumcision but neglected the inner spirit, while Christians neglected both. PT. 1 keep all His commandments" (Deut. 26:17, 18). When the covenant was being made and the glory of God was manifesting itself on Mount Sinai, the Israelites were SO terrified to see "the thunderings and the lightnings and the noise of the trumpet and the mountain smoking" (Exod. 20:18) that accompanied this manifestation that they exclaimed to Moses, saying: "Speak thou with us and we will hear; but let not God speak with us, lest we die" (Exod. 20:19). These words sealed the fate of the Israelites; for thereupon God said to Moses that, though the Israelites would be blessed as long as they acted upon the commandments revealed through him, in future no Law-giving Prophet, just as he was, would appear among them. Such a Prophet-a Law-giving Prophet like unto him—would in future appear from among the brethren of the Israelites, i. e. the Ishmaelites. Says Moses: "And the Lord said unto me, they have well- spoken that which they have spoken. I will raise them up a prophet from among their brethren, like unto thee, and I will put my words in his mouth; and he shall speak unto them all that I shall command him. And it shall come to pass, that whosoever will not hearken unto my words which he shall speak in my name, I will require it of him (Deut. 18:18, 19). After Abraham the covenant was renewed with the Israelites. This second covenant is mentioned in the Bible in several places (Exod. 20; Deut. Chaps. 5, 18, 26). God gave Moses on Mount Sinai (or Horeb as it is called in Deut. ) the Ten Commandments and made a covenant with the Israelites (Deut. 5:2, 3). They were commanded to keep this covenant thus: "Ye shall walk in all the ways which the Lord your God hath commanded you, that ye may live, and that it may be well with you and that ye may prolong your days in the land ye shall possess" (Deut. 5:33). And again "Thou (O Israel!) hast avouched the Lord this day to be thy God and to walk in His ways, and In the foregoing verses, to keep His statutes, and His Israelites are told that as they commandments, and His judgements, themselves refused to listen to the and to hearken unto His voice: and word of God, the next Law-giving the Lord hath avouched thee this day Prophet will be raised not from to be His peculiar people as He has among them, but from among their promised thee, and that thou shouldst | brethren. Prophets were indeed raised 112 the