Genesis 17:25

25. Thirteen years old Josephus ( Ant. , 1:12, 2) says the Arabians, because of this, do not circumcise their children until the thirteenth year .

ADDITIONAL NOTE ON CIRCUMCISION.

The practice of circumcision obtained among many ancient nations, and was probably in use before the time of Abraham. See note on Genesis 17:11 above. Herodotus was unable to determine whether the Egyptians learned the custom from the Ethiopians, or the Ethiopians from the Egyptians. Herod., 2: 104. Both nations observed the custom from the earliest times, and it is difficult to believe that they would have borrowed it from the Hebrews. The practice also prevailed among the Colchians of Asia and the savage Troglodytes of Africa, ( Diod. Sic., 3: 31,) and is still continued by several African tribes and the inhabitants of many islands of the Pacific. PICKERING, Races of Men, pp. 153, 199. The Abyssinian Christians are said also to perform this rite at the present day, and upon both sexes. LUDOLF, Hist. Ethiopia, 1. 19. The practice prevailed also among the Phoenicians and Syrians ( Herod., 2: 104) and the Moabites, Ammonites, and Edomites. Jeremiah 9:25. The Arabians perform the rite after the thirteenth year, thus following the example of Ishmael . Genesis 17:25 above, note . Mohammed was circumcised, according to the custom of his countrymen; and, though the Koran does not enjoin the practice, circumcision is as common among the Mohammedans as among the Jews . As to the origin and reason of this practice many hold that it was introduced in those southern countries not as a religious rite, but from a physical cause . It is believed that the burning temperature of those climes, in many cases combined with a peculiar bodily structure of those races, gave rise to the custom . It was thought to prevent painful diseases and such disorders as phimosis, and gonorrhoea spuria . Modern travellers testify that it precludes great physical inconvenience among the Bush-men; and the Christian missionaries who tried to abolish it in Abyssinia, were compelled, by the dangerous physical consequences, to desist from their plans . Herodotus observes that the Egyptian priests were circumcised for the sake of cleanliness, deeming it better to be clean than handsome . Herod . , 2: 37 . It was observed, however, in the course of time, that many tribes and nations inhabiting the same zones remained uncircumcised without perceptible injury or inconvenience . The Philistines seem never to have adopted the custom . The Edomites neglected it, (Josephus, Ant . , 13: 9, 1,) and some classes of the Egyptians omitted it; and when, in the time of the Persian and Greek dominion, the primitive institutions of Egypt were neglected or underwent important modifications, circumcision ceased to be a national custom. The priests alone preserved it as a mark of their superior purity. Kalisch. But whatever the occasion or reason of its origin, the Egyptian priests doubtless connected some religious significance with the rite of circumcision. Other nations also probably associated it with sacred mysteries. It has been thought that among idolatrous peoples it may have had some reference to the deification of the powers of nature, and especially those of generation. It is impossible, however, to determine exactly what religious significance the heathen nations attached to the custom. But if it seem strange that a custom practised by idolatrous tribes should have been made a sign and seal of God’s covenant with Abraham, let us consider that almost every religious ceremony of the Hebrew people was based upon some prevailing Eastern custom or tradition, and that it was divested of base and superstitious elements by such appropriation to new purposes, and exalted to be the vehicle of lofty doctrines. This accommodation to traditionary practices, says Kalisch, secured the external success of the true religion, while the transformation of rotten and idolatrous institutions into laws of indestructible vitality, constitutes its indisputable claim to originality, and commands the admiration of all ages.

With Abraham and his posterity it became the sacred token of a blood-covenant, the most solemn and obligatory conceivable, between man and God. Abraham became henceforth, ina notable sense, “the friend of God.” 2 Chronicles 20:7; Isaiah 41:8; James 2:23. Genesis 17:10-11, above, are thus paraphrased by Trumbull: “The blood-covenant of friendship shall be consummated by your giving to me of your personal blood at the very source of paternity ’under your girdle;’ thereby pledging yourself to me, and pledging also to me those who shall come after you in the line of natural descent . ” The Blood Covenant, p . 217 . New York, 1885 .

The rite was in the earliest times performed with a stone knife, (Exodus 4:25; Joshua 5:2,) sometimes by the mother, but generally by the father of the child . Afterwards it became the business of a physician, but in modern times it is performed by a special officer . The eighth day after birth was the usual time for the circumcision, (Leviticus 12:3; Luke 1:59,) at which time the child is named . In the course of the ceremony the following is uttered: “Blessed art thou, O Lord, our God! who hath sanctified his beloved from the womb, and ordained an ordinance for his kindred, and sealed his descendants with the mark of his holy covenant. Preserve this child to his father and mother, and let his name be called in Israel, A, the son of B. Let the father rejoice in those that go forth from his loins, and let his mother be glad in the fruit of her womb.” See more in the Biblical Cyclopedias, under the word Circumcision.