CIRCUMCISION. 



OUMtd to niter. The gcdfither then Mating himsrlf in 

 the chair which had been provided for him. held the 

 chiU hiii the operator cul uff tlie foreskin with a knife, 

 a raz r. or sharp (lone : a little styptic powder was ap- 

 > s'.op the bl.cding, and the ceremony concluded 

 wilb prayer* and hymns. 



It is n :>t thought necessary to *ay more respecting the 

 object of circumcision, at it is plainly stated in ciipturc 

 to be a token of the covenant Ivtwvcn God and r 

 roily of Abraham : and the propriety of the token may 

 be inferred from this, that they who bore such an 

 :>le mark of thtir alRIiatioa to God, would be con- 

 tinually reminded of their sllcgiance, and excited to pi. - 

 serve inviolate that solemn covenant, whose external ign 

 they ncter could disavow. But Jewish writers have en- 

 diavoured to extract ti wri mystical meanings from the 

 rite of circumcir Vi its avowed and obvious use, 



a* the vuible sign of a covenant. Philo says, that it re- 

 present' d the necessity of retrenching sensual enjoy- 

 ments, and of keeping in proper subjection all thoic 

 lusts, and passions, which war against the soul. Tiiis 

 idts i< count :r i.ci. J by the scriptuies ; ' Tin- Lord thy 

 Gou," sap Moses, " vill circumviic thy heart and the 

 uf thy eed to love the Lord thy God." " The 

 house of Israel," says Jeremiah, " is uncircumcised ia 

 heart." Some authors have even maintained, that cir- 

 cumcision was not merely calculated to convey this ty- 

 pical, or figurative meaning, but had a physical influence 

 to producing continence and purity. 



As one great end of circumcision was to distinguish the 

 Israelites from the surrounding heathen nations, they seem 

 to have thought it allowable to omit the ceremony, when 

 there was no danger of being confounded with their 

 idolatrous neighbours. Hence they m-glected circumci- 

 iion during the time of their sojourning in the wilder- 

 ness : after they had pissed Jordan, Joshua circumcised 

 all the survivors of those who had been born in the wii- 

 dcruesi. Moses also neglected to circumcise his son in 

 the land of Midian, which gave rise to a curious incident 

 when he was returning with his wife and family, into 

 Egypt. It is said that the angel of the Lord met him 

 and sought to kill him. " Then Zipporah look a sharp 

 tttmt, and cut off the foreskin of her son, and cast it ut 

 hit feet, and Mid, surely a blood if husband than art to me : 

 So/te let him go ; then the taid, a bloody husband thou art 

 became of the circumcision," Exod. iv. 25, 26. We 

 quote this passage because it seems to be little under- 

 stood, and also because it seems to point out a peculiari- 

 ty attending the rile of circumcision. It is generally 

 supposed that the words of Zipporah are addressed to 

 hrr husband, by way of reproach ; and that she speaks 

 contemptuously of the circumcision. There is no ground 

 for this opinion, but the mistranslation in our version. 

 /!;>[* .rail, as being a Midianitess, and of course a descen- 

 dant of Abraham by Keturah, could not be unacquaint- 

 ed with circumcision, which was observed by all the des- 

 cendant* of the patriarch : and the readiness with which 

 she performed the operation, is a proof that she was no 

 stranger to the practice. The whole difficulty has ari- 

 sen fiom translating the word c/iulrin, a husband, which 

 never in Scripture has that signification, but means a fa- 

 ther-in-law or a son-in-law, or a bridegroom in the day 

 /hit etjtoiuali. Hence the learned Joseph Mede sup- 

 poses the words of Zipporah to be certain verba solemnia 

 addressed to her child, intimating that she had espoused 

 him unto God, by a covenant of bio d : and this opinion 

 is confirmed by the word-, of Aben Ezra on this place ; 

 Mot mutierum nocare Jilium cum circumcisii.t cst ]nrt 

 (ctorton). See Mtde's Work, Castr/l. Lexic. Heptaglot. 



and Ptirkhurtt, who snppows the words addressed to the C!reuir.ci- 

 angel wii!i the same figurative mejinn.j. ion. 



It u now nec-ssary to attend to the history of cir- < "V"" r< 

 oumcision in different nations ; f >r we find this singular 

 rite observ ,'.y by th- Jews, but by the Egyp- 



tians, the Ethiopian*, ;lu- Arabians, t!i- Phcniciar.s, the 

 Colchians ; and we tind it existing at this day among 

 many people, who*e connection cannot now be ti 

 with any of tlw^e nations. Herodotus m his Euterpe 

 wi*hes to ascribe the origin of this practice-, as the Greeks 

 did of every thing that bore the marks of great antiquity, 

 to the Egyptians. His words arc, Mam T*>T K.A^si 

 xi AiyiMcnej, &c. " The Colch'.ans and Egyptians are 

 the only people who have practised circumcision from 

 tin- remotest antiquity : for the Phemcians and Syrians 

 in Palestine, (the Jews) confess that they borrowed this 

 practice from the Egyptians. These are the only peo- 

 ple who circumcise, and they seem in this to imitate 

 the Egyptians : but I am not sure whether the Eiryp- 



'"' 1 1 !->! nt I 



turns communicated this practice to the Ethiopians, or 

 t!ie Ethiopian* to the Egyptians." 



There is considerable confusion, as well as misrepresen- 

 tation, in thjs passage : in the outlet the historian ascribes 

 the origin of the practice to the Colchians and Egyp- 

 tians, but concludes with saying that he was not sure 

 but the Egyptians might have learned it from the Ethi- 

 opians. TJlC account of his testimony, respecting the 

 origin of circumcision, is evidently tins, that he Knew 

 nothing at all about the matter. His attestation, haw- 

 ever, to the existence of the practice among the people 

 whom he has specified, is entitled to attention, the more 

 so, as it has misled several authors, and induced them to 

 ascribe the origin of circumcision to the Egyptians. 

 This opinion was adopted by Celsus and Julian among 

 the ancients ; and has been favoured among the moderns 

 by Sir John Marsham, Spencer, and Le Clerc. 



In the first place, Origen tells us expressly, that 

 the practice was not general among the Egyptians, but 

 was observed only by their geometricians, astronomers, 

 and diviners. This affords a strong presumption that 

 they borrowed the practice from Moses, whose power, 

 as a workir of miracles, they had so often felt and con- 

 fessed. The mathematician , and men of science among- 

 the Egyptians, were all jugglers, and pretenders to mi- 

 racles, and prophecy ; and as they alone practised cir- 

 cumcision, what can be more natural than to suppose, that 

 they adopted it in imitation of Moses, whom they could 

 not but regard as an Archimogus, or master in the art 

 which they professed. 



But farther, the Scriptures afford strong reasons for 

 believing that circumcision, at an early period, was little 

 if at all known among the Egyptians. When Pharaoh'* 

 daughter saw Moses, she said, this if one of the Hebrew 

 children, and it is thought that she discovered this, by 

 the distinctive mark of circumcision, which immediately 

 ascertained his origin, as the rite was then not practised 

 among the Egyptians. In the days of Ezekicl, it is 

 evident that Egypt was ranked with the uncircumcised 

 nations, for it is said that it should lie uncircumcised, 

 slain with the sword, along with Ashur, Elam, Mtshech, 

 and Tubal, chap, xxxii. It is v.ry ividcnt then, that 

 circumcision was never generally practised among the 

 Egyptians ; that it was adopted at an early period by 

 particular classes among them is not denied : but we 

 iitivc not the shadow of evidence that its antiquity among 

 them approaches any thing near to the time of Abra- 

 ham. The residence of a circumcised people among 

 the Egyptians for four hundred years, may easily ac- 

 count tor the origin of the practice ; especially as the 



