Circumcision in the Bible
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- This article is about Circumcision in the Bible. For the history of male circumcision, see History of male circumcision.
Circumcision, when practiced as a rite, has its foundations in the Bible, in the Abrahamic covenant, such as Genesis 17, and is therefore practiced by Jews and Muslims and some Christians, those who constitute the Abrahamic religions.
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[edit] Introduction
Circumcision has a long history, and is mentioned frequently in the Bible. However, it should be noted that the Bible means different things to different religious groups.
- For Jews, the Bible consists of the 24 books in Hebrew (and some Biblical Aramaic) that are known as the Tanakh.
- For Protestant Christians, the Bible consists of the 39 books of the Old Testament (following Jerome's Veritas Hebraica) plus the 27 books of the New Testament.
- For Catholic and most Orthodox Christians, the Bible includes several other books known as the Deuterocanonical books, the list being slightly different for each group. In addition, some Orthodox Christians have additional New Testament books, such as the Ethiopian Orthodox and Armenian Orthodox, or less, such as the Syriac Orthodox Church, see Biblical canon.
As the Bible means different things to different groups and individuals, what the Bible says would obviously vary from group to group. It also can make a difference if a person is interpreting or translating the Bible in the light of Jewish or Christian traditions or academic and scholarly research.
[edit] In the Jewish Bible
According to the Jewish Bible, circumcision was enjoined upon the biblical patriarch Abraham, his descendants and their slaves as "a token of the covenant" concluded with him by God for all generations, an "everlasting covenant" (Genesis 17:13), thus it is commonly observed by the Abrahamic religions.
The penalty of non-observance was karet, excision from the people (Gen. 17:10-14, 21:4; Lev. 12:3). Non-Israelites had to undergo circumcision before they could be allowed to take part in the feast of Passover (Ex. 12:48), or marry into a Jewish family (Gen. 34:14-16).
It was "a reproach" for an Israelite to be uncircumcised (Josh. 5:9.) The name arelim (uncircumcised) became an opprobrious term, denoting the Philistines and other non-Israelites (I Sam. 14:6, 31:4; II Sam. i. 20) and used synonymously with tame (unclean) for heathen (Isa. 52:1). The word 'arel' (uncircumcised) is also employed for "unclean" (Lev. 26:41, "their uncircumcised hearts"; compare Jer. 9:25; Ezek. xliv. 7, 9); it is even applied to the first three years' fruit of a tree, which is forbidden (Lev. 19:23).
However, the Israelites born in the wilderness after the exodus from Egypt apparently did not carry out the practice of circumcision. According to Josh. 5:2-9, "all the people that came out" of Egypt were circumcised, but those "born in the wilderness" were not. In any case, we are told that Joshua, before the celebration of the Passover, had them circumcised at Gilgal.
Deut. 10:16 says, "Circumcise the foreskin of your heart," (and quoted in Jer 4:4) along with Jer 6:10 To whom shall I speak, and give warning, that they may hear? behold their ear is uncircumcised, and they cannot hearken: ..., thus giving the rite a spiritual meaning; circumcision as a physical act being enjoined nowhere in the book. Jer. 9:25, 26 says that circumcised and uncircumcised will be punished alike by the Lord; for "all the nations are uncircumcised, and all the house of Israel are uncircumcised in heart." Non-Jewish tribes that practiced circumcision were described as being "circumcised in uncircumcision."
The Bible contains several narratives in which circumcision is mentioned. There is the circumcision and massacre of the Shechemites (Genesis 34:1-35:5), the hundred foreskin dowry (1 Samuel 18:25-27) and the story of the LORD threatening to kill Moses, and being placated by Zipporah's circumcision of their son (Exodus 4:24-26).
[edit] In Judaism
Judaism teaches that the Bible was transmitted in parallel with an oral tradition, known as the oral law. Jewish practices and beliefs, thus, are based on reading the Bible through the perspective of the oral law; see the entries on the Mishnah, Talmud and rabbinic literature.
According to Jewish law, ritual circumcision of male children is a commandment from God that Jews are obligated to follow; Jews do not believe that non-Jews are obligated to follow this commandment. Many Christians have the same understanding of this issue (i.e., that it is a law intended for Jews, but not for Christians). See also Noahide laws.
[edit] In rabbinic literature
During the Babylonian exile the Sabbath and circumcision became the characteristic symbols of Judaism. This seems to be the underlying idea of Isa. lvi. 4: "The eunuchs that keep my Sabbath" still "hold fast by my covenant," though not having "the sign of the covenant" (Gen. xvii. 11.) upon their flesh.
Contact with Greek polytheistic culture, especially at the games of the arena, made this distinction obnoxious to Jewish-Hellenists seeking to assimilate into Greek culture. The consequence was their attempt to appear like the Greeks by epispasm ("making themselves foreskins"; 1 Macc 1:15; Josephus, Ant. xii 5, § 1; Assumption of Moses, viii.; 1 Cor 7:18;, Tosef.; Talmud tractes Shabbat xv. 9; Yevamot 72a, b; Yerushalmi Peah i. 16b; Yevamot viii. 9a). Also, some Jews at this time stopped circumcising their children. 1 Macc 2:46 records that the Maccabean zealots "forcibly circumcised all the uncircumcised boys they found within the borders of Israel."
The Rabbis also took action to ensure that the practice of circumcision did not die out. In order to prevent the obliteration of the "seal of the covenant" on the flesh, as circumcision was henceforth called, the Rabbis, probably after Bar Kokhba's revolt, instituted the "peri'ah" (the laying bare of the glans), without which circumcision was declared to be of no value (Shab. xxx. 6).
To be born circumcised was regarded as the privilege of the most saintly of people, from Adam, "who was made in the image of God," and Moses to Zerubbabel (see Midrash Ab. R. N., ed. Schechter, p. 153; and Talmud, Sotah 12a).
Uncircumcision being considered a blemish, circumcision was to remove it, and to render Abraham and his descendants "perfect" (Talmud Ned. 31b; Midrash Genesis Rabbah xlvi.)
Rabbinic literature holds that one who removes his circumcision has no portion in the world to come (Mishnah Ab. iii. 17; Midrash Sifre, Num. xv. 31; Talmud Sanhedrin 99).
According to the Midrash Pirke R. El. xxix., it was Shem who circumcised Abraham and Ishmael on the Day of Atonement; and the blood of the covenant then shed is ever before God on that day to serve as an atoning power. According to the same midrash, Pharaoh prevented the Hebrew slaves from performing the rite, but when the Passover time came and brought them deliverance, they underwent circumcision, and mingled the blood of the paschal lamb with that of the Abrahamic covenant, wherefore (Ezek. xvi. 6) God repeats the words: "In thy blood live!"
[edit] Necessary or not?
The issue between the Zealot and Liberal parties regarding the circumcision of proselytes remained an open one in the first century of the common era, a time before the Mishnah was edited and the Halakah was finalized.
R. Joshua asserting that along with accepting Jewish beliefs and laws, immersion in a mikveh (ritual bath) was enough for someone to convert to Judaism. In contrast, R. Eliezer makes circumcision a condition for the admission of a proselyte. A similar controversy between the Shammaites and the Hillelites is given (Shab. 137a) regarding a proselyte born circumcised: the former demanding the spilling of a drop of blood of the covenant; the latter declaring it to be unnecessary.
The rigorous view is echoed in the Midrash: "If thy sons accept My Godhead [by undergoing circumcision] I shall be their God and bring them into the land; but if they do not observe My covenant in regard either to circumcision or to the Sabbath, they shall not enter the land of promise" (Midrash Genesis Rabbah xlvi.). "The Sabbath-keepers who are not circumcised are intruders, and deserve punishment," (Midrash Deut. Rabbah i.)
It appears that while the Palestinian Jews accepted the uncircumcised proselytes only as "Proselytes of the Gate", non-Palestinian Judaism did not make such a distinction until the Jewish-Roman wars, when the more rigorous view became prevalent everywhere. Thus Flavius Clemens, a nephew of the emperors Titus and Domitian, when with his wife Domitilla he embraced the Jewish faith, underwent circumcision, for which he suffered the penalty of death (see Grätz, "Gesch." iv. 403 et seq., 702).
It was chiefly this rigorous feature of Jewish proselytism which provoked the hostile measures of the emperor Hadrian. And, furthermore, it was the discussion of this same question among the Jews—whether the seal of circumcision might not find its substitute in "the seal of baptism" — which led Paul of Tarsus to urge the latter in opposition to the former (Romans 2:25-29, 4:11-12, and elsewhere), just as he was led to adopt the antinomistic or antinational view, which had its exponents in Alexandria.
Flavius Josephus in Jewish Antiquities book 20, chapter 2 recorded the story of King Izates of Adiabene who decided to follow the Law of Moses at the advice of a Jewish merchant named Ananias. He was going to get circumcised, but his mother, Helen, who herself embraced the Jewish customs, advised against it on the grounds that the subjects wouldn't stand to be ruled by someone who followed such "strange and foreign rites". Ananias likewise advised against it, on the grounds that worship of God was superior to circumcision (Robert Eisenman in James the Brother of Jesus claims that Ananias is Paul of Tarsus who held similar views) and that God would forgive him for fear of his subjects. So Izates decided against it. However, later, "a certain other Jew that came out of Galilee, whose name was Eleazar", who was well versed in the Law, convinced him that he should, on the grounds that it was one thing to read the Law and another thing to practice it, and so he did. Once Helen and Ananias found out, they were struck by great fear of the possible consequences, but as Josephus put it, God looked after Izates. As his reign was peaceful and blessed, Helen visited the Jerusalem Temple to thank God, and since there was a terrible famine at the time, she brought lots of food and aid to the people of Jerusalem.
[edit] Necessity
The consensus that became accepted in all segments of the Jewish community was that circumcision was an absolute requirement (barring, of course, medical conditions; Jewish law prohibits parents to have their son circumcised if medical doctors hold that the procedure may unduly threaten the child's health; e.g. hemophilia.)
Unlike Christian baptism, circumcision, however important it may be, is not a sacrament. Circumcision does not give a Jew his religious character as a Jew. An uncircumcised Jew is a full Jew by birth (Talmud Hul. 4b; Avodah Zarah 27a; Shulkhan Arukh, Yoreh De'ah, 264, 1).
A non-Jewish physician may, according to R. Meïr, in the absence of a Jewish expert, perform the ceremony, as may women, slaves, and children (Talmud Avodah Zarah 26b; Menachot 42a; Maimonides' Mishneh Torah, Milah, ii. 1; Shulkhan Arukh, Yoreh De'ah, l.c.).
Circumcision must, whenever possible, take place on the eighth day, even when this falls upon the Sabbath (Shab. xix. 1); Samaritans and the Karaites dissent from this rule. However, if by reason of the child's debility or sickness the ceremony is postponed, it can not take place on the Sabbath (Talmud Shabbat 137a). It is the duty of the father to have his child circumcised; and if he fails in this, the bet din of the city must see that the rite is performed (Talmud Kid. 29a).
[edit] In the Deuterocanon/Apocrypha
The Deuterocanon/Apocrypha reveal the cultural clash between Jews and Greeks, and between Judaizers and Hellenizers. Greeks valued the foreskin and when they took part in athletic sports, they did it in the nude [2]. However, they insisted that the glans remained covered. They were therefore horrified by the Jewish custom of circumcision. The Books of the Maccabees reveal that many Jewish men chose to undergo epispasm, foreskin restoration by stretching the residual skin [3], so that they could conform to Greek culture and take part in these sports. (1 Macc 1:11-15). Some also left their sons uncircumcised (1 Macc 2:46). This relatively peaceful period came to an end when Antiochus Epiphanes attacked first Egypt and then sacked and looted Jerusalem (1 Macc 1:16-64). Epiphanes determined to force everyone to live the Greek way and abandon the Jewish way. Among other things, he banned circumcision.
Though many were prepared to conform to Greek culture, observant Jews saw circumcision as a mark of Jewish loyalty and many who kept to the Mosaic Law defied the edict of Antiochus Epiphanes prohibiting circumcision (1 Macc 1:48,1:60; 2:46). Jewish women showed their loyalty to the Law, even at the risk of their lives, by themselves circumcising their sons. "For example, two women were brought in for having circumcised their children. They publicly paraded them around the city, with their babies hanging at their breasts, and then hurled them down headlong from the wall." (2 Macc 6:10) At the same time, the Zealots forcibly circumcised the uncircumcised boys within the borders of Israel (1 Macc 2:46).
In the upshot, the Jewish Zealots defeated the Greeks and they retained the right to circumcise.
The Book of Jubilees, part of the Bible of the Ethiopian Orthodox, written in the time of John Hyrcanus, reveals the hostility directed against those who abandoned circumcision (xv. 26-27): "Whosoever is uncircumcised belongs to 'the sons of Belial,' to 'the children of doom and eternal perdition'; for all the angels of the Presence and of the Glorification have been so from the day of their creation, and God's anger will be kindled against the children of the covenant if they make the members of their body appear like those of the Gentiles, and they will be expelled and exterminated from the earth".
The Gospel of Thomas saying 53, said to be of Jesus, states:
- "His disciples said to him, "is circumcision useful or not?" He said to them, "If it were useful, their father would produce children already circumcised from their mother. Rather, the true circumcision in spirit has become profitable in every respect."" SV [4]
Parallels to Thomas 53 are found in Paul's Romans 2:29, Philippians 3:3, 1 Corinthians 7:19, Galatians 6:15, Colossians 2:11-12.
[edit] In Christianity
While Jesus' circumcision was recorded as having been performed in accordance with Torah requirements in Luke 2:21, according to the Acts of the Apostles, chapter 15, the leaders of the Christian Church at the Council of Jerusalem rejected circumcision as a requirement for Gentile converts. Paul of Tarsus, who called himself Apostle to the Gentiles, persistently attacked the practice, but in one case consented to the circumcision of Timothy "because of the Jews" that were in town (Timothy had a Jewish mother and a Greek father Acts 16:1-3). He also appeared to praise its value in Romans 3:1-2. Paul argued that circumcision no longer meant the physical, but a spiritual practice (Romans 2:25-29). And in that sense, he wrote 1 Corinthians 7:18: "Is any man called being circumcised? let him not become uncircumcised" -- probably a reference to the practice of epispasm [1]. Paul was circumcised when he was "called." He added: "Is any called in uncircumcision? let him not be circumcised.", and went on to argue that circumcision didn't matter 1 Cor 7:19: "Circumcision is nothing and uncircumcision is nothing. Keeping God's commands is what counts."
Later he more explicitly denounced the practice, rejecting and condemning those who promoted circumcision to Gentile Christians. He accused Galatian Christians who advocated circumcision of turning from the Spirit to the flesh. And in 1 Gal 3:3 says "Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law. He accused circumcision advocates of wanting to make a good showing in the flesh 1 Gal 6:12 and of glorying or boasting of the flesh 1 Gal 3:13. Some believe Paul wrote the entire book of Galatians attacking circumcision and requiring the keeping of Jewish law by Christians, saying in chapter five: "If ye be circumcised, Christ shall profit you nothing."
In a late letter he warned Christians to beware of the mutilation (Strong's G2699), saying that Christians were the true circumcision because they worshipped in the Spirit of God (Phil 3:2-3).
The Catholic Encyclopedia: Judaizers notes: "Paul, on the other hand, not only did not object to the observance of the Mosaic Law, as long as it did not interfere with the liberty of the Gentiles, but he conformed to its prescriptions when occasion required (1 Corinthians 9:20). Thus he shortly after circumcised Timothy (Acts 16:1-3), and he was in the very act of observing the Mosaic ritual when he was arrested at Jerusalem (21:26 sqq.)."
Simon Peter, who for Catholic Christians is the first Pope, condemned circumcision for converts according to Acts 15:7-10. Paul, the Apostle to the Gentiles, warned that the advocates of circumcision were "false brothers". (Gal. 2:4) When the various passages from the New Testament regarding circumcision are gathered together, a strongly negative view of circumcision emerges. [5] Some Biblical scholars think that the Epistle of Titus, generally attributed to Paul, may state that circumcision should be discouraged among Christians (Titus 1:10-16), though others believe this is merely a reference to Jews. Circumcision was so closely associated with Jewish men that Jewish Christians were referred to as "those of the circumcision" (e.g. Colossians 3:20) [6] or conversely Christians who were circumcised were referred to as Jewish Christians or Judaizers. These terms (circumcised/uncircumcised) are generally interpreted to mean Jews and Greeks, who were predominate, however it is an oversimplification as 1st century Iudaea Province also had some Jews who no longer circumcised, and some Greeks (called Proselytes or Judaizers) and others such as Egyptians, Ethiopians, and Arabs who did.
In the Gospel of John 7:23 Jesus is reported as giving this response to those who criticized him for healing on the Sabbath:
- Now if a man can be circumcised on the sabbath so that the Law of Moses is not broken, why are you angry with me for making a man whole and complete on a sabbath? (Jerusalem Bible)
This passage has been seen as a comment on the Rabbinic belief that circumcision heals the penis (Jerusalem Bible, note to John 7:23) or as a criticism of circumcision [7].
The Roman Catholic Church condemned circumcision for its members at the Council of Florence of 1442 [8]. This was in response to Coptic Christians, who practice circumcision. It may also reflect anti-Jewish feelings in the Church at that time, see also Catholic Timeline of Antisemitism. Fr. John J. Dietzen, a retired priest and columnist, reports based on the Catholic Catechism paragraph #2297 (respect for bodily integrity) that circumcision is immoral if it can be defined as an amputation or mutilation [9].
[edit] See also
[edit] References
- ^ "making themselves foreskins"; I Macc. i. 15; Josephus, "Ant." xii. 5, § 1; Assumptio Mosis, viii.; I Cor. vii. 18;, Tosef.; Talmud tractes Shabbat xv. 9; Yevamot 72a, b; Yerushalmi Peah i. 16b; Yevamot viii. 9a; [1]; Catholic Encyclopedia: Circumcision: "To this epispastic operation performed on the athletes to conceal the marks of circumcision St. Paul alludes, me epispastho (1 Corinthians 7:18)."
2. Leonard B. Glick. Marked in Your Flesh: Circumcision from Ancient Judea to Modern America. New York: Oxford University Press, 2005. (ISBN 0-19-517674-X)
