Circumcision in Fausset's Bible Dictionary
The cutting off all round of the foreskin (the projecting
skin in the male member, the emblem of corruption,
Deuteronomy 10:16; Jeremiah 4:4) of males, appointed by God
as token of His covenant with Abraham and his seed (Genesis
17:10-14). The usage prevailed, according to Herodotus
(2:104, section 36-37), among the Egyptians, Ethiopians, and
Syrians. But his statement may refer only to the Egyptian
priests, and those initiated in the mysteries. The Jews
alone of the inhabitants of the Syrian region were
circumcised. So, circumcision kept them distinct from
uncircumcised Canaanite pagan around. If the rite existed
before Abraham it was then first sanctioned as a token of
God's covenant with Abraham and his seed, and particular
directions given by God as to the time of its being
performed, the eighth day, even though it were a sabbath
(John 7:22-23), and the persons to be circumcised, every
male, every slave, and (at the Exodus it was added) every
male foreigner before he could partake of the Passover
(Genesis 17:12-13; Exodus 12:48).
So, the rainbow existed before the flood, but in
Genesis 9:13-17 first was made token of the covenant. The
testimony of the Egyptian sculptures, mummies, and
hieroglyphics, is very doubtful as to the pre-Abrahamic
antiquity of circumcision. (See note Genesis 17, Speaker's
Commentary.) The Hamite races of Israel, akin to the
Egyptians, as (Judges 14:3) the Philistines and Canaanites
(the Hivites, Genesis 34), were certainly not circumcised.
The Egyptian priests probably adopted the rite when Joseph
was their governor and married to the daughter of the priest
of On. The Israelites by the rite, which was associated with
the idea of purity, were marked as a whole "kingdom of
priests" (Exodus 19:6; Deuteronomy 7:6-7). In Jeremiah 9:25,
"I will punish all them which are circumcised with the
uncircumcised: Egypt, and Judah, and Edom," two classes seem
distinguished: Israel circumcised in flesh, but
uncircumcised in heart; and the Gentile nations
uncircumcised both in flesh and heart.
Hyrcanus first compelled the Edomites to be
circumcised (Josephus, Ant. 13:9, section 1; compare Ezekiel
31:18). Its significance is, the cutting the outside flesh
of the organ of generation denotes corruption as inherent in
us from birth, and transmitted by our parents, and
symbolizes our severance from nature's defilement to a state
of consecrated fellowship with God. Jehovah consecrated the
nation to Himself; and whatsoever male was not circumcised
on the eighth day was liable to be "cut off." Moses had
neglected to circumcise his son, owing to Zipporah's
repugnance to it, as a rite not generally adopted in the
East, even by the descendants of Abraham and Keturah, the
Midianites. Therefore he was attacked by some sudden seizure
in the resting place for the night, which he and his wife
were divinely admonished arose from the neglect. She took a
sharp stone or flint (compare margin Joshua 5:2; Joshua
5:8), the implement sanctioned by patriarchal usage as more
sacred than metal (as was the Egyptian usage also in
preparing mummies), and cut off her son's foreskin, and cast
it at Moses' feet, saying, "a bloody husband art thou to
me," i.e., by this blood of my child I have recovered...
Read More about Circumcision in Fausset's Bible Dictionary