Page:Catholic Encyclopedia, volume 3.djvu/864

 CIRCUMCISION

778

CIRCUMCISION

eision was practised anywhere prior to the Biblical date, at which God made it "a sign of the covenant" between Himself and Abraham (Gen., xvii, 11). To the Jews it had a sacramental meaning, derived from its Divine institution and sanction. As Isaac, so their children were circumcised on the eighth day, according to the law: "An infant of eight days old shall be cir- cumcised among you, every man child in your gener- ations: he that is born in the house, as well as the bought servant shall be circumcised, and whosoever is not of your stock: And my covenant shall be in your flesh for a perpetual covenant. The male, whose flesh of his foreskin shall not be circumcised, that soul shall be destroyed out of his people: because he hath broken my covenant" (Gen., xvii, 12-14; xxi, 4). For some reason, not given in the text. Moses while in Madian neglected to circumcise his son, Eliezer, on which account God "would have killed him", i. e. not Eliezer, as some think, but Moses, as the passage in- dicates. Sephora, having taken a sharp stone, cir- cumcised her son with it, and said, "a bloody spouse art thou to me"; whereupon the Lord "let him go" (Exod., iv ; 24-26). The Greek reading, "the blood of my son's circumcision has ceased to flow", is obscure. Sephora very probably meant that by what she had done she had saved the life of her husband and con- firmed their marriage by the shedding of blood.

During the sojourn of forty years in the desert the law of circumcision was not observed, as the changes incident to nomadic life, in so large a community, made its observance almost impossible. When, how- ever, the people came into the Land of Promise, the Lord said to Josue: "Make thee knives of stone, and circumcise the second time the children of Israel" (Jos., v, 2). The second time, i. e. renew the practice which had been omitted during the nomadic period. As Sephora used a stone knife, so on this occasion stone knives were used, which is a proof that the events narrated are of great antiquity. The words of the Lord to Josue, "This day have I taken away from you the reproach of Egypt", seem to refer not to circumcision, as some think, but to the disgrace of being slaves to the Egyptians, contrasted with the honour of entering into the true liberty of the children of God. Josephus interprets them in this sense : ' ' Now the place where Joshua pitched his camp was called 'Gilgal', which denotes 'liberty', for since now they had passed over Jordan, they looked upon themselves as freed from the miseries which they had undergone from the Egyptians, and in the wilderness" (Ant.,V, i, 11). Many modern scholars, however, translate Gilgal, "a rolling away", "circle" (Gesenius, s. v.), and think that the Heb. text of Josue (v, 9), "I have rolled away from you the reproach of Egypt", refers to the removal of the disgrace of uncircumcision; for at that time, they suppose, most of the Egyptians, and not a few Jews while in Egypt, were uncircumcised. The law was clear and peremptory: "The uncircum- cised shall lie destroyed out of nis people" (Gen., xvii. 14); and for both Jews and strangers circumcision was (Exod., xii", 48). 'An I, "uncircumcised ". is Frequently used as a term of reproach, i. e. profane, unclean (Judges, xv, 18; I K., \iv, 6, xvii, 36, \\.\i. 4; Is., lii, 1 ; Ezech., xxviii, 10, xxxii, 25, 26, etc.). The school of Shammai, therefore, was conservative, insisting on the rigorous observance of the law, while that of Ilillel.
 * i necessary preparation for eating tin- paschal lamb

was more inclined to leniency, in dealing with pros- elytes anil Strangers. Josephus, in the advii f

Eleazer and Ananias to [zates, King of Adiabeni. gives the views of the rigorists and the laxists in reference to the necessity of circumcision (Ant.. XX. ii,4;cf. Graetz, Geschichte d. Juden, 111, pp. I72sqq.). I lie rigorous doctrine was adopted by John Byrcanus, who compelled the Idumeans to be circumcised. They

received, moreover, the entire Jewish Law; so thai Jo- sephus says ' ' they were hereafter nootherthan Jews

(Ant., XIII, ix, 1). Therefore, the fact that Herod was an Idumean helped him to the throne. The Itu- reans also were forced "to live according to the Jew- ish laws" (Jos., Ant., XIII, xi, 3).

Long before this, many of the Persians were circum- cised and "became Jews, for the fear of the Jews had fallen upon them" (Esth., viii, 1 7. Heb. text : Josephus, Ant., XI, vi, 13). The Book of Jubilees insists upon the strict observance of the law, and protests against those that "make the members of their body appear like those of the gentiles" (xv, 26, 27). During the period of Greek rule in Palestine, when those that kept the laws of Moses were put to death by the gentile tyrants ( I Mach., i, 63; II Mach., vi, 10), some Jews, under Greek influence, "made themselves prepuces" and turned awav from the ways and traditions of their fathers (1 Mach.'.i. L5,16; Jos., Ant., XII, v, 1). To this epispastic operation performed on the athletes to con- ceal the marks of circumcision St. Paul alludes, /j-v 4-m- awavVoi (I Cor.,vii. 18). Therefore Jewish circumcision, in later times, tears the membrane that remains after circumcision given in the ordinary way. among the Arabs for instance, and thus defeats even the surgeon's skill.

In our day many Jews are not so zealous in keeping the law as their fathers were ; nor do they think it nec- essary to have the "sign of the covenant" in their flesh. The ceremony is considered cruel, nor has it any sacramental import in Jewish national life. The Reform movement at Frankfort-on-the-Main, 1843, considered it an unnecessary element of Judaism. This lax doctrine could find no stronger expression than in the case of Chief Rabbi Einhorn of Mecklenburg, who in 1847 defended liis having named and conse- crated an uncircumcised child in the synagogue, as a child, even though uncircumcised, born of Jewish parents, enjoys all the privileges and assumes all the obligations of a Jew. (See Jewish Encyl., s. vv. Cir- cumcision, Einhorn.)

Neither place nor minister is designated in the law of circumcision. The mother sometimes, oftener the father, circumcised the child. Later, one skilled in the operation, called a Mohel, usually a surgeon, per- formed it. In Josephus, Ant.. XX, ii, 4. we read that Izates, the King of Adiabene, wishing to live as a Jew, "sent for a surgeon" and was circumcised, evidently at home, as in modern times also the ceremony may take place either at home or usually in the synagogue. The eighth day was prescribed, even should it be the Sabbath (see John, vii, 22, 23). A name was given, as in Luke, i. 59, ii, 21, to commemorate the change of the patriarch's name from Abram to Abraham, when God made the covenant with him and made circum- cision the sign of it (Gen., xvii. 5). In the ceremony, the one that holds the child is called Snndek, from the Greek aivreKvos, equivalent to our godfather in bap- tism; and as l'.lias was a zealous champion of the law, for which he suffered much, there is a vacant chair for him at every circumcision.

The Jews were proud of their descent from Abraham, but did not always "do the works of Abraham" (John, viii, 39i. They attached so much importance to the external act, that while attending t" 'he letter they neglected the spirit of the law. Jeremias (iv, 4; ix. 25, 26) calls their attention to the necessity of circumcision of the heart, as all important. Even in Deut.,x, Hi, xxx, 6. this spiritual circumcision is set forth in no uncer- tain language. As uncircumcision means profane, un- clean, imperfect, "I am of uncircumcised lips" (Ex., \i, 12), "their ears are uncircumcised" (Jer., vi, 10), and was applied to inanimate things also, as in Lev., xix, 23, "the fruit thai cometh forth shall be unclean

[Heb. uncircumcised] to you", so lo circumcise- the

heart (Horn., ii, 29) means to reform the inner man, by

cutting ofi the vices anil correcting the disorders that make him displeasing in the sight of God. To leave the synagogue was to give up that which more than