It was the custom among the Hebrews a.t all times, as it is among modern Jews,§ to give a boy II a name at his circumcision IT (see Lk 2^'). The rite had to be performed on the eighth day after birth, even though that day happened to be a Sabbath ; technically this was a breaking of the Sabbatli, but the law concerning circumcision took
Frecedence here (see Christ's words in Jn V"'-). f, however, from one cause or another, cq. sick- ness, a child's circumcision had to be postponed, the rite could under no circumstances be performed on the Sabbath.** In the time of Christ the cere- mony was performed in the house ; by the 7th cent, it had become customary to perform it in the synagogue ; the modern Jews, however, have gone back to the earlier custom, and have their children circumcised at home.tt How fully the Law was ful- filled in the case of Christ is seen from Lk P^ ' On the eighth day they came to circumcise the child [John] ' (cf . Ac T, Ph 3'^), and Lk 2-' ' And when eight days were fulfilled for circumcising him, his name was called Jesus ' (cf . Gal 4^).
Whatever may have been the original object and signification <if <-iic\iiiK-isi(iii,:]:| it liad lost its
primary meaniiiL' I'Hiu liit'iir [\\i- In f imr I.dviI.
By the time of thr UM.n l,,iii;ii, rxilr ii had Imjci,
one of the distiii.^ulslnii- maik^ i.l .luclaisui : yrt, in spite of this, il is remarkable to hnd that in later days there arose a divergence of opinion among the Jews as to the need of circumcision for proselytes. Hellenistic Jews did not enforce circumcision in the case of proselytes, affirming that baptism was sufficient (see the' Jewish Enci/c. iv. 94, 95, where further details are given) ; the Palestinian Jews, on the other hand, would not admit jiroselylt's Nvilli<.ut cinumcisi.,!]. The view of thelalternltii.Kitrly w,,n (l.r.lay, but the epi- sode tcstilirs tii the la. I llial. in llir (ipinion of a very influential luid iiiip(jrtaiit rlass nf Jews, cir- cumcision and bajitism were analogous rites. Now there was one element in circumcision which may possibly have been of greater significance than is often supposed. It was an essential part of the rite that blood should be shed (cf. the ' Mezizah '- cup, an illustration of which can be seen in the Jewish Encyc. iv. 99) ; but blood reitresented life, was even identiMed with life (Lv 17"-", see art. Blood); itis thcnlmv ,lilli,ull to get away from the conviction thai \vlirn a .hild was circumci.sed he was consecnil rd to (....1 l.y the fact that his life (i.e. under the .symbol of Ijlood) was ofiered to
In later Judaism, when sacrifices had ceased, circumcision and the keeping ot the Sabbath were regarded as substitutes for sacrifices.
* This applies also to the Samaritans.
t An exception to this is found amon^ the Persians, who circumcise their children at anv age from eight days to ten years, though it is unusual to do so at the earliest age (see, further, Ploss, oj). clt. p. 248 fl.).
* ■"" Bertherand, itidecine des Arahes, p. 306 ; Driver,
■ Genem, p. 190.
ailed Reform J
304-307 ; Aslier, up. eit. p.' also be found in Jewish En
Review, Nov. 1904.
God. The fact of circumcision being called ' the sign of the covenant ' (Gn 17" K-a niN ; cf. also tlie niodern name rhy^ nnj, and the words in the ser- vice at a circumcision : ' From this eighth day and henceforth may his blood be accepted, and may the Lord his God be with him')* supports this view, for no covenant was ratified without the shedding of blood, t i.e. the symbolic laying down of a life.
If circumcision, then, was in a certain sense a> death (or at least a symbol of life laid down), there is a very striking analogy between it and bap- tism ; cf. the words of St. Paul in Ro &^- ' Are ye ignorant that all we who were baptized into Christ were baptized into his death? We were buried therefore with him through baptism into death : that like as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, .so we also might walk in newness of life . . . ' Both circum- cision and baptism were a figurative death, by means of wliicli a new sjiiritual life was reached. In tlie later .Icwish liln.iture this view was held with regard to (•ir( unu isimi, as the following quo- tation, for example, will show: 'According to Pirke R. El. . . . 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 Abra- liamic covenant, wherefore (Ezk 16") God repeats the words : In thy blood live.'t The same thought is brouylit out in tlie iiindern 'service at a circum- i-i-^inii," when till' .!/.;/;</ 1; says, in reference to the niwly nr. iniaisiMl : ■ I.ei I liy father and thy mother rej.iir.., ami lei her Ihal l>,iie thee be glatl ; and it is said. And I ))assed by thee, and I saw thee wel- tering in thy blood, and I said unto thee, " In thy blood live." 'II