Part 2 (1/2)

[Illustration: Fig 9; Fig 10; Fig 11]

[Illustration: Fig 12]

CIRcu the es I place the distinguishi+ng mark of their race, circuiven of this curious custom The account, in Genesis xvii that God coree ritten after the exile--that is, thirteen hundred years after the death of the patriarch Now, there is evidence fro before Abrahaht have selected a practice already in use a other nations” If so, God must have had a curious taste and an uninventivemade people as they are, he should order his chosen race to be mutilated, must be a puzzle to the orthodox Soyptians borrowed from the Jehom they despised (see Genesis xliii 32) Apart from the evidence of Herodotus and of ested in the Bible, but the testimony of the book of Joshua (v 9) implies the reverse

The narrative of the Lord's attempted assassination of Moses (Exodus iv

24-26), which we shall shortly examine, has the most archaic complexion of any of the biblical references to circuues that the rite is of Arabian origin If instituted in the time of Abraham under the penalty of death, it is curious that Moses never circumcised his own son, nor saw to its performance in the wilderness for forty years, so that Joshua had personally to circual

Let us now look at the various theories of the origin and purpose of circu Jews say it is of a sanatory character This view, though found in Philo, ious difficulty Most Asiatic nations are uncircumcised The Philistines did not practice the rite, nor did the Syrians in the tiht possibly be beneficial, that would be no sufficient reason for i it on a whole nation under penalty of death The fact is, the rite is a religious one

Indeed, upon its retention the early controversy between Jews and Christians largely turned

The view that it is an iested in Dr Reh authority of Herbert Spencer He instances the trophy of foreskins taken by David as a dowry for Saul's daughter (1 Sa subdued the Idumeans, made them submit to circumcision This, however,the tributary to Jahveh It is not easy to see how a mutilation imposed from without should ever become a part of the pride of race and be enjoined when all other mutilations were forbidden

Encyclopaedia Britannica, article ”Circuh in accord with early sociological conditions, I have never yet seen stated It was suggested tothe Jews It is that circue toteuish the tribal division frohtof Genesis xxxiv 14 is ”one who is uncircumcised is as a woman to us,” this view is confires and ”the bed of the uncircumcised” is well known

What Tacitus says is, ”They do not eat with strangers or es with them, and this nation, otherwise e wouish the term for ree with this view, as also with that of Dr Trumbull, which associates circu It seems evident from the narrative in Exodus iv, where Zipporah, after circuenerally understood to Moses--”A bloody husband art thou to me,” but to Jahveh, ”Thou art a _Kathan_ of blood”--ie, one made akin by circumcision--that this idea of a blood-covenant became interwoven with the rite It is to be noticed that in the covenant between God and the Jeomen had no share

Dr Kuenen holds that circumcision is of the nature of a substitute for human sacrifice No doubt the Jews had such sacrifices, and were familiar with the idea of substitution; but with this I rather connect the Passover observance If a sacrifice, it was doubtless phallic--an offering to the God on whom the fruit of the womb depended; possibly a substitution for the barbarous rites by which the priests of Cybele were instituted for office Ptole nations, says: ”Many of the to Gerald Massey, ”it was a dedication of the first-fruits of the inthe seed through the fire to Moloch”

Westrop and Wake (_Phallicision_, p 37) say ”Circu for its ai of that which from its associations is vieith peculiar veneration, and it converts the two phases of this superstition which have for their object respectively the _instru, who maintains the phallic view, also holds that ”truth compels us to attach an Aphrodisiacal character to the hly sensual Jewish race” This vieill not be hastily rejected by those who know of the e devices resorted to by barbarous peoples Some have believed that circumcision enhances fecundity

With the exception of the two first viehich I disious and permanent character of the rite, all these views ieneration

This is further confir the ancient Jews When Abraham swore his servant, he said, ”Put, I pray thee, thy hand under h” (Gen xxiv 2) The sa Joseph (xlvii 29), and the custo Arabs until modern days, is also alluded to in the Hebrew of 1 Chronicles xxix 24 The Latin testiculi seems to point to a similar custom In the law that no uncircuht appear before the shrine of the Lord, we may see yet further evidence that Jeorshi+p was akin to the phallic rites of the nations around them

MOSES AT THE INN

And it came to pass by the way in the inn, that the lord ht to kill him Then Zipporah took a sharp stone, and cut off the foreskin of her son, and cast it at his feet, and said,

Surely a bloody husband art thou to o: then she said, A bloody husband thou art, because of the circumcision

--Exodus iv 24-26

Anyone ishes to note the various shi+fts to which orthodox people will resort in their attempts to pass off the barbarous records of the Jews as God's holy word, should demand an explanation of the attempted assassination of Moses by Jehovah, as recorded in the above verses Soel of the Lord,” as if Jehovah was incapable of personally conducting so nefarious a piece of business Bishop Patrick says ”The Schechinah, I suppose, appeared to him--appeared with a draord, perhaps, as he did to Balaaht to kill Some say it was at the child's feet the foreskin was cast, others at those of Moses, but the Targums of Jonathan and Jerusalem more properly represent that it was at the feet of God, in order to pacify him

The story certainly presents some difficulties Moses had just had one of his nuo back to Egypt, for all those are dead who sought his life He is to tell Pharaoh that Israel is the Lord's firstborn, and that if Pharaoh will not let the Israelites go he will slay Pharaoh's firstborn Then ie of conduct towards Moses, whose life Jehovah was apparently so anxious to save?

Ada is that the son of Moses had not been circumcised, and therefore Jehovah was about to have slain the child because not in covenant with him by circumcision, and thus he intended [after his usual brutal fashi+on] to punish the disobedience of the father by the death of the son Zip-porah getting acquainted with the nature of the case, and the danger to which her firstborn was exposed, took a sharp stone and cut off the foreskin of her son By this act the displeasure of the Lord was turned aside, and Zipporah considered herself as now allied to God because of this circuloss over the atte it was only a child's life that was in danger But we beg the reader to notice that no _child_ is e is unspecified Dr Clarke can hardly have read the treatise of John Frischl, _De Circumcisione Zipporo_, or he would surely have admitted that the person menaced with death was Moses, and not his son

Other co business (although she seems to have understood it at once), and therefore addressed her husband opprobriously Circumcision, we int version records how the flints hich Joshua circurave