Solon, I have been reading all the posts about circumcision with some interest. I did not know before that circumcision predated the Bible, so I have learned something from the discussion. That makes me wonder, though, if not a directive from God, where such a practice would come from. Yeah, it could have been some form of sacrifice or some tribal identification. But I'm trying to picture how it might have come to pass. (I did manage to slip a "come to pass" into my post out of respect for your style. That exhausts my knowledge of the language of the Bible.)
I'm picturing some ancient guys sitting around a campfire chewing on a hallucinogenic root or, perhaps, prostrate in awe of their first eclipse. And what happens? One guy says to another guy, "hey, lets all cut off our foreskins" so that we can...? Huh??
I realize that I don't have the physical equipment, or the perspective, to analyze this as well as others. Can anyone conjure up a scenario that would result in anyone taking a knife (or a sharpened stone, given the time frame) to that particular part of the body for the first time? If tribal marking was the motivation, face paint or pierced ears or tattoos are much more obvious. If the motive was sacrifice, killing a goat seems like it could have happened naturally. But taking a knife to one's private parts? I can't imagine a way to make that leap.
Karen |
