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Tuesday, September 11, 2012

Was Moses Circumcised?


Question:
Was Moses circumcised as a baby before or after he was found by the Egyptian princess or at any time during his life?
Answer:
There is no clear reference to Moses’ circumcision in the Bible. We do not know when or even if he were circumcised at all. It is possible that he may have been circumcised by the Egyptians, because circumcision was practiced in ancient Egypt. But there is no mention of it anywhere.
There is only one biblical story that involves Moses and circumcision in Ex. 4: 24-26, but the text is corrupt.  We are told that Zipporah, Moses’ wife, carried out the act of circumcision on a family member on their way down to Egypt, but the text does not clearly state who was circumcised, Moses or one of their two sons, Gershom or Eliezer.
The text reads as follows (my remarks are highlighted): “At a night encampment on the way, the Lord encountered him [who is “him”? Moses or his son], and sought to kill him [Moses or his son?]. So Zipporah took a flint and cut off her son’s foreskin, and touched his legs [whose leg? Moses or the son’s] with it, saying, ‘You are truly a bridegroom of blood to me.’ And when He let him [Moses or the son?] alone, she added,’ A bridegroom of blood because of the circumcision” (NJPS).
Given the uncertainty of the text, commentators have suggested various interpretations.
According to some Rabbis, Moses was among those few grandees of the past who were born already circumcised (e.g., Tanhuma, Noah 5; Avot de Rabbi Natan 2: 5) as an expression of human perfection. For them, the question was who was then circumcised in the Exodus text? Some Rabbis maintained that God wanted to kill Moses because he had not circumcised his second son Eliezer (Ex. Rabba 5: 8; cf. Rashi). On the other hand, a talmudic Rabbi argued that the victim was not Moses but “the child”, but the Talmud does not identify whether this “child” was Gershom or Eliezer. One Rabbi opined that Moses was punished because he was apathetic towards circumcision; another one denies it (e.g., Ned. 31b and 32a).
Modern scholars, too, are divided: Some maintain that the victim was Gershom (Fohrer), whereas others say it was Moses (Childs). The text is so corrupted that one modern critic writes that “the account here is only a truncated version of a larger, popular story that circulated orally in Israel” (Sarna).
Even though the text is unclear, it becomes evident that the passage in Exodus highlights the importance and necessity of circumcision. Zipporah, facing a deadly threat, circumcised a member of her family, and saved him.
Rabbi Rifat Sonsino, Ph.D.
Aug. 2012

3 comments:

  1. One thing the story does make clear is that circumcision was a blood ritual. Now that we know what blood is and does, can we perhaps move on from performing blood rituals, especially on newborn babies, sometimes at risk to their lives?

    Here are contact details for celebrants of bloodless naming ceremonies (Brit Shalom); more than 80 of them, more than 40 of them rabbis, one of the rabbis a Professor of Religious Studies, in 30 US states and several other countries, including Israel: http://shalom.notlong.com

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  2. Funny that GOD creates the entire universe and all it manifests and yet it is foreskin that GOD is so concerned with. Was not MAN created in GOD's image? Is GOD circumcised or intact? If GOD in circumcised, who did it? Himself perhaps. But if GOD created us in his image with foreskin, did he make a mistake? Foreskin is the reason I do not believe in the GOD of the bible. For all of GODs creations, foreskin was his only mistake. Such bullshit.

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  3. I will prefer this blog because it has much more informative stuff. Visit circumcised vs uncircumcised for more related information and knowledge.

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