And he that is eight days old shall be circumcised among you, every man child in your generations, he that is born in the house, or bought with money of any stranger, which is not of thy seed.
He that is eight days old shall be circumcised. This rite was practiced by many ancient nations: by the Egyptians, Ethiopians, Colchians (a branch of the old Egyptians), the Syrians, Phoenicians, among the Troglodites on the coast of the Red Sea (Rawlinson's 'Herod,' b. 2:, ch. 37, 104) - nay, even among the Bechuana and Caffre tribes south of the Zambesi in Africa, and traces of it have been found in the South Sea Islands, and even in the heart of the New World. The rite was practiced in Egypt as early as the fourth dynasty, and probably earlier, long before the birth of Abraham, (Wilkinson, in Rawlinson's 'Herod'.) But among these people it was by no means universal, as an extensive examination of mummies has proved that it was undergone by no larger proportion than about one in fifty, and that, too, at the age of fourteen and upwards, when political, sanitary, or prudential reasons prompted it; whereas it was enjoined upon the posterity of Abraham almost as soon as they came into the world-to be performed on the eighth day after birth. Since it was a national distinction, it was imperative on all classes, from the highest to the lowest grades of Jewish society; and, above all, it was symbolical of important religious sentiments.