Biblical Hebrew Forum

[Peter_Kirk AT SIL.ORG]

Now you are using the very sources which you described as late (2nd 
century BC) and unreliable to argue for their own unreliability!

Peter Kirk


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Subject: Circumcision (and Philistines)
Author:  mc2499 AT mclink.it at internet
Date:    03/02/1999 18:05


Herodotus tells us that the Phoenicians and the Syrians of Palestine were 
circumcised. Evidence from Egypt suggests that males there were also 
circumcised. Yet the Philistines are specifically indicated a number of 
times on the OT/HB as simply the "uncircumcised" (eg 1Sam14:6 and 
Jdg15:18), though such an epithet is never used against Canaanites. Note 
also Jer9:25-26 which calls Egypt, Judah, Edom, Moab and Ammon as 
"circumcised only in the foreskin". This should be further evidence of the 
Philistines coming from a different cultural heritage.

A different issue regarding circumcision:

When did circumcision first become practiced on Jewish children? Gen17:10 
talks of every male (zakar), and Gen17:23 specifies every male among the 
men (enosh) of Abraham's house. The story about the death of Shechem after 
the rape of Dinah suggests that circumcision was originally part of the 
male preparation for marriage, Gen34:14.


Ian


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