Did Joshua invent circumcision?? and why?
As soon at the 12 stones monument is set up at Gilgal, Joshua sharpens a bunch of rocks for a more painful purpose:
וַיַּעַשׂ־ל֥וֹ יְהוֹשֻׁ֖עַ חַֽרְב֣וֹת צֻרִ֑ים וַיָּ֙מׇל֙ אֶת־בְּנֵ֣י יִשְׂרָאֵ֔ל אֶל־גִּבְעַ֖ת הָעֲרָלֽוֹת׃
“Joshua had flint knives made, and the Israelites were circumcised at the Hill of Foreskins.”
Ouch.
Most English translations prefer to stick to the Hebrew site name, perhaps for modesty or literal cover up but the name is quite plain and the pain can be felt through the pages. In the following verses the motive for the mass-circumcision as a covenantal moment is explained: None of the men leaving Egypt, nor their sons, removed their foreskins during the wilderness years. It’s not clear why, but it’s clear that Adonai is pleased for this turn of events. In v. 9 Joshua is told by the deity “Today I have remove and rolled away the disgrace of Egypt from you.” The location is not cited as Foreskin Hill but rather designated as Gilgal - the sacred site consecrated in the previous chapter, the name a reference to the ‘unrolling and removing’ of the shame, and perhaps the foreskin itself.
What’s the disgrace of Egypt all about? What’s going on here?
There’s some incredible research on this chapter, revealing that it’s possible that Joshua - and not Abraham - is the one to actually introduce circiumsion to the Hebraic how-to-handle-life manual, thank you very much.
Prof. Rabbi David Frankel cites some convincing proof that what’s hidden in this chapter and on this forgotten hill is the origin of this problematic practice in Israelites religion - as it was already known and practices in ancient Egypt for various hygienic and religious reasons.
Frankel analyzes the various attempts to make sense of ‘Egypt’s disgrace’and suggestes that “the most compelling interpretation is that God’s dramatic declaration to Joshua implies that the Israelites in Egypt were scorned as uncircumcised by their Egyptian superiors...Following this approach, Joshua introduces circumcision into Israel “today,” at Gilgal, for the first time, since they were not circumcised before this...Now that they are on their own land, Joshua introduces circumcision to the Israelites as a sign that they should no longer feel “disgraced” in the eyes of the Egyptians. Instead, like the Egyptians, they too are now circumcised. In this tradition, Joshua—not Abraham—is the father of Israelite circumcision.”
Frankel’s radical notion (supported by other scholars) rolls out many questions about this still persistent (though declining) marker of Jewish manhood. Whose idea was it in the first place and what is this patriarchal practice really about? A close reading of chapter 5 reveals that later editors may have inserted Adonai’s command here and tried to hide the man-made command making it look as authored by the highest authority, in line with earlier traditions that were forgotten or for some other reasons not performed. This gets at the complex science of biblical historical scholarship, piecing together the layers of editorial agenda and traditions that were sometimes cobbled together, or cut out altogether. Frankel concludes: “The editor converted Joshua’s decision to conduct a mass circumcision of the Israelite men at Gilgal into a divine command to offer it religious significance. The circumcision is performed in compliance with the divine will and is not done merely to appear less “primitive” by the standards of Egyptian culture.”
So perhaps this was some strange collective rite of passage?
The rest of chapter 5 is no less dramatic - stil camped at Gilgal AKA Foreskin Hill, the people mark their first Passover in the homeland, under the full moon. It’s not the blood on their doors that marks this threshold - but the dried blood of their men, now modified as warriors, about to begin their military seize of the land declared sacred and separate, theirs to take over, weapons in hand. Also in this chapter - the manna, for the first time in 40 years, stopped feeding them from heaven. In order to eat - they have to come up with their new strategies. Scarred, hungry and motivated - the Israelite Army begins to fight.
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What is the reasoning that it is still a practice…. It’s barbaric. Traumatic. No longer necessary for hygienic reasons.