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Bible Dictionaries
CircuMcIsion
People's Dictionary of the Bible
or Circumcision. A Jewish rite which Jehovah enjoined upon Abraham, the father of the Israelites, as the token of the covenant, which assured to him the promise of the Messiah. Genesis 17:1-27. It was thus made a necessary condition of Jewish citizenship. Every male child was to be circumcised when eight days old. Leviticus 12:3, on pain of death. The biblical notice of the rite describes it as distinctively Jewish; so that in the New Testament "the circumcision" and "the uncircumcision" are frequently used as synonyms for the Jews and the Gentiles. The rite has been found to prevail extensively in both ancient and modern times. Some of the Jews in the time of Antiochus Epiphanes, wishing to assimilate themselves to the heathen around them, "made themselves uncircumcised." Against having recourse to this practice, from an excessive anü-Judaistic tendency, Paul cautioned the Corinthians. 1 Corinthians 7:18.
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Rice, Edwin Wilbur, DD. Entry for 'CircuMcIsion'. People's Dictionary of the Bible. https://www.studylight.org/dictionaries/eng/rpd/c/circumcision.html. 1893.
