Bible Lexicons

περιτέμνω is always used in the LXX for the ceremonial act of circumcision, and Deissmann (BS p. 151 ff.) has suggested that the choice of this particular compound by the LXX translators may have been due to the fact that it was ";in common use as a technical term for an Egyptian custom similar to the Old Testament circumcision."; He cites by way of illustration P Lond 24.12 (B.C. 163) (= I. p. 32, UPZ i. p. 117) ὡς ἔθος ἑστὶ [ν ] τοῖς Αἰγυπτίοις περι [[τε ]]τέμνεσθαι (see further below), and BGU I. 347 i. 17 (A.D. 171) where we read of a boy—περιτ ]μηθῆναι [κατὰ ] τὸ ἔθος.

To this evidence we can now add a series of documents dealing with the priests of Soknebtunis, P Tebt II. 291–3 : see especially 292.20 (A.D. 189–190), where a priest makes request to the strategus that κα ̣τὰ τὸ ἔθος ἐ ̣π ̣ι ̣[στολὴν. . .] γραφῆναι ὑπὸ σοῦ τ ̣[ᾷ κρατίστῳ ἀρχιερεῖ ἵνα ] συνχωρήσαντος αὐτοῦ δυν [ηθῶσιν οἱ παῖδες ] περιτμηθῆναι καὶ τὰς ἐπιβαλλο [ύσας ἱερουρ ]γ ̣ίας ἐπιτελεῖν, ";in accordance with custom a letter should be written by you to his highness the high-priest in order that, his permission being given, the boys [his own son and another boy] may be able to be circumcised and to perform the sacred offices assigned to them"; (Edd.)

Other documents of a similar character are P Tebt II. 314 (ii/A.D.), Preisigke 15 (A.D. 155–6), BGU I. 82 (A.D. 185) and PSI V. 454 (A.D. 320). See further Wilcken Archiv ii. p. 4 ff., and Otto Priester i. p. 213 ff.

It is clear, accordingly, that circumcision was in Egypt the necessary ritual preparation for a priest. The conception of Israel as a nation of priests is well illustrated by this connotation of the rite in a neighbouring land : we can recognise, moreover, how ";uncircumcised"; (ἀπερίτμητος) means so clearly ";unclean,"; when we see the rite applied to a class whose business it was to be capable of entering the presence of the gods. That circumcision in Egypt was not, however, confined to candidates for the priesthood is shown by P Lond l.c., where it is applied to a girl on reaching puberty, and in preparation for marriage : see further Wilcken in UPZ i. p. 118.