The Elevation of Circumcision

Egyptian civilization pre-dates the start of Hebrew culture. That in itself has no bearing on which people birthed the rite. Abraham's time period is circa 1714 BCE. Credit his obedience to HaShem's command as the origin of Hebrew circumcision though the Pharisaic enactment of p*ri'ah gives the finished product the distinct look it has today and prevents epispasm.

These are some of the circumstances from the Genesis account. Abram is 99 years old. El Shaddai establishes yet another in a series of covenants with Abram, promising prolific increase of Abram'sprogency to the point of many nations. El Shaddai gives Abram a name, Abraham, signifying his fathering of nations. Abraham's seed is to worship El in perpetuity. Circumcision is the visible sign throughout generations of the covenant with El. All males in the household, whether born or bought, are to be circumcised, the newborns at eight days old. Failure to circumcise is tantamount to severance from the kinship group. Abraham is promised a son from his Syrian wife to whom this covenant will apply in succession. Sarah's son is engendered by Abraham now perfected by the covenant of circumcision.

Abraham already has a thirteen year old son from an Egyptian mother. Ishmael's mother Hagar was the daughter of a pharaoh. Circumcision, though not practiced then by Syrians as evidenced in Abrams lack of it, was an Egyptian custom. A sixth dynasty tomb, the mastaba of Ankhmahor at Saqqara, circa 2250 BCE has a relief depicting a couple of 13 year olds undergoing the rite implemented by flint knives. The Egyptian priesthood and nobility routinely circumcised. Other classes in their society often followed suit. Their cut was often a dorsal slit that exposed the glans not a complete removal of the foreskin.

Use of stone knives instead of metal ones may hint of stone age origins. The rite was practiced by the indigenees of Australia and New Guinea. Herodotus comments that Egyptians and Ethiopians have been circumcising from remote antiquity. He can't discern which of the two originated the operation. He does notice that the Phoenicians dropped the habit. He also mentions circumcising Syrians who admit they adopted the custom from Egyptians (History 2.104). Josephus' interpretation recognizes the Judeans as the only circumcising Syrians (Antiquities 8.10.3, Against Apion 1.22).

The Libyans may have also practiced a form of circumcision in ancient times. The lower register of the reverse side of the Narmer palette c. 3100 BCE delineates the nude glans of a fleeing(?) Libyan. Later Egyptian records note Libyans as uncircumcised and their foreskinned penes were counted war trophies (as Saul was to demand of David for Michal's hand). Circumcision, or lack thereof, may reflect a cultural difference between the earliest Tehenou indigenous Libyans and the later Tamahou Libyan peoples who were mixed with Indo-European refugees. Much later records from the Greeks note troglodytes in the interior of Libya who did circumcise. Would there already be troglodyte Jews in Libya c. 3rd or 4th century CE?

'Libyans, slain, whose uncircumcised phalli were carried off, 6359'

Merenptah's Karnak inscription

... it pleased David well to be the king's son-in-law. ...

and David arose and went, he and his men, and slew of the Philistines two hundred men; and David brought their foreskins, and they gave them in full number to the king, that he might be the king's son-in-law.
And Saul gave him Michal his daughter to wife.

And Saul saw and knew that HaShem was with David;
and Michal Saul's daughter loved him.

I Samuel 18:26-28

Excepting most of the Imazighen and Semites, the Afrasians of ancient record circumcised, the northwest Semites somewhat reluctantly so upon Egyptian instigation. Was Hagar displeased at Abram's remiss concerning Ishmael's impending circumcision? Hagar had no problem bringing on the drama. Did HaShem thus redefine circumcision so that this heretofore rite of puberty would not happen with that significance in the household of the progenitor of His covenant people? A rite practiced by many non-Afrasian Africans, but without its corollary clitorectomy, was elevated from a sexual maturity / sexual balance and arrival of adult responsibility significance to the physical sign of a spiritual compact with the Almighty reassuring earlier promised physical blessings of nationhood and land rights. Ishmael gets circumcised not due to any badgering from his mother but indirectly by command of God.

Like the Phoenicians involved in Aegean trade, the Israelites dropped the practice sometime during their 210 year sojourn in Egypt. Only the tribe of Lewi continued the custom. Moses, a Lewi, was circumcised but it took the bloody protective act of Ssiporah to save her husband's (and/or their son's) life. Moses was raised as an Egyptian. He neglected to circumcise their new born son Eleazar on schedule. The duty is discharged by his Arabian Kushite wife also descended from Abraham who was commanded to perform it on infants. Only before partaking of the Passover does the whole house of Israel once again undergo circumcision. Decades later, Joshua will again initiate a whole generation of males into the covenant as they enter the covenant land. This generational cycling for circumcision disregarding the actual age of the individuals involved resembles that of Africans who have age-grade societies.