Jeremiah 9:25-26

circumcised in their uncircumcision probably meaning circumcised in body but not in heart. "Judah cannot rely on a rite which she shares with the heathen, indeed the corresponding inward circumcision is as lacking in her as in them," Pe. See on Jeremiah 4:4. The statements in Jeremiah 9:26 are confirmed as to Egypt by Joshua 5:9 (where "reproach of Egypt" means that the Egyptians would despise them as long as they remained uncircumcised), and by Herod. II. 104. The other nations, as tracing their descent from Abraham, would naturally observe the rite; so too the Arabians, as claiming Ishmael (see Genesis 17:23 ff.) for ancestor. Josephus (Ant. I. xii. 2) also testifies as to these last. The Philistines, on the other hand, are frequently designated contemptuously as uncircumcised (e.g. 1 Samuel 14:6; 1 Samuel 17:26).

that have the cornersof their hair polled i.e. cut off from the temples. See also Jeremiah 25:23; Jeremiah 49:32. According to Herod. (III. 8) it had a religious significance with certain Arab tribes. Hence its prohibition in Leviticus 19:27.

the wilderness the desert of Arabia, eastward of Palestine.

all the nations are uncircumcised The true circumcision of the heart is as much lacking with them as with Judah.