Genesis 17:10

This is my covenant] i.e. this is the sign of the covenant, viz. circumcision. Not§ that both parties undertake obligations here as contrasted with the covenant in Genesis 15.

Circumcision] (lit. 'cutting round') is the removal of the foreskin. The rite has always been practised by the Jews from Abraham's time to the present day. Other ancient nations also observed the ceremony, such as the Egyptians and Phænicians, but not the Philistines, Babylonians, Greeks or Romans. It is still observed, not only by Mohammedan nations who claim to be descended from Abraham, but by the Abyssinian, Egyptian, Polynesian and other peoples. Among these latter the rite is generally performed about the age of ten or twelve years, as a preliminary to marriage, and as admitting to full civil and religious tribal privileges. With the Hebrews circumcision had a special significance. They regarded it as a sign of the covenant between God and His people, and they alone of all nations circumcised their infants, thereby devoting them from their birth to Jehovah. With them, too, the shedding of the blood of that part upon which depends the perpetuation of life was the symbol of the continuous consecration of the nation from one generation to another. The spiritual significance of the rite is frequently insisted on by the inspired writers. The outward sign must be accompanied by the putting away of fleshly and sinful desires: cp. Deuteronomy 10:16; Romans 2:28; Romans 2:29.

The Acts of the Apostles and the Epistles to the Romans, Galatians, and Colossians witness to the desire of the Jewish Christians to impose the obligation of circumcision on their Gentile brethren, and to the struggle in which St. Paul was successful in freeing his converts from the yoke of Judaism.