The biblical background of the bris

While God’s stipulation that all Jews be circumcised appears in multiple sections of the Bible, it is most thoroughly described in Genesis 17.  The essence of this discussion is as follows: 

1. Abraham is commanded to circumcise all males in his household.
2. Abraham is to circumcise his son Isaac when Isaac is eight days old.
3. Abraham is to teach Isaac to circumcise his son on the eighth day after birth and to have further descendants continue this practice throughout the generations.

In exchange for performing this ritual and confirming the covenant between God and the Jewish people, Abraham and his progeny are guaranteed that they will:   

1. Be fruitful and prosperous (“made into a great nation”) 
2. Be as numerous as the stars in heaven
3. Always have Canaan as their homeland

As confirmation of this divine arrangement, the circumcision of all Jewish males will be a visible sign of this Covenant between God and the Jewish people in perpetuity.

Below are the original passages concerning circumcision from Genesis 17:9-14:

God said to Abraham,

As for you, you shall keep my Covenant, you and your descendants after you throughout their generations. This is My Covenant you shall keep, between Me and you and your descendants after you: every male among you shall be circumcised. 

You shall be circumcised in the flesh of your foreskin, and it shall be a sign of the Covenant between Me and you: He who is eight days old among you shall be circumcised; every male throughout your generations, whether born in your house or bought with your money from any foreigner not of your offspring. But he that is born in your house and he that is bought with your money will be circumcised. 

So shall My Covenant be in your flesh an everlasting Covenant. Any uncircumcised male who is not circumcised in the flesh of his foreskin shall be cut off from his people; he has broken My Covenant.

At this point in the biblical story most of this passage has little relevance to Abraham for as yet he has no son (or daughter). However, three verses later, in Genesis 17:16, God states:

I will bless her [Sarah] and will surely give you a son by her. I will bless her so that she will be the mother of nations; kings of peoples will come from her.

Abraham, impiously, laughs at the thought of he and Sarah—99 and 90 years old respectively—having a child (Genesis 17:17).  Abraham responds to God, saying:

Will a son be born to a man 100 years old? Will Sarah bear a child at the age of 90?”

God, ignoring Abraham’s skepticism, responds (Genesis 17:19):

Yes, your wife Sarah will bear a son, and you will call him Isaac. I will establish my Covenant with him as an everlasting Covenant for his descendants after him.

Abraham proceeds to fulfill God’s commandment (Genesis 17:26-27):

Abraham and his son Ishmael [by Sarah’s maid servant] were both circumcised on that very day. And every male in Abraham’s household, including those born in his household or bought from a foreigner, was circumcised with him.

When later Sarah actually did give birth to a son (Genesis 21:3 – 4), 

Abraham gave the name Isaac to the son Sarah bore him. When his son Isaac was eight days old, Abraham circumcised him, as God had commanded him.

Thus, the Bible explicitly commands Jews—Abraham’s descendants—to circumcise their sons on the eighth day after birth.  But the Scriptures are silent as to how this should be done and what ceremony should accompany the circumcision. As is true of many of the commandments in the Bible, it is only over time, through the accretion of tradition, and by the interpretation of the rabbis that the rules and structures of Jewish ceremonies are established.  As regards the brit milah ceremony, the major compilation of laws and rules defining it were not codified in written form until the 16^th Century work by Joseph Karo (1488-1575), the Shulchan Aruch (The Set Table), which is perhaps the single most definitive compilation of Jewish law.

It is of interest to note that a careful reading of Genesis does not reveal exactly why God wishes to establish a Covenant with Abraham and his people—as opposed to any other individual or group–nor why God chooses circumcision as the symbolic act consecrating and memorializing this Covenant. For one thing, at this point in the Biblical narrative Abraham does not have much of a “track record” as being an especially worthwhile or appropriate candidate to inherit the mantle of being anointed the founder of God’s chosen people.  

Theories as to why circumcision of the penis was chosen as the marker for the Covenant between God and the Jewish people abound.  Two prominent conjectures held by scholars hold that transfiguration of this organ was chosen because:

1. Since the penis is an organ of procreation, a procedure involving it speaks to the concept of generational continuity.

2. Control of the temptation for morally-troubling behavior involving this organ reminds individuals of their obligation to lead God-fearing, righteous lives. 

It is also of interest that the Bible analogizes removal of the foreskin (“orlah” in Hebrew) with the removal of a “barrier to holiness” that can prevent the penis—and also other organs of the body—from performing their moral and religious—as well as their physiologic—functions.  According to one imaginative interpretation by the rabbis, Adam, who was born uncircumcised, did not need to have a circumcision because he was as close as a physical being could possibly be to God.  There was no “orlah” intervening between him and his Maker.  Following Adam’s sins, however, his “virtual circumcision” was nullified, a reflection of his new and less favored relationship with God.  According to this interpretation, it was thus given to Abraham to restore mankind’s intimate relationship with God by performing the ritual of brit milah for the men of his time and thereafter.     

There are other biblical examples of this metaphorical concept of the “orlah/foreskin” as an inhibitor of appropriate behavior or physiologic function:

Thus Judaism equates removal of the foreskin in the brit milah ceremony with acknowledgment of the responsibility of all who enter into the Covenant to fulfill the obligations of following God’s moral commandments.  

There is a tradition, not stated explicitly in the Bible, that the performance of the brit milah ritual represents a more specific deal between God and Abraham that forms God’s real purpose in establishing the covenant between Himself and the Jewish people: Not only does God want Abraham and his people to be a holy people themselves, but He also wants them to be the messenger of His laws to all the peoples of the world. In exchange for this service, God will make Abraham, Sarah, and their progeny a prolific and enduring people in perpetuity.