Circle (Hastings' Dictionary)

In AV c. means the vault of heaven. It occurs Is 40^ ' It is he that sitteth upon the c. of the earth,' i.e. the c. overarching the earth {im, also in Job 22", AV and RV 'circuit,' RVm 'vault'; Pr 8" AV 'compass,' RV 'circle'); and Wis 13^ 'the c. of the stars' {kvkXos darpuv, BV ' circling stars,' RVm ' c. of stars '). J. Hastinqs. CIRCUIT occurs 4 times in AV, 1 S 7>« (a late and doubtful passage ace. to which Samuel went on circuit [335] to various high-places). Job 22" (jm RVm and Amer.

RV 'vault,' i.e. the vault of heaven), Ps 19' (ncip?, of the sun's course in the heavens), Ec 1 (3';p, of the circuits of the wind). Besides retaining these instances, RV substitutes ' made [make] a circuit ' for AV ' fetch a compass ' in 2 S 5^ (where for MT Dcn read with Driver and Budde DD), 2 K 3», Ac 28" (jrepteXSii-res, RVm ' cast loose,' following WH irep«X4>Tes). See COMPASS. J. A. Selbie. CIRCUMCISION (n^iD Ex 4^, «p.To/i7) Jn 7" etc.)

— The cutting oB' of the foreskin, an initiation rite or religious ceremony among many races, such aa the Jews, Arabians, and Colchians in Asia, the Egyptians, Mandingos, Gallas, P'alashas, Abys- sinians, and some Bantu tribes in Africa, the Otaheitans, Tonga Islanders, and some Melanesiana in Polj-nesia, certain New South Wales tribes in Australia, and the Athabascans, Nahuatl, Aztecs, and certain Amazonian tribes in America. In Egypt its practice dates back at least to the 14th cent. B.C.

, and probably much farther. The circumcising of two cnildren is represented on the wall of the temple of Klionsu at Karnak. The re(^ord of the invasion of Egypt by Mediterranean tribes in the time of Merenptah states that as the Aquashua (supposed to be Achaians) were circum- cised, their dead were not mutilated by the Egyptians, except by cutting off a hand (Lepsius, Den km. iii. 19).

Like other mutilations, such as tattooing, catting off a linger-joint, filing or chiselling out of teeth, the operation may be a tribal mark. In all these there is the twofold idea of a sacrifice to the tribal god, and the marking of his followers so that they may be known by him and by each other. The sacrifice is a representative one, a part given for the re- CIRCUMCISIOX CIRCUMCISION 443 demption of the rest.

Stade {ZA W, 18S6) has col- lected a number of notices from many peoples, from which he infers that circumcision is not so much a mark of membership in atribeas initiatiunintumnn- 4oo(/andacquircmeutof thefull rightsof citizenship. However originated, the rite is said to have been ap|)ointed by God as the token of the covenant between Him andAbraham.shortlyafter Abraham's sojourn in Egypt.

It was ordained to be performed on himself, on his descendants and slaves, as well as on strangers joining themselves to the Ileb. nation (Un 17'- etc. Ex 12" both P), to signify their par- ticipation in the benefits of the covenant and their acceptance of its obligations. It was practised by the Jews during their captivity in Egypt (Jos 5° D-), but discontinued in the wilderness. Even Moses neglected to circumcise his son (Ex 4** JE).

On this occasion Zipporah recognized the cause of God's displeasure, and removed the reproach by operating (Ex 4^). She thus showed her acquaint- ance witJo the ceremony ; and as she called Moses on this account a hatknn of blood, which may mean one brought into a family by a blood-rite, it has been conjectured that the Jews received the rite from the Midianites. There is, however, no evidence that this was so, and it is contrary to the whole weight of tradition.

As women were not permitted by the Rabbins to circumcise, the case of Zipporah is explained away in the Tosephta on Ex 4 as meaning that she caused Moses to operate. The characteristic of Hebrew circumcision is its being performed in infancy. Wellhausen (Hist. 340) sees in Ex 4* the substitution of this for the older and more severe operation in youth or man- hood. (See the same writer's Skizzen, iii. 154, 215 ; and cf. Nowack, Heb. Archdol. i. 167 ff.; Cheyne, an. ' Circumcision ' in Encyc.

Brit.') On the arrival of the Jews in Canaan the rite was renewed at Gilgal (Jos 5'), the operation being performed at a place named Gib'atk )uidrAl6th, or ' the hill of the fore-skins,' with Hint knives, which, according to the Sept. addition to Jos 24", were buried with Joshua.

Although the ceremony is scarcely again mentioned in the hi-storical part of OT, yet it was probably observed continuously, and there is no real ground for the statement made by the Rabbins ( Ycakut on Jos), that on the separation of the two kingdoms circumcision was forbidden in Ephraim. The Midrash on La 1' conjectures that the priests were uncircumcised in the days of Zedekiah (see 1 Mac 1") ; but this is doubtful. Abraham was circumcised at the age of 99, and, according to Pirke H.

Eliezer, the anniversary of the ceremony is the great Day of Atonement. Ishinael was circumcised at 13, and among Islamite nations it is performed at some age between 6 and 16, as soon as the child can pronounce the religious forinulie. It is not enjoined in the Koran, but, according to the Arabian tradition, the Prophet declared it to be meritorious, though not an obligatory rite.

As Isaac was circumcised on the eighth day, so that period was named in the institution (Gn 17'^), and is observed as the proper date by the Jews to this day. The child is named at the ceremony in iremory of the change in Abraham's name (Lk 2-').

At the present day the rite is performed either in the house of the jiarents or in the 8ynaj;ogue, and either by the father or by a Mohel or circumciser, who is usually a surgeon, and must be a Jew of unblemished character, who is not paid for his services.

In former times the Rabbins prefericd (lint or glass knives, but now steel is almost in- variably used, lilood must be shed in the operation, and the inner layer must be torn with the thumb- nail ; this supplemental operation is called wtri'aA, and is said to have been introduced by Joshua. The plri'ah is peculiar to the Jewish mode of operating.

In former days the flow of blood was encouraged by suction, and the bleeding stopped by wine, with which the Mohel's mouth is lilled ; but these practices, called by the Jews Mizizah, are not now adopted in many places, where the operation is performed with antiseptic precautions. Chloro- form may be used if the Aloliel think it neces.sary.

The night before the rite the parents keep watch, a survival of the precautions formerly adopted to prevent the child being stolen by Lilitli, the devil's mother ; they are visited by their friends ; and all the little children of the community are gathered together, and the teacher reads the IShema or verses from Dt 6*-» ll""-' and Nu 15"-".

On the day of the operation the child is carried to the door of the room by a ladj', who is called the Baalath Berith, and is taken by a godfather or sfindek, called also Baal Berith, who sits in a chair, beside which is a vacant seat dedicated to the prophet Elijah, in memorial of his jealousy for the maintenance of the coven.ant of which this rite is the token.

The Mohel sets this chair apart with prayer, asking that the example of Elijah, the messenger of the cove- nant, may sustain him in his task. Prayers, accord- ing to a set form, are recited in Heb. by him, and the child's name is given, then the father and by- standers join in the recitation of formulte. After the operation a blessin" is invoked by the Mohel, and the event is celebrated by feasting in the parents' house.

The prayers for the occasion are set forth in the works of Bergson, Asher, Brecher, and Auer- bach. The portion cut oH' is eitlier burned or buried in accordance with ancient rabbinical directions. After the defeat of Haman's plot, many are said to have been circumcised 'for fear of the Jews' (Est 8" LXX). Circumcision was also imposed by Ilyrcanus upon the Idumaeans (Jos. Ant. XIII. ix. 1). Occasionally Gentiles submitted to it.

Elagabalus, Antoninus, and the two sons of Ptolemy Epiphanes (Midrash Bereshith) were circumcised ; but in the Justinian Code the performance of the operation on a Rom. citizen was prohibited on pain of death (i. 9. 10). Antiochus Epiphanes also prohibited the rite, and many Jews were tortured and put to death on this account (1 Mac 1", 2 Mac 6'°). Similar prohibitions were issued by Hadrian and Constantius, as well as by the Spanish Inquisition in later years.

In apostolic times the Judaizing section of the Church wished to enforce circumcision on Gentile converts ; and in order to avoid contention, St. Paul circumcised Timothy as he was a Jew by his mother's side (Ac 16'). He refused to perform the rite on Titus (Gal 2'), and argues in the Ep. to the Rom. (4'") that Abraham was as yet uncircumcised when God made His covenant with him. On this subject the Council of Jerusalem gave a final decision adverse to the Judaizers (Ac IS"'"").

In some of the Ethiopian and Abyssinian Churches, however, the operation was continued, being the persistence of a nre-Christian ethnic practice. In the 12th cent, a sliort-lived Christian sect of circum- cisi arose in Italy (Schrbkh, Christl. Kirchengesch. xxix. 655). Among the Jewish teachers circumcision was regarded as an operation of purification, and the won! foreskin has come to be synonymous with obstinacy and imperfection.

The rite was regarded as a token in the llesh of the ell'ect of Divine grace in the heart, hence the phra.ses used in Dt 30*. Pliili) speaks of it as a symbolic inculcation of purity of heart, and having the advantage of pro- moting cleanliness, fruitfulne-ss, and avoidance of disea.se.

Jeremiah (9^- " RV) recognized that the outward rite and the inward grace do not always go together, and he grou[>8 together Egypt, Judali, and Edom as races which, though circumcised in the flesh, are uncircumcised in heart. 444 CISTERN CITIZENSHIP St.

Paul also contrasts stroni,'ly the circumcision in the flesh and the puritication of the spirit (Ko 2'-^- -*), and hence in Ph 3^ he calls the flcslily cir- cumcision KaTaTo/j,-/), or Concision, a paronomasia, probably indicating, as Theophylact suggests, that those who insist on the fleslily circumcision are endeavouring to cut in sunder the Church of Christ. LiTKRATQRK. — Sohechter, Studies in Judaism, 1S96, p. 343 ; Letourneau, Bulletin Soc. An(Aroj»., Paris, l&f>3 ; and Zaborowski, ibid.

1694; Brough Sniylh, Ahnriijin^s of Victoria; Curr, The Australian Race ; The Karnak uionument is figured by Chabas, Hevuf Archt'ot. 1861, p.

29S ; Auteiirieth, Ueber den ilrgpruntf der Bcschneidun^t Tiibingtn, 1S29 ; Collin, IHe Beschneuiung , Leipzig, l>^43 ; Bc'nison, Die Bcitchueidvn'j, Berlin, 1844 ; Salomon, Z>i* Benc/int-idung, Bnmswiok, 1844; Brecher, Die Be^chneiduTiff, Vienna, 1845 ; Stcinschneider, Ueber die Bench- tieiduiuj der Araber, Vienna, 1S45 ; Asher, The Jewish Bite of Circumcision, London, 1873. For operations fordecircumcision jee Celsus, de Arte Sled. vii.

25, and other authors cited in Qroddeck, deJudeeis prceput. attrah., Leipzig, 1699, and Lossius, de Episyagtno Judaico, Jena, 1U05. See also Philo, edit. Mangey, ii. 211 ; Cohen, Dim. «ur la circoncision, Paris, 1816 ; Terqueni, Die Beschneidumj , etc., e<iited by Hejinann, Magde- burg, 1844; Meiners, in Cominentationeg Soc. Reg.,QotXiTiQ^n, xiv. 207. For Circumcision of Elagabalus, etc., see Basnape, Histoire det Juijt, Taylor's transl. p. 532 ; Jost, Ge^ch. der Isr. li- 78. A. MaCALISTEE.