Editing Brit milah (section)

== Origins (unknown to 515 BCE) ==
{{Further|History of circumcision}}
[[File:Isaac's circumcision, Regensburg c1300.jpg|thumb|"Isaac's Circumcision", Regensburg Pentateuch, {{circa|1300}}]]
The origin of [[circumcision]] is not known with certainty; however, artistic and literary evidence from ancient Egypt suggests it was practiced in the ancient Near East from at least the [[Sixth Dynasty of Egypt|Sixth Dynasty]] ({{circa|2345}}–2181 BCE).<ref>{{Cite book|last=Gollaher, David, 1949-|url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/42040798|title=Circumcision : a history of the world's most controversial surgery|date=2000|publisher=[[Basic Books]]|isbn=0-465-04397-6|location=New York|pages=2|oclc=42040798}}</ref> According to some scholars, it appears that it only appeared as a sign of the covenant during the Babylonian Exile.<ref name=":1">{{Cite book |last=Karris |first=Robert |title=The Collegeville Bible Commentary: Old Testament |publisher=[[Liturgical Press]] |year=1992 |isbn=978-0-8146-2210-0 |location=[[United States]] |pages=57 |quote=Circumcision only became an important sign of the covenant during the Babylonian Exile; it is doubtful that it always had this significance for Israel.}}</ref><ref name=":0">{{Cite book |last=Glick |first=Leonard |title=Marked in Your Flesh: Circumcision from Ancient Judea to Modern America |publisher=[[Oxford University Press]] |year=2005 |isbn=978-0-19-517674-2 |location=[[United States]] |pages=1–3, 15–35 |author-link=Leonard Glick}}</ref><ref name=":2">{{Cite book |last=Eilberg-Schwartz |first=Howard |title=The Savage in Judaism: An Anthropology of Israelite Religion and Ancient Judaism |publisher=[[Indiana University Press]] |year=1990 |isbn=978-0-253-31946-3 |location=[[United States]] |pages=172}}</ref> Scholars who posit the existence of a hypothetical [[Jahwist|J source]] (likely composed during the [[7th century BC|seventh century BCE]]) of the [[Torah|Pentateuch]] in [[wikisource:Bible (American Standard)/Genesis#Chapter 15|Genesis 15]] hold that it would not have mentioned a [[Covenant (biblical)|covenant]] that involves the practice of circumcision. Only in the [[Priestly source|P source]] (likely composed during the sixth century BCE) of [[wikisource:Bible (American Standard)/Genesis#Chapter 17|Genesis 17]] does the notion of circumcision become linked to a covenant.<ref name=":1" /><ref name=":0" /><ref name=":2" /><ref name=":16">{{Citation |last=Glick |first=Nansi S. |title=Zipporah and the Bridegroom of Blood: Searching for the Antecedents of Jewish Circumcision |date=2006 |url=http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4020-4916-3_3 |work=Bodily Integrity and the Politics of Circumcision |pages=37–47 |place=Dordrecht |publisher=[[Springer Netherlands]] |doi=10.1007/978-1-4020-4916-3_3 |isbn=978-1-4020-4915-6 |access-date=December 21, 2020}}</ref>

Some scholars have argued that it originated as a replacement for [[child sacrifice]].<ref name=":0" /><ref name=":16" /><ref>{{Cite book|last=Stavrakopoulou|first=Francesca|title=King Manasseh and Child Sacrifice: Biblical Distortions of Historical Realities|publisher=[[Walter de Gruyter]]|year=2012|isbn=978-3-11-089964-1|location=[[Germany]]|pages=198–200, 282–283, 305–306, et al|author-link=Francesca Stavrakopoulou}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|last=Barker|first=Margaret|title=The Mother of the Lord: Volume 1: The Lady in the Temple|publisher=[[T&T Clark]]|year=2012|isbn=978-0-567-36246-9|pages=130|quote=It seems that in the biblical tradition... child sacrifice was replaced by circumcision...|author-link=Margaret Barker}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|last=Edinger|first=Edward|title=The Bible and the Psyche: Individuation Symbolism in the Old Testament|publisher=Inner City Books|year=1986|isbn=978-0-919123-23-6|pages=30|author-link=Edward Edinger}}</ref>