Tuesday, March 30, 2021

Why did Joshua have to circumcise the Israelites?

DR. RABBI DAVID FRANKEL: Why Didn’t the Israelites Circumcise in the Wilderness? (TheTorah.com).
Joshua circumcises the Israelites only upon their entry to the land.
Interesting redaction-critical argument.

Regarding the final point in the essay, I think that Deuteronomy's concern with circumcision of the heart only make sense if the author assumes that male Israelites were circumcised in the body. The metaphor also appears in P (Lev 26:41) but it is rare in both D and P.

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