The origins of the circumcision ritual are deeply
buried in human history. The act has come to be associated primarily with
Judaism, but there is plenty of evidence it did not begin there.
Infogalactic says, “Circumcision is the
world’s oldest planned surgical procedure.” The earliest historical record of the ritual dates from about 2400 B.C. in
Egypt, several hundred years before God introduced Abram to it.
The importance of the Genesis account lies
not in it being some kind of “first” in human history — it almost surely wasn’t —
but rather in the establishment of God’s covenant with Abram and his seed; a
covenant of which circumcision is merely a token or symbol.