Was Moses circumcised?

[Cap_n_Crude]

Struggling my way through the Passover season, I found myself pondering this most important of questions: was Moses ever circumcised?

If he was less than 8 days old when he was cast adrift, his family wouldn’t have done the deed, since tradition dictates that the operation be done on the 8th day after birth. ;j

This would mean it was up to the Egyptian royals who took him in, and I’m not terribly familiar with Pharaonic opinions on snipping the kids.

Right now, I find it rather humorous to think of the hero, sage, and patriarch whose Hebrew name I share running around with a turtleneck. :eek:

[tobytobe]

Exodus 2:2 says he was hid 3 months. then his mom got a papyrus basket for him.

.

[amarinth]

Also, when the Pharoah’s daughter first found him she instantly identified him as one of the Hebrew’s babies. (Exodus 2:6). How many ways are there to distinguish one set of 3 month old babies from another?

[Cap_n_Crude]

*Originally posted by amarinth *
**Also, when the Pharoah’s daughter first found him she instantly identified him as one of the Hebrew’s babies. (Exodus 2:6). How many ways are there to distinguish one set of 3 month old babies from another? **

[ul]
[li]The nose?[/li][li]The payes? ;j[/li][li]The piece of Levite cloth he was wrapped in (Chuck Heston version only)?[/li][li]The sticker that said “My other basket is a Mercedes?”[/ul][/li]
But seriously folks, thanks to tobytobe and amarinth for the prompt answers.

[zev_steinhardt]

Joshua 5:5 makes it clear that the Jews in Egypt circumcised their sons. They ceased doing so after leaving Egypt until they arrived in Israel. As tobytobe correctly pointed out, Moses was three months old when set adrift. He would have been circumcised before then.

If Moses (and the rest of the Jews in Egypt) were not circumcised, they could not have participated in the Passover sacrifice (Exodus 12:48).

Zev Steinhardt

[cmkeller]

Actually, according to the Midrash, he was born without a foreskin. However, as the others have said, he was hidden for three months before he was cast adrift, and he probably did have the ceremony (with a bit of blood drawn from the member rather than the foreskin removed, as is done for male converts who had been circumcised prior to their conversion) during those three months.

[CalMeacham]

I’m a little surprised by the above responses. I don’t have a Bible with me, but IIRC, there’s a scene in Exodus where Zipporah is explicitly said to circumcize Moses. God is described as coming toward Moses intending to kill him, but Zipporah circumcizes Moses and throws the foreskin at God. One of the stranger events in the OT, but it’s there.

[Duck_Duck_Goose]

Er, no, sorry Cal, but Zipporah circumsizes her own son, not Moses. Courtesy of Bible Gateway:

19 Now the Lord had said to Moses in Midian, “Go back to Egypt, for all the men who wanted to kill you are dead.” 20 So Moses took his wife and sons, put them on a donkey and started back to Egypt. And he took the staff of God in his hand.
21 The Lord said to Moses, "When you return to Egypt, see that you perform before Pharaoh all the wonders I have given you the power to do. But I will harden his heart so that he will not let the people go. 22 Then say to Pharaoh, ‘This is what the Lord says: Israel is my firstborn son, 23 and I told you, “Let my son go, so he may worship me.” But you refused to let him go; so I will kill your firstborn son.’ "
24 At a lodging place on the way, the Lord met {Moses} [2] and was about to kill him. 25 But Zipporah took a flint knife, cut off her son’s foreskin and touched {Moses’} feet with it. [3] “Surely you are a bridegroom of blood to me,” she said. 26 So the Lord let him alone. (At that time she said “bridegroom of blood,” referring to circumcision.)

The Lord was presumably about to kill Moses because he hadn’t had his son circumsized. How can He send Moses to rescue the Hebrews if his own son isn’t even a “real” Hebrew? So Zipporah steps in.