In this week's parsha, God commands Abram to circumcise himself. Do you suppose God got the idea from these folks? I mean, can't you almost see Him, up in the clouds, saying to himself, "OK. I need a rite to mark Abraham and his decendants as my own. Think.... think.... Lemmee see... Hey! Those African bushmen have a neat idea. Oh Abrammmmm!"
No? Me neither.
Notes
Is it pure coincidance that Jews and pageans both have a coming of age rite connected to the removal of the prepuce? Perhaps.
Is there a firm link between the prehistoric pagean practice, and the Lords command to Abram? No. But this blog was not created to promote certainty. This blog was created (in part) to throw sand in the eyes of people who insist that everything Jews do today was originated by Moshe and his Sanhedrin (bearing in mind, of course, that Sanhedrin is a Greek loan word, making it unlikely that Moshe had anything of the sort. See? I did it again.)
