According to Jewish
tradition on circumcision, we learn they had a pretty disturbing way performing
this surgery. Jews regard circumcision
as a covenant to Yahweh thus, they perform the act of circumcising a new born
child as a devotion following the covenant made to Abraham. Each Jewish child
must be circumcised so he is purified
and join the covenant which his
forefathers agreed to as part of the faith in God.
The question is, how
was circumcision performed during ancient days? Well, the question to the
answer is not limited.
The Circumcision Ritual
Circumcision
consists of three actions: milah —
cutting the foreskin with a knife, peri'ah —
ripping the membrane with a fingernail, and mezizah —
applying the mouth to the baby's bleeding penis and sucking blood from the
wound.
MISHNAH. WE PERFORM ALL THE REQUIREMENTS OF CIRCUMCISION ON
THE SABBATH. WE CIRCUMCISE, UNCOVER [THE CORONA], SUCK [THE WOUND], AND PLACE A
COMPRESS AND CUMMIN UPON IT. IF ONE DID NOT CRUSH [THE CUMMIM] ON THE EVE OF
THE SABBATH, HE MUST CHEW [IT] WITH HIS TEETH AND APPLY [IT TO THE
WOUND] …
— Babylonian
Talmud, Tractate Shabbath 133a
Soncino 1961 Edition, pages
668-669
GEMARA. … WE SUCK OUT, etc. R. Papa said: If a
surgeon does not suck [the WOUND], it is dangerous and he is dismissed. It
is obvious? Since we desecrate the Sabbath for it, it is dangerous? — You might
say that this blood is stored up, therefore he informs us that it is the result
of a wound, and it is like a bandage and cummin: just as when one does not
apply a bandage and cummin there is danger, so here too if one does not do it
there is danger …
— Babylonian
Talmud, Tractate Shabbath 133b
Soncino 1961 Edition, page
672
he method to be adopted is laid down thus: 'One
excises the foreskin, [that is] the entire skin covering the glans, so that the
corona is laid bare. Afterwards, one tears with the fingernail the soft
membrane underneath the skin, turning it to the sides until the flesh of the
glans appears. Thereafter, one sucks the membrane until the blood is extracted
from the [more] remote places, so that no danger [to the infant] may ensue;
and any
circumciser who does not carry out the sucking procedure is to be removed [from his office].' … The operation
itself, then, consists of three distinct acts: the excision of the prepuce; the
laceration of the mucous membrane covering the glans; and the sucking of the
blood from the interior of the wound.
— Rabbi Lord Jakobovits (
Jewish Medical Ethics: A
Comparative and Historical Study of the Jewish Religious Attitude to Medicine
and Its Practice, New
York: Bloch Publishing Company, 1959, pages 193-194)
The
Jewish Encyclopedia (1906) gives
this detailed description:
The operation [circumcision] consists of three
parts: "milah," "peri'ah," and "mezizah."
Milah: The child having been placed upon a pillow
resting upon the lap of the godfather or "sandek" (he who is honored
by being assigned to hold the child), the mohel exposes the parts by removal of
garments, etc., and instructs the sandek how to hold the child's legs. The
mohel then grasps the prepuce between the thumb and index-finger of his left
hand, exerting sufficient traction to draw it from the glans, and places the
shield (see Fig. 1, next column) in position just before the glans. He now
takes his knife and with one sweep excises the foreskin. This completes the
first act. The knife (see Fig. 3) most commonly used is double-edged, although
one like those ordinarily used by surgeons is also often employed.
Peri'ah: After the excision has been completed, the
mohel seizes the inner lining of the prepuce, which still covers the glans,
with the thumb-nail and index-finger of each hand, and tears it so that he can
roll it fully back over the glans and expose the latter completely. The mohel
usually has his thumb-nail suitably trimmed for the purpose. In exceptional
cases the inner lining of the prepuce is more or less extensively adherent to
the glans, which interferes somewhat with the ready removal; but persistent
effort will overcome the difficulty.
Mezizah: By this is meant the sucking of the blood from
the wound. The mohel takes some wine in his mouth and applies his lips to the
part involved in the operation, and exerts suction, after which he expels the
mixture of wine and blood into a receptacle (see Fig. 4, below) provided for
the purpose. This procedure is repeated several times, and completes the
operation, except as to the control of the bleeding and the dressing of the
wound.
----------------------
In short during
circumcision blood from the baby's penis has to be sucked. This is not only the
tradition but also a custom. Jewish rabbis through centuries have been
performing this act.
Jesus of the Bible
would have been no exception to this Jewish tradition of circumcision.
On the eighth day, when it was
time to circumcise the child, he was named Jesus, the name the angel had
given him before he was conceived. (Luke 2:21)
We read from the
account of Luke, Jesus was circumcised when he was a baby. We also know from
Jewish traditions how circumcision was performed. Now the question is did the
rabbis who circumcised Jesus know he was circumcising God? If so was the same
rabbi aware he was putting the penis of Yahweh in his mouth sucking the blood?
If you say Jesus was a man or baby in this case it was not God, how does it
sound the saviour of Christians had his penis inside the mouth of an unknown
rabbi?
You can't have the
cake and eat it. By tradition and ritual Jesus of the Bible being a Jew would
have been circumcised the same way as any Jewish baby, he would not have been
an exception.
Thus, we can
conclude Jesus of the Bible was circumcised by a Jewish rabbi who put his penis
in his mouth an sucked it.
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