{"author":null,"backreferences":[{"context_html":"<p class=\"c006\">Although the Jews, then, pride themselves on circumcision,\r\nthey will separate it not only from that of the Colchians and\r\nEgyptians, but also from that of the Arabian Ishmaelites; and\r\nyet the latter was derived from their ancestor Abraham, the\r\nfather of Ishmael, who underwent the rite of circumcision along\r\nwith his father. The Jews say that the circumcision performed\r\non the eighth day is the principal circumcision, and\r\nthat which is performed according to circumstances is different;\r\nand probably it was performed on account of the hostility of\r\nsome angel towards the Jewish nation, who had the power to\r\ninjure such of them as were not circumcised, but was powerless\r\nagainst those who had undergone the rite. This may be said to\r\nappear from what is written in the book of Exodus, where the\r\nangel before the circumcision of Eliezer<a id=\"r995\"></a><a class=\"c008 pginternal\" href=\"#f995\"><sup>[995]</sup></a> was able to work\r\nagainst<a id=\"r996\"></a><a class=\"c008 pginternal\" href=\"#f996\"><sup>[996]</sup></a> Moses, but could do nothing after his son was circumcised.\r\nAnd when Zipporah had learned this, she took a pebble\r\nand circumcised her child, and is recorded, according to the\r\n<span class=\"pageno\" id=\"Page_319\">319</span>reading of the common copies, to have said, “The blood of my\r\nchild’s circumcision is stayed,” but according to the Hebrew\r\ntext, “A bloody husband art thou to me.”<a id=\"r997\"></a><a class=\"c008 pginternal\" href=\"#f997\"><sup>[997]</sup></a> For she had\r\nknown the story about a certain angel having power before\r\nthe shedding of the blood, but who became powerless through\r\nthe blood of circumcision. For which reason the words were\r\naddressed to Moses, “A bloody husband art thou to me.” But\r\nthese things, which appear rather of a curious nature, and not\r\nlevel to the comprehension of the multitude, I have ventured to\r\ntreat at such length; and now I shall only add, as becomes\r\na Christian, one thing more, and shall then pass on to what\r\nfollows. For this angel might have had power, I think, over\r\nthose of the people who were not circumcised, and generally\r\nover all who worshipped only the Creator; and this power lasted\r\nso long as Jesus had not assumed a human body. But when\r\nHe had done this, and had undergone the rite of circumcision in\r\nHis own person, all the power of the angel over those who practise\r\nthe same worship, but are not circumcised,<a id=\"r998\"></a><a class=\"c008 pginternal\" href=\"#f998\"><sup>[998]</sup></a> was abolished;\r\nfor Jesus reduced it to nought by [the power of] His unspeakable\r\ndivinity. And therefore His disciples are forbidden to\r\ncircumcise themselves, and are reminded [by the apostle]: “If\r\nye be circumcised, Christ shall profit you nothing.”<a id=\"r999\"></a><a class=\"c008 pginternal\" href=\"#f999\"><sup>[999]</sup></a></p>","headings":["The writings of Origen, Vol. 2 of 2","BOOK V.","Chapter XLVIII."],"marker_anchor":null,"paragraph_id":"pg70693-paragraph-375"}],"canonical_references":[],"date_end":null,"date_start":null,"deduplication_fingerprint":"0b791b602d0575d5a8f070167d3e0fda7b2cf5273c64c75b04e7e44c639f861d","edition_title":"The writings of Origen, Vol. 2 (of 2)","edition_translators":["Frederick Crombie","W. H. Cairns"],"edition_year":1872,"explicit_reference_candidates":[],"headings":[],"id":"pg70693-f995","license_url":"https://www.gutenberg.org/policy/license.html","public_import_allowed":false,"record_kind":"original-editor-translator-note","review_required":["work and recension attribution","original-work chronology","Bible reference numbering and citation kind","English edition rights and attribution"],"review_status":"needs_review","rights_evidence":"Project Gutenberg metadata: Public domain in the USA. Existing 1872 English edition; listed translators died 1889 and 1872. Electronic transcription subject to Project Gutenberg reuse terms.","source_anchor":"f995","source_ebook":70693,"source_html":"<div class=\"footnote\" id=\"f995\">\n<p class=\"c007\"><span class=\"label\"><a class=\"pginternal\" href=\"#r995\">995</a>. </span><abbr class=\"spell\">Cf.</abbr> <abbr title=\"Exodus\">Ex.</abbr> <abbr title=\"four\">iv.</abbr> 24, 25. Eliezer was one of the two sons of Moses. <abbr class=\"spell\">Cf.</abbr> <abbr title=\"Exodus\">Ex.</abbr>\n<abbr title=\"eighteen\">xviii.</abbr> 4.</p>\n</div>","source_sha256":"76ed9a9fd752c1d5095189e38fe3dcbbea0fd23d6be719db17360e4da14552fa","source_url":"https://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/70693/pg70693-images.html#f995","text_sha256":"d4f99e54276ab8ffd661575feebca999d654b57581550550703d0a2cf3c3be83","verified":false,"work_id":null}