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When Yahweh "cut a covenant" with Abraham, the Patri- arch and all the males in his household were required to be circumcised: "Every male among you shall be circumcised in the flesh of your foreskin, and it shall be a token of the covenant betwixt Me and you. He that is eight days old shall be circumcised among you, every male throughout your generations . . . This shall be a covenant in your flesh, an everlasting covenant" (Genesis 17:11-14). Failure to do so would have excluded the offender from the people of Israel. Circumcision was thus intended to serve as a unique "sign in the flesh" distinguishing the descendants of Abraham from their neighbors. Some researchers believe that circum- cision was practiced among royalty in Egypt, as evidenced by an ancient illustration (see p. 312)—though the depiction might be that of a puberty rite rather than a_ religious circumcision. With or without a precedent, what was the symbolism implied by the requirement to Mul (translated "circumcise") the Hebrew males? No one really knows. Unexplained, too, has been the origin of the term; linguists seeking parallels in Akkadian or later Semitic languages have come up empty-handed. We suggest that the answer to the puzzle lies in Abraham's Sumerian origin. Searching for the meaning there, the term assumes a striking significance, for MUL was the Sumerian term for "celestial body," a star or a planet! So when Yahweh instructed Abraham to Mul himself and the other males, he may have been telling him to put the "sign of the stars" in his flesh—an everlasting symbol of a celestial connection. shall offender the the to up CIRCUMCISION: SIGN OF THE STARS?