How Great Is Circumcision and the Danger Moses Faced

Rabbi says: great is circumcision, for of all the commandments that Abraham our father performed, he was not called whole until he was circumcised, as it is said, "Walk before Me and be whole." (Genesis 17:2-4) Rav Yehuda said in the name of Rav: when the Holy One, blessed be He, said to Abraham, "Walk before Me and be whole," trembling seized him. He said: perhaps there is something disgraceful in me. Once He said to him, "And I will set My covenant between Me and you," his mind was immediately set at ease. Rabbi Hoshaya said: whoever makes himself whole, the hour stands by him, as it is said, "Walk before Me and be whole, and you shall be a father of a multitude of nations." Rabbi Elazar ben Azaryah says: loathsome is the foreskin, by which the wicked are disgraced, as it is said, "for all the nations are uncircumcised." Rabbi Yishmael says: great is circumcision, for thirteen covenants were cut over it. Rabbi Yosei the Galilean says: great is circumcision, for it overrides the stringent Sabbath. Rabbi Yehoshua ben Korcha says: great is circumcision, for Moses our teacher was not granted even a single hour's delay over it. Rabbi Nechemiah says: great is circumcision, for it overrides the laws of plague-marks. Great is circumcision, for without it the Holy One, blessed be He, would not have created His world, as it is said, "Were it not for My covenant day and night, I would not have set the ordinances of heaven" (Jeremiah 33:25). Rabbi Yehoshua ben Korcha says: great is circumcision, for all the merits that Moses our teacher had accrued did not protect him in the hour that he was lax about the circumcision, as it is said, "And the LORD met him and sought to kill him" (Exodus 4:24). Rabbi Yosei said: heaven forbid that Moses our teacher was lax about the circumcision. Rather he said: shall I circumcise and set out? It is a danger, as it is said, "And it came to pass on the third day, when they were in pain" (Genesis 34:25). Shall I delay three days? The Holy One, blessed be He, said to me, "Return to Egypt." Then why was he punished? Because he busied himself first with lodging, as it is said, "And it came to pass on the way, at the lodging place" (Exodus 4:24).