Circumcision as the Gate to the Land and the Tale of Monobaz

"And I will give to you, and to your seed after you" (Genesis 17:8). Rav Yudan said: Five things. If your children accept My divinity, I will be for them a God and a patron, and if not, I will not be for them a God and a patron. If your children enter the land, they accept My divinity, and if not, they do not accept My divinity. If your children fulfill circumcision, they enter the land, and if not, they do not enter the land. If your children fulfill circumcision, I will be for them a God and a patron, and if not, I will not be a patron, for if your children accept circumcision they accept My divinity, and if not, they do not accept My divinity. Rav Berechiah said: "And this is the matter [davar] of how Joshua circumcised" (Joshua 5:4). He said a word [davar] to them and circumcised them. He said to them: What do you imagine, that you will enter the land uncircumcised? Thus said the Holy One, blessed be He, to Abraham, "to you and to your seed after you," on condition that "you shall keep My covenant, you and your seed after you" (Genesis 17:9). Rav Huna said: "You [yourself]," from here we learn that a circumciser must himself be circumcised. Rabbi Yochanan said: "He shall surely be circumcised" (Genesis 17:13), from here we learn that a circumciser must himself be circumcised. It was taught: An uncircumcised Israelite may not circumcise; how much more so an uncircumcised gentile. "And you shall circumcise the flesh of your foreskin" (Genesis 17:11), like this growth that hangs from the body. There is a tale of Monobaz and Zutos, sons of Ptolemy the king, who were sitting and reading in the book of Genesis. When they reached this verse, "and you shall circumcise the flesh of your foreskin," the one turned his face to the wall and began to weep, and the other turned his face to the wall and began to weep. Each went and circumcised himself. After some days they were sitting and reading in the book of Genesis, and when they reached this verse, one said to his fellow, "Woe to you, my brother." He said to him, "Woe to you; but as for me, no woe to me." Each revealed the matter to the other. When their mother sensed it about them, she went and said to their father, "A growth has risen upon your sons' flesh, and the physician has decreed that they be circumcised." He said to them, "Let them be circumcised." How did the Holy One, blessed be He, repay him? At the time he went out to war, they set against him a band of brigands, and an angel came down and saved him. "And he that is eight days old" (Genesis 17:12). It was taught: As for one who acquires the unborn child of a gentile's maidservant, Rabbi Yochanan said he is circumcised on the eighth day. "For a son or for a daughter" (Leviticus 12:6): "for a son" in any case, "for a daughter" in any case.