Apion, see, had a laundry list of complaints against the Jews. Josephus, in his work Against Apion, takes each one head-on. And in this particular section, Apion throws a few zingers: that Jews sacrifice animals, abstain from pork, and, well, that whole circumcision thing?
Josephus’s response is pretty epic. About the animal sacrifices, he's basically like, "Dude, everyone sacrifices animals! What are you even talking about?" It was a common practice back then, a way to connect with the divine. But Josephus cleverly suggests that Apion’s objection to it marks him as a true Egyptian. Why? Because if he were Greek or Macedonian, he'd be cool with it; they were known for sacrificing entire hecatombs (that's a hundred oxen!) to the gods.
Then comes the slam. Josephus argues that if everyone followed the Egyptian custom of not sacrificing animals (because they were considered sacred), the world would be overrun with wild beasts and devoid of humans! It’s a bit of hyperbole, sure, but the point is clear: Apion is criticizing something that’s not only common but, in Josephus's eyes, essential.
And the pork thing? The circumcision? Josephus points out that even the Egyptian priests – the supposed wisest and most pious of Egyptians – practiced circumcision and abstained from pork. Herodotus even said that other men had learned to be circumcised, so it was not just the custom of the Jews. So why is Apion, an Egyptian, attacking these practices?
Here's where it gets a little… pointed. Josephus suggests that Apion is getting his just desserts for criticizing his own country’s laws. Why? Because, according to Josephus, Apion himself was circumcised due to a nasty ulcer, and when it didn’t heal and turned gangrenous, he died a horrible death. Ouch.
Whether that’s entirely true, who knows? But Josephus’s larger point is powerful: people should respect their own religious laws and not trash the laws of others. He accuses Apion of hypocrisy, of deserting his own traditions while lying about Jewish ones.
Ultimately, Josephus uses Apion's criticisms as an opportunity to defend Jewish practices, to show their rationality and their place within a larger cultural context. It's a reminder that what might seem strange or foreign to one person can be deeply meaningful and essential to another. And sometimes, those accusations say more about the accuser than they do about the accused.