Circumcision is far more than a physical act of cutting; it symbolizes our commitment to God and our trust in Him. We first see this act done by Abraham at the time that he was promised a son that would turn into a nation despite his old age. The tradition appeared to carry forward from there into Egypt. However, we see in Joshua 5 that this practice seemed to have stopped while in the wilderness. Additionally, we see that the people stopped holding the Passover while in the wilderness. Jake Hilton, in Crossing Over, contends that this was due to the commandment that Passover could only be held by families in which all sons were circumcised and that this was the rule for both natural children of Israel and the foreigner who wished to partake (Exodus 12:48-49). Once the people are circumcised, we see that the LORD stops providing manna and they hold the Passover in the Promised Land for the first time (Joshua 5:10-12).
We see a shadow picture in this. We are called to circumcise our hearts all throughout scripture:
Our hearts should not be a start of stone but a heart of flesh, one that does not rebel against God (Eze 36:26-27, Jer 31:33). Hebrews 10 talks about how the law gave us Shadow Pictures of Joshua vs Revelation of good things to come. Those shadows have been replaced, through Messiah, with the real deal. While this specific passage was referring to sacrifices and the High Priest, I think it’s fair to state that the principle can be applied more broadly. This is why Paul repeatedly states that circumcision does not matter for salvation; rather, circumcision of our hearts is what matters. That is, physical circumcision - while it is not bad (we see that Paul even circumcised Timothy in Acts 16:1-3) - was only a shadow, the general shape, of how God wants the earth to operate. What really matters is the position of our heart that leads to the outward appearance (Romans 2:28-29, 1 Cor 7:18-19; Phil 3:1-4).
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