And in the eighth day the flesh of his foreskin shall
be
circumcised.
] Or the foreskin of his flesh, that is, of the man child born
according to the law, ( Genesis
17:12 ) and this seems to furnish out a reason why a male
child was not circumcised before the eighth day, and why it was
then, because before that its mother was in her separation and
uncleanness, and then was freed from it; and so the Targum of
Jonathan. The circumcision of a male child on the eighth day was
religiously observed, and even was not omitted on account of the
sabbath, when the eighth day happened to be on that, (See Gill
on John
7:22) (See Gill on John
7:23). It is an observation of Aben Ezra on this place,
that the wise men say "in the day", and not in the night, lo, he
that is born half an hour before the setting of the sun is
circumcised after six days and a half, for the day of the law is
not from time to time.