© Charles Chandler

 

Deuteronomy 10

 

16 Circumcise therefore the foreskin of your heart, and be no longer stubborn.

Deuteronomy 30

 

6 And the Lord your God will circumcise your heart and the heart of your offspring, so that you will love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul, that you may live.

Deuteronomy mentions circumcision, as here, but only indirectly, while to the male descendants of Abraham, it was an absolute physical requirement. As strict as Deuteronomy is in all other respects, this is odd, and suggests that the pharaoh didn't consider these to be his people. The Abrahamic covenant would have been woven in later.