Genesis 17:11 - Exposition

And ye shall circumcise the flesh of your foreskin. עָרְלָה , ἀκροβυστία , membrum prveputiatum, from עָרַל , to be naked, bare, hence to be odious, unclean, impure, was regarded afterwards as unclean ( Deuteronomy 10:16 ; Isaiah 52:3 ; Jeremiah 4:4 ), and is here directed to be deprived of the skin covering its extremity, not because through it sin first discovered its effects (Poole), and original corruption is still transmitted, or to promote cleanliness (Philo), or to express detestation of certain idolatrous rites which were paid to it by the Egyptians and other heathen nations (Lyra, Kalisch), but

Hence it served a variety of uses:

And it shall be a token of the covenant— literally, for a token of covenant (cf. Genesis 9:12 ; Acts 7:8 ; Romans 4:11 )— betwixt me and you.