They were a part of the CHosen People.
Chosen by GOD.
It was a CORPORATE convenant - with the entire NATION; not an individual one that we now embrace.
You wrote:
“It was a CORPORATE convenant - with the entire NATION; not an individual one that we now embrace.”
Actually, it was a corporate covenant - but circumcision was the individual response. The covenant with the Church is corporate as well - and baptism is the individual response.