Cuttings In The Flesh
VIEW:45 DATA:01-04-2020
CUTTINGS IN THE FLESH.This expression occurs only in Lev_19:28; Lev_21:5. The former passage runs thus: Ye shall not make any cuttings in your flesh for the dead.
I am the Lord. The same prohibition, otherwise expressed in the original, is found in the earlier Deuteronomic legislation (Deu_14:1). The reference is to the practice, not confined to the Hebrews or even to their Semitic kinsfolk, of making incisions in the face, hands (Jer_48:37), and other parts of the body to the effusion of blood, as part of the rites of mourning for the dead (see Marks, § 4), and by a natural transition, to which the wearing of sackcloth forms a parallel, in times of national calamity. The custom is referred to without condemnation by the pre-Deuteronomic prophets, see Hos_7:14 (corrected text, as RVm [Note: Revised Version margin.] ), and esp. Jer_16:6; Jer_41:5; Jer_47:5.
The underlying motive of this practice and the reasons for its legislative prohibition have been variously stated. It may be regarded as certain, however, that the practice had its root in primitive animistic conceptions regarding the spirits of the departed. The object in view may have been either so to disfigure the living that they should be unrecognizable by the malignant spirits of the dead, or, more probably, by means of the effusion of bloodwhich originally, perhaps, was brought into contact with the corpseto maintain or renew the bond of union between the living and the dead.
The explanation just given is confirmed by the allied practice, springing from similar motives, of shaving off the whole (Eze_44:20, cf. Bar_6:31) or part of the head hair or of the beard in token of mourning (Isa_15:2; Isa_22:12, Eze_7:18, Amo_8:10 etc.). Both practices, the incisions and the shaving, are named together in the legislative passages above cited. Thus Deu_14:1 forbids baldness between the eyes, i.e. the shaving of the front of the scalp, for the dead; in Lev_19:27 it is forbidden to round the corners of the head, i.e. to shave the temples (cf. Jer_9:26; Jer_25:23, where certain desert tribes are named the corners clipt, from their habit of shaving the temples, see Hair), and to mar the corners of the beard (cf. Jer_48:37). These references recall the wide-spread heathen practice of hair-offerings, which goes back to the antique conception that the hair, like the blood, is the seat of life.
The reason of the twofold prohibition now becomes apparent. With the growth of loftier conceptions of J″ [Note: Jahweh.] and His worship, these practices, with their animistic background and heathen associations, were seen to be unworthy of a people who owed exclusive devotion to their covenant God, a thought implied in the concluding words of Lev_19:28 I am Jahweh. The practice of gashing the body till the blood ran, as part of the ritual of Baal worship, is attested by 1Ki_18:28.
The further prohibition of Lev_19:28 nor print any marks upon you, refers to another widely prevalent custom in antiquity, that of tattooing and even branding (3Ma_2:29) the body with the name or symbol of ones special deity, a practice to which there is a reference in Isa_44:5, to be rendered as in RVm [Note: Revised Version margin.] , another shall write on his hand. Unto the Lord, or, better, as one word, Jahwehs.
A. R. S. Kennedy.
Hastings' Dictionary of the Bible
Edited by James Hastings, D.D. Published in 1909
(שׂרט, sereṭ, שׂרטת, sāreṭeth): For relatives or friends to cut or beat themselves even to free blood-flowing, especially in the violence of grief in mourning for their dead (see BURIAL; MOURNING), was a widely prevalent custom among ancient peoples, and is well-nigh universal among uncivilized races today (see Spencer, Prin. of Soc., 3rd edition, I, 163ff). The fact is abundantly attested for most of the nations of antiquity, but there are two notable exceptions, the Egyptians (Herod. ii.61, 85; Wilkinson, Anc. Egyptian II, 374), and the Hebrews (Deu_14:1; Lev_21:5). According to Plutarch (Sol. 21) Solon forbade the women of Athens to beat themselves to the effusion of blood, and the laws of the Twelve Tables, quoted by Cic. (De leg. ii.23) contained a like injunction. Among the ancient Arabs the forbidden practice was associated, as among the Hebrews, with the cutting off of the hair (Wellhausen, Skizzen, III, 160 f).
That the prohibition among the Hebrews was urgently called for is made clear by the way it is dealt with by the Law and the prophets. The Law of Holiness reads: ?Ye are the children of Yahweh your God: ye shall not cut yourselves? (Deu_14:1), or ?make any incision? (שׂרט, sereṭ; Lev_19:28, שׂרטת, sāreṭeth; Septuagint ἐντομίς, entomı́s) in the flesh ?for the dead.? Probably the earliest reference to the custom as actually prevalent among the Hebrews is in Hos_7:14 (ERVm). It was widely prevalent in the time of Jeremiah among his countrymen, even as among the Philistines (Jer_47:5) and the Moabites (Jer_48:37; compare Amo_8:10; Isa_3:24; Isa_15:2; Isa_22:12; Mic_1:16; Eze_7:18).
In seeking for the reason or purpose underlying all such prohibitions, we may note, first, that the ?cuttings? and ?baldness? forbidden are alike said to be ?for the dead.? Not less explicitly are they said to be incompatible with Israel's unique relation to Yahweh - a relation at once of sonship (Deu_14:1) and of consecration (Deu_14:2). Moreover such mutilations of the body are always dealt with as forming part of the religious rites of the heathen (as of the Canaanitish Baal (1Ki_18:28) note ?after their manner,? see article in HDB, under the word). Both such shedding of blood and the dedication of the hair are found in almost all countries of that day in intimate connection with the rituals of burial and the prevailing belief in the necessity of propitiating the spirit of the deceased. The conclusion, then, seems clearly warranted that such tokens of grief were prohibited because they carried with them inevitably ideas and associations distinctly heathen in character and so incompatible with the pure religion of Yahweh, and unworthy of those who had attained to the dignity of the sons (?children?) of Yahweh. See also MARK; STIGMATA.
Literature
Benzinger, Heb Arch., section 23; Nowack, Heb Arch., I, 33 f; Tylor, Prim. Cult.; W. R. Smith, Rel Semitic, Lect IX; and Comm., Knobel-Dillmann, Ex-Lev on Lev_19:28; Driver, Dt on Deu_14:1; and Lightfoot, Gal on Deu_6:17.
International Standard Bible Encyclopedia
PRINTER 1915.
Among the prohibitory laws which God gave the Israelites there was one that expressly forbad the practice embraced in those words, viz. 'Ye shall not make any cuttings in your flesh for the dead' (Lev_19:28). It is evident from this law that such a species of self-inflicted torture obtained among the nations of Canaan; and it was, doubtless, to guard His people against the adoption of so barbarous a habit, in its idolatrous form, that God led Moses to reiterate the prohibition: 'They shall not make baldness upon their heads, neither shall they shave off the corner of their beards, nor make any cuttings in their flesh' (Lev_21:5; Deu_14:1).
Investing his imaginary deities with the attributes of cruelty, man has, at all times and in all countries, instituted a form of religion consisting in cruel rites and bloody ceremonies. If then we look to the practices of the heathen world, whether of ancient or modern times, we shall find that almost the entire of their religion consisted of rites of deprecation. Fear of the Divine displeasure would seem to have been the leading feature in their religious impressions. The universal prevalence of human sacrifices throughout the Gentile world is, in itself, a decisive proof of the light in which the human mind, unaided by revelation, is disposed to view the Divinity.
It was doubtless such mistaken views of the character of God that led the prophets of Baal (1Ki_18:28) to cut their bodies with lancets, supposing that, by mingling their own blood with that of the offered sacrifice, their god must become more attentive to the voice of entreaty. In fact it was a current opinion among the ancient heathen that the gods were jealous of human happiness; and in no part of the heathen world did this opinion more prevail, according to Sanchoniathon's account, than among the inhabitants of those very countries which surrounded that land where God designed to place his people Israel. Hence we see why God would lay them under the wholesome influence of such a prohibitory law as that under consideration: 'Ye shall not make any cutting in your flesh for the dead.' The ancients were very violent in their expression of sorrow. Virgil represents the sister of Dido as tearing her face with her nails, and beating her breasts with her fists.
The present writer has seen in India the same wild exhibition of grief for the departed relative or friend. Some of the learned think that that law of Solon's, which was transferred by the Romans into the Twelve Tables, that women in mourning should not scratch their cheeks, derived its origin from this law of Moses (Lev_19:28). But, however this opinion may be questioned, it would appear that the simple tearing of their flesh out of grief and anguish of spirit is taken, in other parts of Scripture, as a mark of affection: thus (Jer_48:37), 'Every head shall be bald, every beard clipped, and upon all cuttings.' Again (Jer_16:6): 'Both the great and the small shall die in the land: they shall not be buried, neither shall men lament for them, nor cut themselves.' So (Jer_41:5): 'There came from Samaria fourscore men having their heads shaven and their clothes rent, and having cut themselves, with offerings to the house of the Lord.'
Fig. 143?Cuttings in the Flesh
The spirit of Islam is less favorable than that of heathenism to displays of this kind: yet examples of them are not of rare occurrence even in the Muslim countries of Western Asia, including Palestine itself. The annexed figure is copied from one which is represented in many of the books of travel in Egypt and Palestine which were printed in the seventeenth century. It is described by the missionary Eugene Roger as representing 'one of those calenders or devotees whom the Arabs name Balhoaua,' and whom the simple people honor as holy martyrs. He appears in public with a scimitar stuck through the fleshy part of his side, with three heavy iron spikes thrust through the muscles of his arm, and with a feather inserted into a cut in his forehead. He moves about with great composure, and endures all these sufferings, hoping for recompense in the Paradise of Mohammed.
From the examples which have been produced, we may very safely conclude that the expression 'cuttings in the flesh,' in these passages of Scripture, was designed, as already intimated, to declare the feeling of strong affection; as though the living would say, 'See how little we regard the pleasures of life, since now the object of our affection is removed from us!' We must therefore come back to our former position, that it was against those self-inflicted tortures, by which the unhappy devotees vainly thought to deprecate the wrath of their angry gods towards their deceased relatives and friends, this law of Moses was especially aimed.'
The Popular Cyclopedia of Biblical Literature
by John Kitto.
The underlying motive of this practice and the reasons for its legislative prohibition have been variously stated. It may be regarded as certain, however, that the practice had its root in primitive animistic conceptions regarding the spirits of the departed. The object in view may have been either so to disfigure the living that they should be unrecognizable by the malignant spirits of the dead, or, more probably, by means of the effusion of bloodwhich originally, perhaps, was brought into contact with the corpseto maintain or renew the bond of union between the living and the dead.
The explanation just given is confirmed by the allied practice, springing from similar motives, of shaving off the whole (Eze_44:20, cf. Bar_6:31) or part of the head hair or of the beard in token of mourning (Isa_15:2; Isa_22:12, Eze_7:18, Amo_8:10 etc.). Both practices, the incisions and the shaving, are named together in the legislative passages above cited. Thus Deu_14:1 forbids baldness between the eyes, i.e. the shaving of the front of the scalp, for the dead; in Lev_19:27 it is forbidden to round the corners of the head, i.e. to shave the temples (cf. Jer_9:26; Jer_25:23, where certain desert tribes are named the corners clipt, from their habit of shaving the temples, see Hair), and to mar the corners of the beard (cf. Jer_48:37). These references recall the wide-spread heathen practice of hair-offerings, which goes back to the antique conception that the hair, like the blood, is the seat of life.
The reason of the twofold prohibition now becomes apparent. With the growth of loftier conceptions of J″ [Note: Jahweh.] and His worship, these practices, with their animistic background and heathen associations, were seen to be unworthy of a people who owed exclusive devotion to their covenant God, a thought implied in the concluding words of Lev_19:28 I am Jahweh. The practice of gashing the body till the blood ran, as part of the ritual of Baal worship, is attested by 1Ki_18:28.
The further prohibition of Lev_19:28 nor print any marks upon you, refers to another widely prevalent custom in antiquity, that of tattooing and even branding (3Ma_2:29) the body with the name or symbol of ones special deity, a practice to which there is a reference in Isa_44:5, to be rendered as in RVm [Note: Revised Version margin.] , another shall write on his hand. Unto the Lord, or, better, as one word, Jahwehs.
A. R. S. Kennedy.
Hastings' Dictionary of the Bible
Edited by James Hastings, D.D. Published in 1909
(שׂרט, sereṭ, שׂרטת, sāreṭeth): For relatives or friends to cut or beat themselves even to free blood-flowing, especially in the violence of grief in mourning for their dead (see BURIAL; MOURNING), was a widely prevalent custom among ancient peoples, and is well-nigh universal among uncivilized races today (see Spencer, Prin. of Soc., 3rd edition, I, 163ff). The fact is abundantly attested for most of the nations of antiquity, but there are two notable exceptions, the Egyptians (Herod. ii.61, 85; Wilkinson, Anc. Egyptian II, 374), and the Hebrews (Deu_14:1; Lev_21:5). According to Plutarch (Sol. 21) Solon forbade the women of Athens to beat themselves to the effusion of blood, and the laws of the Twelve Tables, quoted by Cic. (De leg. ii.23) contained a like injunction. Among the ancient Arabs the forbidden practice was associated, as among the Hebrews, with the cutting off of the hair (Wellhausen, Skizzen, III, 160 f).
That the prohibition among the Hebrews was urgently called for is made clear by the way it is dealt with by the Law and the prophets. The Law of Holiness reads: ?Ye are the children of Yahweh your God: ye shall not cut yourselves? (Deu_14:1), or ?make any incision? (שׂרט, sereṭ; Lev_19:28, שׂרטת, sāreṭeth; Septuagint ἐντομίς, entomı́s) in the flesh ?for the dead.? Probably the earliest reference to the custom as actually prevalent among the Hebrews is in Hos_7:14 (ERVm). It was widely prevalent in the time of Jeremiah among his countrymen, even as among the Philistines (Jer_47:5) and the Moabites (Jer_48:37; compare Amo_8:10; Isa_3:24; Isa_15:2; Isa_22:12; Mic_1:16; Eze_7:18).
In seeking for the reason or purpose underlying all such prohibitions, we may note, first, that the ?cuttings? and ?baldness? forbidden are alike said to be ?for the dead.? Not less explicitly are they said to be incompatible with Israel's unique relation to Yahweh - a relation at once of sonship (Deu_14:1) and of consecration (Deu_14:2). Moreover such mutilations of the body are always dealt with as forming part of the religious rites of the heathen (as of the Canaanitish Baal (1Ki_18:28) note ?after their manner,? see article in HDB, under the word). Both such shedding of blood and the dedication of the hair are found in almost all countries of that day in intimate connection with the rituals of burial and the prevailing belief in the necessity of propitiating the spirit of the deceased. The conclusion, then, seems clearly warranted that such tokens of grief were prohibited because they carried with them inevitably ideas and associations distinctly heathen in character and so incompatible with the pure religion of Yahweh, and unworthy of those who had attained to the dignity of the sons (?children?) of Yahweh. See also MARK; STIGMATA.
Literature
Benzinger, Heb Arch., section 23; Nowack, Heb Arch., I, 33 f; Tylor, Prim. Cult.; W. R. Smith, Rel Semitic, Lect IX; and Comm., Knobel-Dillmann, Ex-Lev on Lev_19:28; Driver, Dt on Deu_14:1; and Lightfoot, Gal on Deu_6:17.
International Standard Bible Encyclopedia
PRINTER 1915.
Among the prohibitory laws which God gave the Israelites there was one that expressly forbad the practice embraced in those words, viz. 'Ye shall not make any cuttings in your flesh for the dead' (Lev_19:28). It is evident from this law that such a species of self-inflicted torture obtained among the nations of Canaan; and it was, doubtless, to guard His people against the adoption of so barbarous a habit, in its idolatrous form, that God led Moses to reiterate the prohibition: 'They shall not make baldness upon their heads, neither shall they shave off the corner of their beards, nor make any cuttings in their flesh' (Lev_21:5; Deu_14:1).
Investing his imaginary deities with the attributes of cruelty, man has, at all times and in all countries, instituted a form of religion consisting in cruel rites and bloody ceremonies. If then we look to the practices of the heathen world, whether of ancient or modern times, we shall find that almost the entire of their religion consisted of rites of deprecation. Fear of the Divine displeasure would seem to have been the leading feature in their religious impressions. The universal prevalence of human sacrifices throughout the Gentile world is, in itself, a decisive proof of the light in which the human mind, unaided by revelation, is disposed to view the Divinity.
It was doubtless such mistaken views of the character of God that led the prophets of Baal (1Ki_18:28) to cut their bodies with lancets, supposing that, by mingling their own blood with that of the offered sacrifice, their god must become more attentive to the voice of entreaty. In fact it was a current opinion among the ancient heathen that the gods were jealous of human happiness; and in no part of the heathen world did this opinion more prevail, according to Sanchoniathon's account, than among the inhabitants of those very countries which surrounded that land where God designed to place his people Israel. Hence we see why God would lay them under the wholesome influence of such a prohibitory law as that under consideration: 'Ye shall not make any cutting in your flesh for the dead.' The ancients were very violent in their expression of sorrow. Virgil represents the sister of Dido as tearing her face with her nails, and beating her breasts with her fists.
The present writer has seen in India the same wild exhibition of grief for the departed relative or friend. Some of the learned think that that law of Solon's, which was transferred by the Romans into the Twelve Tables, that women in mourning should not scratch their cheeks, derived its origin from this law of Moses (Lev_19:28). But, however this opinion may be questioned, it would appear that the simple tearing of their flesh out of grief and anguish of spirit is taken, in other parts of Scripture, as a mark of affection: thus (Jer_48:37), 'Every head shall be bald, every beard clipped, and upon all cuttings.' Again (Jer_16:6): 'Both the great and the small shall die in the land: they shall not be buried, neither shall men lament for them, nor cut themselves.' So (Jer_41:5): 'There came from Samaria fourscore men having their heads shaven and their clothes rent, and having cut themselves, with offerings to the house of the Lord.'
Fig. 143?Cuttings in the Flesh
The spirit of Islam is less favorable than that of heathenism to displays of this kind: yet examples of them are not of rare occurrence even in the Muslim countries of Western Asia, including Palestine itself. The annexed figure is copied from one which is represented in many of the books of travel in Egypt and Palestine which were printed in the seventeenth century. It is described by the missionary Eugene Roger as representing 'one of those calenders or devotees whom the Arabs name Balhoaua,' and whom the simple people honor as holy martyrs. He appears in public with a scimitar stuck through the fleshy part of his side, with three heavy iron spikes thrust through the muscles of his arm, and with a feather inserted into a cut in his forehead. He moves about with great composure, and endures all these sufferings, hoping for recompense in the Paradise of Mohammed.
From the examples which have been produced, we may very safely conclude that the expression 'cuttings in the flesh,' in these passages of Scripture, was designed, as already intimated, to declare the feeling of strong affection; as though the living would say, 'See how little we regard the pleasures of life, since now the object of our affection is removed from us!' We must therefore come back to our former position, that it was against those self-inflicted tortures, by which the unhappy devotees vainly thought to deprecate the wrath of their angry gods towards their deceased relatives and friends, this law of Moses was especially aimed.'
The Popular Cyclopedia of Biblical Literature
by John Kitto.
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