Reference: Cuttings
Fausets
Le 19:28; "ye shall not make any cuttings in your flesh for (in behalf of) the dead, nor print any mark upon you." And (Le 21:5) the priests "shall not make baldness upon their head, neither shall they shave off the grainer of their beard, nor make any cuttings in their flesh." The prohibition was directed against the pagan self inflicted mutilation or baldness which was supposed to propitiate the manes of the dead; probably a milder substitute (Homer, Iliad 23:141) for the human sacrifices offered over the dead, as the 12 Trojans immolated by Achilles at Patrochus' burial (Homer, Iliad 23:171,176), and as among the ancient Seythians (Herodotus, 4:71) and modern Africans (e.g. in Dahomey) at the death of chiefs both men and animals are sacrificed. The cuttings also expressed excessive grief, death being to the pagan a dark blank future (contrast 1Th 4:13).
Self mutilation and cuttings were also supposed to propitiate the idols at other times (1Ki 18:28). The Syrians (Lucian de Des Syr., 2:658,681; compare Eze 8:14), the neighbors of Israel in Canaan, not the Egyptians from whose land Israel had come, practiced these self cuttings, expressive of excited feeling. Tattooing also, in mark of allegiance to a deity, as soldiers and slaves indicated their devotion to those over them, is hereby forbidden. Voluntary disfigurement of the person is an outrage on God's workmanship (Speaker's Commentary, Le 19:28). This explains the "mark in the right hand or in the forehead" (Re 13:16; 17:5; 19:20). God signs His people with His own name on their forehead mystically (the most conspicuous, highest part of the body, whereon the helmet "the hope of salvation" is worn; implying open compression on their part as well as on His): Re 14:1-9; 22:4.
Paul's bodily sears, suffered for Jesus' sake, were God's own marks that Paul was His, in contrast to the circumcision marks in the flesh of their followers in which the Judaizing teachers gloried (Ga 6:17,13-14; Col 1:24; Re 7:3). Isa 44:5, "another shall subscribe his hand unto the Lord," Lowth explains, shall write upon his hand, I am Jehovah's; as soldiers punctured their hands in token of devotion to their commander. Brahmins bear similar marks on their foreheads. Cuttings of the flesh, the beard, whiskers, and hair of the head expressed extreme grief (Jer 41:5; 47:5; 48:37; compare Isa 15:2). In spite of the prohibition the Jews often practiced it in Jeremiah's time (Jer 16:6).
See Verses Found in Dictionary
Why, even those who let themselves be circumcised do not observe the Law themselves! But they want you to let yourselves be circumcised so that they can boast of that physical fact about you!
Why, even those who let themselves be circumcised do not observe the Law themselves! But they want you to let yourselves be circumcised so that they can boast of that physical fact about you! But I never want to boast of anything but the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, on which the world has been crucified to me and I have been to the world.
But I never want to boast of anything but the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, on which the world has been crucified to me and I have been to the world.
Let nobody interfere with me after this, for I bear on my body the scars that mark me as a slave of Jesus.
Let nobody interfere with me after this, for I bear on my body the scars that mark me as a slave of Jesus.
At present I am glad to be suffering in your interest, and I am making up in my own person what is lacking in Christ's sufferings for the church, which is his body.
At present I am glad to be suffering in your interest, and I am making up in my own person what is lacking in Christ's sufferings for the church, which is his body.
We do not want you to be under any misapprehension, brothers, about those who are falling asleep. You must not grieve for them, as others do who have no hope.
We do not want you to be under any misapprehension, brothers, about those who are falling asleep. You must not grieve for them, as others do who have no hope.
"Do not harm the earth or the sea or the trees until we mark the slaves of our God on their foreheads."
"Do not harm the earth or the sea or the trees until we mark the slaves of our God on their foreheads."
And it makes everyone, high and low, rich and poor, freemen and slaves, have a mark stamped on their right hands or on their foreheads,
And it makes everyone, high and low, rich and poor, freemen and slaves, have a mark stamped on their right hands or on their foreheads,
Then in my vision I saw the Lamb standing on Mount Zion, and with him 144,000 people who had his name and his Father's name written on their foreheads.
Then in my vision I saw the Lamb standing on Mount Zion, and with him 144,000 people who had his name and his Father's name written on their foreheads. And I heard a sound from heaven, like the sound of great waters, and loud peals of thunder. The sound I heard was like that of harpists playing on their harps.
And I heard a sound from heaven, like the sound of great waters, and loud peals of thunder. The sound I heard was like that of harpists playing on their harps. They were singing a new song before the throne and the four animals and the elders, and no one could learn the song except the 144,000 who had been ransomed from the earth.
They were singing a new song before the throne and the four animals and the elders, and no one could learn the song except the 144,000 who had been ransomed from the earth. They are the men who have not been defiled by relations with women; they are celibates. It is they who follow the Lamb wherever he goes. They have been ransomed from among men as the first-fruits for God and the Lamb,
They are the men who have not been defiled by relations with women; they are celibates. It is they who follow the Lamb wherever he goes. They have been ransomed from among men as the first-fruits for God and the Lamb, and they have never been known to utter a lie; they are irreproachable.
and they have never been known to utter a lie; they are irreproachable. Then I saw another angel flying in midair, with eternal good news to announce to the inhabitants of the earth, to every nation, tribe, language, and people.
Then I saw another angel flying in midair, with eternal good news to announce to the inhabitants of the earth, to every nation, tribe, language, and people. He cried in a loud voice, "Fear God and give him glory, for the hour for his judgment has come. Worship him who made heaven and earth and sea and the springs of water."
He cried in a loud voice, "Fear God and give him glory, for the hour for his judgment has come. Worship him who made heaven and earth and sea and the springs of water." A second angel followed, saying, "She is fallen! Mighty Babylon is fallen, who made all the heathen drink the wine of the passion of her immorality!"
A second angel followed, saying, "She is fallen! Mighty Babylon is fallen, who made all the heathen drink the wine of the passion of her immorality!" A third angel followed them, saying in a loud voice, "Whoever worships the animal and its statue and lets its mark be put on his forehead or on his hand
A third angel followed them, saying in a loud voice, "Whoever worships the animal and its statue and lets its mark be put on his forehead or on his hand
On her forehead there was written a name that was symbolic: "Mighty Babylon, mother of idolatresses and of earth's abominations."
On her forehead there was written a name that was symbolic: "Mighty Babylon, mother of idolatresses and of earth's abominations."
And the animal was captured and with it the false prophet who performed wonders on its behalf by means of which he led astray those who had let the animal's mark be put on them and who worshiped its statue. Both of them were flung alive into the fiery lake of burning brimstone.
And the animal was captured and with it the false prophet who performed wonders on its behalf by means of which he led astray those who had let the animal's mark be put on them and who worshiped its statue. Both of them were flung alive into the fiery lake of burning brimstone.
they will see his face, and his name will be on their foreheads.
they will see his face, and his name will be on their foreheads.