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
Indeed, the very men who let themselves be circumcised do not themselves observe the law. But they simply want you to let yourselves be circumcised, so that they can boast of you as members of their party.
Indeed, the very men who let themselves be circumcised do not themselves observe the law. But they simply want you to let yourselves be circumcised, so that they can boast of you as members of their party. But may it never be mine to boast of anything but the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by which the world has been crucified to me and I to the world!
But may it never be mine to boast of anything but the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by which the world has been crucified to me and I to the world!
Let nobody trouble me after this, for I carry on my body the scars that mark me as Jesus' slave.
Let nobody trouble me after this, for I carry on my body the scars that mark me as Jesus' slave.
I am now glad to be suffering for you, and in my own person I am filling in what is lacking in Christ's sufferings for His body, that is, the church.
I am now glad to be suffering for you, and in my own person I am filling in what is lacking in Christ's sufferings for His body, that is, the church.
Also we do not want you to have any misunderstanding, brothers, about those who are falling asleep, so as to keep you from grieving over them as others do who have no hope.
Also we do not want you to have any misunderstanding, brothers, about those who are falling asleep, so as to keep you from grieving over them as others do who have no hope.
"Do not injure the earth, the sea, or the trees, until we mark the slaves of our God with His seal on their foreheads."
"Do not injure the earth, the sea, or the trees, until we mark the slaves of our God with His seal on their foreheads."
And he makes all, great and small, rich and poor, freemen and slaves, have a mark stamped on their right hands or on their foreheads,
And he makes all, great and small, rich and poor, freemen and slaves, have a mark stamped on their right hands or on their foreheads,
Then I looked, and there the Lamb was standing on Mount Zion, and with Him one hundred and forty-four thousand people who had His name and the name of His Father written on their foreheads.
Then I looked, and there the Lamb was standing on Mount Zion, and with Him one hundred and forty-four thousand people who had His name and the name of His Father written on their foreheads. And I heard a sound from heaven like the roar of great waters and the rumbling of loud thunders. The sound that I heard was like that of harpists playing on their harps.
And I heard a sound from heaven like the roar of great waters and the rumbling of loud thunders. The sound that I heard was like that of harpists playing on their harps. They were singing a new song before the throne, the four living creatures, and the elders, and no one could learn the song except the hundred and forty-four thousand who had been redeemed from the earth.
They were singing a new song before the throne, the four living creatures, and the elders, and no one could learn the song except the hundred and forty-four thousand who had been redeemed from the earth. These are the men who have not been defiled by relations with women, for they are as pure as virgins, These are the men who follow the Lamb wherever He goes. These have been redeemed from among men as the first fruits for God and the Lamb,
These are the men who have not been defiled by relations with women, for they are as pure as virgins, These are the men who follow the Lamb wherever He goes. These have been redeemed from among men as the first fruits for God and the Lamb, and they have never been known to tell a lie with their lips; they are blameless.
and they have never been known to tell a lie with their lips; they are blameless. Then I saw another angel flying in mid-air, with eternal good news to tell to the inhabitants of the earth, to every nation, tribe, language, and people.
Then I saw another angel flying in mid-air, with eternal good news to tell 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, because the hour of 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, because the hour of His judgment has come. Worship Him who made heaven and earth and sea and the springs of water." Then a second angel followed, saying: "She has fallen! Mighty Babylon has fallen, who made all the nations drink the wine of vengeance due her immorality!"
Then a second angel followed, saying: "She has fallen! Mighty Babylon has fallen, who made all the nations drink the wine of vengeance due her immorality!" Then a third angel followed them, saying in a loud voice: "Whoever worships the wild beast and his statue and lets his mark be stamped on his forehead or on his hand,
Then a third angel followed them, saying in a loud voice: "Whoever worships the wild beast and his statue and lets his mark be stamped on his forehead or on his hand,
On her forehead was written a name with a symbolical meaning, "Mighty Babylon, the mother of prostitutes and of earth's abominations."
On her forehead was written a name with a symbolical meaning, "Mighty Babylon, the mother of prostitutes and of earth's abominations."
Then the wild beast was captured and with him the false prophet who performed wonders in his presence, by which he led astray those who let the mark of the wild beast be put on them and worshiped his statue. Both of them were hurled alive into the fiery lake that burns with brimstone.
Then the wild beast was captured and with him the false prophet who performed wonders in his presence, by which he led astray those who let the mark of the wild beast be put on them and worshiped his statue. Both of them were hurled alive into the fiery lake that burns with 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.