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
For neither do those themselves who are circumcised keep the law; but they wish you to be circumcised, that they may glory in your flesh.
For neither do those themselves who are circumcised keep the law; but they wish you to be circumcised, that they may glory in your flesh. But it could not be that I should glory, except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, through which the world has become crucified to me, and I to the world.
But it could not be that I should glory, except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, through which the world has become crucified to me, and I to the world.
Henceforth let no one occasion trouble to me; for I am bearing in my body the brand-marks of Jesus.
Henceforth let no one occasion trouble to me; for I am bearing in my body the brand-marks of Jesus.
Now I rejoice in my sufferings in your behalf, and fill up in turn the deficiencies of the tribulations of Christ in my flesh for the sake of His body, which is the assembly;
Now I rejoice in my sufferings in your behalf, and fill up in turn the deficiencies of the tribulations of Christ in my flesh for the sake of His body, which is the assembly;
But we do not wish you to be ignorant, brethren, concerning those falling asleep, that ye sorrow not even as the rest who have no hope;
But we do not wish you to be ignorant, brethren, concerning those falling asleep, that ye sorrow not even as the rest who have no hope;
saying, "Hurt not the earth, nor the sea, nor the trees, until we shall seal the servants of our God on their foreheads."
saying, "Hurt not the earth, nor the sea, nor the trees, until we shall seal the servants of our God on their foreheads."
And he causes all, the small and the great, and the rich and the poor, and the free and the bond, that there be given them a mark on their right hand, or on their forehead;
And he causes all, the small and the great, and the rich and the poor, and the free and the bond, that there be given them a mark on their right hand, or on their forehead;
And I saw, and, behold, the Lamb, standing on the mount Zion, and with Him a hundred and forty-four thousand, having His name, and the name of His Father, written on their foreheads.
And I saw, and, behold, the Lamb, standing on the mount Zion, and with Him a hundred and forty-four thousand, having His name, and the name of His Father, written on their foreheads. And I heard a voice out of Heaven, as a voice of many waters, and as a voice of great thunder; and the voice which I heard was as that of harpers, harping with their harps.
And I heard a voice out of Heaven, as a voice of many waters, and as a voice of great thunder; and the voice which I heard was as that of harpers, harping with their harps. And they sing as it were a new song before the throne, and before the four living creatures and the elders; and no one was able to learn the song, except the hundred and forty-four thousand, who had been purchased out of the earth.
And they sing as it were a new song before the throne, and before the four living creatures and the elders; and no one was able to learn the song, except the hundred and forty-four thousand, who had been purchased out of the earth. These are those who were not defiled with women; for they are virgins. These are those who follow the Lamb whithersoever He goeth. These were redeemed from among men, a first fruit to God and to the Lamb.
These are those who were not defiled with women; for they are virgins. These are those who follow the Lamb whithersoever He goeth. These were redeemed from among men, a first fruit to God and to the Lamb. And in their mouth was found no falsehood. They are without blemish.
And in their mouth was found no falsehood. They are without blemish. And I saw another angel flying in mid-heaven, having the eternal Gospel to proclaim to those who dwell on the earth, and to every nation, and tribe, and tongue, and people;
And I saw another angel flying in mid-heaven, having the eternal Gospel to proclaim to those who dwell on the earth, and to every nation, and tribe, and tongue, and people; saying with a great voice, "Fear God, and give glory to Him, because the hour of His judgment came; and worship Him Who made the heaven, and the earth, and the sea, and fountains of waters."
saying with a great voice, "Fear God, and give glory to Him, because the hour of His judgment came; and worship Him Who made the heaven, and the earth, and the sea, and fountains of waters." And another, a second angel, followed, saying, "It fell, it fell, Babylon the Great, that has made all the nations drink of the wine of the wrath of her fornication!"
And another, a second angel, followed, saying, "It fell, it fell, Babylon the Great, that has made all the nations drink of the wine of the wrath of her fornication!" And another angel, a third, followed them, saying with a great voice, "If anyone worships the beast and his image, and receives a mark on his forehead or on his hand,
And another angel, a third, followed them, saying with a great voice, "If anyone worships the beast and his image, and receives a mark on his forehead or on his hand,
and upon her forehead a name written, "MYSTERY, BABYLON THE GREAT, THE MOTHER OF THE HARLOTS AND OF THE ABOMINATIONS OF THE EARTH."
and upon her forehead a name written, "MYSTERY, BABYLON THE GREAT, THE MOTHER OF THE HARLOTS AND OF THE ABOMINATIONS OF THE EARTH."
And the beast was seized, and with him the false prophet that wrought the signs in his presence, with which he deceived those who received the mark of the beast, and who worshiped his image. The two were cast alive into the lake of fire that burns with brimstone.
And the beast was seized, and with him the false prophet that wrought the signs in his presence, with which he deceived those who received the mark of the beast, and who worshiped his image. The two were cast alive into the lake of fire that burns with brimstone.
and they will see His face, and His name shall be on their foreheads.
and they will see His face, and His name shall be on their foreheads.