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Why Does the Bible Forbid Tattoos?...And have we been misinterpreting Leviticus?
JSTOR Daily ^ | January 2, 2021 | By: Livia Gershon

Posted on 01/19/2024 8:42:39 PM PST by Red Badger

Tattoos have been around for millennia. People got them at least five thousand years ago. Today they’re common everywhere from Maori communities in New Zealand to office parks in Ohio. But in the ancient Middle East, the writers of the Hebrew Bible forbade tattooing. Per Leviticus 19:28, “You shall not make gashes in your flesh for the dead, or incise any marks on yourselves.”

Historically, scholars have often understood this as a warning against pagan practices of mourning. But language scholar John Huehnergard and ancient-Israel expert Harold Liebowitz argue that tattooing was understood differently in ancient times.

Huehnergard and Liebowitz note that the appearance of the ban on incisions—or tattoos—comes right after words clearly related to mourning, perhaps confirming the original theory. And yet, looking at what’s known about death rituals in ancient Mesopotamia, Syria, Israel, and Egypt, they find no references to marking the skin as a sign of mourning. They also note that there are other examples in Leviticus and Exodus where two halves of a verse address different issues. So that could be the case here, too.

What tattoos were apparently often used for in ancient Mesopotamia was marking enslaved people (and, in Egypt, as decorations for women of all social classes). Egyptian captives were branded with the name of a god, marking them as belongings of the priests or pharaoh. But devotees might also be branded with the name of the god they worshiped.

Huehnergard and Liebowitz suggest that, given the key role of the escape from Egyptian bondage in ancient Jewish law, the Torah originally banned tattooing because it was “the symbol of servitude.” Interestingly, though, they write that there’s one other apparent reference to tattooing in the Hebrew Bible. Isaiah 44:5 describes the children of Jacob committing themselves to God: “One shall say, ‘I am the LORD’s’… Another shall mark his arm ‘of the LORD.’” Here a tattoo appears to be allowable as a sign of submission, not to a human master but to God.

Ancient rabbinic debates produced a variety of different theories about the meaning of the prohibition on tattooing. Some authorities believed that tattoos were only disallowed if they had certain messages, such as the name of God, the phrase “I am the Lord,” or the name of a pagan deity. Talmudic law developed around 200 CE says that a tattoo is only disallowed if it is done “for the purpose of idolatry”—but not if it’s intended to mark a person’s enslaved status.

The meaning of the prohibition on tattooing may have shifted over time, of course. But in ancient times, it might never have been about mourning practices at all.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The Biblical Prohibition Against Tattooing By: John Huehnergard and Harold Liebowitz Vetus Testamentum, Vol. 63, Fasc. 1 (2013), pp. 59-77 Brill

DOWNLOAD PDF:

https://www.jstor.org/stable/23496450?mag=why-does-the-bible-forbid-tattoos


TOPICS: Arts/Photography; Health/Medicine; History; Religion
KEYWORDS: belongsinreligion; bible; christian; ink; jewish; tats; tattoo; tattooing; tattoos
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To: Red Badger

If in any doubt, do what God says.


21 posted on 01/19/2024 9:46:15 PM PST by Karl Spooner
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To: DannyTN
If God wanted us to be able to camouflage standing in front of a wall of graffiti, we would have been born that way.

 

I have a saying about tattoos. "She's graffitied up like a railroad boxcar."17 Boxcar Graffiti ideas | graffiti, train graffiti ...

22 posted on 01/19/2024 9:46:32 PM PST by Responsibility2nd (A truth that’s told with bad intent, Beats all the lies you can invent ~ Wm. Blake)
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To: knarf

So are earrings.


23 posted on 01/19/2024 9:50:32 PM PST by Fai Mao (Starve the Beast and steal its food.)
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To: Red Badger
Oh let me let someone stick needles into me repeatedly! That sounds like fun!

You go on ahead. I have a few other things to do first. Like bail out my pond with a teaspoon, count all the flour grains in the bin and convince Oldest Son to clean his room. I should be done sometime after the heat death of the universe.

24 posted on 01/19/2024 9:58:29 PM PST by Harmless Teddy Bear ( In a quaint alleyway, they graciously signaled for a vehicle on the main road to lead the way. )
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To: Fai Mao
So are earrings.

And hog rings (nose rings).

But I like artistic, well done tattoos, on other people.

Just no desire to get any on me.

25 posted on 01/19/2024 10:55:26 PM PST by Mogger (Are)
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To: Red Badger

“Tats used to be found only on military, bikers and criminals.”

And the circus. I thought it was a neat trick of the elites to get people to burn and brand themselves as trash.


26 posted on 01/19/2024 11:28:17 PM PST by Luke21
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To: Red Badger
While I have no tattoos, I have considered getting one. At the time I read everything I could on if tattoos were or were not forbidden by religious texts.

What I read is pretty much what is reported here, that the remarks on tattoos were related to idol worship and to enslavement. The tattoo, I was contemplating was to commemorate my Camino Pilgrimage from Pamplona, Spain, to Santiago de Compostela, Spain

27 posted on 01/20/2024 12:51:19 AM PST by Robert357
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To: Red Badger

One redeeming aspect of the tramp stamp is that by the time the tramp retires the fat folds will hide the stamp.


28 posted on 01/20/2024 12:58:43 AM PST by ZChief
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To: Red Badger

I wonder sometimes how those with tattoos afford them, especially when they are on government assistance. Search for sites that post prices, sample from one place:

“Small tattoos are considered “palm sized” - about 4x4 - 5x5 inches. Most tattoos this size tend to stay closer to $250-350 for black illustration-style tattoos, and $350-500 for color tattoos. Expect a slightly higher rate if the tattoo is a cover-up or placed on a challenging part of the body.”

“Heavily detailed tattoos that are larger than a letter-sized sheet of paper; usually half-sleeves and larger. Black illustration-style tattoos tend to stay closer to $800-900, and color tattoos most often require multiple sessions. Full day sessions are typically only available on Fridays & Saturdays, and for these appointments I work an extended day: 12pm-8pm rather than 1pm-7pm. The discounted 8-hour full day rate is $1,200”


29 posted on 01/20/2024 1:12:29 AM PST by ZChief
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To: Red Badger

You repeat yourself.🤣


30 posted on 01/20/2024 1:24:38 AM PST by justme4now (Our Right's are God given and I don't need permission from politicians or courts to exercise them!)
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To: Red Badger

I always thought tattoos were pagan identification stamps. They are good,however, for police identification


31 posted on 01/20/2024 1:49:53 AM PST by 2nd Amendment
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To: Red Badger
Part of being a Christian is "loving God with all your mind". That means you are supposed to think about things a lot, apply common sense to decisions, and be wise.

Paul said that our body is a "Temple of the Holy Spirit".

If that is so, then, obviously, marking it up is ill-advised.

But marks are forbidden in one or more of the first five books of the Old Testament.

The other thing is the themes of the tattoos are almost always evil, promoting satanism, perversion, drug culture, or just nonsense/nihilistic designs.

Tattoos scandalize (i.e., freak out and frighten) children, and in part they are designed to offend them and all adults who see them.

It isn't rocket science.

People who can't grasp the above have a real IQ problem, IMHO.

32 posted on 01/20/2024 2:35:24 AM PST by caddie
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To: Red Badger

A few years ago, I had a colonoscopy and they removed a rather large polyp which looked suspicious. In order to go back to that precise location again for future surveillance, they put a tattoo around it. I can certainly see the logic in doing that. I have no other tattoos, nor do I have a desire to have any.


33 posted on 01/20/2024 3:03:55 AM PST by telescope115 (I NEED MY SPACE!!! 🔭)
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To: caddie

📌☢️


34 posted on 01/20/2024 3:09:23 AM PST by Varsity Flight ( "War by 🙏🙏 the prophesies set before you." I Timothy 1:18. Nazarite prayer warriors. 10.5.6.5)
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To: Luke21

Roger that. And another taboo of my late mother was cremation. “That’s a heathen practice from backward lands abroad; not here in America.” But alas, all of that sleasy stuff has come ashore, in droves.


35 posted on 01/20/2024 3:25:31 AM PST by Tucker39 ("It is impossible so to rightly govern a nation without God and the Bible." George Washington )
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To: Red Badger

This was under law, not grace. I don’t like tattoos and have none, but having a tattoo today has nothing to do with salvation by grace.


36 posted on 01/20/2024 3:26:49 AM PST by stuckinloozeeana
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To: Red Badger

The Bible says we are fearfully and wonderfully made.

In other words, as far as tatoos on the body fearfully and wonderfully made? well.........who would put a bumper sticker on a Ferrari?


37 posted on 01/20/2024 3:27:26 AM PST by vespa300
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To: stuckinloozeeana

>>>This was under law, not grace. I don’t like tattoos and have none, but having a tattoo today has nothing to do with salvation by grace.>>>>

Grace is forgivness. And the Bible defines Sin as transgression of the law. No law, no sin.

This is why people toss the Sabbath too. Oh, we are under grace not law. Except when I try and steal their money or get an abortion or be gay. Then Suddenly God has laws again.

We can’t be picky choosey about our laws. The people in the Old Testament were as much under grace as we are. That’s why you had the daily sacrifice......to show what grace cost. The death of the lamb.....the death of Jesus.

God will forgive anyone who gets a tatoo just he will forgive anyone who commits murder. No law.....no sin. And that’s not Biblical.


38 posted on 01/20/2024 3:31:29 AM PST by vespa300
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To: imabadboy99

Putting a tattoo on a beautiful woman is like putting a bumper sticker on a Bentley


39 posted on 01/20/2024 3:39:36 AM PST by Keyhopper (Indians had bad immigration laws)
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To: E. Pluribus Unum

“self-identifying so normal people can avoid them.”

That’s how we see it. Add to that rings in noses, lips, etc. Won’t even go to cashiers if they’re sporting any of that stuff. Creepy.


40 posted on 01/20/2024 3:56:32 AM PST by MayflowerMadam ("A coward dies a thousand times before his death, but the valiant taste of death but once.")
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