beard

[Buccaneer]

Ye shall not round the corners of your heads, neither shalt thou mar the corners of thy beard.

Men are commanded to keep beards?

[Henaynei]

Ye shall not round the corners of your heads, neither shalt thou mar the corners of thy beard.

Men are commanded to keep beards?The traditional Orthodox and the Chabad interpret the scriptures in that way, and so do many Conservative and Messianics......

[Buccaneer]

Yes, but is this command directed ONLY to priests or to everyone?

[The Thadman]

The Hebrew of Leviticus 19, litterally translated, says:

27 Don't beat yourselves about the head nor rot away the edges of your beard,

Also check the context it's in :)

Verse 28: don't make any cuttings in your flesh, nor tatoo any written marks on you, for the dead. I am YHWH.

Peace!
-Steve-o

[Buccaneer]

Even so, it may be the motive to guard against pegan death rituals but does that then say if we do shave for personal desire rather than peganism is it ok? Further are the corners of the beard only talking about 'sideburns' or the full thing? I currently have a goatee thing but i cannot imagine a full beard.

[Shimshon]

Verse 28: don't make any cuttings in your flesh, nor tatoo any written marks on you, for the dead. I am YHWH.

Very interesting Steve. Can you expound on this? "for the dead"? This would seem to imply then that the act of tattooing is not a sin but the reason it is done?

Shimshon

[The Thadman]

Very interesting Steve. Can you expound on this? "for the dead"? This would seem to imply then that the act of tattooing is not a sin but the reason it is done?

Shimshon

In many pagan cultures throughout the middle east, tatooing and shaving for the dead is common, as is beating oneself in mourning. For example, the ancient egyptians shaved their heads, beards, and eyebrows as a sign of mourning. Many places in the Tanakh you'll hear mentioned "baldness on every head" as a sign of grief.

1 Kings 18
26 They took the bull which was given them, and they dressed it, and called on the name of Baal from morning even until noon, saying, Baal, hear us. But there was no voice, nor any who answered. They leaped about the altar which was made. 27 It happened at noon, that Elijah mocked them, and said, Cry aloud; for he is a god: either he is musing, or he is gone aside, or he is on a journey, or peradventure he sleeps and must be awakened. 28 They cried aloud, and cut themselves after their manner with knives and lances, until the blood gushed out on them.

Jeremiah 48
35 Moreover I will cause to cease in Moab, says YHWH, him who offers in the high place, and him who burns incense to his gods. 36 Therefore my heart sounds for Moab like pipes, and my heart sounds like pipes for the men of Kir Heres: therefore the abundance that he has gotten is perished. 37 For every head is stripped, and every beard shaved: on all the hands are cuttings, and on the loins sackcloth. 38 On all the housetops of Moab and in the streets of it there is lamentation every where; for I have broken Moab like a vessel in which none delights, says YHWH.

This is a custom of mourning. :)

Peace!
-Steve-o

[The Thadman]

Even so, it may be the motive to guard against pegan death rituals but does that then say if we do shave for personal desire rather than peganism is it ok? Further are the corners of the beard only talking about 'sideburns' or the full thing? I currently have a goatee thing but i cannot imagine a full beard.

If the Torah doesn't forbid it, use your own discretion. Mine would be: do whatever you want with your facial hair, so long as you don't do it out of mourning, as that is the circumstance under which it is forbidden. :)

Peace!
-Steve-o

[Shimshon]

If the Torah doesn't forbid it, use your own discretion. Mine would be: do whatever you want with your facial hair, so long as you don't do it out of mourning, as that is the circumstance under which it is forbidden. :)

Peace!
-Steve-oOh yes, I know of the term "baldhead".

Wow, so by this logic the tat on my Abba's back with his children is o.k. because it symbolised his love for our lives. But what if one or all of us die? Would it then become a symbol of "mourning" and turn into a sin? Just a thought. Should one remove it if this happens. Or does the grandfather clause work in that case? lol

I also noticed that what the scripture defines as "cutting" is what is implied as "tattooing". Talk about old time tat artists...oy. Know wonder the blood gushed all over! :sick: Body mutilation.

b,shalom
Shimshon