What Is A Taboo Tattoo
What Does the Bible Say Most Tattoos?
Taboo tattoos
Megan Sauter October 14, 2021 31 Comments 62071 views
Torah Roll. What is said about tattoos in the Bible? Leviticus, the third book of the Hebrew Bible, prohibits them without giving an explicit reason. Why does the Bible prohibit tattoos? Photograph: "Open Torah and Pointer" by Lawrie Cate is licensed under CC-past-SA-2.0.
What does the Bible say about tattoos?
Leviticus nineteen:28 says, "Y'all shall not make whatsoever gashes in your flesh for the dead or tattoo any marks upon y'all: I am the LORD." Although this passage conspicuously prohibits tattoos, information technology does not give an explicit reason why. This begs the question: Why does the Bible prohibit tattoos?
In his Biblical Views column "Unholy Ink: What Does the Bible Say about Tattoos?" Marking W. Chavalas, Professor of History at the University of Wisconsin-La Crosse, examines the taboo on tattoos in the Bible. Not only does he analyze traditional explanations for this prohibition, but he also investigates what tattoos signified to ancient Near Eastern peoples, including the ancient Israelites, which suggests the real reason why tattoos were taboo.
Leviticus nineteen denounces idolatry and several infidel mourning practices. Some have thought that because of the proximity of the taboo on tattoos to the prohibition of other pagan mourning practices in Leviticus, tattooing must have been a pagan mourning do. However, nosotros detect no bear witness of this in ancient texts from the Levant, Mesopotamia or Egypt. As far equally we can tell, tattooing was not an ancient mourning practice in these cultures.
The religion section of near bookstores includes an amazing array of Bibles. In our free eBook The Holy Bible: A Buyer's Guide, prominent Biblical scholars Leonard Greenspoon and Harvey Minkoff expertly guide you through 21 different Bible translations (or versions) and address their content, text, style and religious orientation.
This is non to requite the impression that tattooing never appears in ancient Near Eastern texts; it does—just not every bit a mourning do. In the aboriginal Virtually East, tattoos were used to mark slaves. Ofttimes the proper name of a slave's owner would exist tattooed or branded on his mitt or brow. If then the slave were to run away, he could be easily returned to his master. Thus, tattooing was seen equally a sign of ownership.
Chavalas thinks that this might be behind the taboo on tattoos in the Bible:
"Tattooing, an insignia of ownership, was perhaps condemned in Leviticus because it reminded them [the Israelites] of their past. Subsequently all, they had just spent the last four centuries as slaves in Egypt, where tattooing was also used as a sign of slavery. No longer considered slaves, the Israelites now were prohibited to mark their bodies with permanent signs of servitude to sometime masters. This did not have to be explicitly articled to them; no one need inquire prison house inmates why they shed their orange jumpsuits when they are no longer incarcerated."
Chavalas also notes that in that location might exist a positive reference to tattoos in the Bible. Isaiah 44:5 reads:
This ane will say, "I am the LORD's,"
some other will be chosen by the proper name of Jacob,
yet another will write on the hand, "The LORD's,"
and adopt the name of Israel.
By writing God's name on his hand, the Israelite in Isaiah 44:5 "was willingly proposing to become a servant of God." At least in this instance, information technology seems that tattooing was acceptable considering the person was marker himself as belonging to the God of Israel.
To acquire more almost tattoos in the Bible, read Mark Chavalas'due south full column "Unholy Ink: What Does the Bible Say about Tattoos?" in the Nov/December 2016 issue of Biblical Archaeology Review.
Subscribers: Read the full Biblical Views column "Unholy Ink: What Does the Bible Say about Tattoos?" by Mark Chavalas in the November/December 2016 issue of Biblical Archaeology Review.
Not a subscriber however? Bring together today.
The religion section of nearly bookstores includes an amazing assortment of Bibles. In our complimentary eBook The Holy Bible: A Buyer'southward Guide, prominent Biblical scholars Leonard Greenspoon and Harvey Minkoff expertly guide you through 21 different Bible translations (or versions) and address their content, text, style and religious orientation.
Related reading in Bible History Daily:
Honey Your Neighbor: But Israelites or Everyone? past Richard Elliott Friedman
Book of Leviticus Verses Recovered from Burnt Hebrew Bible Scroll
The Exodus: Fact or Fiction?
This Bible History Daily feature was originally published on October 31, 2016.
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Source: https://www.biblicalarchaeology.org/daily/biblical-topics/hebrew-bible/what-does-the-bible-say-about-tattoos/
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