i dont know if we can actually throw the Leviticus verse at them about an old custom they did to appease false Gods for the dead .. seems like it's a different situation altogether to what the verse is referring to.
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If I may add to what you're saying.I find it important for one to study/understand culturally what was going on in the surrounding nations before reading the Mosaic Revelations given...as they again weren't written in a vaccum or in ways that didn't make sense. Indeed, as you noted, what God said in context was that tattoos/marks were not to be placed upon oneself for the DEAD. IMHO, the brand letters/marks were considered wrong when they were done for the DEAD.
Leviticus 19:28
You shall not make any cuttings in your flesh for the dead, nor
tattoo any marks on you: I am the LORD.
The other scripture going alongside Leviticus 19:28 would be one found in Deuteronomy, which echoed similar thoughts:
Deuteronomy 14:1
[
Clean and Unclean Food ] You are the children of the LORD your God. Do
not cut yourselves or shave the front of your heads for the dead, for you are a people holy to the LORD your God. Out of all the peoples on the face of the earth, the LORD has chosen you to be his treasured possession.
In Biblical times, tattoos were used to show allegiance to particular idols. And the specific Torah commandment is against self-injury during mourning, which were also idolatrous practices. Leviticus 19:28 includes purposeful self-mutilation, cutting, scarification, burning, etc. Note that the psychological self-mutilation issue is very different from these kinds of actions being done for the sake of beauty or idolatry. Tattos and markings were mentioned in unison when it came to the practice of doing so for the dead, in light of Caananite culture.
Some excellent reads on the issue can be found if one chooses to go online/look up the books entitled
Israels Beneficent Dead: Ancestor Cult and Necromancy in Ancient Israelite Religion and Tradition and
Judahite Burial Practices and Beliefs About the Dead (Jsots Series No 123).
On the foundational text of Leviticus 19:28, the context of tattoos/marks seemed to be explictly in regards for the dead.
According to John Gills Commentary:
Leviticus 19:28Ye shall not make any cuttings in your flesh for the dead,
&c.] Either with their nails, tearing their cheeks and other parts, or with any instrument, knife, razor Jarchi says, it was the custom of the Amorites, when anyone died, to cut their flesh, as it was of the Scythians, as Herodotus relates, even those of the royal family; for a king they cut off a part of the ear, shaved the hair round about, cut the arms about, wounded the forehead and nose, and transfixed the left hand with arrows; and so the Carthaginians, who might receive it from the Phoenicians, being a colony of theirs, used to tear their hair and mouths in mourning, and beat their breasts ; and with the Romans the women used to tear their cheeks in such a manner that it was forbid by the law of the twelve tables, which some have thought was taken from hence: and all this was done to appease the infernal deities, and to give them satisfaction for the deceased, and to make them propitious to them, as Varro affirms; and here it is said to be made "for the soul", for the soul of the departed, to the honour of it, and for its good, though the word is often used for a dead body: now, according to the Jewish canons F7, whosoever made but one cutting for a dead person was guilty, and to be scourged; and he that made one for five dead men, or five cuttings for one dead man, was obliged to scourging for everyone of them
nor print any marks upon you;
Aben Ezra observes, there are some that say this is in connection with the preceding clause, for there were who marked their bodies with a known figure, by burning, for the dead; and he adds, and there are to this day such, who are marked in their youth in their faces, that they may be known; these prints or marks were made with ink or black lead, or, however, the incisions in the flesh were filled up therewith; but this was usually done as an idolatrous practice; so says Ben Gersom, this was the custom of the Gentiles in ancient times, to imprint upon themselves the mark of an idol, to show that they were his servants; and the law cautions from doing this, as he adds, to the exalted name (the name of God): in the Misnah it is said , a man is not guilty unless he writes the name, as it is said, ( Leviticus 19:28 ) ; which the Talmudists and the commentators interpret of the name of an idol, and not of God: I [am] the Lord; who only is to be acknowledged as such, obeyed and served, and not any strange god, whose mark should be imprinted on them.
Claiming marks in general as a forbidden thing doesn't go with the rest of the Biblical text when it comes to the issue of marks already made by the Lord. Outside of the issue of circumcision, which is a permanent marking/physical alteration to one's flesh, God already placed marks in differing ways..with the example of Cain being immediately present if choosing to consider
Genesis 4:14-16 with the mark He placed upon Cain to spare Him. Away from human habitation and the protection of his kin, Cain was vulnerable to violence/murder..and God granted him mercy by applying a
visible mark on Cain similar to the brand that identifies the owner of a slave.
For another:
Ezekiel 9:4
and the LORD said to him, Go through the midst of the city, through the midst of Jerusalem, and put a mark on the foreheads of the men who sigh and cry over all the abominations that are done within it.
Ezekiel 9:6
Utterly slay old and young men, maidens and little children and women; but do not come near anyone on whom is the mark; and begin at My sanctuary. So they began with the elders who were before the temple.
With Ezekiel 9:5-7, God commands the scribe to place a mark on those who sigh and groan over all the abominations. The Hebrew word translated
mark is a vocalization of the last letter of the Hebrew alphabet,
taw, which would have been written as an X. One might think that the individuals so designated were to be spared (much like it was with the protective markings of Passover in Exodus 12:23), but the remainder of the vision does not explictly report that any individuals were marked and spared.
As
said best by John Gill's Commentary on the Bible when it comes to the letter:
and set a mark upon the foreheads;
not the Hebrew letter (t) , as some say, because in the form of a cross, and so signifying salvation by the cross of Christ; for this letter has no such form, neither in the characters used by the Jews, nor by the Samaritans, at least in the present character; though Origen and Jerom on the place say that the letter "tau" had the form of a cross in the letters the Samaritans used in their time; and this is defended by Walton , who observes, that Azariah in his Hebrew alphabet gives a double figure, one like that which is in present use, and another in the form of a cross, called St. Andrew's cross, and as it appears in some shekels; and in the Vatican alphabet, which Angelus E Roccha published, the last letter has the form of a cross; as have the Ethiopic and Coptic alphabets, which, it is certain, sprung from the ancient Hebrew; and so Montfaucon says, in some Samaritan coins, the letter "thau" has the form of a cross; which, if Scaliger had met with, he says he would never have opposed the testimonies of Origen and Jerom; though, after all, it seems to be no other than the form of the Greek "x"; and so the Talmudists say the high priest, was anointed on his forehead in the same form: some think this letter was the mark, because it is the first letter of the word (hrwt) , "the law"; as if it pointed out such who were obedient to it; or of the word (hyxt) "thou shall live". It is a Rabbinical fancy, mentioned by Kimchi, that Gabriel had orders to write the letter (t) in ink upon the foreheads of the righteous, and in blood upon the foreheads of the wicked; in the one it signified (hyxt) , "thou shall live", and in the other (twmt) , "thou shall die"; but, as Calvin observes, rather, if this letter could be thought to be meant, the reason of it was, because it is the last letter of the alphabet; and so may signify, that the Lord's people marked with it are the last among men, or the faith of the world; or that such who persevere to the end shall be saved: but the word signifies, not a letter, but a mark or sign; and so it is interpreted in the Septuagint version, and by the Targum, Jarchi, Kimchi, and others; and denotes the distinction the Lord had made by his grace between them and others; and now by his power and providence in the protection of them; for the, Lord knows them that are his, and will preserve them. The allusion is either to the marking of servants in their foreheads, by which they were known who they belonged to, ( Revelation 7:3 ) ; or to the sprinkling of the posts of the Israelites' houses with blood, when the firstborn of Egypt were destroyed, ( Exodus 12:22Exodus 12:23 )
There was a HISTORICAL context when it came to markings/tattoos... The focus was...and has ALWAYS been markings/tattoos that are done for the purposes of idolatry/calling up the spirts of the departed, as that's the historical backing--and trying to claim otherwise makes the Lord out to be a liar when He already noted markings to be condoned by Him on multiple points:
- Revelations 19:15 with Christ having language written on Him...
- Revelations 3 where the Lord said He'd mark His people/write His name on them
- Isaiah 44:5 with HaShem saying He'd tattoo/mark His own people
- Ezekiel 9:4-7 with Him commanding the prophet to mark those who grieved over abominations
- Song of Songs, where the lover makes clear their companion has been placed as seal upon their heart and a seal upon their arm.
- Cain in Genesis 4, who was marked by the Lord..
In light of who Christ is, some things to consider...
16 On his robe and on his thigh he has this name written:
KING OF KINGS AND LORD OF LORDS. '
12 The one who is victorious I will make a pillar in the temple of my God. Never again will they leave it. I will write on them the name of my God and the name of the city of my God, the new Jerusalem, which is coming down out of heaven from my God; and I will also write on them my new name.
People often discuss how only someone wishing to serve the anti-christ would be about markings...as that's what seems to occur in
Revelation 13:15-17 / /
Revelation 14:8-10 /
Revelation 15:1-3 /
Revelation 16:1-3 /
Revelation 19:19-21 /
Revelation 20:3-5 when it comes to recieving the "mark of the beast"--and with that, at times the scriptures in Leviticus are used in association. But the TANAK already shows instances where marking was done by the Lord as well...with Him writing HIS Name upon them/marking them..