Leviticus 19:27-28

 Leviticus 19:27-28 KJV  Ye shall not round the corners of your heads, neither shalt thou mar the corners of thy beard.  28  Ye shall not make any cuttings in your flesh for the dead, nor print any marks upon you: I am the LORD.

Let's look at this in different translations:

Leviticus 19:27-28 MKJV  You shall not round the side of your head, nor mar the edge of your beard.  28  You shall not make any cuttings in your flesh for the dead, nor print any marks on you. I am Jehovah.

Leviticus 19:27-28 ESV  You shall not round off the hair on your temples or mar the edges of your beard.  28  You shall not make any cuts on your body for the dead or tattoo yourselves: I am the LORD.

Leviticus 19:27-28 YLT  'Ye do not round the corner of your head, nor destroy the corner of thy beard.  28  'And a cutting for the soul ye do not put in your flesh; and a writing, a cross-mark, ye do not put on you; I am Jehovah.

Leviticus 19:27-28 LITV  You shall not round the edge of your head, nor mar the edge of your beard.  28  And you shall not make any cuttings in your flesh for the dead; and you shall not put on yourself any etched mark; I am Jehovah.

Leviticus 19:27-28 ESV  You shall not round off the hair on your temples or mar the edges of your beard.  28  You shall not make any cuts on your body for the dead or tattoo yourselves: I am the LORD.

Leviticus 19:27-28 ASV  Ye shall not round the corners of your heads, neither shalt thou mar the corners of thy beard.  28  Ye shall not make any cuttings in your flesh for the dead, nor print any marks upon you: I am Jehovah.

Leviticus 19:27-28 ERV  "You must not round off the hair that grows on the side of your face. You must not cut your beard that grows on the side of your face.  28  You must not cut your body as a way to remember the dead. You must not make any tattoo marks on yourselves. I am the LORD.

Now let's look at the actual definitions of the Hebrew words:

"round" - na^qaph - H5362

Strong's Hebrew and Greek Dictionaries

A primitive root; to strike with more or less violence (beat, fell, corrode); by implication (of attack) to knock together, that is, surround or circulate: - compass (about, -ing), cut down, destroy, go round (about), inclose, round.

Brown-Driver-Briggs Hebrew Dictionary

1) to strike, strike off

1a) (Piel) to strike off skin

2) to go around, compass, round

2a) (Qal) to go around

2b) (Hiphil)

2b1) to go around, surround, encompass, enclose

2b2) to make the round, complete the circuit

2b3) to make round, round off

Part of Speech: verb

"the corners" - pe^'a^h - H6285

Strong's Hebrew and Greek Dictionaries

Feminine of H6311; properly mouth in a figurative sense, that is, direction, region, extremity: - corner, end, quarter, side

Brown-Driver-Briggs Hebrew Dictionary

1) corner, edge, side, quarter, extremity

1a) corner

1b) side

Part of Speech: noun feminine

"cuttings" - s´eret / s´a^reteth - H8296

Strong's Hebrew and Greek Dictionaries

From H8295; an incision: - cutting.

H8295 - s´a^rat - A primitive root; to gash: - cut in pieces, make [cuttings] pieces.

Brown-Driver-Briggs Hebrew Dictionary

1) incision, cut

Part of Speech: noun masculine or feminine

"flesh" - ba^s´a^r - H1320

Strong's Hebrew and Greek Dictionaries

From H1319; flesh (from its freshness); by extension body, person; also (by euphemism) the pudenda of a man: - body, [fat, lean] flesh [-ed], kin, [man-] kind, + nakedness, self, skin.

H1319 - ba^s´ar

A primitive root; properly to be fresh, that is, full (rosy, figuratively cheerful); to announce (glad news): - messenger, preach, publish, shew forth, (bear, bring, carry, preach, good, tell good) tidings.

Brown-Driver-Briggs Hebrew Dictionary

1) flesh

1a) of the body

1a1) of humans

1a2) of animals

1b) the body itself

1c) male organ of generation (euphemism)

1d) kindred, blood-relations

1e) flesh as frail or erring (man against God)

1f) all living things

1g) animals

1h) mankind

Part of Speech: noun masculine

"dead" - H5315 - nephesh

Strong's Hebrew and Greek Dictionaries

From H5314; properly a breathing creature, that is, animal or (abstractly) vitality; used very widely in a literal, accommodated or figurative sense (bodily or mental): - any, appetite, beast, body, breath, creature, X dead (-ly), desire, X [dis-] contented, X fish, ghost, + greedy, he, heart (-y), (hath, X jeopardy of) life (X in jeopardy), lust, man, me, mind, mortality, one, own, person, pleasure, (her-, him-, my-, thy-) self, them (your) -selves, + slay, soul, + tablet, they, thing, (X she) will, X would have it.

Brown-Driver-Briggs Hebrew Dictionary

1) soul, self, life, creature, person, appetite, mind, living being, desire, emotion, passion

1a) that which breathes, the breathing substance or being, soul, the inner being of man

1b) living being

1c) living being (with life in the blood)

1d) the man himself, self, person or individual

1e) seat of the appetites

1f) seat of emotions and passions

1g) activity of mind

1g1) dubious

1h) activity of the will

1h1) dubious

1i) activity of the character

1i1) dubious

Part of Speech: noun feminine

"print" - na^than - H5414

Strong's Hebrew and Greek Dictionaries

A primitive root; to give, used with great latitude of application (put, make, etc.): - add, apply, appoint, ascribe, assign, X avenge, X be ([healed]), bestow, bring (forth, hither), cast, cause, charge, come, commit consider, count, + cry, deliver (up), direct, distribute do, X doubtless, X without fail, fasten, frame, X get, give (forth, over, up), grant, hang (up), X have, X indeed, lay (unto charge, up), (give) leave, lend, let (out), + lie, lift up, make, + O that, occupy, offer, ordain, pay, perform, place, pour, print, X pull, put (forth), recompense, render, requite, restore, send (out), set (forth), shew, shoot forth (up). + sing, + slander, strike, [sub-] mit, suffer, X surely, X take, thrust, trade, turn, utter, + weep, X willingly, + withdraw, + would (to) God, yield

Brown-Driver-Briggs Hebrew Dictionary

1) to give, put, set

1a) (Qal)

1a1) to give, bestow, grant, permit, ascribe, employ, devote, consecrate, dedicate, pay wages, sell, exchange, lend, commit, entrust, give over, deliver up, yield produce, occasion, produce, requite to, report, mention, utter, stretch out, extend

1a2) to put, set, put on, put upon, set, appoint, assign, designate

1a3) to make, constitute

1b) (Niphal)

1b1) to be given, be bestowed, be provided, be entrusted to, be granted to, be permitted, be issued, be published, be uttered, be assigned

1b2) to be set, be put, be made, be inflicted

1c) (Hophal)

1c1) to be given, be bestowed, be given up, be delivered up

1c2) to be put upon

Part of Speech: verb

"marks" - ketho^beth and qa'aqa' - H3793 and H7085

Strong's Hebrew and Greek Dictionaries

H3793

From H3789; a letter or other mark branded on the skin: -    X any [mark].

H7085

1) incision, imprintment, tattoo, mark

H3789 - ka^thab

A primitive root; to grave; by implication to write (describe, inscribe, prescribe, subscribe): - describe, record, prescribe, subscribe, write (-ing, -ten).

Brown-Driver-Briggs Hebrew Dictionary

H3793

1) impression, inscription, mark

1a) in the flesh, perhaps a tattoo

Part of Speech: noun feminine

H7085

Strong's Hebrew and Greek Dictionaries

From the same as H6970 (cutting off); an incision or gash

Brown-Driver-Briggs Hebrew Dictionary

1) incision, imprintment, tattoo, mark

Part of Speech: noun masculine

Now let's look at it in context of history and culture by using commentaries:

"The two precepts which follow, forbidding certain fashions of trimming the hair and beard, may appear trivial to many, but they will not seem so to anyone who will remember how common among heathen peoples has been the custom, as in those days among the Arabs, and in our time among the Hindus to trim the hair or beard in a particular way, in order thus visibly to mark a person as of a certain religion, or as a worshipper of a certain god. The command means that the Israelite was not only to worship God alone, but he was not to adopt a fashion in dress which, because commonly associated with idolatry, might thus misrepresent his real position as a worshipper of the only living and true God.

'"Cutting the flesh for the dead' (Leviticus 19:28) has been very widely practiced by heathen peoples in all ages. Such immoderate and unseemly expressions of grief were prohibited to the Israelite, as unworthy of a people who were in a blessed covenant relation with the God of life and of death. Rather, recognizing that death is of God’s ordination, he was to accept in patience and humility the stroke of God’s hand; not, indeed, without sorrow, but yet in meekness and quietness of spirit, trusting in the God of life. The thought is only a less clear expression of the New Testament word (1 Thessalonians 4:13) that the believer 'sorrow not, even as the rest, which have no hope.' Also, probably, in this prohibition, as certainly in the next (Leviticus 19:28), it is suggested that as the Israelite was to be distinguished from the heathen by full consecration, not only of the soul, but also of the body, to the Lord, he was by that fact inhibited from marring or defacing in any way the integrity of his body.

"In general, we may say, then, that the central thought which binds this group of precepts together, is the obligation, not merely to abstain from everything directly idolatrous, but also from all such customs as are, in fact, rooted in or closely associated with idolatry. On the same principle, the Christian is to beware of all fashions and practices, even though they may be in themselves indifferent, which yet, as a matter of fact, are specially characteristic of the worldly and ungodly element in society. The principle assumed in these prohibitions thus imposes upon all who would be holy to the Lord, in all ages, a firm restriction. The thoughtless desire of many, at any risk, to be "in the fashion," must be unwaveringly denied. The reason which is so often given by professing Christians for indulgence in such cases, that "all the world does so," may often be the strongest possible reason for declining to follow the fashion. No servant of God should ever be seen in any part of the livery of Satan’s servants. That God does not think these "little things" always of trifling consequence, we are reminded by the repetition here, for the tenth time in this chapter, of the words, 'I am the Lord!'" - Expositor's Bible

A bowl cut was an ancient haircut with pagan significance. Deuteronomy 14:1 says, "nor make any baldness between your eyes for the dead". This indicates not making any baldness around your head.

These were pagan practices and were not to be done by the Israelites. Their outward appearance must show they are different, they are God's people.

It was also done in the context of "for the dead", an act of mourning. When the pagans mourned they would pull out their hair (with violence), pull out their beard, and cut themselves. Sometimes they would follow that up with a tattoo to remember their loss. Let's look at other scriptures that add to our understanding of  this cultural practice.

Deuteronomy 21:10-13 ERV  "You might fight against your enemies, and the LORD your God might let you defeat them and take them as captives.  11  You might see a beautiful woman among the captives who you want to be your wife.  12  You must then bring her into your house where she will shave her head and cut her nails.  13  She must change her clothes and take off the clothes she was wearing when she was captured in war. She will stay in your house and be sad about losing her father and her mother for a full month. After that you may go to her to be her husband, and she will be your wife.

Deuteronomy 14:1-2 MKJV  You are the sons of Jehovah your God. You shall not cut yourselves nor make any baldness between your eyes for the dead.  2  For you are a holy people to Jehovah your God, and Jehovah has chosen you to be a peculiar people to Himself, above all the nations that are on the earth.

Amos 8:10 MKJV  And I will turn your feast into mourning, and all your songs into weeping; and I will bring up sackcloth on all loins, and baldness on every head. And I will make it like the mourning of an only son, and the end of it like a bitter day.

Micah 1:16 ERV  So cut off your hair, make yourself bald, because you will cry for the children you love. Make yourself bald like an eagle and show your sadness, because your children will be taken away from you.

Ezra 9:2-4 ERV  The Israelites have married the people living around us. The Israelites are supposed to be special, but now they are mixed with the other people living around them. The leaders and important officials of the Israelites have set a bad example in this thing."  3  When I heard about this, I tore my robe and my coat to show I was upset. I pulled hair from my head and beard. I sat down, shocked and upset.  4  Then everyone who respected God's Law shook with fear. They were afraid because the Israelites who came back from captivity were not faithful to God. I was shocked and upset. I sat there until the evening sacrifice, and the people gathered around me.

Job 1:19-20 ERV  A strong wind suddenly came in from across the desert and blew the house down. It fell on your sons and daughters, and they are all dead. I am the only one who escaped to come and tell you the news!"  20  When Job heard this, he got up, tore his clothes, and shaved his head to show his sadness. Then he fell to the ground to bow down before God.

Jeremiah 41:4 ERV  The day after Gedaliah was murdered, 80 men came to Mizpah. They were bringing grain offerings and incense to the LORD'S Temple. They had shaved off their beards, torn their clothes, and cut themselves. They came from Shechem, Shiloh, and Samaria. None of these men knew that Gedaliah had been murdered.

Ezekiel 7:18 ERV  They will wear sackcloth and be covered with fear. You will see the shame on every face. They will shave their heads to show their sadness.

So I'm understanding that cutting the beard, hair, tattooing and scarification were one of two things: it showed they were followers of pagan religions or were signs of mourning.

It's not a sin to mourn and grieve. It's a sin to mourn and grieve as if there is no God and no hope. I didn't think I could survive losing my parents. I lost them both within 4 mos of each other. One slowly with dementia and one unexpectedly from a pulmonary embolism. It's been almost 3 years since they died and I did survive. I miss them, I grieve for the loss but I KNOW they were saved and knew Jesus Christ. I KNOW they are in Heaven waiting on me to join them. I know I am saved and will be with my parents, my family, but, most of all, my Savior and King, my Heavenly Father and the Holy Spirit. So death is not the end of everything. In fact, for Christians, it's the glorious beginning! Eternal life of bliss and peace with my God! So we can mourn, miss someone, grieve a loss but we shouldn't do so in hopelessness. Have we made an idol of someone so that their loss ends our world? Or have we fallen into such depression that we no longer have hope in God, have lost our faith? If we mourn and grieve so bad that we mutilate ourselves by cutting our skin or tearing our hair out or getting permanent tattoos to remind yourself of your grief, then you may be falling into sin.

It is not a sin to grieve. It is a sin to allow grief to completely take over and you no longer have a relationship with God who gives us hope. For some it may be they are angry with God because God allowed a loved one to die. For some it may just be depression so heavy they can't seem to reach out to God (been there). When we are cut off from our Source, it becomes sin because it is destructive. We have to get to the point of dealing with whatever it is in us that is obstructing our relationship with God. God hasn't moved. God still loves you. God is right there waiting for you to reach out and connect. Then, whatever has been obstructing your relationship with Him will be washed away. Like a mighty river of living water that crashes into some rickety, handmade dam, it will blow right through it.

I'm talking to myself too. I tend to be a depressed person who takes everything catastrophically. Every little thing is the end of the world. I really strive hard to keep myself functional and in right relationship with God because I know myself too well and know how bad I can get into despair. I realize I'm always seeing a catastrophe and I have to try and get back my balance and perspective. So far, I haven't made good on killing myself in despair. I can't take credit for it. I've tried to. But God didn't let it happen. I've wanted to, planned to, tried to so many times. I fall into that sin of hopelessness and faithlessness. No faith that God will get me through whatever I'm facing. I'm ashamed of it. It seems to be my default setting and I'm really trying hard to quit hitting that default button and following those old deadly thoughts. Some days I'm more successful and some days I'm right back in suicidal mode. You would think I would be better at this after all these years of being a Christian and all the ways God has taught me, empowered me and revealed things to me. I'm so ashamed, but Jesus continues to forgive me and the Holy Spirit continues to work in me. My body and my mind may grow weak but I have faith that my spirit is somehow stronger. If I die a natural death, it will be a victory for Jesus because I didn't die at my own hand!

What about the other reason for these "fashions" of hairstyle, beard cutting, tattooing and scarification? That it makes an Israelite look like a follower of a pagan religion, an idolator?

"Some of the Arab tribes did, according to Herodotus (3, 8), in honour of their god Orotal, whom he identifies with the Dionysos of the Greeks. In Jeremiah 9:25; Jeremiah 25:23; Jeremiah 49:32, the persons who did this are called peah qatsats, round-cropped, from their peculiar tonsure." - Keil & Delitzsch Commentary on the Old Testament

"It seems probable that this fashion had been learned by the Israelites in Egypt, for the ancient Egyptians had their dark locks cropped short or shaved with great nicety, so that what remained on the crown appeared in the form of a circle surrounding the head, while the beard was dressed into a square form. This kind of coiffure had a highly idolatrous meaning; and it was adopted, with some slight variations, by almost all idolaters in ancient times." - Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Commentary

So how does this transfer to today. We should be careful not to look like the worst of the world. When we see people who are covered in tattoos, we immediately recognize they are trying to rebel against normal society. They say they want to be different, when, in reality, they are just doing the same old same old for "rebels". If they cut their hair in extremes or color their hair in extremes, it's the same thing. If they scar themselves with designs and pierce their skin in ways that ends up looking repugnant, it is the same. They are "rebelling" by being like all other "rebels". It's a very childish temper tantrum done on adult money. (How do people have that kind of disposable income to waste on tattoos?) There are those who think it gives them an image they crave of someone who is rebellious, out there, strong and independent. That, in itself is sinful. We are not strong and independent from God. In fact, the only time we are really strong is when we are most dependent on God. But rebels want to push away God and show how weak they are in their own strength. It's a little pathetic.

It doesn't stop with hairstyles and tattoos but in our clothing and our carriage. If we slink around with a hoody over our heads like some criminal casing a joint, then we are giving the wrong impression. If we wear pants down around our thighs, showing our underwear and butt, then we are giving the impression we are "gangsta". We look like every other hood and thug that's slinking around in the dark after sin. If we dress like a prostitute, we give the impression that we are a prostitute. We give the wrong impression. Women who wear tight yoga pants with no underwear and sports bras and then go jiggling into public view are asking for men to ogle them and think wrong things about them. It gives the world the wrong impression.

It doesn't mean we have to wear long dresses and a scarf over our head. It means we observe our modern day fashion and then dress appropriately, not provocatively, and not in ways that give the wrong impression. When someone sees you briefly what impression are you giving? Do they see you looking like an AIDS victim, a homosexual, a convict, a gang member, a prostitute, a motorcycle gang member, a party girl, a lazy good-for-nothing, a slime ball criminal, a drug dealer? Then you need to change your appearance. You want even your appearance to indicate God is in your heart.

It's not the tattoos, the piercings, the cuttings, the hairstyles or outfit that is sinful. It's the condition of your heart and why you are doing these things? What motivates you to get a tattoo or another one or another one? What is the reason you keep dressing that way? Why? It's NOT coming from a good place and there is the sin. Why would a Christian want to appear like someone of the world? If you love Jesus why do you want to look like someone of the world? As though you don't love Jesus?

If you were in a car accident caused by another person and you were scarred for life in such a way that people shuddered when they looked at you... you would be traumatized and you would want to hold the other driver accountable for what they did to you, the pain and suffering. (Not saying that's right or wrong, just trying to give an example.) Yet so many people are permanently marring their own bodies with cuttings, tattoos, and piercings to the point they are a horrifying caricature. Most normal people can hardly stand to look at them. And they put horrifying, demonic tattoos on their bodies! It's not the tattoo, it's what reason do you have in your head, and heart, that would make you do something like that! You are self mutilating. Don't even think it's about some kind of skin art. It's self mutilation. So what is the real reason? Why is your God-given skin not enough? Why don't you consider your God-given skin beautiful as it is? These are things you need to ask yourself. Is it some sort of self idolatry? Is it some kind of rebellion against God and His ways? Is it some sort of foolish pride and vanity? Is it self medication against some emotional pain you can't deal with? Is it the desire to shock and hurt others? Is it self loathing? Is it to create an ungodly image you think is cool? Is it to be like everybody else in the world?

These may indicate the true sin. Now, if you have done these tattoos and cuttings before you were saved, you are stuck with the consequences of your sin. But you are saved and Jesus forgives. If you have gone bald, or are balding, and you shave your head because it suits your lifestyle and is easier, it's not a sin. You can't help you are balding. If you have a perfect head of hair and you shave your head, you should ask yourself why? Does it have anything to do with image? pride? vanity? wanting to project as something you aren't? If it's truly because it's cooler, no sin in that.

What about pierced ears? In our culture and society, normally pierced ears are not considered a symbol, or sign, of rebellion. Now, multiple piercings get into pride, trying to attract the wrong kind of attention and even worse. There is sin in your reasons for multiple piercings and piercings all over the body. But to wear some pretty earrings is not sinful as long as it doesn't become a thing of pride and vanity. There was a time when men who pierced their ears, or a certain ear, was a sign of homosexuality which is a sin. I don't know if that still holds true. There is also sin when a man wants to wear female, dangly earrings. Because it is a sign that they are trying to attract attention as a transvestite which is a sin. Men are not supposed to attempt to make themselves look like women and women are not supposed to attempt to make themselves look like men. We have our God given genders at birth and to try to make ourselves look otherwise is thumbing our noses at God and telling Him He doesn't know what He's doing.

So it's not so much about the action as it is about the heart, the motivation and the reasons why people do these things. Some fashions may change but some things do not change - the heart. Is your apparel, hairstyle, jewelry, carriage indicating the world? Or that you are a child of God? Are you doing these things out of a heart for God or out of a sinful heart?