The Human Body
The construction of human-ness in the
Hebrew Bible
Psalm 16:7-10

NRSV
(7) I bless the Lord who gives me
counsel; in the night also my heart
instructs me.
(8) I keep the Lord always before me;
because he is at my right hand, I
shall not be moved.
(9) Therefore, my heart is glad and my
soul rejoices; my body also rests
secure.
(10) For you do not give me up to
Sheol, or let your faithful one see
the Pit.

More literal Hebrew
(7) I bless YHWH, who advises me;
also, nights, my kidneys chasten
me.
(8) I place YHWH before me
continually; so from my right hand I
will not slip.
(9) Therefore, my heart is glad, and my
liver rejoices; also, my flesh [or “my
penis” or “the issue of my penis”]
dwells in security.
(10) For you do not abandon my throat
(nephesh) to Sheol; you do not give
your faithful one to see the Pit.
Nephesh

Genesis 2:7
“then the LORD God
formed man (a person)
from the dust of the
ground, and breathed
into his nostrils the
breath of life; and the
man (person) became a
living being (nephesh)”.
Death, Blood and Nephesh

Job 34:14-15


Genesis 9:4


29 When you hide your face, they are
dismayed; when you take away their
breath, they die and return to their dust.
30 When you send forth your spirit, they
are created; and you renew the face of the
ground.

Ecclesiastes 12:7

7and the dust returns to the earth as it was,
and the breath returns to God who gave it.

4 Only, you shall not eat flesh with its life,
that is, its blood.
Leviticus 17:11, 14

Psalm 104:29-30


14 If he should take back his spirit to
himself, and gather to himself his breath,
15all flesh would perish together, and all
mortals return to dust.

11 For the life of the flesh is in the blood;
and I have given it to you for making
atonement for your lives on the altar; for,
as life, it is the blood that makes atonement
14 For the life of every creature—its blood
is its life; therefore I have said to the
people of Israel: You shall not eat the blood
of any creature, for the life of every
creature is its blood; whoever eats it shall
be cut off.
Deuteronomy 12:23

23Only be sure that you do not eat the
blood; for the blood is the life, and you shall
not eat the life with the meat.
Exercise on the Body




In this exercise, you are to look up the
biblical material associated with each
body part. Summarize, in brief, what you
learn about each. Pick one verse from
each category and be ready to explain it.
Face: Exodus 10:28; 33:11-23; 34:3035; Lev 20:3-6; Numbers 26:22-27;
Deuteronomy 31:17-18; Psalm 4:6;
11:7; 44:24; Ezekiel 4:7; 6:2.
Hair: Leviticus 19:27-28; Ezekiel 44:20;
Number 6; Jeremiah 9:25; Judges 16:431.
Eyes (Genesis passages only for some
fun): 3:5-7; 13:14; 21:19; 27:1; 29:17;
39:7; 48:10; 49:12.

Ears: 1 Samuel 3:11; 2 Samuel 22:7; 2
Chronicles 6:40; Nehemiah 8:3; Job 13:7;
Psalm 44:1; Isaiah 6:10; Zech 7:11.

Mouth/Tongue: Exodus 4:12-16;
Numbers 22:38; 23:5; Deut 23:23; 30:14;
Job 35:16; Psalm 17:3; 50:9; 51:15;
Prov 10:11, 31, 32; 18:4, 21.

Hand/Arm: Exod 6:6; Deut 4:34; 5:15;
26:8; Psalm 136:12; Jeremiah 21:5; Ezek
20:33-34

Feet: Gen 18:4; 19:2; Exod 3:5; 4:25;
Ruth 3:4 -8; 1 Sam 25:24; 2Sam 22:10;
Psalm 8:6; 17:5; 119:105; Prov 6:18; Isa
6:2; 60:4.
Song of Songs

Chapter 5:10 My beloved is all
radiant and ruddy, distinguished
among ten thousand. 11His head is
the finest gold; his locks are wavy,
black as a raven. 12His eyes are
like doves beside springs of water,
bathed in milk, fitly set. 13His
cheeks are like beds of spices,
yielding fragrance. His lips are lilies,
distilling liquid myrrh. 14His arms
are rounded gold, set with jewels.
His body is ivory work, encrusted
with sapphires. 15His legs are
alabaster columns, set upon bases
of gold. His appearance is like
Lebanon, choice as the cedars.

Chapter 7:1 How graceful are your
feet in sandals, O queenly maiden!
Your rounded thighs are like jewels,
the work of a master hand. 2Your
navel is a rounded bowl that never
lacks mixed wine. Your belly is a
heap of wheat, encircled with lilies.
3Your two breasts are like two
fawns, twins of a gazelle. 4Your
neck is like an ivory tower. Your
eyes are pools in Heshbon, by the
gate of Bath-rabbim. Your nose is
like a tower of Lebanon, overlooking
Damascus. 5Your head crowns you
like Carmel, and your flowing locks
are like purple; a king is held captive
in the tresses.
Ecclesiastes 12: 1-7

Remember your creator in the days of your youth, before the
days of trouble come, and the years draw near when you will say,
“I have no pleasure in them”; 2before the sun and the light and
the moon and the stars are darkened and the clouds return with
the rain; 3in the day when the guards of the house tremble, and
the strong men are bent, and the women who grind cease
working because they are few, and those who look through the
windows see dimly; 4when the doors on the street are shut, and
the sound of the grinding is low, and one rises up at the sound of
a bird, and all the daughters of song are brought low; 5when one
is afraid of heights, and terrors are in the road; the almond tree
blossoms, the grasshopper drags itself along and desire fails;
because all must go to their eternal home, and the mourners will
go about the streets; 6before the silver cord is snapped, and the
golden bowl is broken, and the pitcher is broken at the fountain,
and the wheel broken at the cistern, 7and the dust returns to the
earth as it was, and the breath returns to God who gave it.
Leviticus 21 – The Normative Body
The Lord said to Moses: Speak to the priests, the sons of Aaron, and say to them: No one shall defile
himself for a dead person among his relatives, 2except for his nearest kin: his mother, his father, his son,
his daughter, his brother; 3likewise, for a virgin sister, close to him because she has had no husband, he
may defile himself for her. 4But he shall not defile himself as a husband among his people and so
profane himself. 5They shall not make bald spots upon their heads, or shave off the edges of their
beards, or make any gashes in their flesh. 6They shall be holy to their God, and not profane the name of
their God; for they offer the Lord’s offerings by fire, the food of their God; therefore they shall be holy.
7They shall not marry a prostitute or a woman who has been defiled; neither shall they marry a woman
divorced from her husband. For they are holy to their God, 8and you shall treat them as holy, since they
offer the food of your God; they shall be holy to you, for I the Lord, I who sanctify you, am holy. 9When
the daughter of a priest profanes herself through prostitution, she profanes her father; she shall be
burned to death.
10 The priest who is exalted above his fellows, on whose head the anointing oil has been poured and
who has been consecrated to wear the vestments, shall not dishevel his hair, nor tear his vestments.
11He shall not go where there is a dead body; he shall not defile himself even for his father or mother.
12He shall not go outside the sanctuary and thus profane the sanctuary of his God; for the consecration
of the anointing oil of his God is upon him: I am the Lord. 13He shall marry only a woman who is a virgin.
14A widow, or a divorced woman, or a woman who has been defiled, a prostitute, these he shall not
marry. He shall marry a virgin of his own kin, 15that he may not profane his offspring among his kin; for I
am the Lord; I sanctify him.
16 The Lord spoke to Moses, saying: 17Speak to Aaron and say: No one of your offspring throughout
their generations who has a blemish may approach to offer the food of his God. 18For no one who has a
blemish shall draw near, one who is blind or lame, or one who has a mutilated face or a limb too long,
19or one who has a broken foot or a broken hand, 20or a hunchback, or a dwarf, or a man with a
blemish in his eyes or an itching disease or scabs or crushed testicles. 21No descendant of Aaron the
priest who has a blemish shall come near to offer the Lord’s offerings by fire; since he has a blemish, he
shall not come near to offer the food of his God. 22He may eat the food of his God, of the most holy as
well as of the holy. 23But he shall not come near the curtain or approach the altar, because he has a
blemish, that he may not profane my sanctuaries; for I am the Lord; I sanctify them. 24Thus Moses spoke
to Aaron and to his sons and to all the people of Israel.
The Body


In Leviticus the holiness code says
that if God is holy then human
beings who are in relationship to
God must also be holy

What comprises bodily integrity



Lev 11:45 : “For I am the Lord who
brought you up out of the land of
Egypt, to be your God; you shall be
holy, for I am holy.”




The integrity of the human body is a
key. Another word for integrity is
wholeness. The language for such
completeness in Leviticus is “clean”
as opposed to “unclean.”
What you eat (Lev 11)
What your body bears

Absolute purity (as with God) is
impossible to attain, but you can
acquire ritual purity or cleanness
Children cause temporary
ceremonial uncleanness (Lev 12)



Male children 33 days
Female children 66 days
Diseases (Lev 13-14)



Animals that chew the cud and
have divided hooves are okay as
are products from them
Water creatures with easily
removable fins and scales are good
Birds (as long as they are not birds
of prey) are acceptable
“Right” or “fit” versus “torn”
Leprosy
Discharges (Lev 15)




Penile discharges
Ejaculation
Menstruation
Non-menstrual blood
Making a Covenant

Covenant or berit tyrb

“Cut” a covenant

Genesis 15:17: “When the sun had
gone down and it was dark, a
smoking fire pot and a flaming torch
passed between these pieces.”

No obligations for Abram appear in
chapter 15

“God said to Abraham, ‘As for you,
you shall keep my covenant, you
and your offspring after you
throughout their generations. This is
my covenant, which you shall keep,
between me and you and your
offspring after you: Every male
among you shall be circumcised.
You shall circumcise the flesh of
your foreskin, and it shall be a sign
of the covenant between you and
me.” Genesis 18:9-11

Includes slaves and foreigners in
your household

You are cut off from the people if
you do not follow this command
Circumcision – Marking the Covenant in
the Body

Male children are born with a
“hood” of skin covering the penis

Circumcision removes it and
leaves the head exposed

A doctor or person officiating
makes a cut, pulls back the
foreskin with a special instrument
that holds it in place, and then
cuts the foreskin off.
More on Circumcision

Circumcision was a rite
associated with marriage or
fertility



Abram circumcised before the
birth of Isaac
Moses’ strange story –
“bridegroom of blood.” The
Hebrew root “htn” refers to a
“circumciser” and also to a
“father-in-law” (because he
often did it prior to marriage)
and to a “son-in-law” and a
“bridegroom”
Dinah’s brothers demand
circumcision of the Hivites to
marry their sister (Gen 34)

Circumcision is necessary for
the passover (Exod 12:43-49;
Josh 5:2-12)

Being uncircumcised is
physical and spiritual


Jeremiah 6:10-12
True circumcision is a sign or a
symbol – a physical mark – of
what should be an inward
change:


Deut 10:12-22
Deut 30:1-10
Circumcision as a unique sign

Lev 19:27-28:
You shall not round of
the hair on your
temples or mar the
edges of your beard.
You shall not make any
gashes in your flesh for
the dead or tattoo any
marks upon you: I am
the Lord

Lev 21:5
They shall not make
bald spots upon their
heads, or shave off the
edges of their beards,
or make any gashes in
their flesh.
Genesis 1:26-27


Then God said, “Let us make
‘adam in our image, according
to our likeness; and let them
have dominion over the fish of
the sea, and over the birds of
the air, and over the cattle, and
over all the wild animals of the
earth, and over every creeping
thing that creeps upon the
earth.” So God created ‘adam
in his image, in the image of
God he created him; male and
female he created them.
‘adam = humankind


“us” and “our” – sodh or
“heavenly council”
Creation of male and female
simultaneous here; separate in
Gen 2:4b-25
Genesis 5:1b-2

When God created
‘adam (humankind), he
made him in the
likeness of God. Male
and female he created
them, and he blessed
them and named them
“adam” when they were
created.
Image and Likeness

<lx and twmd

Tzelem and demut

Tzelem – 10 of 12 times it
occurs outside of “image of
God” it means a physical
representation (1 Sam 6:5;
2 Kings 11:18)

Demut is “to be like” – can
be physical but does not
have to be (2 Kings 16:11;
Isa 13:4)

Both male and female are
included as part of this
image (see Gen 5:1-2)

Personality, rationality,
sense of self (not
necessarily just physical)
are probably indicated

The pre-eminence of
humanity over the rest of
the created order is
emphasized
Psalm 8:5-8
Yet you have made them(1) a little lower than God (2),
and crowned them with glory and honor. You have given
them dominion over the works of your hands; you have
put all things under their feet, all sheep and oxen, and
also the beasts of the field, the birds of the air, and the
fish of the sea, whatever passes along the paths of the
sea.
(1) mortals
(2) ‘elohim – can also be translated “gods” or “divine
beings”
Ezekiel

26And above the dome over their heads there was something
like a throne, in appearance like sapphire; and seated above the
likeness of a throne was something that seemed like a human
form. 27Upward from what appeared like the loins I saw
something like gleaming amber, something that looked like fire
enclosed all around; and downward from what looked like the
loins I saw something that looked like fire, and there was a
splendor all around. 28Like the bow in a cloud on a rainy day,
such was the appearance of the splendour all round. This was
the appearance of the likeness of the glory of the Lord. When I
saw it, I fell on my face, and I heard the voice of someone
Some Conclusions


God made humans in God’s
image
To maintain this connection
with the image of God, humans
must attend to the way they
care for their bodies

What humans ingest is key
because what we eat makes
up who we are

What comes out of the human
body is also important and
must be attended to ritually

Marks on the body are either to
be made by God (Gen 4) or
ordered by God (Gen 17)

The body is a representation
and its wholeness reflects the
wholeness, completion, and
holiness of God. It is not
necessarily a physical
connection, but humans
maintain the physical as a
symbol of their spiritual order