Biblical Views: Unholy Ink: What Does the Bible Say about Tattoos?

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For those of us over 50, any mention of a person with tattoos often brings to mind a rowdy sailor or a motorcycle gang member. Over the past generation, however, the art of tattooing has become part of mainstream culture, part of a larger phenomenon that includes the art of body piercing. It is not just young people who engage in this form of body art; many of those who have tattoos are at the social forefront of society: mothers, business people and sports stars. One cannot view an NBA game without seeing multiple tattoos on some of the players.

The Biblical writers clearly condemned the practice of tattooing. Leviticus 19:28 prohibits cutting or marking the body. No reason is given in this verse, however, which probably means it was obvious to the ancient reader—but not to us. The larger context of the passage is concerned with pagan mourning practices and idolatry. Thus, tattooing has been traditionally deemed “guilty by association” with other pagan rites. This is how it has been interpreted by both Jews and Christians over the centuries. Interestingly, a parallel passage in Leviticus 21:5 mentions mourning prohibitions—but without any reference to tattooing.

Three years ago, John Huehnergard and Harold Liebowitz challenged the traditional reasons for the Biblical prohibition of tattooing.¹ They recognized that mourning practices in mythological texts from Ugarit (a Canaanite town on the coast of Syria from the Late Bronze Age) involved the cutting of the body.² However, tattooing is never mentioned in these texts. That is also true of mourning practices in Mesopotamia and Egypt.

Oddly, there is a possible positive reference in the Bible to tattooing. In a poetic line from Isaiah 44:5, an Israelite commits himself to God by inscribing God’s name on his arm. Thus, the Israelite in Isaiah was willingly proposing to become a servant of God.³ This is reminiscent of the common Mesopotamian and Israelite practice of marking or branding slaves with the name of the owner, often involving the forehead or hand, perhaps so slaves could be returned to their owner if they had fled.⁴ If this is correct, then tattooing was considered by the ancients as a mark of ownership.

Many of the laws in Leviticus were made to disassociate the Israelites from their neighbors, the Canaanites, and from the Egyptians, their former masters. Tattooing, an insignia of ownership, was perhaps condemned in Leviticus because it reminded them of their past. After all, they had just spent the last four centuries as slaves in Egypt, where tattooing was also used as a sign of slavery.⁵ No longer considered slaves, the Israelites now were prohibited to mark their bodies with permanent signs of servitude to former masters. This did not have to be explicitly articulated to them; no one need ask prison inmates why they shed their orange jump suits when they are no longer incarcerated.

Later Jewish tradition viewed humans as bearing the image of God. Thus, they concluded that tattooing was a permanent marring of the divine image.

I think the meaning behind the body inscription is what mattered. As a sign of ownership, it mattered to whom the tattooed person belonged. If the person belonged to the God of Israel, then tattooing was perhaps deemed acceptable, according to my understanding of this passage of Isaiah.

What does this mean for our contemporary society? People get tattoos for a myriad of reasons: identification, artistic expression, honoring the memory of a loved one or expressing permanence in love. Though the Levitical reason may no longer be as relevant, tattooing can be seen as a conscience issue. Each one must take a serious look as to the purpose for making a permanent marking on his or her person.