What does the Bible say about birthmarks?
Short answer – The Bible does not specifically address the topic of birthmarks. It does mention various skin conditions like leprosy and provides guidance on how people should handle infectious diseases given the limited medical knowledge of the time.
The absence of discussion in the Bible doesn’t necessarily mean that birthmarks lack a divine purpose or meaning. For example, the disciples of Jesus stated that if they were to document everything Jesus said or did, the world probably wouldn’t have enough paper to contain it all.
Therefore, while birthmarks may not have a direct biblical reference or universally agreed-upon spiritual meaning, they can still hold personal significance for individuals. They can be seen as symbols of luck, indicators of personality traits, or signs of future opportunities.
Introduction
The Bible has a lot to say about a lot of things concerning us humans, how we should live our lives, what kind of faith and spirituality we should have, and countless other spiritual matters.
We’ve sort of talked on this particular subject before, but not in much detail, so we decided to come back to the topic of birthmarks, specifically what does the Bible have to say about birthmarks?
Is it possible for birthmarks to have a spiritual meaning?
Some people believe that birthmarks have a spiritual meaning, and others don’t.
However, it’s important to note that birthmarks themselves are not inherently good or bad; their meaning depends entirely on the context of the situation in which they appear.
If you’ve been wondering if your birthmark means something specific, here are some things to keep in mind:
- Birthmarks can be a sign of good luck. For example, if someone has one on their foot and they love playing soccer or running track (or any other sport), it might mean they’ll win numerous medals at an upcoming competition.
- Birthmarks located near the face or neck can signify leadership abilities or a strong personality.
- Birthmarks on the hand are believed to symbolize that the individual is destined for a life of service and helping others.
- Birthmarks can also symbolize an upcoming opportunity for success or happiness (or even both).
What did birthmarks mean and symbolize in the Bible?
When it comes to birthmarks and what the Bible says about them, we first need to be able to understand the contextual situation surrounding whatever it says and where in the Bible it is said (i.e., Old Testament or New Testament).
With that being said, the Bible honestly doesn’t really weigh in on birthmarks, what they are, or even what they could potentially mean in a spiritual matter.
You see, while the Bible does talk about many other things concerning a person’s spirit, a birthmark just didn’t hold enough significance for the divinely inspired authors to talk on the matter of birthmarks.
Now that doesn’t mean that birthmarks don’t hold any spiritual meanings that we should be made aware of, as we’ve stated in previous articles.
It just simply means that where the Bible is concerned, birthmarks weren’t a subject matter that had any relativity to a person’s salvation and the destination of their soul, which is something that the Bible does heavily focus on.
What does the Bible say about marks on the skin?
In Leviticus 12, God gives his prophet Moses a message, telling the people of Israel that if a woman gave birth to a boy, she (the mother) is to be considered unclean for seven days, her body would take up to 33 days to be purified from the bleeding and process of the birth, and if the mother gave birth to a girl, the mother was to be considered unclean for 2 weeks, and her body would take up to 66 days to be fully purified from the bleeding and the process of giving birth.
The first thing that needs to be said about this passage is that it doesn’t mention birthmarks at all—it’s all about being unclean after giving birth.
This means that Leviticus 12:2-8 doesn’t have much relevance when trying to figure out what birthmarks mean in the Bible.
Second, they didn’t have medical access and hygiene advancements like we do today to know and learn how birth affects a woman’s body after she has given birth.
This message that God gave to Moses to give to the people was in favor of allowing the body of the newly made mother to heal and recover from the miraculous experience of giving birth to a newborn baby.
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What about other marks on the skin?
While the book of Leviticus in the Bible (or any other book in the Bible) doesn’t have much at all to say concerning birthmarks, it does have something to say concerning other marks or blemishes of the skin.
In the following chapters after Leviticus 12, Moses continues talking to the people of Israel about various markings or blemishes on a person’s body that should be considered unclean and should result in them undergoing various cleansing processes or even complete exile from everyone.
That might sound harsh, but when you read those chapters, you’ll come to understand that Moses was addressing the problem of leprosy, which they had absolutely no way or means to treat the infectious skin disease.
So, if someone were to develop leprosy, the only way that they could “deal” with it and keep everyone else safe from it at the same time was to essentially get rid of everything that the leprose person owned for safety reasons and to have that person be exiled from the community because it was too risky to allow leprosy to live among everyone else which would risk an outbreak of the disease that they had no viable way to “deal” with or treat medically.
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The Bible doesn’t really refer to birthmarks of any kind, but that doesn’t mean they don’t hold any spiritual meanings or significance.
- The Bible doesn’t really refer to birthmarks, as we discussed, simply because the Bible tends to focus on things of other spiritual importance.
- It does mention various skin diseases, though like leprosy, and it details how people living back then were supposed to handle infectious skin diseases since they didn’t have access to modern medical breakthroughs.
- However, it is still highly possible that birthmarks can hold a certain spiritual significance. After all, just because the Bible doesn’t talk about it doesn’t mean that God didn’t create it with a mysterious purpose and meaning that he didn’t want detailed or written about by his divinely chosen authors.
- For a great example of this, the disciples of Jesus state that if they were to have written about everything Jesus said or did, there probably wouldn’t be enough paper in the world to fill them.
Image source – https://pixabay.com/photos/book-woman-hands-reflecting-bible-1421097/
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Irina is a co-founder and author at AwakeningState.com, an online magazine launched in 2016 that aims to expand consciousness every day. Offering eye-opening articles on a range of topics, Irina strives to provide unique insights into personal growth, covering areas such as spiritual awakening, health, lifestyle, nature, and science.