Originally Posted By: BranShea
 Originally Posted By: zmjezhd
sideburns
Are they not the corners of the beard? (link and link).
Are these the ten commandments and a lot more?

5) They shall not make baldness upon their head, neither shall they shave off the corners of their beard, nor make any cuttings in their flesh.

How strange. And this one:
27) Ye shall not round the corners of your heads, neither shalt thou mar the corners of thy beard.

All these strange prohibitions seem to have had the purpose of setting the Israelites apart from other groups that worshipped other gods and making them culturally distinct. Perhaps the worshippers of some Canaanite deity had certain hairstyles in his or her honour!? Leviticus states that all those laws were designed to teach them to be a "holy" people, that is, a separate people. And yes it is a curious mishmash of moral, theological, social, cultural, agricultural and ritual laws and regulations all jumbled together.

 Quote:
14) Thou shalt not curse the deaf, nor put a stumbling-block before the blind, but thou shalt fear thy God: I am the LORD. That this needed to be forbidden might mean that people used to do that?

It still does need to be stated, as human nature hasn't changed. I've been away the past few days and driving home three or four hours through the fog last night I was listening to the radio. There was a blind guy describing what it was like to grow up as someone born blind. And he certainly described his high school experiences in those terms! Sadly, some people will always take advantage of disabilities, for their own gain or even amusement.