Community of Conscience
Part 3 of Epic Mini-Series: God is Good. Mullets are Bad.
Context is critical. Let us zoom out from the individual verse prohibiting indecent hairlines and look at the good stuff before it, AND after it, to try and figure out what GOD is saying, by what He said, within the 19th chapter of Leviticus altogether. Let’s break it down.
Early on, in verses 9-17, He starts with some repackaged and/or rephrased classics from the first half of the Ten Commandments that seem to serve up common sense stuff for quality community life, like:
Don’t steal from, lie to, defraud, or rob people
Don’t mess with the disabled
Don’t slander or gossip
Don’t intentionally put people in harms’ way
Be nice to old people
Be generous
Be fair to everyone despite social status
Cool. Cool. Cool. I mean, it all makes sense; the whole lot: revere the Golden Rule; respect the Golden Girls; honor GOD above any golden, or metallic things.
And, if they do what He said, they won’t suffer the same fate as their ancestor, their great great great great great great great Uncle, fourteen times removed, Lot.
In these verses, GOD sets the standard for excellence and loving people – and, if everyone abides by the first half of Leviticus 19, then life in Israel should be pretty good.
But then, GOD drops the clutch at verse 19, and spends the next stretch of expectations-setting road calling out specific prohibitions for things that – like Korean boy bands and gas station sushi – are seemingly pretty obvious to NOT partake in:
Consuming the blood of living things
Defiling yourself, the land, or both
Cutting your body in honor of dead people
The second half of the chapter is thirteen verses of just awful do NOT do’s that honestly would be too awfully vulgar and debasing they wouldn’t be allowed on Jerry Springer, let alone the nightly news.
It’s a strange and very specific list of outlawed behaviors that would make even those with the strongest of intestinal fortitudes a bit squeamish!
AND, it’s in THESE verses – in His culling of all things awful and abased – neatly tucked in-between not practicing the evils of sorcery and not prostituting one’s daughter – GOD pronounces His preemptive veto of:
the mullet.
WEIRD.
Why is a rule prohibiting a specific haircut (of all things?!) listed right next to warnings about harlots and demon worship?!
And I’m wondering, why such a long and specific list of so many things – some of which, are so good, AND so many things that are so, so bad.
It’s SO counterintuitive, to me.
But He’s GOD, so it must be method, not madness.
So, what gives?
God is Good. Mullets are Bad. “Community of Conscience” Behold(en), still. Copyright © 2023-25 Behold(en), still.