10. “Basar” (Part Four, final) – “From my BODY, I shall vision God”

We reach the crux of understanding basar as the Hebrew word for the “body.” The following bullets augment what we already established. You will not believe that these verses are commonly translated with the word “flesh” (the New American Standard Bible is a notable exception):/

1.       Basar is an inclusive term for the “body,” which relates to man’s entire soft-tissue husk (including the eyes, internal organs, etc). This was demonstrated in the first post. Thus, instead of “flesh,” one washes the BODY —"He shall bathe his body with water” (Leviticus 16:24)—just like one clothes it: “Linen breeches shall he wear over his body” (Leviticus 6:3); “He… wore sackcloth over his body (1-Kings 21:27). More examples:

• “And the ill-looking and lean-bodied cows did eat up the seven well-looking and stout cows” (Genesis 41:2-4. Many verses talk of fat bodies, rather than fat "flesh")
• “And he went up, and lay upon the child, and put his mouth upon his mouth, and his eyes upon his eyes, and his hands upon his hands: and stretched himself upon the child; and the body of the child waxed warm” (2-Kings 4:34)
• “Is my strength the strength of stones, Or is my body of iron?” (Job 6:12, bronze was the iron of the day...).

2.       Fittingly, basar is used as one side of a Mind & Body Dichotomy, as well as Soul & Body Dichotomies: “You brought in foreigners, uncircumcised in mind and uncircumcised in body” (Ezekiel 44:7); “Therefore my mind is glad, and my glory rejoices, my body also dwells in safety” (Psalms 16:9); “My nefesh thirsts for You, my body yearns for You” (Psalms 63:2, cf. Isaiah 10:18); “Their horses are body and not spirit” (Isaiah 31:3).

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3.       Things like hair, skin, bodily secretions, and even bloodstream and breath, are talked of as being “of” the basar—they belong to the BODY: Therefore it is the BODY, not the "flesh," that is shaved—"Let them use a razor over their whole body and wash their clothes” (Numbers 8:7)—or mutilated: “You shall not make any scrape-for-the-dead in your body, nor inscribe any tattoo upon you” (Leviticus 19:28); “My covenant (brit) be in your body” (Genesis 17:14).

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4.       Bodily ORGANS are all basar. As we saw, in case of angels that includes wings, which are part of the angel’s fleshless body. Another example: Just like in Ezekiel 23:20, about endowed donkeys, note how the following verse names the penis as the bodily-organ that must be circumcised, and not the skin that needs removal: “And you shall circumcise the body of your foreskin” (Genesis 17:11). Similarly, “Make for them linen breeches to cover the body of the sex; they shall reach from the loins even to the thighs” (Exodus 28:42).

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5.       Basar is one part of a consistent biblical conceptualization of the physique, with two primary elements: A skeletal bone-frame (etzem), clothed with the entity of a soft-tissue husk (basar). A whole post was dedicated to this point.

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6.       Everything organic and/or genetic about us relates strictly to basar. It is the living BODY that makes one an organism. This is why two parents become one body. “Basar eyes,” for instance, means “organic eyes” (as opposed to inorganic “stone” ones). Defining the organism, basar can also stand for the entity of a human being: “For who is any-body who has heard the voice of the living God…” (Deuteronomy 5:22).

Case Study: When God says: “I am bringing the flood of water upon the earth, to destroy every-basar with a breath of life” (Genesis 6:17) the verse means “every breathing organism.” Other organisms didn't mind the water... In this story, basar truly delineates a type of body (or organism): “And of every animal, of every basar, two of all shall you bring into the ark, to keep them alive” (6:19). Translations insert “every sort”—but “sort” is not in the text. Indeed, “every basar” is a way of saying every existing body-form, or in other words—every species; the Green-Wing-Macaw have one body that defines them, giraffes have another. Since genders are versions of each such body (the Mr. and Mrs. versions of the giraffe bodytype) , the verse qualifies “they shall be male and female.” Or to summarize: “Those that entered, male and female of every species, entered as God commanded” (7:16).

7.       Indeed, Some 30 times in the Hebrew Bible, the compound term kol-basr is used to mean “every-body,” or, simply, everybody: “The glory of the LORD will be revealed, and everybody will see it together” (Isaiah 40:5).

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8.       Biological relatives are called basar-relatives, because it is the BODY that germinates progeny: “None of you shall approach any body-relative of his, to discover the sex” (Leviticus 18:6. How dare the NASB translate basar, here, as “blood”…); “Divide your bread with the hungry And bring the homeless poor into the house… And do not evade one of your own body” (Isaiah 58:7); “Bring out with you every living thing of every-species (basar) that is with you, birds and animals… that they may breed abundantly” (Genesis 8:17).

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9.       When basar is food, the antiquated idea is eating body-parts, like for us “eating ribs.” Thus: "Be sure not to eat the blood, for the blood is the life-force, and you shall not eat the life-force with the body” (Deuteronomy 12:23).

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10.  Like us, the ancients also craved youthful bodies: “His body returned like the body of a small youth” (2-Kings 5:14); “His body of youth shall be restored; he shall return to the days of his bloom;” (Job 33:25): “He put his hand into his bosom again… and it returned like his body” (Exodus 4:7; in all of these cases the body was first inflicted with blemishing disease).

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Why do I care so much? Why is it worth rewriting so many translations? Because reading basar as “flesh” turns organs into stuff, and the biological organism into meat. It thus degrades the deep insight of biblical wisdom regarding the nature of man, at the same time that it skews the meaning of numerous verses. In addition, "flesh" has a derogatory feel which "body" does not. For the Hebrew Bible, the physical self is as much a tool for blessing as it is of sin. Like the title from Job 19:26 implies—even our highest appreciation of the divine is made possible by the bodily apparatus of our cognition; prophecy itself uses the grey cells of our physical brain.

May you rejoice in your body,

Ethan

Comments

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Ethan,

I've read most of your articles.
I have a notion that the Tanach doesn't favor a dualistic body-mind approach to human nature. That's why Jewish ethics usually judges the actions rather than intentions.

Allow me to recommend a book which takes a similar "concordance" approach in investigating Tanach concepts: "Man and God, Studies in Biblical Theology" by Rabbi Eliezer Berkovits z"l.

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