Look at the cover of the most popular book about the human body, on the left:
Like so many anatomy posters, in classrooms and doctor’s offices, it has two main illustrations: The bone skeleton, on one side, and the soft-tissue body that encases it, on the other. Combined, they represent the entire physique.This dual-configuration is precisely what the ancient Israelites saw. In the Hebrew Bible, the physical aspect of man is always comprised of these two complimentary parts: skeleton and body, etzem and basar:
“You have (right) dressed me with skin and body, and (left) netted me with bones and sinews” (Job 10:11)
While the etzem gives us structure and standing, the basar included all of the functioning ORGANS, viscera as well as muscle (see above right). While the etzem endures after death, the basar rots away. While the etzem defines our growth, from the short stature of a baby to the full height of a grown woman (and then the recline and shrinkage of old age), the basar suggests our physical health and fattiness…
For this reason, biblical speakers convey the idea of biological relations by combining the two parts of the biological entity. We saw a first example with the declaration of Adam about Eve. Other examples include: “Surely you are my skeleton and my body” (Genesis 29:14); "You are my brethren, my skeleton and my body” (2-Samuel 19:13); “I am your skeleton and your body” (Judges 9:2. Cf. 2-Samuel 5:1 and 19:14, 1-Chronicles 11:1, Job 2:5). Indeed, there are no such things as “blood relatives” in the Hebrew Bible, because your blood-flow (much like breath) is considered to be totally personal; an independent, animating life-force. Instead, the bible talks of “basar relatives” (Genesis 37:27; Leviticus 18:6, Leviticus 25:49, Isaiah 58:7). For the Hebrew Bible, everything that is biological about us, everything genetic or organic, is a facet of our basar, our BODY. Additional examples of the twofold physique include: “There is no soundness in my body because of Your indignation; There is no peace in my skeleton because of my sin” (Psalms 38:4); “My knees faltered of fasting, And my body wasted of fat” (Psalms 109:24); and more.
To complete the biblical picture of the physique, however, it must be said that the outer layer of skin is often considered separate: “And the body, and the skin, were burnt with fire” (Leviticus 9:11); “My body, and my skin, He wore out; He broke my bones” (Lamentations 3:4); “Eat the body of my people, Strip off their skin from them, Break their bones…” (Micah 3:3); and most famously in Ezekiel’s Dry Bones:
“Prophesy over these bones, and say unto them: O ye dry bones... I will cause breath to enter into you, and ye shall live. And I will put sinews on you, and will grow a body on you, and cover you with skin…. And I beheld, and, lo, there were sinews upon them [reconnecting the skeleton], and body grew on, and skin covered them above…” (Ezekiel 37:4-8)
This 3-step process, by the way, was used also in the regeneration of Lilu, the Fifth Element... The complete biblical physique is summarized, then, in the following composite illustration. Next week we shall examine an array of fascinating basar verses (it’s about the body!) and then focus more on the true idea of etzem as the growing skeletal boneframe (why can't I just say "bone", ha?).
Ethan
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