Beards

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Concerning beards, has anyone read these verses lately:
Lev. 19:27;21:5 ? Lets look at them in context.

Lev 19:27-29:
26  Ye shall not eat any thing with the blood: neither shall ye use
enchantment, nor observe times.
27  Ye shall not round the corners of your heads,* neither shalt thou mar
the corners of thy beard*.
28  Ye shall not make any cuttings in your flesh for the dead, nor print
any marks upon you: I am the LORD.
29  Do not prostitute thy daughter, to cause her to be a whore; lest the
land fall to whoredom, and the land become full of wickedness. 

Notice verse 27 is right in the middle of heathen practices NOT
to do. It is right in the middle of verses that are talking about
witchcraft,sorcery,and whoredom.

Lev 21:4-7:
4  But he shall not defile himself, being a chief man among his people,
to profane himself.
5  They shall not make baldness upon their head, neither shall they shave
off the corner of their beard, nor make any cuttings in their flesh.
6  They shall be holy unto their God, and not profane the name of their
God: for the offerings of the LORD made by fire, and the bread of their
God, they do offer: therefore they shall be holy.
7  They shall not take a wife that is a whore, or profane; neither shall
they take a woman put away from her husband: for he is holy unto his God.
8  Thou shalt sanctify him therefore; for he offereth the bread of thy
God: he shall be holy unto thee: for I the LORD, which sanctify you, am
holy.

Notice that shaving the beard here is associated with defilement
and UNholyness.  (sin)
There are those who may say that these verses only apply to 
priests,but who are priests?  Are not priests those whom God
selected to serve Him? Are not we members of the royal
priesthood?** Since Jesus fulfilled the law did he fulfill this one
too?
Actually as I read these verses I get the impression that the
priests were not to cut the beard AT ALL.

I believe shaving is actually an Eygyptian / heathen practice.
Gen 41:14 :
  Then Pharaoh sent and called Joseph, and they brought him hastily out
of the dungeon: and* he shaved himself*, and changed his raiment, and
came in unto Pharaoh.

Note: "he shaved *himself*" not just only his beard. It was a 
common Eygyptian practice to shave the whole body as well as the beard
and he
did this to be presentable to the heathen Pharoh.

One final thought, has anybody noticed the Amish lately? They
think shaving is a *worldly* practice and want nothing to do with
it. They believe the bible teaches that men should not shave. They
believe godly men should have beards.

Michael Cates
Shreveport,La.
mlcates@juno.com