Head

The head appears in scripture as the surface where ritual oil is placed and where divine judgment is sometimes inflicted. The verses gathered here treat two ritual gestures: the priest's anointing of the cleansed person's head, and Yahweh's striking of the head with a scab in judgment.

Anointed in cleansing

In the cleansing rite for a person healed of an infectious skin disease, the head is the final point at which the priest applies the residual oil. After the rest of the ritual has been carried out: "and the rest of the oil that is in the priest's hand he will put on the head of him who is to be cleansed: and the priest will make atonement for him before Yahweh" (Lev 14:18). The same gesture closes the alternate rite prescribed for a poorer person: "and the rest of the oil that is in the priest's hand he will put on the head of him who is to be cleansed, to make atonement for him before Yahweh" (Lev 14:29). The wording is nearly identical; the head is the place where the oil's atoning movement comes to rest.

Struck in judgment

The head is also the surface on which judgment falls. Against the proud daughters of Zion: "therefore the Lord will strike with a scab the top of the head of the daughters of Zion, and Yahweh will lay bare their secret parts" (Isa 3:17). The judgment turns the visible top of the body — what others see — into the place where shame is exposed.