Deuteronomy 14:1 - Clarke's commentary and critical notes on the Bible

Ye are the children of the LORD your God: ye shall not cut yourselves, nor make any baldness between your eyes for the dead. Ye are the children of the Lord - The very highest character that can be conferred on any created beings; ye shall not cut yourselves, i. e., their hair, for it was a custom among idolatrous nations to consecrate their hair to their deities, though they sometimes also made incisions in their flesh.