Latest Hair Style

Admin | January 31, 2012 | Comments Off

Latest Hair Style

Latest Hair Style

Learning how Israelite men and women wore their hair during the Old Testament period is not easy; due to prohibitions on idolatry, Jewish artists were loath to draw or sculpt human figures, so we do not have the same kind of archaeological evidence for Israel as for other ancient cultures such as Egypt. On the other hand, the Old Testament provides some clues, both in descriptions of various historical figures, and in Israel’s laws.

Grey Hair and Baldness in the Bible

Grey hair is often referred to in the Bible as synonymous with old age and wisdom, and therefore deserving of respect (Proverbs 16:31 and 20:29). Baldness, on the other hand, is referred to as a curse (Isaiah 3:24 and Jeremiah 47:5). Nehemiah 13:25 and Isaiah 50:6 refer to plucking out a person’s hair as a punishment or mark of scorn. On the other hand, God severely punished a number of youths who mocked the prophet Elisha’s baldness (2 Kings 2:23-24).

Trimming the Corners of the Beards

Leviticus 19:27 admonishes Israelites not to “cut the hair at the sides of your head or clip off the edges of your beard” (NIV). Other translations variously render this as “You shall not round off the hair on your temples or mar the edges of your beard” (ESV), “Ye shall not round the corners of your heads, neither shalt thou mar the corners of thy beard” (KJV), or even “ye shall not shave the corners of your head round, neither shalt thou mutilate the corners of thy beard”. Scholars conjecture that a pagan people group – possibly the Egyptians or Arabs – would cut their hair in this fashion, so Israelites were to distinguish themselves by wearing a different hair style. Another theory is that trimming the edges of the beard was a sign of mourning.