Boyd’s Bible Dictionary:
Worn short with elderly men, long with young men, vowed men and women
(Num. 6:5-95All the days of the vow of his separation there shall no razor come upon his head: until the days be fulfilled, in the which he separateth himself unto the Lord, he shall be holy, and shall let the locks of the hair of his head grow. 6All the days that he separateth himself unto the Lord he shall come at no dead body. 7He shall not make himself unclean for his father, or for his mother, for his brother, or for his sister, when they die: because the consecration of his God is upon his head. 8All the days of his separation he is holy unto the Lord. 9And if any man die very suddenly by him, and he hath defiled the head of his consecration; then he shall shave his head in the day of his cleansing, on the seventh day shall he shave it. (Numbers 6:5‑9); 2 Sam. 14:2626And when he polled his head, (for it was at every year's end that he polled it: because the hair was heavy on him, therefore he polled it:) he weighed the hair of his head at two hundred shekels after the king's weight. (2 Samuel 14:26); Luke 7:3838And stood at his feet behind him weeping, and began to wash his feet with tears, and did wipe them with the hairs of her head, and kissed his feet, and anointed them with the ointment. (Luke 7:38)). Lepers shorn (Lev. 14:8-98And he that is to be cleansed shall wash his clothes, and shave off all his hair, and wash himself in water, that he may be clean: and after that he shall come into the camp, and shall tarry abroad out of his tent seven days. 9But it shall be on the seventh day, that he shall shave all his hair off his head and his beard and his eyebrows, even all his hair he shall shave off: and he shall wash his clothes, also he shall wash his flesh in water, and he shall be clean. (Leviticus 14:8‑9)).
Concise Bible Dictionary:
Given by God as an ornament and a protection for the head. The Israelites were not to “round the corners of their heads,” doubtless in allusion to some heathen practice, one of which has been described as “cutting the hair in a ring away from the temples” (Lev. 19:2727Ye shall not round the corners of your heads, neither shalt thou mar the corners of thy beard. (Leviticus 19:27)). Neither were they to make any baldness between their eyes for the dead (Deut. 14:11Ye are the children of the Lord your God: ye shall not cut yourselves, nor make any baldness between your eyes for the dead. (Deuteronomy 14:1)). Baldness should come as a judgment (Isa. 15:22He is gone up to Bajith, and to Dibon, the high places, to weep: Moab shall howl over Nebo, and over Medeba: on all their heads shall be baldness, and every beard cut off. (Isaiah 15:2); Jer. 9:2626Egypt, and Judah, and Edom, and the children of Ammon, and Moab, and all that are in the utmost corners, that dwell in the wilderness: for all these nations are uncircumcised, and all the house of Israel are uncircumcised in the heart. (Jeremiah 9:26), margin; Jer. 48:3737For every head shall be bald, and every beard clipped: upon all the hands shall be cuttings, and upon the loins sackcloth. (Jeremiah 48:37)).
Long hair is referred to in the New Testament as the natural covering, of a woman, as owning her subjection to the man, and is a glory to her; but nature teaches that if a man have long hair, it is a shame to him His head must not thus be covered, for “he is the image and glory of God” (1 Cor. 11:6-156For if the woman be not covered, let her also be shorn: but if it be a shame for a woman to be shorn or shaven, let her be covered. 7For a man indeed ought not to cover his head, forasmuch as he is the image and glory of God: but the woman is the glory of the man. 8For the man is not of the woman; but the woman of the man. 9Neither was the man created for the woman; but the woman for the man. 10For this cause ought the woman to have power on her head because of the angels. 11Nevertheless neither is the man without the woman, neither the woman without the man, in the Lord. 12For as the woman is of the man, even so is the man also by the woman; but all things of God. 13Judge in yourselves: is it comely that a woman pray unto God uncovered? 14Doth not even nature itself teach you, that, if a man have long hair, it is a shame unto him? 15But if a woman have long hair, it is a glory to her: for her hair is given her for a covering. (1 Corinthians 11:6‑15)). “Hair as the hair of women” is a symbol of subjection to a head, and effeminacy (Rev. 9:88And they had hair as the hair of women, and their teeth were as the teeth of lions. (Revelation 9:8)).
“386. Plucking the Hair” From Manners and Customs of the Bible:
Nehemiah 13:2525And I contended with them, and cursed them, and smote certain of them, and plucked off their hair, and made them swear by God, saying, Ye shall not give your daughters unto their sons, nor take their daughters unto your sons, or for yourselves. (Nehemiah 13:25). I contended with them, and cursed them, and smote certain of them, and plucked off their hair.
This is equivalent to what we term “tearing the hair out by the roots.” It was sometimes a self-inflicted suffering as a token of mourning (see Ezra 9:33And when I heard this thing, I rent my garment and my mantle, and plucked off the hair of my head and of my beard, and sat down astonied. (Ezra 9:3)), sometimes an act of wanton persecution (see Isa. 50:66I gave my back to the smiters, and my cheeks to them that plucked off the hair: I hid not my face from shame and spitting. (Isaiah 50:6)), and sometimes punishment, as represented in the text. It is said that the ancient Athenians punished adulterers by tearing the hair from the scalp and then covering the head with hot ashes.
“886. Adornments of the Head” From Manners and Customs of the Bible:
The Oriental ladies are exceedingly fond of golden ornaments and of costly array. See notes on Genesis 24:2222And it came to pass, as the camels had done drinking, that the man took a golden earring of half a shekel weight, and two bracelets for her hands of ten shekels weight of gold; (Genesis 24:22) (#35), 24:53 (#36); and also on Isaiah 3:1616Moreover the Lord saith, Because the daughters of Zion are haughty, and walk with stretched forth necks and wanton eyes, walking and mincing as they go, and making a tinkling with their feet: (Isaiah 3:16) (#483), 3:18 (#484), 3:20 (#486), 3:22-24 (#487-489), where a variety of these adornments are described.
Especial attention is paid to the hair. Long hair is greatly prized. See Corinthians 11:15. Great care is taken in dressing the hair. Costly ointments are used. See note on Matthew 26:77There came unto him a woman having an alabaster box of very precious ointment, and poured it on his head, as he sat at meat. (Matthew 26:7) (#712). The tresses are carefully braided. Lady Montague counted a hundred and ten of these tresses on the head of a Turkish lady, and all of natural hair. The custom of plaiting the hair is very ancient. The Egyptians practiced it, and some specimens of old plaited hair are yet to be seen in museums on the heads of mummies. The women of other nations were not behind them. “In the daily use of cosmetics they bestowed the most astonishing pains in arranging their long hair; sometimes twisting it round on the crown of the head, where, and at the temples, by the aid of gum, which they knew as well as the modern belles, they wrought it into a variety of elegant and fanciful devices—figures of coronets, harps. wreaths, diadems, emblems of public temples and conquered cities, being formed by the mimic skill of the ancient friseur; or else, plaiting it into an incredible number of tresses, which hung down the back, and which, when necessary, were lengthened by ribbons so as to reach to the ground, and were kept at full stretch by the weight of various wreaths of pearls and gold fastened at intervals down to the extremity. From some Syrian coins in his possession, Hartmann (Die Hebräerin am Putztishe) has given this description of the style of the Hebrew coiffure; and many ancient busts and portraits which have been discovered exhibit so close a resemblance to those of Eastern ladies in the present day, as to show that the same elaborate and gorgeous disposition of their hair has been the pride of Oriental females in every age” (Kitto's Cyclopedia, s. v. Hair).
Among the interesting specimens of antique pottery discovered by Mr. Barker in Cilicia in 1845 are two terra cotta heads of women with the hair plaited and dressed as shown in these engravings. See Barker's Laers and Penates, pp. 158, 168. In the valuable antiquities from the island of Cyprus in the Cesnola collection (Metropolitan Museum of Ark New York) there is a stone head which bears a close resemblance to one of these terra cotta heads from Cilicia. See engraving No. 167. The Apostle Paul also makes reference to braiding the hair in 1 Timothy 2:99In like manner also, that women adorn themselves in modest apparel, with shamefacedness and sobriety; not with broided hair, or gold, or pearls, or costly array; (1 Timothy 2:9).
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