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Hair

From: Concise Bible Dictionary: H

By: George A. Morrish

Narrator: Chris Genthree

• 1 min. read • grade level: 9

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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)).

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Concise Bible Dictionary: H

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