Texts in Conversation
Leviticus 19 forbids Israelites to round off the hair at the sides of the head. Jeremiah 25 uses the same description for desert people who cut their hair short at the temples, grouping them among the nations facing judgment.
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2500 BCE
1000+ CE
Leviticus 19:27
Hebrew Bible
26 “‘You must not eat anything with the blood still in it. You must not practice either divination or soothsaying. 27 You must not round off the corners of the hair on your head or ruin the corners of your beard. 28 You must not slash your body for a dead person or incise a tattoo on yourself. I am the Lord.
Jeremiah 25:23
Hebrew Bible
22 all the kings of Tyre, all the kings of Sidon; all the kings of the coastlands along the sea; 23 the people of Dedan, Tema, Buz, all the desert people who cut their hair short at the temples; 24 all the kings of Arabia who live in the desert; 25 all the kings of Zimri; all the kings of Elam; all the kings of Media;
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Notes and References
... The length of person's hair has often signaled larger issues, and we catch hints of this in the Bible as well. The Old Testament prohibition of 'rounding off the hair on your temples' (Leviticus 19:27) was designed to set Israel apart from the practices of surrounding pagan nations (Jeremiah 9:26; 25:23). Ezekiel's prescription for priests in the new era is that they will neither 'shave their heads or let their locks grow long; they shall only trim the hair of their heads' (Ezekiel 44:20). By the time we reach the New Testament, Paul considers long hair to be the norm for women but degrading for men (1 Corinthians 11:14-15). Excessive attention to hair, such as fancy braiding of it, can signal a worldly minded preoccupation with externalities (1 Timothy 2:9; 1 Peter 3:3). ...
* The use of references are not endorsements of their contents. Please read the entirety of the provided reference(s) to understand the author's full intentions regarding the use of these texts.
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