|
|
|
|
Inevitably, any exploration of a particular motif, theme, or item in a collection of works or in a history itself is going to bring up inconsistencies. This is so even when that theme is the heart of a particular narrative, and it is even more so when the narrative is focused on other themes. That said, one could say that the Bible's portrayal of hair is a positive one. After all, God created it; thus, as he noted of his creation right from the start, "It was very good" (Gen. 1:31). In the Bible, then, plentiful hair is typically associated with beauty and abundance, while a lack of hair typifies trouble and grief.
Not surprisingly, in the Old Testament, the Nazarite vow, taken by men or women wishing to separate themselves from others to draw close to God, involved not only avoiding alcohol but most noticeably noncutting of the hair (Num. 6:2-9). Men known as Nazarites in the scriptures include Samson, a judge who delivered Israel from bondage to the Philistines, and Samuel, the high priest who judged Israel and anointed the nation's first two kings. Both men were Nazarites set apart for lifetime service to God from birth (Judges. 13:3-5; 1 Sam. 1:11). Typically, however, Nazarite vows lasted only for a set period of time, with the vower offering up the hair he or she had grown at the end of the days of separation unto God (Num. 6:18-19). Clearly, the hair grown during the vow was something God esteemed.
One of the most famous passages involving hair comes from Luke 7:37-50. Jesus Christ goes to dine at Simon the Pharisee's house. There, a woman uses her tears and her hair to wash the Messiah's feet. Amid the dust and dirt of the ancient roads, foot washing, for the largely sandal-clad peoples of this time, would have been a common practice. One can only imagine how dirty one's hair would become if used for such a thing. The woman did not think too highly of herself to provide a service that even the host had failed to fulfill. She was apparently a woman of ill-repute, as Simon noted, but because of the humility she had, humility that Simon himself lacked at the time, Christ forgave her sins. In Matthew 26:13, Jesus notes that this woman's loving actions would be told of wherever the gospel was preached.
While the growth of hair is a sign of God's care for an individual (Ez. 16:7), the Bible includes at least one example of a man so taken with the beauty of his own hair that it eventually is the tool by which he is destroyed. This man was Absalom, King David's son, who rebelled against his father and for a brief while took the throne. Absalom's hair was so abundant that in a year's time he could grow enough that it weighed two hundred shekels (2 Sam. 14:25-26). Later, while fleeing David's forces, Absalom's long hair would get stuck in the branches of an overhanging tree--it would prove to be his undoing (2 Sam. 18:9-18).
One could say, then, that hair is a gift of God (indeed, long hair is called woman's glory in 1 Cor. 11:15) and that we should not become vain about it, lest we fall as Absalom did. Getting rid of one's hair is thus a sign that all is not well. Examples of hair being cut or shaved in response to terrible happenings abound in scripture. Both Ezra and Nehemiah "pluck out" hair when they learn that the men of their nation are once again descending into the sins that earlier led to the Jew's captivity (Ez. 9:2-3, Neh. 13:23-25). Likewise Job, when he learns that his children have been killed and his house and possessions destroyed, shaves his head in grief (Job 1:20). In prophecies foretelling of Israel's trouble and destruction, baldness is at times provided as one of the metaphors or signs pointing to the nation's desolation (see, for example, Is. 3, especially verse 24; Is. 7:20; Jer. 7:29). In one of the most interesting of these prophecies, Ezekial was ordered to literally shave his head and use his chopped-off hair as a symbol of what was to befall Israel--a third to be burned (representing famine and disease), a third to be smitten with a knife (representing war), and a third to be scattered in the wind (representing flight and captivity; Ez. 5:1-12). Prophecies involving lack of hair go for other nations who have trouble as well, such as the people of Moab, who it is said will cast off their hair in despair (Is. 15:2, Jer. 48:37)
Shaving one's head was a typical sign of grief in the Old Testament. Women held captive by Israel, for example, were to shave their heads and bewail the loss of their family before they could become citizens of the conquering state (Deut. 21:10-13). The various prophecies foretelling of Israel's and other nations grief therefore play into this. That said, Israel was told to avoid cutting off the beard, rounding the corners of the head, or shaving between the eyes (Lev. 19:27-28, Deut. 14:1), along with making cuts in the flesh, in response to the death of a loved one. This, along with not shaving the head, was especially the case for the priests (Lev. 21:1-6). It seems that God did not want people grieving for too long of a time, reminding themselves of their sorrow--probably ultimately because he wanted them thinking on the long-off future, the greatness of His plan, and the coming redemption and resurrection for all.
Rather, hair removal in religious exercises in the Old Testament was generally a form of humbling one's self before God, rather than grief. Priests, shaved their whole bodies, before performing certain rituals (Num. 8:6-8). Likewise, people cleansed from leprosy removed all of their hair as a sign that they were once again whole (Lev. 14:2, 8-9). This not unlike the person who completed his or her Nazarite vow and who offered up his or her hair as the final act of the vow.
Hair, then, played a role in the religious ceremonies of ancient Israel. More could be made of this discussion, especially were one to look at the use of goats' hair in the tabernacle. But the point is clear: hair is a blessing from God. In it is beauty and glory. The removal of it, in scripture, generally represents a humbling before God, either willfully, as in sacrifice and offering, or by force, as in times of trouble. No wonder then that God says he knows even the number of hairs that we have on our head (Matt. 10:29-30, Luke 12:6-7).
| Back to Main Page | Back to My Big Hair Day Bible Stories |
bravenet.com