Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Leviticus 19:27
Ye shall not round the corners of your heads, neither shalt thou mar the corners of thy beard.
27. round the corners of your heads ] i.e. cut off the hair from the temples. Cp. Jer 9:26; Jer 25:23; Jer 49:32. According to Herod. (iii. 8) it had a religious significance with certain Arab tribes. The belief that the hair was specially fitted to mark union with the Divine being, seems to have arisen from its continuous growth so long as life continues. See Rob.-Sm. Rel. of the Sem. 2 . 323 ff., 481 ff.
28 cuttings in your flesh for the dead ] Another practice common among half-civilized races. It represented the custom of human sacrifices (see e.g. Herod. 4:71) as a propitiation to the spirit of the departed. Cp. Jer 41:5, and perhaps ( C.B.) Hos 7:14. A. R. S. Kennedy, on the other hand ( HDB. i. 172), considers that the original idea was to make an enduring covenant with the dead. He quotes Rob.-Sm. Rel. Sem. 2 p. 305. For the prohibitions in this and Lev 19:27, cp. Lev 21:5; Deu 14:1.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
Lev 19:27
Ye shall not round the corners of your heads.
That is, they are not to shave off the hair around the temples and behind the ears, so as to leave the head bald except a dish-like tuft upon the crown, thus imparting to their heads the form of a hemisphere. This was done by the Arabs, and other worshippers of the god Orotal. Hence the Arabs are ironically called those with the corner of their hairpolled (Jer 9:26; Jer 25:23; Jer 49:32). (C. D. Ginsburg, LL. D.)
The true worshipper to appear as such
The command means, that the Israelite was not only to worship God alone, but he was not to adopt a fashion in dress which, because commonly associated with idolatry, might thus misrepresent his real position as a worshipper of the only living and true God. (S. H. Kellogg, D. D.)
Neither shalt thou mar the corners of thy beard.–An injunction not to mar the beard might hardly appear necessary, since it is well known with what pride and scrupulous care the beard was cultivated by the Hebrews and other Eastern nations; that it was deemed the greatest ornament of a man, a badge of his dignity, and a type of his vigour and perfect manhood; beard and life were hence often employed as synonymous, and oaths were confirmed, and blessings bestowed, by invoking the one or the other; suppliants, desirous to give the utmost solemnity to their appeals, touched the beards of those they addressed; and a mutilation of the beard was looked upon as an unbearable disgrace, and often regarded as more calamitous than death. In some countries the beard was the distinctive mark of free men. An old Spartan law forbade the ephori, from the moment of their taking office, to clip their beards; and those who had fled before the enemy in battle were compelled to appear in public with half-shorn beards. However, it was customary among several nations for young men to present to their gods the firstlings of their beards; and it was possibly to prevent the adoption of similar usages among the Hebrews that the injunction was deemed desirable. Besides, marring the cornets of the beard was a heathen mode of mourning, which was not to be imitated, since it might easily lead to more objectionable perversities. (M. M. Kaliseh, Ph. D.)
Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell
Verse 27. Ye shall not round the corners your heads] This and the following verse evidently refer to customs which must have existed among the Egyptians when the Israelites sojourned in Egypt; and what they were it is now difficult, even with any probability, to conjecture. Herodotus observes that the Arabs shave or cut their hair round, in honour of Bacchus, who, they say, had his hair cut in this way, lib. iii., cap. 8. He says also that the Macians, a people of Libya, cut their hair round, so as to leave a tuft on the top of the head, lib. iv., cap. 175. In this manner the Chinese cut their hair to the present day. This might have been in honour of some idol, and therefore forbidden to the Israelites.
The hair was much used in divination among the ancients, and for purposes of religious superstition among the Greeks; and particularly about the time of the giving of this law, as this is supposed to have been the era of the Trojan war. We learn from Homer that it was customary for parents to dedicate the hair of their children to some god; which, when they came to manhood, they cut off and consecrated to the deity. Achilles, at the funeral of Patroclus, cut off his golden locks which his father had dedicated to the river god Sperchius, and threw them into the flood: –
,
‘ ,
‘, . . . .
Iliad, 1. xxiii., ver. 142, c.
But great Achilles stands apart in prayer,
And from his head divides the yellow hair,
Those curling locks which from his youth he vowed,
And sacred threw to Sperchius’ honoured flood.
Then sighing, to the deep his looks he cast,
And rolled his eyes around the watery waste.
Sperchius! whose waves, in mazy errors lost,
Delightful roll along my native coast!
To whom we vainly vowed, at our return,
These locks to fall, and hecatombs to burn
So vowed my father, but he vowed in vain,
No more Achilles sees his native plain
In that vain hope these hairs no longer grow;
Patrocius bears them to the shades below.
POPE.
From Virgil we learn that the topmost lock of hair was dedicated to the infernal gods; see his account of the death of Dido: –
“Nondum illi flavum Proserpina vertice crinem
Abstulerat, Stygioque caput damnaverat orco–
———————–Hunc ego Diti
Sacrum jussa fero; teque isto corpore solvo.
Sic ait, et dextra crinem secat.”
AEneid, lib. iv., ver. 698.
The sisters had not cut the topmost hair,
Which Proserpine and they can only know.
Nor made her sacred to the shades below–
This offering to the infernal gods I bear;
Thus while she spoke, she cut the fatal hair.
DRYDEN.
If the hair was rounded, and dedicated for purposes of this kind, it will at once account for the prohibition in this verse.
The corners of thy beard.] Probably meaning the hair of the cheek that connects the hair of the head with the beard. This was no doubt cut in some peculiar manner, for the superstitious purposes mentioned above. Several of our own countrymen wear this said hair in a curious form; for what purposes they know best: we cannot say precisely that it is the ancient Egyptian custom revived. From the images and paintings which remain of the ancient Egyptians, we find that they were accustomed to shave the whole hair off their face, except merely that upon the chin, which last they cut off only in times of mourning.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
The corners of your heads; i.e. your temples: Ye shall not cut off the hair of your heads round about your temples. This the Gentiles did, either for the worship of the devils or idols, to whom young men used to consecrate their hair, being cut off from their heads, as Homer, Plutarch, and many others write; or in funerals or immoderate mournings, as appears from Isa 15:2; Jer 48:37. And the like is to be thought concerning the beard or the hair in the corner, i.e. corners of the beard. The reason then of this prohibition is, because God would not have his people agree with idolaters, neither in their idolatries, nor in their excessive sorrowing, no, nor so much as in the appearances and outward significations or expressions thereof.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
27. Ye shall not round the cornersof your heads, c.It seems probable that this fashion had beenlearned by the Israelites in Egypt, for the ancient Egyptians hadtheir dark locks cropped short or shaved with great nicety, so thatwhat remained on the crown appeared in the form of a circlesurrounding the head, while the beard was dressed into a square form.This kind of coiffure had a highly idolatrous meaning and it wasadopted, with some slight variations, by almost all idolaters inancient times. (Jer 9:25; Jer 9:26;Jer 25:23, where “in theutmost corners” means having the corners of their hair cut.)Frequently a lock or tuft of hair was left on the hinder part of thehead, the rest being cut round in the form of a ring, as the Turks,Chinese, and Hindus do at the present day.
neither shalt thou mar,&c.The Egyptians used to cut or shave off their whiskers, asmay be seen in the coffins of mummies, and the representations ofdivinities on the monuments. But the Hebrews, in order to separatethem from the neighboring nations, or perhaps to put a stop to someexisting superstition, were forbidden to imitate this practice. Itmay appear surprising that Moses should condescend to such minutias that of regulating the fashion of the hair and the beardmatterswhich do not usually occupy the attention of a legislatorand whichappear widely remote from the province either of government or of areligion. A strong presumption, therefore, arises that he had in mindby these regulations to combat some superstitious practices of theEgyptians.
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
Ye shall not round the corners of your heads,…. The extremities of the hairs of the head, round about, on the forehead, temples, and behind the ears; this is done, as Jarchi says, when any one makes his temples, behind his ears, and his forehead alike, so that the circumference of his head is found to be round all about, as if they had been cut as with a bowl; and so the Arabians cut their hair, as Herodotus b reports, [See comments on Jer 9:26];
neither shall thou mar the corners of thy beard; by shaving them entirely; Jarchi and other Jewish writers say, there are five of them, two on the right, as Gersom reckons them, one on the upper jaw, the other on the nether, and two over against them on the left, and one in the place where the nether jaw joins the right to the left, the chin; the same observes, that it was the manner of idolaters to do the above things; and Maimonides c is of opinion that the reason of the prohibition is, because the idolatrous priests used this custom; but this law does not respect priests only, but the people of Israel in general; wherefore rather it was occasioned by the Gentiles in common cutting their hair, in honour of their gods, as the Arabians did, as Herodotus in the above place relates, in imitation of Bacchus, and to the honour of him; and so with others, it was usual for young men to consecrate their hair to idols; but inasmuch as such practices were used on account of the dead, as Aben Ezra observes, it seems probable enough that these things are forbidden to be done on their account, since it follows,
b Thalia, sive, l. 3. c. 8. c Moreh Nevochim, par. 3. c. 37. Hilchot Obede Cochabim, c. 12. sect. 1.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
27. Ye shall not round the corners. It clearly appears that God had no other object than by the interposition of this obstacle to sever His people from heathen nations. For there is nothing to which men are more prone than to conform themselves to the customs of others; and hence it arises, that they mutually communicate each other’s vices. Wherefore care was especially to be taken lest the people of Israel should adopt foreign habits, and by this pliableness should fall away from the true worship of God; from whence too the ordinary phrase has arisen, that the word “common” should be used for “unclean.” God then strictly forbids them from declining to the habits of the Gentiles, and confounding the distinction which He had Himself placed between them. There is no doubt but that it was usual for the Gentiles, out of superstition, to cut marks (31) upon their faces, to trim the hair in certain steps or circles, and in their mourning to lacerate their flesh, or to disfigure it with marks. It is well known that the priests of Cybele (32) made gashes in their flesh with knives and razors, and covered themselves all over with wounds, for the sake of shewing their zeal. The same thing was also commonly practiced by others; inasmuch as the world is easily deceived by external ceremonies. But though this were a thing in itself indifferent, yet God would not allow His people to be at liberty to practice it, that, like children, they might learn from these slight rudiments, that they would not be acceptable with God, unless they were altogether different from uncircumcised foreigners, and as far as possible from following their examples; and especially that they should avoid all ceremonies whereby their religion was testified. For experience teaches how greatly the true worship of God is obscured by anything adscititious, and how easily foul superstitions creep in, when the comments of men are tacked on to the word of God. Doubtless that part, “Ye shall not make any cuttings in your flesh for the dead,” etc., might be expounded as a correction of immoderate grief; because we know how intemperately men set themselves against God when they give the reins to their sorrow; but since the object of the Gentiles was to pay what was due to the dead, and to celebrate their funeral obsequies (33) as a kind of propitiation, it is probable, and more suitable, that by the whole context those preposterous gestures are condemned, which were proofs of piety among the Gentiles, but which would have been defilements to the people of God.
The same thing appears more clearly from the passage in Deuteronomy, which next follows, wherein Moses condemns cutting themselves, and making themselves bald for the dead in connection with each other, as if they were one thing; and confirms the law by a general argument, that they might withdraw themselves from every pollution as the children of God; since they were chosen to be His peculiar people; as much as to say, that God’s grace would be altogether frustrated, if they did not differ at all from foreign nations. As to his saying that they were chosen out of all the nations, it does not a little illustrate the gratuitous mercy of God, wherewith He honored them alone, by calling them to the hope of eternal salvation, and passing by the Gentiles; for there was no nobility found in them, nor did they exceed others either in number or in any other superiority, on account of which He should prefer them to the whole world. But the design of Moses in magnifying the extraordinary goodness of God, was that they might the more abhor that impure cornmixture, which, by bringing them on a par with the Gentiles, degraded them from this high honor.
(31) “Most of the barbarous nations lately discovered have their faces, arms:, breasts, etc., curiously carved or tattooed, probably for superstitious purposes. Ancient writers abound with accounts of marks made on the faces, arms, etc., in honor of different idols; and to this the inspired penman alludes, (Rev 13:16, etc.), where false worshippers are represented as receiving in their hands, and in their forehead, the marks of the beast. These were called στίγματα among the Greeks, and to these St. Paul refers when he says, “I bear about in my body the marks ( στίγματα) of the Lord Jesus.”.(Gal 6:17)
” All the castes of the Hindoos bear on their foreheads, or elsewhere, what are called sectarian marks, which not only distinguish them in a civil, but in a religious point of view, from each other.”
“Herodotus observes that the Arabs shave, or cut their hair round, in honor of Bacchus; (lib. 3. ch. 8). He says, also, that the Macians, a people of Lybia, cut their hair round, so as to leave a tuft on the top of the head; (lib. 4. ch. 175.”
“That the ancients were very violent in their grief, tearing the hair and face, beating the breast, etc., is well known. Virgil represents the sister of Dido: — Unguibus ora — foedans, et pectora pugnis. AEn. iv. 672.” — Adam Clarke, in loco.
(32) The authorities for this practice of the Galli, or Priests of Cybele, are too numerous to mention. The following extract from a curious description given by Apuleius, of the religious dance of her worshippers, may suffice: “ Die sequenti variis coloribus indusiati, et deformiter quisque formarti, facie coenoso pigmento delita, et oculis obunctis graphice, prodeunt; mitellis, et crocotis, et carbasinis, et bombycinis injecti. Quidam tunicas albas, in modum lanciolarum quoquoversum fluente purpura depictas, cingulo subligati, pedes luteis induti calceis, Deamque serico contectam amiculo mihi gerendam imponunt: brachiisque suis humero tenus renudatis, attollentes immanes gladios ac secures, evantes exsiliunt, incitante tibiae cantu lymphaticum tripudium.
” Nec paucis pererratis casulis, ad quandam villam possessoris beati perveniunt, et ab ingressu primo statim absonis ululatibus constrepentes, fanatice pervolant. Diuque capite demisso, cervices lubricis intorquentes motibus, crinesque pendulos rotantes in circulum, et nonnunquam morsibus suos incursantes musculos, ad postremum ancipiti ferro, quod gerebant, sua quisque brachia dissecant.” — Metam. (lib. 8, Edit). (Bipont. 1. 184-185)
(33) “ Et user de satisfactions pour racheter leurs ames;” and to offer satisfactions for the redemption of their souls. — Fr.
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary
(27) Round the corners of your heads.That is, they are not to shave off the hair around the temples and behind the ears, so as to leave the head bald except a dish-like tuft upon the crown, thus imparting to their heads the form of a hemisphere. This was done by the Arabs, and other worshippers of the god Orotal. Hence the Arabs are ironically called those with the corner of their hair polled, as it is rightly rendered in the Margin (Jer. 9:26; Jer. 25:23; Jer. 49:32).
Mar the corners of thy beard.The beard was regarded by the Hebrews and other eastern nations as the greatest ornament of a man, and was as dear to them as life itself. It was the object of salutation (2Sa. 20:9), and the mutilation of it was looked upon as the greatest disgrace and most degrading punishment (2Sa. 10:4; Isa. 7:20; Ezr. 5:1-5, &c.). It was only in seasons of sorrow that the Hebrews neglected their beards; and sometimes, to show how deeply they were afflicted, they covered them up, or even cut them off, or tore them out (2Sa. 19:24; Isa. 15:2; Jer. 41:5, &c.). Because it was so precious a treasure, it was customary among some of the ancients to present to their gods the firstlings of their beards. The prohibition before us alludes to this practice.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
27. Not round the corners of your heads That is, cut the hair in a circle from temple to temple, as Herodotus relates that some Arabs did in honour of their god. Also, in opposition to heathen usage, the beard must be permitted to grow equally over all the lower part of the face.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Lev 19:27. Ye shall not round the corners of your heads, &c. i.e. “Ye shall not cut off the hair from the corners, namely, from the temples and forepart of the head, nor from the extremities of your beards, towards the ear.” Some think that this was in opposition to the superstitious tonsure of the wandering Arabs; who lived in tents, and were accustomed to cut the extremities of their hair round, in order to be like their god Bacchus, who, in their mythology, was the same with the sun. (See Herodot. lib. ii. c. 8.) Others think that this refers to a superstitious funeral rite; which they collect from the next verse, from ch. Lev 21:5 and from Deu 14:1 and this latter seems the most probable interpretation: for it is certain, this was an ancient heathen custom in token of excessive mourning. See Isa 15:2. Jer 16:6; Jer 48:37. Eze 7:18. Thus the Greeks tore, cut off, and sometimes shaved their hair, in mourning for the dead: and we are told, that it was formerly the custom of the widows of Florida, when their husbands were slain, to cut their hair quite off, and to scatter it over their husbands’ graves.
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
Lev 19:27 Ye shall not round the corners of your heads, neither shalt thou mar the corners of thy beard.
Ver. 27. Ye shall not round. ] Because the Arabians their neighbours did so, and they should not be conformed to idolaters. a Oleaster, a Popish interpreter, understandeth such a shaving here, as their priest use to bear. But shaving is so bald a ceremony, that some priests in France are ashamed of the mark, and few of them have it that can handsomely avoid it.
a Herod., in Thal.
not round the corners of your heads: i.e. to cut round, so as to have a tuft of hair, like the Canaanitish priests. Compare Jer 9:26; Jer 25:23; Jer 49:32.
corners of thy beard = whiskers, as Egyptians did. Compare Gen 41:14.
Lev 21:5, Isa 15:2, Jer 16:6, Jer 48:37, Eze 7:18, Eze 44:20
Reciprocal: Deu 14:1 – ye shall not 2Sa 10:4 – and shaved 1Ch 19:4 – shaved them Jer 41:5 – their beards
Lev 19:27. The corners of your heads That is, your temples; ye shall not cut off the hair of your heads round about your temples. This the Gentiles did, either for the worship of their idols, to whom young men used to consecrate their hair, being cut off from their heads, as Homer, Plutarch, and many others write; or in funerals or immoderate mournings, as appears from Isa 15:2; Jer 48:37. And the like is to be thought concerning the beard, or the hair in the corner, that is, corners of the beard. The reason then of this prohibition is, because God would not have his people agree with idolaters, neither in their idolatries, nor in their excessive sorrowing, nor so much as in the appearances of it.
19:27 Ye shall not {k} round the corners of your heads, neither shalt thou mar the corners of thy beard.
(k) As did the Gentiles in sign of mourning.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Fuente: Geneva Bible Notes