Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Leviticus 21:5
They shall not make baldness upon their head, neither shall they shave off the corner of their beard, nor make any cuttings in their flesh.
5. See on Lev 19:27-28.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
These prohibitions given to the people at large (compare the margin reference.) had a special fitness for the Hebrew priests. They were the instruments of the divine will for averting death, all their sacrifices were a type of the death of Christ, which swallowed up death in victory 1Co 15:54-57, and it would therefore have been unsuitable that they should have the same freedom as other people to become mourners.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Verse 5. They shall not make baldness] See the note on “Le 19:27“. It is supposed that these things were particularly prohibited, because used superstitiously by the Egyptian priests, who, according to Herodotus, shaved the whole body every third day, that there might be no uncleanness about them when they ministered in their temples. This appears to have been a general custom among the heathen. In the book of Baruch, 6:31, the priests of Babylon are represented sitting in their temples, with their clothes rent, and their heads and beards shaven, and having nothing upon their heads. Every person knows the tonsure of the Catholic priests. Should not this be avoided as an approach to a heathenish custom?
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
To wit, in funerals, as the heathens did: q. d. Though I allow them to defile themselves for some of the dead, yet in no case shall they use these superstitious and heathenish rites, which also the people are forbidden to do, Lev 19:27; Deu 14:1, but the priests in a more peculiar manner, because they are by word and example to teach the people their duty not to sorrow for the dead as persons without hope.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
5. They shall not make baldness upontheir heads . . . nor . . . cuttings in their fleshThesuperstitious marks of sorrow, as well as the violent excesses inwhich the heathen indulged at the death of their friends, wereforbidden by a general law to the Hebrew people (Le19:28). But the priests were to be laid under a specialinjunction, not only that they might exhibit examples of piety in themoderation of their grief, but also by the restraint of theirpassions, be the better qualified to administer the consolations ofreligion to others, and show, by their faith in a blessedresurrection, the reasons for sorrowing not as those who have nohope.
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
They shall not make baldness upon their head,…. For the dead, as Jarchi, Aben Ezra, and Ben Gersom; not shave their heads, or round the corners of them, or make baldness between their eyes on that account; as those things were forbid the Israelites, so the priests also; this and what follow being superstitious customs used among the Heathens in their mournings for the dead, particularly by the Chaldeans, as Aben Ezra observes; and so by the Grecians; when Hephestion, one of Alexander’s captains, died, he shaved his soldiers and himself, imitating Achilles in Homer t; so the Egyptians, mourning for the loss of Osiris, annually shaved their heads u; and the priests of Isis, mourning for her lost son, are called by Minutius Felix w her bald priests; see Le 19:27;
neither shall they shave off the corner of their beard: the five corners of it; [See comments on Le 19:27]. This the Israelites in common might not do, and particularly their priests; though the Egyptian priests shaved both their heads and beards, as Herodotus x relates: and so they are represented in the Table of Isis y:
nor make any cuttings in their flesh; either with their nails, tearing their cheeks and breasts, or with an instrument cutting their flesh in any part of their bodies, as was the custom of Heathen nations; such were made by the Egyptians in their mournings z;
[See comments on Le 19:28].
t Aelian. Var. Hist. l. 7. c. 8. u Julius Firmicus de Error. Proph. p. 2. w In Octavio, p. 22. Vid. Lactant. de fals. Relig. l. 1. c. 21. x Euterpe, sive, l. 2. c. 36. y Vid. Pignorii Mens. Isiac. liter. S. z Julius Firmicus, ut supra. (u)
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
ABSTENTION FROM HEATHEN PRACTICES 21:5, 6
TEXT 21:5, 6
5
They shall not make baldness upon their head, neither shall they shave off the corner of their beard, nor make any cuttings in their flesh.
6
They shall be holy unto their God, and not profane the name of their God; for the offerings of Jehovah made by fire, the bread of their God, they do offer: therefore they shall be holy.
THOUGHT QUESTIONS 21:5, 6
475.
Cutting the hair and the beard surely became an important practice. Why? What is involved in Lev. 21:5? Discuss.
476.
Once again define holiness as here given. Does this relate to our holiness? Consider our positional holiness as versus our character development-type holiness.
PARAPHRASE 21:5, 6
The priests shall not clip bald spots in their hair or beards, nor cut their flesh. They shall be holy unto their God, and shall not dishonor and profane His name; otherwise they will be unfit to make food offerings by fire to the Lord their God.
COMMENT 21:5, 6
Lev. 21:5-6 Is this cutting of the hair and beard a natural expression of grief or a practice of the heathen taken up by the Israelites? Since we have studied such a prohibition in Lev. 19:27-28 (Cf. Deu. 14:1), we know such actions are associated with idolatry. This manner of mourning became very common among all Israel (Cf. Jer. 16:6; Eze. 7:18; Amo. 8:10) and was condemned by Gods prophets (Cf. Ezr. 9:6). How easy it is to decorate or desecrate the body and imagine we have influenced the soul. On the other hand, such priests were known by the lack of such haircuts and beard trims! If we are going to mournand all men mustdo it before God and not to be seen of men.
FACT QUESTIONS 21:5, 6
487.
A bald head was a sign of mourning, but it was wrong. Why?
488.
We are known by our appearance. In what way? And to what intent?
THE MARRIAGE OF PRIESTS 21:7, 8
THE FAMILY OF PRIESTS 21:9
Fuente: College Press Bible Study Textbook Series
(5) Make baldness upon their head.The natural expression of grief, however, which the priests were to manifest for the above-named departed relations, was not to show itself in the practices which disfigure their bodily appearance, and which obtained among other nations of antiquity in connection with funeral ceremonies. Thus, in the graphic description of the idolatrous priests mourning, we are told the priests sit in their temples, having their clothes rent, and their heads and beards shaven, and nothing upon their heads. (Bar. 6:31.) The three things here prohibited to the priests are also forbidden to the people at large under other circumstances. (See Lev. 19:27-28; Deu. 14:1.) The ordinary Israelites, however, indulged in the same practices. (See Jer. 16:6; Eze. 7:18; Amo. 8:10.)
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
5. Not make baldness This forbids the priests to shave a bald place above the forehead “between the eyes” a practice customary in mourning for the dead, as is seen in Deu 14:1, where it is forbidden to all Israelites. It was allowed to the Nazarite when his time of separation had expired. Num 6:18; Act 18:18; Act 21:24.
Beard cuttings in their flesh See Lev 19:27-28, notes. St. Paul, not without indignation, refers to this prohibition ( ) when he stigmatizes the antichristian Jews as , the mutilation.
Php 3:2
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Lev 21:5. They shall not make baldness upon their head, &c. See the notes on ch. Lev 19:27. What was forbidden to the people in general, is here forbidden to the priests. It is justly required, of the ministers of religion, that they be not only more holy themselves, but patterns of holiness to others. Parkhurst observes, that “the Jewish priests are here particularly forbidden to make baldness upon their head, or to shave off the corner of their beard, because the Egyptian priests did so.” Thus Herodotus relates of the Egyptians, Their priests shave their whole body every third day. So the Babylonian priests are described, in Bar 6:31 as sitting in their temples, their heads and beards shaven. And thus also the priests, among the ancient Indians of Virginia, shaved their heads close, the crown and top of the forehead excepted; Ceremonies and Religious Customs, vol. iii. p. 117.
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
Lev 21:5 They shall not make baldness upon their head, neither shall they shave off the corner of their beard, nor make any cuttings in their flesh.
Ver. 5. They shall not make baldness, &c. ] So Lev 19:27 . Howbeit in humiliation for sin the Lord God of hosts called them all, both priests and people, to weeping and mourning, Joe 2:17 yea to baldness and sackcloth. Isa 22:12 Here we cannot easily overdo.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
shave. Forbidden to the Israelites; but in Egypt a disgrace not to shave. See Gen 41:14. 1Sa 10:4, 1Sa 10:5.
the corner of their beard = their whiskers.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
not make baldness: This custom is also called rounding the corners of the head – Lev 19:27, and seems to have been performed in honour of some idol. Lev 10:6, Lev 19:27, Lev 19:28, Deu 14:1, Isa 15:2, Isa 22:12, Jer 16:6, Jer 48:37, Eze 44:20, Amo 8:10, Mic 1:16
the corner: The Hebrew peath zakon, may denote the whiskers; as the Syriac phatho signifies. These are by the Arabs, according to Niebuhr, still cut entirely off, or worn quite short; and hence they are called by Jeremiah, , those with cropped whiskers. Perhaps some superstition, of which we are ignorant, was connected with this; but whether or not, it was the object of Moses to keep the Israelites distinct from other nations.
Reciprocal: Ezr 9:3 – off Jer 9:26 – in the utmost corners Jer 47:5 – how Eze 5:1 – take Eze 27:31 – they shall make
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Lev 21:5. They shall not make baldness In funerals, as the heathen did. Though I allow them to defile themselves for some of the dead, yet in no case shall they use these superstitious rites, which also the people were forbidden to do; but the priests in a more peculiar manner, because they were by word and example to teach the people their duty.