Lev 19:27-28 | Clarke | e4.org | 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:- σταςαπανευθεπυρηςξονθηναπεκειρατοχαιτην. τηνρασπερχειωποταμωτρεφετηλεθοωσαν. οχθησαςδαραειπενιδωνεπιοινοπαποντον. σπερχειαλλωςσοιγεπατηρηρησατοπηλευςκτλ 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 .

‏ Leviticus 19:27-28

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:-

σταςαπανευθεπυρηςξονθηναπεκειρατοχαιτην.

τηνρασπερχειωποταμωτρεφετηλεθοωσαν.

οχθησαςδαραειπενιδωνεπιοινοπαποντον.

σπερχειαλλωςσοιγεπατηρηρησατοπηλευςκτλ

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.

Verse 28. Any cuttings in your flesh for the dead] That the ancients were very violent in their grief, tearing the hair and face, beating the breast, &c., is well known. Virgil represents the sister of Dido "tearing her face with her nails, and beating her breast with her fists."

"Unguibus ora soror foedans, et pectora pugnis."

AEn., l. iv., ver. 672.

Nor print any marks upon you] It was a very ancient and a very general custom to carry marks on the body in honour of the object of their worship. All the castes of the Hindoos bear on their foreheads or elsewhere what are called the sectarian marks, which distinguish them, not only in a civil but also in a religious point of view, from each other.

Most of the barbarous nations lately discovered have their faces, arms, breasts, &c., curiously carved or tattooed, probably for superstitious purposes. Ancient writers abound with accounts of marks made on the face, arms, &c., in honour of different idols; and to this the inspired penman alludes, Re 13:16, 17; 14:9, 11; 15:2; 16:2; 19:20; 20:4, where false worshippers are represented as receiving in their hands and in their forehead the marks of the beast. These were called στιγματα stigmata among the Greeks, and to these St. Paul refers when he says, I bear about in my body the MARKS (stigmata) of the Lord Jesus; Ga 6:17. I have seen several cases where persons have got the figure of the cross, the Virgin Mary, &c., made on their arms, breasts, &c., the skin being first punctured, and then a blue colouring matter rubbed in, which is never afterward effaced. All these were done for superstitious purposes, and to such things probably the prohibition in this verse refers. Calmet, on this verse, gives several examples. See also Mariner's Tonga Islands, vol. i. p. 311-313.