Reference: Baldness
Easton
from natural causes was uncommon (2Ki 2:23; Isa 3:24). It was included apparently under "scab" and "scurf," which disqualified for the priesthood (Le 21:20). The Egyptians were rarely subject to it. This probably arose from their custom of constantly shaving the head, only allowing the hair to grow as a sign of mourning. With the Jews artificial baldness was a sign of mourning (Isa 22:12; Jer 7:29; 16:6); it also marked the conclusion of a Nazarite's vow (Ac 18:18; 21:24; Nu 6:9). It is often alluded to (Mic 1:16; Am 8:10; Jer 47:5). The Jews were forbidden to follow the customs of surrounding nations in making themselves bald (De 14:1).
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Or a hunchback, or a dwarf, or that has a defect in his eye, or an itching disease, or scabs, or is a eunuch;
And if any man dies very suddenly beside him, and he has defiled the head of his consecration; then he shall shave his head in the day of his cleansing, on the seventh day shall he shave it.
You are the children of the LORD your God: you shall not cut yourselves, nor make any bald place on your foreheads for the dead.
And he went up from there unto Beth-el: and as he was going up by the way, there came forth youths out of the city, and mocked him, and said unto him, Go up, you bald head; go up, you bald head.
And it shall come to pass, that instead of sweet fragrance there shall be a stench; and instead of a sash, a rope; and instead of well-set hair, baldness; and instead of a rich robe, a girding of sackcloth; and a burning scar instead of beauty.
And in that day did the Lord GOD of hosts call for weeping, and for mourning, and for baldness, and for girding with sackcloth:
Cut off your hair, O Jerusalem, and cast it away, and take up a lamentation on high places; for the LORD has rejected and forsaken the generation of his wrath.
Both the great and the small shall die in this land: they shall not be buried, neither shall men lament for them, nor cut themselves, nor make themselves bald for them:
Baldness has come upon Gaza; Ashkelon is cut off with the remnant of their valley: how long will you cut yourself?
And I will turn your feasts into mourning, and all your songs into lamentation; and I will bring up sackcloth upon every waist, and baldness upon every head; and I will make it like the mourning of an only son, and its end as a bitter day.
Make yourselves bald, and cut your hair because of your precious children; enlarge your baldness like an eagle; for they shall go into captivity from you.
And Paul after this tarried there yet a good while, and then took his leave of the brethren, and sailed from there into Syria, and with him Priscilla and Aquila; having shaved his head in Cenchrea: for he had a vow.
Them take, and purify yourself with them, and pay their expenses, that they may shave their heads: and all may know that those things, of which they were informed concerning you, are nothing; but that you yourself also walk orderly, and keep the law.
Fausets
Rare among Israelites; so an object of derision, as Elisha's was. to the children: 2Ki 2:23, "Go up thou baldhead," i.e., thou art old enough to leave this world and "go up" to heaven after thy master. A humiliation to captives (De 21:12; Isa 3:24). A mark of mourning (Jer 16:6; 47:5; Eze 7:18; Isa 15:2). It was sometimes a mark of leprosy: Le 13:40-42. Priests were forbidden to make baldness on their heads, or to shave off the grainers of their beards (Le 21:5; Eze 44:20); as mourners and idol priests did. (Jer 9:26 margin; Le 19:27).
The reason Israel was forbidden to do so was, "for thou art an holy people unto the Lord" (De 14:1-2). Nebuchadnezzar's army grew bald in besieging Tyre with the hardships of their work (Eze 29:18). The Egyptians, contrary to oriental custom, shaved on joyous occasions and only let the hair grow in mourning; the mention of Joseph's "shaving" when summoned before Pharaoh is therefore an undesigned coincidence in Ge 41:14, and mark of the truth of the Scripture record. Artificial baldness marked the ending of a Nazarite's vow (Nu 6:9; Ac 18:18; 21:24).
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Then Pharaoh sent and called Joseph, and they brought him hastily out of the dungeon: and he shaved himself, and changed his clothes, and came in unto Pharaoh.
Then Pharaoh sent and called Joseph, and they brought him hastily out of the dungeon: and he shaved himself, and changed his clothes, and came in unto Pharaoh.
And the man whose hair is fallen off his head, he is bald; yet is he clean. And he that has his hair fallen off from the part of his head toward his face, he is forehead bald: yet is he clean.
And he that has his hair fallen off from the part of his head toward his face, he is forehead bald: yet is he clean. And if there be in the bald head, or bald forehead, a white reddish sore; it is a leprosy sprung up in his bald head, or his bald forehead.
And if there be in the bald head, or bald forehead, a white reddish sore; it is a leprosy sprung up in his bald head, or his bald forehead.
You shall not shave around the sides of your heads, neither shall you disfigure the corners of your beard.
You shall not shave around the sides of your heads, neither shall you disfigure the corners of your beard.
They shall not make any bald place upon their head, neither shall they shave off the corner of their beard, nor make any cuttings in their flesh.
They shall not make any bald place upon their head, neither shall they shave off the corner of their beard, nor make any cuttings in their flesh.
And if any man dies very suddenly beside him, and he has defiled the head of his consecration; then he shall shave his head in the day of his cleansing, on the seventh day shall he shave it.
And if any man dies very suddenly beside him, and he has defiled the head of his consecration; then he shall shave his head in the day of his cleansing, on the seventh day shall he shave it.
You are the children of the LORD your God: you shall not cut yourselves, nor make any bald place on your foreheads for the dead.
You are the children of the LORD your God: you shall not cut yourselves, nor make any bald place on your foreheads for the dead. For you are a holy people unto the LORD your God, and the LORD has chosen you to be a peculiar people unto himself, above all the nations that are upon the earth.
For you are a holy people unto the LORD your God, and the LORD has chosen you to be a peculiar people unto himself, above all the nations that are upon the earth.
Then you shall bring her home to your house; and she shall shave her head, and trim her nails;
Then you shall bring her home to your house; and she shall shave her head, and trim her nails;
And he went up from there unto Beth-el: and as he was going up by the way, there came forth youths out of the city, and mocked him, and said unto him, Go up, you bald head; go up, you bald head.
And he went up from there unto Beth-el: and as he was going up by the way, there came forth youths out of the city, and mocked him, and said unto him, Go up, you bald head; go up, you bald head.
And it shall come to pass, that instead of sweet fragrance there shall be a stench; and instead of a sash, a rope; and instead of well-set hair, baldness; and instead of a rich robe, a girding of sackcloth; and a burning scar instead of beauty.
And it shall come to pass, that instead of sweet fragrance there shall be a stench; and instead of a sash, a rope; and instead of well-set hair, baldness; and instead of a rich robe, a girding of sackcloth; and a burning scar instead of beauty.
He has gone up to the temple, and to Dibon, the high places, to weep: Moab shall wail over Nebo, and over Medeba: on all their heads shall be baldness, and every beard cut off.
He has gone up to the temple, and to Dibon, the high places, to weep: Moab shall wail over Nebo, and over Medeba: on all their heads shall be baldness, and every beard cut off.
Egypt, and Judah, and Edom, and the children of Ammon, and Moab, and all that are in the farthest corners, that dwell in the wilderness: for all these nations are uncircumcised, and all the house of Israel are uncircumcised in the heart.
Egypt, and Judah, and Edom, and the children of Ammon, and Moab, and all that are in the farthest corners, that dwell in the wilderness: for all these nations are uncircumcised, and all the house of Israel are uncircumcised in the heart.
Both the great and the small shall die in this land: they shall not be buried, neither shall men lament for them, nor cut themselves, nor make themselves bald for them:
Both the great and the small shall die in this land: they shall not be buried, neither shall men lament for them, nor cut themselves, nor make themselves bald for them:
Baldness has come upon Gaza; Ashkelon is cut off with the remnant of their valley: how long will you cut yourself?
Baldness has come upon Gaza; Ashkelon is cut off with the remnant of their valley: how long will you cut yourself?
They shall also gird themselves with sackcloth, and horror shall cover them; and shame shall be upon all faces, and baldness upon all their heads.
They shall also gird themselves with sackcloth, and horror shall cover them; and shame shall be upon all faces, and baldness upon all their heads.
Son of man, Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon caused his army to serve a great service against Tyre: every head was made bald, and every shoulder was rubbed raw: yet had he no wages, nor his army, from Tyre, for the service that he had served against it:
Son of man, Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon caused his army to serve a great service against Tyre: every head was made bald, and every shoulder was rubbed raw: yet had he no wages, nor his army, from Tyre, for the service that he had served against it:
Neither shall they shave their heads, nor allow their locks to grow long; they shall only trim the hair of their heads.
Neither shall they shave their heads, nor allow their locks to grow long; they shall only trim the hair of their heads.
And Paul after this tarried there yet a good while, and then took his leave of the brethren, and sailed from there into Syria, and with him Priscilla and Aquila; having shaved his head in Cenchrea: for he had a vow.
And Paul after this tarried there yet a good while, and then took his leave of the brethren, and sailed from there into Syria, and with him Priscilla and Aquila; having shaved his head in Cenchrea: for he had a vow.
Them take, and purify yourself with them, and pay their expenses, that they may shave their heads: and all may know that those things, of which they were informed concerning you, are nothing; but that you yourself also walk orderly, and keep the law.
Them take, and purify yourself with them, and pay their expenses, that they may shave their heads: and all may know that those things, of which they were informed concerning you, are nothing; but that you yourself also walk orderly, and keep the law.
Hastings
Morish
The Israelites were forbidden to cut themselves or to make themselves bald for the dead, as the heathen did; for they were a holy people unto the Lord. Le 21:5; De 14:1; Jer 16:6. Baldness is one of the judgements of the Lord: perhaps they would make themselves bald in their distress. Isa 3:24; 15:2; 22:12; Eze 7:18; Am 8:10; Mic 1:16. See NAZARITE.
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They shall not make any bald place upon their head, neither shall they shave off the corner of their beard, nor make any cuttings in their flesh.
You are the children of the LORD your God: you shall not cut yourselves, nor make any bald place on your foreheads for the dead.
And it shall come to pass, that instead of sweet fragrance there shall be a stench; and instead of a sash, a rope; and instead of well-set hair, baldness; and instead of a rich robe, a girding of sackcloth; and a burning scar instead of beauty.
He has gone up to the temple, and to Dibon, the high places, to weep: Moab shall wail over Nebo, and over Medeba: on all their heads shall be baldness, and every beard cut off.
And in that day did the Lord GOD of hosts call for weeping, and for mourning, and for baldness, and for girding with sackcloth:
Both the great and the small shall die in this land: they shall not be buried, neither shall men lament for them, nor cut themselves, nor make themselves bald for them:
They shall also gird themselves with sackcloth, and horror shall cover them; and shame shall be upon all faces, and baldness upon all their heads.
And I will turn your feasts into mourning, and all your songs into lamentation; and I will bring up sackcloth upon every waist, and baldness upon every head; and I will make it like the mourning of an only son, and its end as a bitter day.
Make yourselves bald, and cut your hair because of your precious children; enlarge your baldness like an eagle; for they shall go into captivity from you.
Smith
Baldness.
Natural baldness seems to have been uncommon, since it exposed people to public derision.
Le 13:29; 2Ki 2:23; Isa 3:24; 15:2; Jer 47:5; Eze 7:18
Artificial baldness marked the conclusion of a Nazarite's vow,
and was a sign of mourning.
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And if any man dies very suddenly beside him, and he has defiled the head of his consecration; then he shall shave his head in the day of his cleansing, on the seventh day shall he shave it.
And it shall come to pass, that instead of sweet fragrance there shall be a stench; and instead of a sash, a rope; and instead of well-set hair, baldness; and instead of a rich robe, a girding of sackcloth; and a burning scar instead of beauty.
He has gone up to the temple, and to Dibon, the high places, to weep: Moab shall wail over Nebo, and over Medeba: on all their heads shall be baldness, and every beard cut off.
Baldness has come upon Gaza; Ashkelon is cut off with the remnant of their valley: how long will you cut yourself?
They shall also gird themselves with sackcloth, and horror shall cover them; and shame shall be upon all faces, and baldness upon all their heads.
And Paul after this tarried there yet a good while, and then took his leave of the brethren, and sailed from there into Syria, and with him Priscilla and Aquila; having shaved his head in Cenchrea: for he had a vow.
Watsons
BALDNESS is a natural effect of old age, in which period of life the hair of the head, wanting nourishment, falls off, and leaves the head naked. Artificial baldness was used as a token of mourning; it is threatened to the voluptuous daughters of Israel, instead of well set hair, Isa 3:24. See Mic 1:16; and instances of it occur, Isa 15:2; Jer 47:5. See Eze 7:18; Am 8:10.
The insult offered to Elisha by the young people of Bethel, improperly rendered "little children," who cried out after him, "Go up thou bald head," may here be noticed. The town of Bethel was one of the principal nurseries of Ahab's idolatry, and the contempt was offered to Elisha in his public character as a prophet of the Lord. If in the expression, "Go up," there was also a reference to the translation of Elijah, as turning it into jest, this was another aggravation of the sin, to which these young people were probably instigated by their parents. The malediction laid upon them by the prophet was not an act of private resentment, but evidently proceeded from prophetic impulse.
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And it shall come to pass, that instead of sweet fragrance there shall be a stench; and instead of a sash, a rope; and instead of well-set hair, baldness; and instead of a rich robe, a girding of sackcloth; and a burning scar instead of beauty.
He has gone up to the temple, and to Dibon, the high places, to weep: Moab shall wail over Nebo, and over Medeba: on all their heads shall be baldness, and every beard cut off.
Baldness has come upon Gaza; Ashkelon is cut off with the remnant of their valley: how long will you cut yourself?
They shall also gird themselves with sackcloth, and horror shall cover them; and shame shall be upon all faces, and baldness upon all their heads.
And I will turn your feasts into mourning, and all your songs into lamentation; and I will bring up sackcloth upon every waist, and baldness upon every head; and I will make it like the mourning of an only son, and its end as a bitter day.
Make yourselves bald, and cut your hair because of your precious children; enlarge your baldness like an eagle; for they shall go into captivity from you.