Ezekiel 44:20

Eze 44:20 Neither shall they shave their heads, nor suffer their locks to grow long; they shall only poll their heads.

Ver. 20. Neither shall they shave their heads.] What can the Popish shavelings say to this, qui ne pilum ullum viri bona habere videntur, as Cicero {a} saith of Fannins Chaereas? noting it to be a sign of crafty malice to be shaven. And indeed is so bald and heathenish a ceremony that some priests in France are ashamed of the mark, and few of them have it that can handsomely avoid it. {b}

Nor suffer their locks to grow long.] As women’s: some heathen priests nourished their hair to a great length. A shag-haired minister is an ugly sight: bushes of vanity become not such, of any men.

They shall only poll their heads.] Or, Round them. Certainly, saith one, {c} the devil had forgotten this text when he raised up that reproach of Roundheads. To have hairy scalps is the garb of God’s enemies. {Psa 68:21}

{a} In Orat. pro Rosc. Comaedo.

{b} Spec. Eur.

{c} Mr Burroughs.

John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

44:20-27 The priests were to avoid contact with death, either by being in the presence of a dead person or through the ritual mourning practices in which they would shave their heads or let their hair grow completely free. They must not drink wine before entering the inner courtyard to avoid the risk of potentially fatal alcohol-induced errors (see Lev 10:9). The priests were restricted in marriage to virgins of Israel or to widows of the priests to ensure the continuing purity of the priestly line. In all of these ways, the priests were to model the radical distinction between holy and common and between the ceremonially clean and unclean for the people.

Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

As did the infidels and heathen.

Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain. Text via Bolls.life.

Neither . . . shave . . . heads--as mourners do (Lev 21:1-5). The worshippers of the Egyptian idols Serapis and Isis shaved their heads; another reason why Jehovah's priests are not to do so.

nor suffer . . . locks to grow long--as the luxurious, barbarians, and soldiers in warfare did [JEROME].

Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Verse 20. Neither shall they shave their heads] The priests of Isis shaved their heads close to the skin; the priests of Budhoo do so still, their ordinances oblige them to shave their heads every tenth day. To let the hair grow long would have been improper; therefore the Lord commands them to poll-cut the hair short, but not to shave.

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

(20) Their locks to grow long.—The law forbade the shaving of the head (Lev_21:5), but only condemned letting the hair grow long by implication, providing for it in the exceptional case of the vow of the Nazarite. The prohibition of Eze_44:21 is given in Lev_10:9.

A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

20. The priests shall poll or cut the hair of their heads, and neither shave their heads bald nor let the hair flow loose. Shaving the head bald was a sign of mourning (Lev_21:5; Lev_21:10, cf. Eze_24:17), and forbidden both to priests and people as a practice of the heathen (Deu_14:1); though the prophets frequently refer to it as a token of disaster and mourning; Isa_3:24; Isa_22:12; Jer_16:6; Amo_8:10; Mic_1:16. Lev_10:6 indicates that letting the hair flow loose and dishevelled was also a sign of grief. The phrase appears used both of this practice and of the Nazirite custom of allowing the hair to remain uncut (Num_6:5, cf. Num_5:18).

The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Neither shall they shave their heads,.... As the priests and worshippers of Isis and Serapis did, as Jerom on the text observes; and as the Romish priests now do, from whom the Lord's faithful ministers must be distinguished:

nor suffer their locks to grow long; as the Nazarites, that a distinction might be preserved between those who were and were not such; or rather, after the manner of women, their locks hanging down, and flowing about their shoulders, as a token of levity, wantonness, effeminacy, pride, and vanity; see Co1 11:14,

they shall only poll their heads; observe a medium between both; neither shave their heads close, nor let their hair grow long, but keep it in an even moderate length; for which reason godly men of the last age among us were called "round heads".

John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Shave, like the priests of Isis. (Juvenal vi.)

George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).

To shave their heads was forbidden, Lev 19:27; 21:5. Hair is given for an ornament, and the priests should not disfigure themselves, nor imitate idolatrous heathens.

Nor suffer their locks to grow long; priding themselves in it, as Absalom, giving ill example by such excess. Shall only poll their heads; when the hair is grown somewhat, they shall trim, cut the ends of their hair, and keep it in moderate size; beside, long hair was a token of a Nazarite’s vow, and God would have all holy things and persons kept unmixed and distinguished from other common things.

Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

20. The hair was regarded as the seat of life by every ancient nation (note Eze_5:14), and very probably when the hair was shaved off it was offered to the deity (compare Num_6:18), involving, as Toy suggests, temporary uncleanness, or taboo, and therefore to be avoided by priests. (Compare Eze_44:25.) Letting the hair grow without polling (cutting) was also often connected with a vow (compare Num_6:5; Act_18:18), and entailed the same inconvenience. It may be added that certainly the shaved head (Lev_21:5; Lev_21:10), and probably the flowing hair (Lev_10:6, R.V.), was a sign of mourning among the Jews, and therefore to be prohibited in those who lived constantly in the joy of Jehovah’s presence.

Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

The next rubric concerned the mode in which the priests should wear their hair. It should neither be shaved nor worn long, thus avoiding excess on either side (compare for the first, Lev_21:5; and for the second, Lev_10:6 Lev_21:10, Revised Version) but should merely be polled. The obligation to let the hair grow freely was imposed upon the Nazarite only during the period of his vow. (Num_6:5) The verb "to poll," or "cut" ( occurs nowhere else. Smend thinks what is hero denied to the priests collectively is in the priest-code denied solely to the high priest, (Lev_21:10, Revised Version; compare, however, Lev_10:6, Revised Version) and discovers in this a sign of the later origin of Leviticus. Ezekiel"s raising the priesthood as a body to the rank of the high priest, of whom in connection with this temple is no trace, rather proves Ezekiel to have been later than Leviticus.

The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

To grow long - Priding themselves in it, as Absalom. Shall only poll - When the hair is grown, they shall cut the ends of their hair, and keep it in moderate size.

John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.

General Information:

Yahweh continues giving Ezekiel his message to the house of Israel about the descendants of Zadok who serve as priests.

must trim the hair of their heads

must keep their hair neat

widow

a woman whose husband has died

from the line of the house of Israel

"who is a descendant of the people of Israel"

the house of Israel

The word "house" is a metonym for the family that lives in the house, in this case the Israelites, the descendants of Jacob over many years. See how you translated this in Ezekiel 3:1. AT: "the Israelites" or "the Israelite people group" (See: Metonymy)

translationWords

wine

divorce

virgin

unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.

And [the hair of] their heads they are not to shave to remove all the hair.

but also not to let it grow wild They may not let their hair grow very long.

they must be careful to trim [Heb. כָּסוּם יִכְסְמוּ, (to cut the hair so that it appears)] like spelt (כֻּסֶמֶת), which is arranged on the ear [with] the end of one beside the root of another. So I heard in the name of Rabbi Menahem of blessed memory. It is possible to explain it as an expression for a measure of a medium thing, neither shearing [all the hair of] the head nor letting the hair grow long, but a medium amount, amo(d)ler in O.F., to cut to medium length.

Rashi on the Tanakh — English translations: “The Judaica Press complete Tanach with Rashi, translated by A. J. Rosenberg” (CC BY 4.0); “Pentateuch with Rashi's commentary by M. Rosenbaum and A.M. Silbermann, 1929-1934” (public domain); “The Metsudah Tanach series, Lakewood, N.J” (CC BY 4.0); and “The Book of Joshua, Metsudah Publications, 1997” (CC BY 4.0). Text via Sefaria.