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Selected Verse: Leviticus 21:5 - King James
| Verse |
Translation |
Text |
| Le 21:5 |
King James |
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. |
Summary Of Commentaries Associated With The Selected Verse
| A Commentary, Critical, Practical, and Explanatory on the Old and New Testaments, by Robert Jamieson, A.R. Fausset and David Brown [1882] |
| They shall not make baldness upon their heads . . . nor . . . cuttings in their flesh--The superstitious marks of sorrow, as well as the violent excesses in which the heathen indulged at the death of their friends, were forbidden by a general law to the Hebrew people (Lev 19:28). But the priests were to be laid under a special injunction, not only that they might exhibit examples of piety in the moderation of their grief, but also by the restraint of their passions, be the better qualified to administer the consolations of religion to others, and show, by their faith in a blessed resurrection, the reasons for sorrowing not as those who have no hope. |
| Notes on the Bible, by Albert Barnes, [1834] |
| 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 Co1 15:54-57, and it would therefore have been unsuitable that they should have the same freedom as other people to become mourners. |
| Explanatory Notes on the Whole Bible, by John Wesley [1754-65] |
| They shall not make baldness - In funerals, as the Heathens 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 are by word and example to teach the people their duty. |
| Adam Clarke Commentary on the Whole Bible - Published 1810-1826 |
| They shall not make baldness - See the note on Lev 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? |
28 Ye shall not make any cuttings in your flesh for the dead, nor print any marks upon you: I am the LORD.
54 So when this corruptible shall have put on incorruption, and this mortal shall have put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written, Death is swallowed up in victory.
55 O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory?
56 The sting of death is sin; and the strength of sin is the law.
57 But thanks be to God, which giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.
27 Ye shall not round the corners of your heads, neither shalt thou mar the corners of thy beard.