Leviticus 19:27

round the corners of your heads i.e. cut off the hair from the temples. Cp. Jeremiah 9:26; Jeremiah 25:23; Jeremiah 49:32. According to Herod. (iii. 8) it had a religious significance with certain Arab tribes. The belief that the hair was specially fitted to mark union with the Divine being, seems to have arisen from its continuous growth so long as life continues. See Rob.-Sm. Rel. of the Sem.2. 323 ff., 481 ff.

28 cuttings in your flesh for the dead Another practice common among half-civilized races. It represented the custom of human sacrifices (see e.g. Herod. 4:71) as a propitiation to the spirit of the departed. Cp. Jeremiah 41:5, and perhaps (C.B.) Hosea 7:14. A. R. S. Kennedy, on the other hand (HDB.i. 172), considers that the original idea was to make an enduring covenant with the dead. He quotes Rob.-Sm. Rel. Sem.2 p. 305. For the prohibitions in this and Leviticus 19:27, cp. Leviticus 21:5; Deuteronomy 14:1.