Ezekiel 44:20

Neither shall they shave their heads, nor suffer their locks to grow long; they shall only poll their heads. Neither shall they shave their heads - as mourners used to do, and as the Levitical priests were forbidden to do (Leviticus 21:1). The worshippers of the Egyptian idols Serapis and Isis shaved their heads; another reason why Yahweh's priests are not to do so. Nor suffer their locks to grow long - as the luxurious, barbarians, and soldiers in warfare did (Jerome)....

Verse Ezekiel 44:20. _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....

Regulations as to the priests’ services. The garments of the priests are defined and various rules prescribed in the Law are repeated with some additions in order to denote additional care to avoid uncleanness. Ezekiel 44:18 The material of which the four vestments of the ordinary priest were made was “linen,” or, more accurately, “byssus,” the cotton stuff of Egypt. The two special qualities of the byssus - white and shining - are characteristic, and on them part of the symbolic meaning depended. Compare Revelation 19:8. Ezekiel 44:19 THEY SHALL NOT SANCTIFY THE PEOPLE - They shall not touch the p

EXPOSITION The prophet, having finished his account of the temple, or place of worship, proceeds, in the second section of his vision (Ezekiel 44-46.), to set forth the culture, or ritual, to be performed in the temple; treating first of the several classes in the new community, and of their relation to the sanctuary (Ezekiel 44:1.); next of the regulations to be observed in the maintenance of worship (Ezekiel 45:1.); and, thirdly, of certain supplementary orders for the prince, the people, and the priests, when engaged in the solemnities of their religion (Ezekiel 46:1.). In particular, the present chapter deals (1) with the relation of the prince to the sanctuary ...

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 1 Corinthians 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"....

CHAPTER 44 _ 1. The outward eastern gate for the prince (Ezekiel 44:1) _ 2. The charge concerning the strangers and the rebellious tribes (Ezekiel 44:4) 3. The charge concerning the priests, the sons of Zadok (Ezekiel 44:15) 4. The inheritance of the priests (Ezekiel 44:28)...

THE PRIESTS. (_Their duties.) The_ only officials qualified to bear the name or discharge the duties of priests especially the duty of sacrifice are the Zadokites, _i.e._ the descendants of the Zadok who had been appointed head of the Jerusalem priesthood by Solomon, when Abiathar, who had sided with Adonijah, was deposed (1 Kings 2:35). Doubtless the Jerusalem priests were, in point of morality and religion, superior, broadly speaking, to the country priests (_cf._ Ezekiel 44:15), though the revelations in ch. 8 show that the Temple worship could be depraved enough; but the high prerogatives are here conferred upon them, just because of their connexion with Jerusalem. Their officiating dress, which was to be of linen, they had to change, before going out to the people in the outer court: ot

NEITHER SHALL THEY, &c. Reference to Pentateuch (Leviticus 21:5). App-92. ONLY POLL. surely clip....

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 (Leviticus 21:5; Leviticus 21:10, cf. Ezekiel 24:17), and forbidden both to priests and people as a practice of the heathen (Deuteronomy 14:1); though the prophets frequently refer to it as a token of disaster and mourning; Isaiah 3:24; Isaiah 22:12;...

NEITHER SHALL THEY SHAVE, &C.— The Jews understand this as an expression of mourning for the dead. The words in the original contain a general prohibition, including the times of mourning, as well as other seasons. St. Jerome supposes, that the Jewish priests were forbidden to shave their heads, in order to distinguish them from several of the heathen priests; particularly the Egyptian priests of Isis and Serapis, who had their heads shaved and uncovered, see Calmet, and Leviticus 10....