John Gill's Bible Commentary Ver. 5. They shall not make baldness upon their head , etc.] For the dead, as Jarchi, Aben Ezra, and Ben Gersom; not shave their heads, or round the corners of them, or make baldness between their eyes on that account; as those things were forbid the Israelites, so the priests also; this and what follow being superstitious customs used among the Heathens in their mournings for the dead, particularly by the Chaldeans, as Aben Ezra observes; and so by the Grecians; when Hephestion, one of Alexander’s captains, died, he shaved his soldiers and himself, imitating Achilles in Homer f737 ; so the Egyptians, mourning for the loss of Osiris, annually shaved their heads f738 ; and the priests of Isis, mourning for her lost son, are called by Minutius Felix her bald priests; (see Leviticus 19:27,28 Deuteronomy 14:1); neither shall they shave off the corner of their beard : the five corners of it; (see Gill on “ Leviticus 19:27”). This the Israelites in common might not do, and particularly their priests; though the Egyptian priests shaved both their heads and beards, as Herodotus relates: and so they are represented in the Table of Isis f741 : nor make any cuttings in their flesh ; either with their nails, tearing their cheeks and breasts, or with an instrument cutting their flesh in any part of their bodies, as was the custom of Heathen nations; such were made by the Egyptians in their mournings f742 ; (see Gill on “ Leviticus 19:28”).
Matthew Henry Commentary
- Laws concerning the priests.
--As these priests were types of Christ, so all ministers must be followers of him, that their example may teach others to imitate the Saviour. Without blemish, and separate from sinners, He executed his priestly office on earth. What manner of persons then should his ministers be! But all are, if Christians, spiritual priests; the minister especially is called to set a good example, that the people may follow it. Our bodily infirmities, blessed be God, cannot now shu us out from his service, from these privileges, or from his heavenl glory. Many a healthful, beautiful soul is lodged in a feeble, deforme body. And those who may not be suited for the work of the ministry, ma serve God with comfort in other duties in his church _________________________________________________
Original Hebrew לא3808 יקרחה7139 קרחה7144 בראשׁם7218 ופאת6285 זקנם2206 לא3808 יגלחו1548 ובבשׂרם1320 לא3808 ישׂרטו8295 שׂרטת׃8296
