Verse 5
5. Not make baldness This forbids the priests to shave a bald place above the forehead “between the eyes” a practice customary in mourning for the dead, as is seen in Deuteronomy 14:1, where it is forbidden to all Israelites. It was allowed to the Nazarite when his time of separation had expired. Numbers 6:18; Acts 18:18; Acts 21:24.
Beard… cuttings in their flesh See Leviticus 19:27-28, notes. St. Paul, not without indignation, refers to this prohibition ( ου κατατεμνουσιν ) when he stigmatizes the antichristian Jews as την κατατομην , the mutilation.
Philippians 3:2. In Jeremiah 9:26; Jeremiah 25:23 we have a valuable marginal reading, “having the corners of their hair polled,” or “those with whiskers cropped,” as descriptive of the Arabians. It seems to have been the purpose of the lawgiver to keep the Israelites distinct from other nations in their very countenances.
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