Thatis, they are not toshave off the hair around the temples and behind the ears, so as to leave the head bald except a dish-like tuft upon the crown, thus imparting to their heads the form of a hemisphere. This was done by the Arabs, and other worshippers of the god Orotal. Hence the Arabs are ironically called “those with the corner of their hairpolled” (Jer_9:26; Jer_25:23; Jer_49:32). (C. D. Ginsburg, LL. D.)
The true worshipper to appear as such
Thecommand means, that the Israelite was not only to worship God alone, but he was not to adopt a fashion in dress which, because commonly associated with idolatry, might thus misrepresent his real position as a worshipper of the only living and true God. (S. H. Kellogg, D. D.)
Neither shalt thou mar the corners of thy beard.--An injunction not to mar the beard might hardly appear necessary, since itis well known with what pride and scrupulous care the beard was cultivated by the Hebrews and other Eastern nations; that it was deemed the greatest ornament of a man, a badge of his dignity, and a type of his vigour and perfect manhood; beard and life were hence often employed as synonymous, and oaths were confirmed, and blessings bestowed, by invoking the one or the other’; suppliants, desirous to give the utmost solemnity to their appeals, touched the beards of those they addressed; and a mutilation of the beard was looked upon as an unbearable disgrace, and often regarded as more calamitous than death. In some countries the beard was the distinctive mark of free men. An old Spartan law forbade the ephori, from the moment of their taking office, to clip their beards; and those who had fled before the enemy in battle were compelled to appear in public with half-shorn beards. However, it was customary among several nations for young men “to present to their gods the firstlings of their beards”; and it was possibly to prevent the adoption of similar usages among the Hebrews that the injunction was deemed desirable. Besides, “marring the cornets of the beard” was a heathen mode of mourning, which was not to be imitated, since it might easily lead to more objectionable perversities. (M. M. Kaliseh, Ph. D.)
