Long hair or short hair in Ezekiel 44:20?

AuthorGoerwitz, Richard L.

INTRODUCTION

This note attempts to rescue from oblivion a suggestion offered, then summarily dismissed, by G. R. Driver in his 1926 article "Linguistic and Textual Difficulties." In that article, Driver suggested that apparent conflicts between Ezekiel 44:20 and certain Pentateuchal passages might be resolved if [TEXT NOT REPRODUCIBLE IN ASCII] in Ezek. 44:20 were glossed as "shave off, strip off" (

Although my attempt at dredging up Driver's old, ignored gloss might seem, superficially, to constitute little more than an overburdened word study, my real, and somewhat broader, aim is to highlight the widely acknowledged, but in practice often underappreciated, fact that even seemingly straightforward forms like slh can hold big surprises if one fails to pay close attention to the anthropological and literary context of the passages in which they are used.

THE TRADITIONAL APPROACH

As it is generally understood, Ezekiel 44:20 prohibits priests from both radical shortening ([TEXT NOT REPRODUCIBLE IN ASCII] "make bald, shave") and radical lengthening ([TEXT NOT REPRODUCIBLE IN ASCII] "send forth, let grow long") of their hair, permitting instead only a moderate trimming ([TEXT NOT REPRODUCIBLE IN ASCII]; cf. Akkadian kasamu "cut off, chop"):

[TEXT NOT REPRODUCIBLE IN ASCII] They shall not shave their head, nor let [their] hair to grow out; they shall only trim [the hair of] their heads. Though presenting a fine, even-handed approach to male grooming, and offering a superficially reasonable gloss for the root slh, analysis of slh's overall usage and meaning raises doubts about the wisdom of such an approach. In reality, the biblical authors use slh as a verb in just two basic senses: "send" and "send away." Neither of these senses connotes the sort of slow, undirected growth characteristic of hair and therefore required by Ezek. 44:20.

  1. G-stem "send"

    (a) "send out, off, forth"

    (b) "stretch out, extend [body part]"

    (c) = D-stem

  2. D-stem "send away"

    (a) = G-stem

    (b) "cast out, get rid of"

    (c) "release, let go free"

    (d) "shoot [weapon]"

    It is true that some lexicons offer "shoot forth" (i.e., "grow") for slh in Jer. 17:8; Ezek. 17:6, 31:5; and Ps. 80:12 (so BDB, KB "ausbreiten"). And this meaning might, at first glance, appear compatible with the growth of human hair. These passages, however, all apply slh to boughs or roots "sent" to a water source (Ezek. 31:5 [a gloss] implicitly). An undirected "sprouting up, growing out" is clearly not the intent there. Had "sprout up, grow out" been the intended meaning, other more obvious roots would doubtless have been used (of hair, e.g., smh, Lev. 13:37, Judg. 16:22, Ezek. 16:7).

    Similar arguments might be made about "send forth [streams]" (Ezek. 31:4) and "release, let go free" (Job 12:15; Prov. 6:14, 19; 16:28), which refer to immediate and/or guided actions--clearly not to gradual, undirected hair growth, for which more apt verbs existed (e.g., gdl, Num. 6:5; "lengthening," in general, is 'rk; "stretching out" is nth; cf. Aramaic rbh, Dan. 4:30).

    Put more simply and succinctly: Classical Hebrew has perfectly good verbs for "let grow long"; slh, "send," is not one of them.

    EVIDENCE FROM ANCIENT VERSIONS

    Examination of the versions yields a mix of evidence on [TEXT NOT REPRODUCIBLE IN ASCII]. Targum Jonathan, for example, offers [TEXT NOT REPRODUCIBLE IN ASCII] "and long locks they may not grow out." The Vulgate and Pesitta concur, offering neque comam nutrient and wqwsthwn l' nrbwn. Symmachus, in contrast, renders [TEXT NOT REPRODUCIBLE IN ASCII] as [TEXT NOT REPRODUCIBLE IN ASCII] (

    This curiously disjointed collection of meanings leaves us with a small mystery: Why is it that the Targums, Vulgate, and Pesitta show an...

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