Ship of Fools: Leviticus 19:27... You shall not cut the hair or clip the beard

Thread: Leviticus 19:27... You shall not cut the hair or clip the beard Board: Chapter & Worse / Ship of Fools.

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Posted by Simon (# 1) on :

Verse nominated by Chris:

"You shall not cut the hair on the sides of your heads, neither shall you clip off the edge of your beard." (Leviticus 19:27, in context)

Chris comments: This verse condemns all men to look like ZZ Top for eternity. What could be worst than that? It has led to centuries of prejudice against the clean shaven and neatly trimmed that continues to this day in some countries. Seriously, it illustrates the more general problem of embedding contemporary values and tribal customs in religious texts.

How much of a problem is this verse? Click "Vote Now" to cast your vote!

[ 23. July 2009, 23:42: Message edited by: Simon ]

Posted by Curious (# 93) on :

Jolly good advice in a credit crunch - hairdressers cost a fortune!

Posted by J Whitgift (# 1981) on :

quote:
Originally posted by Simon:
Chris comments: This verse condemns all men to look like ZZ Top for eternity. [...]

And this is a problem, how? (Quite frankly I prefer the hirsuit look.)

quote:
It has led to centuries of prejudice against the clean shaven and neatly trimmed that continues to this day in some countries. Seriously, it illustrates the more general problem of embedding contemporary values and tribal customs in religious texts.

I would have to question this. Yes, there are some societies which have tried to enforce the wearing of beards, but this has gone hand-in-hand with other forms of tyranny (Afghanistan under the Taleban for example). And surely we must treat this text as we would other texts under whcih refer to long-gone tribal traditions. Quite frankly I can't see this as being bad verse, especially when writers such Phyllis Trible have identified far worse texts (of terror) in the Bible.

Posted by Hart (# 4991) on :

quote:
Originally posted by Simon:
Seriously, it illustrates the more general problem of embedding contemporary values and tribal customs in religious texts.

How can any text fail to be a cultural artifact? Of course, I believe the Bible (and many other texts) to be much more than just that but the idea that one have a text without contemporary values is crazy.

Posted by Kelly Alves (# 2522) on :

In this humble verse's defense, it was the one hippies used to flog the squares with when bugged to get a haircut.

[ETA: Gimme a head with hair... long, beautiful hair... ]

[ 24. July 2009, 18:15: Message edited by: Kelly Alves ]

Posted by Lamb Chopped (# 5528) on :

I have to point out that it doesn't condemn shaving, just pointy little beards. I can sort of appreciate that.

Posted by k-mann (# 8490) on :

And it was given to a specific people, in order for them to be separate from the pagan nations that surrended them.

Posted by BWSmith (# 2981) on :

In grade school, all the cool kids had long beards. Made life hell for us "bald-facers"...

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