SEV Biblia, Chapter 21:5
No harán calva en su cabeza, ni raerán la punta de su barba, ni en su carne harán rasguños.
Clarke's Bible Commentary - Leviticus 21:5
Verse 5. They shall not make baldness] See the note on "Leviticus xix. 27". It is supposed that these things were particularly prohibited, because used superstitiously by the Egyptian priests, who, according to Herodotus, shaved the whole body every third day, that there might be no uncleanness about them when they ministered in their temples. This appears to have been a general custom among the heathen. In the book of Baruch, chap. vi. 31, the priests of Babylon are represented sitting in their temples, with their clothes rent, and their heads and beards shaven, and having nothing upon their heads. Every person knows the tonsure of the Catholic priests. Should not this be avoided as an approach to a heathenish custom?
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
לא 3808 יקרחה 7139 קרחה 7144 בראשׁם 7218 ופאת 6285 זקנם 2206 לא 3808 יגלחו 1548 ובבשׂרם 1320 לא 3808 ישׂרטו 8295 שׂרטת׃ 8296
