Dictionary of Bible Themes » 5000 Humanity » 5125 Parts of the body and clothing » 5128 baldness
Loss of hair on the head as the result of natural causes or deliberate action. Baldness may be used to signify judgment, mourning or shame.
Instructions regarding baldness within Jewish law
Associated with idolatrous practice
See also Leviticus 21:5; Deuteronomy 14:1; Jeremiah 16:6 In pagan Canaan mourners shaved their foreheads.
Regarding sores on bald heads
Leviticus 13:40-42
Cleansing may involve shaving the head
Leviticus 14:8-9; Numbers 6:9,18; Deuteronomy 21:12
Vows that involve shaving the head
Judges 13:5; Judges 16:17-19; Acts 18:18 based on the Nazarite rule recorded in Nu 6:1-21
Baldness may signify God's judgment
Ezekiel 5:1 Ezekiel instructed to shave his head to symbolise this
Judgment on Jerusalem and Judah
Isaiah 3:17,24; Isaiah 7:20
Baldness as a symbol of mourning
Job 1:20 Job here mourns the loss of his children, household and livestock. See also Isaiah 15:2; Isaiah 22:12; Jeremiah 48:37; Ezekiel 27:31; Amos 8:10; Micah 1:16
Used figuratively to indicate the mourning of a nation
Jeremiah 47:5
Baldness as a symbol of shame
2 Kings 2:23; Ezekiel 7:18; 1 Corinthians 11:5-6
Examples of baldness
Ezekiel 29:18 baldness caused by the rubbing of leather helmets in warfare; Judges 16:19 Samson; 2 Kings 2:23 Elisha
See also
5154 forehead 5155 hair 5157 head 5158 head-covering 5180 shaving 5419 mourning 5947 shame 9210 judgment, God's
