HAIR
HAIR
283
diameter, and ancitliur was measured in Koss-shire in Aug. 1849 wliioli was 20 feet in ciicuiuference. Such stones do iniiiiense damage. In the Indian Bnd Colonial Exhibition there was a corrugated iron roof e.xhibited which was pierced in several places by hailstones, and a similar occurrence is reported by an eye-witness in Notes and Queries, Nov. 19, 1H87. (For other examples of destructive hailstorms see "XXwmsorCs Meteoroloqy, 1849). Hail- storms of great severity are recorded from Bible lands by Kitto and Thomson (Land and Bouk, i. 86). The discomUture of armies by hail is not conlined to this instance. Sennacherib's advance in his 7th campaign, as recorded on the Taylor Cylinder, was stopped by hail, and Esarhaddon's army en- countered sucli anotlier storm in tlie land of Khani Rabbi ( WAI iii. 15). In 1339 the army of Edward III. was stopped in its march to Chartres by hail (Holinshed) ; and, later, a violent hailshower com- pleted the defeat of the Austrian army at Solferino (1859).
In Job 38^ God speaks of the treasuries of hail reserved against the day of battle and war, and in Rev 8' ll'» 1G-' hail is the type of God's judgment on sin. In the latter passage stones of the weight of a talent, i.e. about 2 cubic feet in bulk, are mentioned. In Is 28-"" the Assyrian invasion is figuratively described as t;; dti zerem bdrad, a flowing oi hail, called in v." the overflowing scourge, which is to sweep away the Egyptian alliance, called in the passage ' the refuge of lies.' In Is 30*" it is the power which, in turn, is to over- throw the Assyrian. The ' hail in tlie downfall of the forest ' of Is 32" may l)e an interjected allusion to the Assj-rian invasion, but the passage with its sliiftiii^' ligures and assonances is peculiarly obscure. Kinicln conjectures that it may mean that it will only hail in the forest, not on the cultivated land. In Hag 2" hail al.so means divine cha.sti.senient.
In Ezk 13"'" hail represents the jndtfuient of God defeating the hypocrisy which would conceal corru])tion ; ' comminatio Dei qua contumaces verberat' (Rabanus, de Universo, xxii. 18). The word used here and in Ezk 38-'^ °'~t!V 'elgAbish is peculiar, and possibly connected with the f)dbish of Job 28'", rendered ' pearls ' in AV, ' crystal ' in KV. In the rabbinical comment on Berac/wth (54i) the stones of 'elgdbish are, by a false etymology, ex- plained as hail which was sent at the prayer of a man (Jos 10"), and stopped by the prayer of a man (Ex 9**). St. Agobaru, Bp. of Lyons, wTote a treatise, de Grandine, etc., to disprove the notion of human instrumentality in the procuring of hail (A.U. 835).
LlTBRATCHB. — Besides the literature above referred to, see Hengstenberg, die Backer Moge't u. Agypten, 1341.
A. Macalister. HAIR (ivi?, once lyi? Is 7"; .ti;;-,? ; 9/)(f, Ki/nj).— A luxuriant growth of hair on head and chin was regarded by the Hebrews and other Semitic peoples as an important constituent of manly ^Tace. Absalom's long hair is noted as an element in his much prized beauty (2 S 14^). Solomon's youthful hor.'iemen, ' in the most delightful llower of their ape . . . had long heads of hair' (Jos. Ant. vill. vii. 3). It was an admired distinction to have hushy (RVm 'curled') locks, 'black as a raven' (Ca 5"). The phra.se I'n njl 'be uncovereth the ear' (1 S 20^-'^ 22"), may possibly refer to long locks, covering the ear, pushed aside to whisper a secret. Among women, long dark tresses were held most cajitivating (Ca 7'), and they have always worn the hair long (Jn U'-, 1 Co 1P»); but in NT times long hair was a dishonour to a man (1 Co 11"). Men dreaded baldness, as sug- gesting a suspicion of leprosj- (Lv 13'"'), and this possibly explains the youths' disrespectful conduct to Elislia (2 K 2=»).
Other Asiatics, and the Greeks, oDserved similar customs. The Babylonians wore their hair long, ' binding their heads with turbans' (Herod, i. 19.j). The Greeks loved rich waving hair ; the youthful gods, Bacchus and Apollo, were figured with plenteous locks. The Egyptians, on the other hand, shaved both head and face. To be un- shaven marked the sloven ; if, however, this was due to hardships of war, it was honourable (Wil- kin.son, ATicient Egyptians, ii. 330). Enslaved foreigners were forced to shave (Gn 41"). The long-haired Asiatics and Greeks excited among the Egi'ptians both ridicule and disgust (Herod, ii. 37, 49, 91). Boys' heads were shaven very early. Herodotus accounts for the strength of Egyptian skulls by their exposure, clean-shaven, to tlie full glare of the sun (Herod, iii. 12). The locks in front of the ears were preserved, as the sign of immaturity, and removed when manhood was reached. These locks are represented on the statues of Harpocrates and other younger deities (Wilk. iiL 130). Adult princes wore a badge at the side of the head, which perhaps contained the youthful lock in earlier days, and continued to indicate that while the father lived they had not attained the dignity of kinghood ((6. iii. 32(j). Large use was made of false hair, in wigs (ib. ii. 229) and in beards, to the forms of which special signihcance attached (see Bkard). Women wore their own hair, [ilentiful CTowth being highly esteemed. A woman's head was never shaved ; but the locks, when long and beautiful, were sometimes cut ofl" and preserved, to be laid in her tomb after death (ib. ii. 21 n.). The slave- woman's hair was differently dressed from that of her mistress (ib. ii. 338, 339). Moslem intiuence has modified Egyjitian customs. In shaving the heads of men and boys a tuft is left on the crown ; the cheek above the under jaw is shaven, and the part under the chin. The moustache is left un- shaven. Female infants are never shaved ; and women wear their hair long, usually in plaits and ringlets.