(r.) In times of affliction the hair was altogether cut off (Isa. iii, 17,24; xv, 2; xxii, 12; Jer. vii, 29; xlviii, 37; Amos viii, 10; Josephus, War, ii, 15, 1), the prac- tice of the Hebrews being in this respect the reverse of that of the Egjqitians, who let their hair grow long in time of mourning (Herod, ii, oC), shaving their heads when the term was over (Gen. xli, 14) ; but resembling that of the Greeks, as frequently noticed by classical writers (e. g. Soph. 4> 1174; Eurip. Klectr. 143, 241). Tearing the hair (Ezra ix, 3), and letting it go dishev- elled, as already noticed, were similar tokens of grief. Job is even represented as having shaved his head, to make himself bald, in the day of his calamity (i, 20) ; probably more, however, as a s^-mbol of desolation than as an ordinary badge of mourning; for it is in that re- si:)ect that baldness is commonh' spoken of in Scripture (Isa. iii, 24 ; xv, 2, etc.). The call in Jer. vii, 29 to cut off the hair — " Cut off thine hair, O Jerusalem, and cast it away ; and take up a lamentation on high places" — is addressed to Jerusalem under the sj-mbol of a woman, and indicates nothing as to the usual practice of men in times of trouble and distress. In Iheir case, we may rather suppose, the custom would be to let the hair grow in the season of mourning, and to neglect the person. But the practice would naturally differ with the occa- sion and with the feelings of the individual. See
MOIKXIXG.
The usual and favorite color of the hair was black (Cant. V, 11), as is indicated in the comparisons to a '■• tiock of goats" and the '• tents of Kedar" (Cant, iv, 1 ; i, 5): a similar hue is probably intended by the jmrple of Cant, vii, 5, the term being broadly' used (as the Greek iropfvptoi^m a similar application = /(fXnc, Ana- creon, 28). A fictitious hue was occasionally obtained by sprinkling gold-dust on the hair (Josephus, A nt. viii, 7, 3). It does not appear that dyes were ordinarily used ; the " carmel" of Cant, vii, 5 has been understood as =b'^'3"i3 (A.Y. "crimson," margin) without good reason, though the similarity of the words may have suggested the subsequent reference to purple. Herod is said to have dyed his gray hair for the purjiose of concealing his age {A nt. xvi, 8, 1) ; but the practice may have been borrowed from the Greeks or Romans, among whom it was common (Aristoph. Eccles. 736 ; Martial, Ep. iii, 43 ; Propert. ii, 18, 24, 26) :• from Matt, v, 36, we
may infer that it was not usual among the Hebrew?, The approach of age was marked by a sprinklini) (p'^t, Hos. vii, 9; comp. a similar use o{ spartjen; Propert. iii, 4, 24) of gray hairs, which soon overspread the whole head (Gen. xlii, 38; xliv, 29; 1 Kmgs ii, 6, 9; Prov. xvi, 31 ; XX, 29). The reference to the almond in Eccl. xii, 5, has been explained of the white blossoms of that tree, as emblematic of old age : it may be observed, how- ever, that the color of the flower is pink rather than white, and that the verb in that passage, according to high authorities (Gesen. and llitzig), does not bear the sense of blossoming at all. Sec Almond. Pure white hair was deemed characteristic of the divine majesty (Dan. vii, 9 ; liev. i, 14). See Guay.
The chief beauty of the hair consisted in curls, wheth- er of a natural or artificial character. The Hebrew terms are highly expressive: to omit the word ilS^ — rendered "locks" in Cant, iv, 1,3; vi,7; and Isa. xlvii, 2; but more probably meaning a m/'— we have C^SFl^PI (Cant, v, 11), properly pendulous flexilile boughs (ac- cording to the Sept., tXcirai, the shoots of the jialm- tree) which supplied an image of the coma pfwliiUi ; ri:i"i:j (Ezek.viii,3), a similar image borrowed from the ciurve of a blossom ; piV (Cant, iv, 9), a lock faUing over the shoidders like a chain of ear-pendant (in vno crine colli /«/, Vulgate better, perhaps, than the A.V., "\dth one chain of thy neck") ; D"':?!Tn (Cant, vii, 5, A. V. " galleries"), properly the channels by which wa- ter was brought to the flocks, which supplied an image either of the coma Jiiims, or of the regularity in which the locks were arranged ; tl^'n (Cant, vii, 5), again an expression for coma pendvla, borrowed from the threads hanging down from an unfinished woof; and, lastly, nrp:a i^'w'r^ (isa. iii, 24, A. Y. "well set hair"), prop- erly/j^rnVec^ ivork, i. e. gracefidly curved locks. With regard to the mode of dressing the hair we have no very precise information ; the terms used are of a gen- eral character, as of Jezebel (2 Kings ix, 30), SuS'^Pl, i. e. she adorned her head; of Judith (x, 3), ^dToKf, i. e. arranged (the A. V. has " braided," and the A'ulg. dis- c7-iminarit, here used in a technical sense in the refer- ence to the diacriminale or hair-pin); of Herod (Joseph. Ant. xiv, 9, 4), KtKOfr/jTj^itvog Ty avvS'iati r>)t' Kt'ifiijc, and of those who adopted feminine fashions ( War, iv, 9, 10), KvixaQ (jV7'6iTiZ,6^nvoi. The terms used in the N. Test. (TTXiy fiuniv, 1 Tim. ii, 9 ; if.iirXoKfjc TpixHv, 1 Pet. iii, 3) are also of a general character ; Schleusner {Lex. s. v.) understands them of ciniinr/ rather than plaiting. The arrangement of Samson's hair into seven locks, or more properly braids (nSPH^. from T^n, to interchange; Sept. aiipai ; Judg. xvi, 13, 19), involves the practice of plaiting, which was also familiar to the Egyptians (Wilkinson, ii,335) and Greeks (Homer, II. xiv, 176). The locks were jirobably kept in their place by a fillet, as in Egj^pt (Wilkinson, /. c).