Neither shall they shave their heads, nor suffer their locks to grow long; they shall only poll their heads.
The verse lays down a rule for the priests that they must keep their hair trimmed and orderly, neither shaving their heads bare nor letting their hair grow long and unkempt, a regulation aimed at grooming that marked allegiance to idolatrous worship rather than forbidding all cutting of hair. It belongs to the priestly code in Ezekiel's vision of the temple, city, offerings and division of the land in chapters 40-48, shown in captivity after the destruction of Jerusalem. The sanctuary and its regulations were offered to Israel on condition of shame for iniquity and wholehearted return from Babylon, with the promise that its glory, presence and healing of the land would have been literally fulfilled on this present earth. Because Israel did not repent, the glorious temple was never built, and only a mere shadow was raised by Zerubbabel and Ezra. That literal fulfillment can never now take place in the gospel dispensation or the immortal state, since to restore burnt offerings, a Levitical priesthood and a mortal prince needing a sin offering would annul Christ's once-for-all sacrifice, but where the prophecy failed for earthly Jerusalem it stands as a type to be more gloriously realized through Christ for the true Israel in the new heavens and new earth and the holy city to descend to earth, while it is also appealed to concerning the reign of Christ, the inheritance of the saints and a future special work for literal Jews.
Setting and Plain Meaning
The rule governs the hair of priests, who were neither to shave their heads nor to let their locks grow long, but only to poll their heads. It does not forbid every cutting or shaving as such. Its concern is grooming that would make God's people appear like idolaters, whose hair and beards could identify their worship or religious grouping and mark allegiance to idolatrous worship.
The command belongs to the priestly code and temple regulations in Ezekiel's vision of a sanctuary, a city, its offerings, its glory, and the division of the land. That vision is found in chapters 40-48, also described as chapters 36-48 or 37-48, and in chapters 41-48 with their ceremonies, rites, and offerings. It was shown during the captivity after the destruction of Jerusalem, when such a sanctuary and city could have been built and stood, and it belongs to that past dispensation rather than to the present or the future immortal state. No such city or sanctuary stands today.
The vision was given fourteen years after the destruction. It begins with a man with the appearance of brass holding a line of flax and a measuring reed to measure God's temple and city. It covers the same period and represents the same purposes of God toward Jerusalem as the vision of the man with the measuring line measuring the breadth and length of Jerusalem in Zechariah 2, and the two are counterparts to be studied together.
The sanctuary and its regulations were offered to Israel on condition that the people would be ashamed of their iniquities, put them away, repent and reform, return wholeheartedly from Babylon, yield to God, and come up to the full measure of obedience as children of God. If they had complied and met His conditions, its promises and figures would have been literally fulfilled on this present earth. Those promises and figures were glory, presence, healing of barren land, salt marshes, deserts and impure waters, life to all, mild beasts, and safety even for infants, with the city called Jehovah Is There.
Conditional Loss and Future Hope
The pattern for sanctuary and city in Ezekiel 40-48, including the rule for priests to poll their heads, was offered only on condition that Israel would be ashamed of iniquities and put them away, returning wholeheartedly from Babylon and meeting the standard of obedience as children of God. Because Israel was not ashamed, continued in apostasy, and did not yield to God or comply with the conditions, the glorious temple was never built in its full blessedness and the prophecy was never fulfilled as intended. Only a mere shadow was erected at the restoration by Zerubbabel and Ezra, falling far short of the pattern and never seeing Solomon's glory except in the person of Jesus Christ, whom its keepers rejected. The vision was given fourteen years after the destruction during the captivity, beginning with a man with the appearance of brass holding a line of flax and a measuring reed to measure God's temple and city, covering the same period and purpose toward Jerusalem as the man with the measuring line in Zechariah 2, the two to be studied together as counterparts. If Israel had yielded and been ashamed, God would have brought them back to the mountains of Israel, cleansed them, done better to them than at their beginnings, destroyed northern enemies with plagues, raised them as shown in the resurrection, and they would have built the sanctuary with overpowering glory of God's presence dwelling among them in the city called Jehovah Is There.
That regulation cannot belong to the gospel dispensation, the thousand-year reign, or the future immortal state, and will never be fulfilled literally as originally offered. It belongs with literal circumcision in force, permission of divorce, distinction between clean and unclean meats, the Jubilee, burnt-offerings and sin-offerings of bulls and goats and thousands of sheep and oxen, a Levitical priesthood existing, mortal Levites who marry and can die unlike those made immortal at the second advent who neither marry nor die, and a poor frail mortal prince with sons and servants who must offer a sin-offering and all offerings for himself, take away exactions, and be forbidden to oppress the people. Since Christ himself was the great sacrifice and caused all others to cease at his cross, having offered one sacrifice for sins forever and sat down on the right hand of God until enemies are made his footstool, since the Levitical priesthood is superseded by the priesthood of Melchizedek, since circumcision, divorce permission, and clean-unclean distinctions are abolished, and since when Christ reigns officers will be peace and exactors righteousness with no oppression and with Jesus alone as King over Israel, no such city or sanctuary stands today and the prophecy has not been fulfilled. To build that city and temple in a future age as a revival of ancient Jerusalem to take the place of the heavenly Jerusalem coming down from God out of heaven upon the new earth would annul Christ's offering once for all, build again what was destroyed, return from sunlight to shadow and from a better covenant with a more excellent ministry back to the first covenant, make that reign less glorious than the present dispensation by requiring another sin-offering, and make the type follow the antitype with atonement in figure following atonement in fact after Christ's heavenly ministration closes, which is impossible.
Where the prophecy failed for old earthly Jerusalem it stands in its spiritual aspect as a type fulfilled only in a general sense and not in every detail, to be grandly and more gloriously realized through Christ for the true Israel in God's final work. Because Israel was unwilling, the chapters on conditional temple, ceremonies, rites, offerings, restored worship, resurrection of the righteous dead, subjection of enemies, new division of the land, and coming of God's life and healing power upon Palestine and the earth also stand as prophecy of greater things God would do for His people through Christ. That city was never built because Israel failed to do its part, not because God changed His purpose, so God prepared the holy city in heaven and it will descend to earth, faintly typified by the promise of what God will restore by mighty power in the new heavens and new earth. In contrast, those same chapters including this verse are appealed to concerning the reign of Christ, the inheritance of the saints, and the return of the Jews with a future special work for literal Jews in the Christian dispensation on earth, set against the teaching that the saints are taken to heaven at the second coming when the earth is desolated.
The verse lays down a rule for the priests that they must keep their hair trimmed and orderly, neither shaving their heads bare nor letting their hair grow long and unkempt, a regulation aimed at grooming that marked allegiance to idolatrous worship rather than forbidding all cutting of hair. It belongs to the priestly code in Ezekiel's vision of the temple, city, offerings and division of the land in chapters 40-48, shown in captivity after the destruction of Jerusalem. The sanctuary and its regulations were offered to Israel on condition of shame for iniquity and wholehearted return from Babylon, with the promise that its glory, presence and healing of the land would have been literally fulfilled on this present earth. Because Israel did not repent, the glorious temple was never built, and only a mere shadow was raised by Zerubbabel and Ezra. That literal fulfillment can never now take place in the gospel dispensation or the immortal state, since to restore burnt offerings, a Levitical priesthood and a mortal prince needing a sin offering would annul Christ's once-for-all sacrifice, but where the prophecy failed for earthly Jerusalem it stands as a type to be more gloriously realized through Christ for the true Israel in the new heavens and new earth and the holy city to descend to earth, while it is also appealed to concerning the reign of Christ, the inheritance of the saints and a future special work for literal Jews.
Setting and Plain Meaning
The rule governs the hair of priests, who were neither to shave their heads nor to let their locks grow long, but only to poll their heads. It does not forbid every cutting or shaving as such. Its concern is grooming that would make God's people appear like idolaters, whose hair and beards could identify their worship or religious grouping and mark allegiance to idolatrous worship.
The command belongs to the priestly code and temple regulations in Ezekiel's vision of a sanctuary, a city, its offerings, its glory, and the division of the land. That vision is found in chapters 40-48, also described as chapters 36-48 or 37-48, and in chapters 41-48 with their ceremonies, rites, and offerings. It was shown during the captivity after the destruction of Jerusalem, when such a sanctuary and city could have been built and stood, and it belongs to that past dispensation rather than to the present or the future immortal state. No such city or sanctuary stands today.
The vision was given fourteen years after the destruction. It begins with a man with the appearance of brass holding a line of flax and a measuring reed to measure God's temple and city. It covers the same period and represents the same purposes of God toward Jerusalem as the vision of the man with the measuring line measuring the breadth and length of Jerusalem in Zechariah 2, and the two are counterparts to be studied together.
The sanctuary and its regulations were offered to Israel on condition that the people would be ashamed of their iniquities, put them away, repent and reform, return wholeheartedly from Babylon, yield to God, and come up to the full measure of obedience as children of God. If they had complied and met His conditions, its promises and figures would have been literally fulfilled on this present earth. Those promises and figures were glory, presence, healing of barren land, salt marshes, deserts and impure waters, life to all, mild beasts, and safety even for infants, with the city called Jehovah Is There.
Conditional Loss and Future Hope
The pattern for sanctuary and city in Ezekiel 40-48, including the rule for priests to poll their heads, was offered only on condition that Israel would be ashamed of iniquities and put them away, returning wholeheartedly from Babylon and meeting the standard of obedience as children of God. Because Israel was not ashamed, continued in apostasy, and did not yield to God or comply with the conditions, the glorious temple was never built in its full blessedness and the prophecy was never fulfilled as intended. Only a mere shadow was erected at the restoration by Zerubbabel and Ezra, falling far short of the pattern and never seeing Solomon's glory except in the person of Jesus Christ, whom its keepers rejected. The vision was given fourteen years after the destruction during the captivity, beginning with a man with the appearance of brass holding a line of flax and a measuring reed to measure God's temple and city, covering the same period and purpose toward Jerusalem as the man with the measuring line in Zechariah 2, the two to be studied together as counterparts. If Israel had yielded and been ashamed, God would have brought them back to the mountains of Israel, cleansed them, done better to them than at their beginnings, destroyed northern enemies with plagues, raised them as shown in the resurrection, and they would have built the sanctuary with overpowering glory of God's presence dwelling among them in the city called Jehovah Is There.
That regulation cannot belong to the gospel dispensation, the thousand-year reign, or the future immortal state, and will never be fulfilled literally as originally offered. It belongs with literal circumcision in force, permission of divorce, distinction between clean and unclean meats, the Jubilee, burnt-offerings and sin-offerings of bulls and goats and thousands of sheep and oxen, a Levitical priesthood existing, mortal Levites who marry and can die unlike those made immortal at the second advent who neither marry nor die, and a poor frail mortal prince with sons and servants who must offer a sin-offering and all offerings for himself, take away exactions, and be forbidden to oppress the people. Since Christ himself was the great sacrifice and caused all others to cease at his cross, having offered one sacrifice for sins forever and sat down on the right hand of God until enemies are made his footstool, since the Levitical priesthood is superseded by the priesthood of Melchizedek, since circumcision, divorce permission, and clean-unclean distinctions are abolished, and since when Christ reigns officers will be peace and exactors righteousness with no oppression and with Jesus alone as King over Israel, no such city or sanctuary stands today and the prophecy has not been fulfilled. To build that city and temple in a future age as a revival of ancient Jerusalem to take the place of the heavenly Jerusalem coming down from God out of heaven upon the new earth would annul Christ's offering once for all, build again what was destroyed, return from sunlight to shadow and from a better covenant with a more excellent ministry back to the first covenant, make that reign less glorious than the present dispensation by requiring another sin-offering, and make the type follow the antitype with atonement in figure following atonement in fact after Christ's heavenly ministration closes, which is impossible.
Where the prophecy failed for old earthly Jerusalem it stands in its spiritual aspect as a type fulfilled only in a general sense and not in every detail, to be grandly and more gloriously realized through Christ for the true Israel in God's final work. Because Israel was unwilling, the chapters on conditional temple, ceremonies, rites, offerings, restored worship, resurrection of the righteous dead, subjection of enemies, new division of the land, and coming of God's life and healing power upon Palestine and the earth also stand as prophecy of greater things God would do for His people through Christ. That city was never built because Israel failed to do its part, not because God changed His purpose, so God prepared the holy city in heaven and it will descend to earth, faintly typified by the promise of what God will restore by mighty power in the new heavens and new earth. In contrast, those same chapters including this verse are appealed to concerning the reign of Christ, the inheritance of the saints, and the return of the Jews with a future special work for literal Jews in the Christian dispensation on earth, set against the teaching that the saints are taken to heaven at the second coming when the earth is desolated.