CHAPTER 12:
DOESN’T THE STORY OF SAMSON IMPLY THAT A WOMAN MUST NOT ONLY “LET HER HAIR GROW”—BUT ALSO NOT CUT IT?
POCKETSERMONS.org
By Rick Cutter (contact)
Some Uncut Hair proponents will point to the example of Samson—who was a man living under the Law of Moses and apparently observing the Nazirite Vow (Numbers 6)—as evidence of how a modern-day New Testament Christian woman should “let her hair grow” without cutting it.
First, we’ve already abundantly shown that it’s logically unsound to suggest that koma (in 1 Corinthians 11:14-15) means “to let the hair grow (without cutting).” Please review Chapters 3 through 7, and especially Chapter 8 for the proof).
Also—before explaining the Nazirite Vow—it’s important to remind ourselves that to use the Old Testament to override New Testament teachings is unscriptural. The Law of Moses was “until John (the Baptist)” (Luke 16:16)—and is now “unemployed/deactivated” (“abolished,” see Ephesians 2:15). In other words, we are no longer under the Law of Moses in the Christian age. Therefore, we should tread extremely carefully when going back to the Old Testament to “help understand” New Testament teachings. Especially when we’re trying to compare an Old Testament man’s (and woman’s) requirements under the Nazirite vow to a New Testament woman’s requirement for head-covering herself appropriately while praying / prophesying. At best this is an “apples to oranges” comparison.
However—because some apparently insist that the Nazirite Vow is valid evidence in support of the Uncut Hair doctrine—let’s take a closer look to see if that is so.
The Nazirite Vow
The “Nazirite vow” is found in all of Numbers chapter 6, but mainly in Numbers 6:1-8, which says the following:
Numbers 6:1-8 ESV
1 – And the LORD spoke to Moses, saying,
2 – Speak to the people of Israel and say to them, When either a man or a woman makes a special vow, the vow of a Nazirite, to separate himself to the LORD,
3 – he shall separate himself from wine and strong drink. He shall drink no vinegar made from wine or strong drink and shall not drink any juice of grapes or eat grapes, fresh or dried.
4 – All the days of his separation he shall eat nothing that is produced by the grapevine, not even the seeds or the skins.
5 – All the days of his vow of separation, no razor shall touch his head. Until the time is completed for which he separates himself to the LORD, he shall be holy. He shall let the locks of hair of his head grow long. (Note: in the Septuagint, the Greek verb used for “let grow long” is κόμην, which comes from the base infinitive “komao” – which has been amply shown above to mean, “to have long hair”—not “to have growing hair” nor “to have uncut hair.” For the proof, please review Chapters 3 through 8, especially Chapter 4 and Chapter 8.)
6 – All the days that he separates himself to the LORD he shall not go near a dead body.
7 – Not even for his father or for his mother, for brother or sister, if they die, shall he make himself unclean, because his separation to God is on his head.
8 – All the days of his separation he is holy to the LORD.
So, we can see that the Nazirite Vow is basically a very simple way that either a man or woman Israelite could voluntarily consecrate himself/herself to God. To consecrate oneself in this manner, and to honor God, he/she would need to be concerned about three main things, including:
(1) ABSTAIN FROM DRINKING WINE – or anything similar (including grape juice), and to abstain from eating anything produced by the grapevine – see verses 3 & 4.
(2) REFRAIN FROM SHAVING HIS/HER HEAD, until the time he/she had chosen to terminate the vow (at which time the head of the man/woman would be shaved) – see verse 5.
(3) NOT GO NEAR A DEAD BODY – “Not even for his father or for his mother, for brother or sister, if they die, shall he make himself unclean, because his separation to God is on his head” – see verses 6-7.
During the time of the vow, the Nazirite Vow-maker was required to let the “locks of his/her hair” not just grow—but grow long (Numbers 6:5). Please realize that “long hair” was directly implied for the Nazirite Vow-maker; in other words, “length of hair” was an essential component of proper obedience to the Nazirite Vow.
So, simply “not cutting the hair” was not enough; it needed also to grow to the state of being long hair. Then, at the end of the vow, the long hair of the man or woman would need to be shaved off.
Samson
Samson may be the most detailed Biblical example of the Nazirite vow in action. As you likely know, Samson’s great strength existed only when his hair was long. His strength did not exist when his hair was short (Judges 16:17, 22), nor when it was simply “growing longer.” In fact, later, after Samson’s hair had been cut off, recall that it had to once again grow to a state of “being long” for his great strength to return. When it was “not long,” even though it was growing longer, it was apparently not recognized by God as sufficient for his Nazirite vow to be fully accepted, just as the exact wording of Numbers 6:5 would suggest. Plainly, Numbers 6:5 certainly does not support the Uncut Hair position, which wrongly holds that “length of hair does not matter.”
Obviously—for both the man and the woman—the Nazirite vow does not help the Uncut Hair position. For the man, it would be unscriptural because men are not permitted to have long hair (1 Corinthians 11:14-15). For the woman, it would also be unscriptural because when her head is shaved at the end of her vow, her head is rightly considered “uncovered” in the sight of God (1 Corinthians 11:5-6), and she is not permitted to pray/prophesy in that state or she sins against God by doing so. (Furthermore, I believe that her prayers would not be heard because her head is not covered, therefore her prayers would not be carried by the angels to the throne of God. See Commentary below on verse 10 for a more detailed explanation of this).
If “to let the hair grow long” meant only “to have uncut hair”—then there would have been no need to also add the requirement that “no razor is to be used on his/her head.” Such would have been redundant from an Uncut Hair standpoint. From a Long Hair standpoint, such would not have been redundant, because if the Holy Spirit had intended that the vow-maker simply “have uncut hair,” then “having LONG hair” would not have been specifically stated as a requirement as well. That’s because (as stated repeatedly) not all uncut hair is long; in other words, uncut hair (“growing hair”) alone is unacceptable, both per Numbers 6 and per Samson’s example—and also per 1 Corinthians 11, as was abundantly demonstrated in Chapter 8.
Think of how simple it would have been for the Holy Spirit to have said (in 1 Corinthians 11) that a woman “must not put a razor to her head,” or
must not cut her hair.” Yet, the Holy Spirit said that only for the Nazirite (see first requirement)—but not for the Christian woman. For the Christian woman, the requirement was only that she “have long hair,” not that she must refrain from trimming/maintaining it as it grew longer. Nor does the Greek word keiro suggest that “slightly trimming the hair” is sinful. (Please review Chapter 7 above: “DO SHEAR AND SHORN IMPLY ‘SLIGHTLY TRIMMING THE HAIR?'”)
Again—at the end of the Nazirite Vow, the vow-maker would be required to have his/her head shaved. We know that (for a woman) this would have been sinful per 1 Corinthians 11:5 & 6, for she would then be in a shameful state, and would need to be properly head-covered (veiled, etc.) before praying to God. Therefore, it’s little wonder that every literally-minded, reputable translation committee chose to translate koma as “have / has long hair” (or the like) instead of “have/ has uncut hair” (or any similar notion—see again Chapter 8 above).
Finally, heat and/or the use of chemicals can plainly have the same effect on the hair as scissors would; indeed, we see many Uncut women with hair that has apparently been so damaged over the years by perms and curling irons that their hair is often shorter than women who trimmed their hair but were committed to keeping it long.
(Note: Samuel is another example of a Nazirite vow-maker, though evidently little is said about it in the Bible – see 1 Samuel 1:11.)
Ezekiel 44:20
Some Uncut advocates may refer to Ezekiel 44:20 as evidence that men must not have long hair. It reads as follows (referring to priests of the Law of Moses):
“…neither shave their heads, nor let their hair grow long (gadal: implies ‘grow long’), but keep their hair well-trimmed (kasam: to cut, clip, trim, shear).”
The implication apparently is that if man must keep his hair “well-trimmed,” then a woman must do the opposite; she must never cut it. Using this Old Testament passage as proof of anything in the New Testament (relating to the Christian woman) is difficult to logically articulate.
However, Ezekiel 44:20 may have been reflective of the Christian age, and Paul’s teachings about men in 1 Corinthians 11:14, when he said that “…if a man has long hair, it is a shame (disgrace) to him, but if a woman has long hair, it is a glory to her…” As has been abundantly shown (see Chapter 8), to “have long hair” does not logically imply that a woman may not trim her hair.
Finally, on a related note, I strongly recommend that you read Chapter 7’s section entitled: “But didn’t Paul take the Nazirite Vow (Acts 18:18) – and wouldn’t that justify a man letting his hair grow long?“
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