Your Hair Says Something About You

 

My thoughts started from couple verses from Ezekiel that stood out to me this morning. 

"...lest they transmit holiness to the people with their garments." (44:19)

This verse reminded me of Acts 19:11-12,

"...even handkerchiefs or aprons that had touched his (Paul's) skin were carried away to the sick, and their diseases left them, and the evil spirits came out of them."

And that made me think of a story about a mantle in 2 Kings. 

"And Elijah took his mantle and rolled it up and struck the waters, and they were divided this way and that, so that the two of them crossed over on dry ground." 

And shortly after this event...

"Elisha picked up the mantle of Elijah that fell off him, and went back and stood by the bank of the Jordan. He took the mantle of Elijah that fell from him and struck the waters and said, 'Where is the Lord, the God of Elijah?' And when he too had struck the waters, they divided this way and that, and Elisha crossed over." (2 Kings 2:8‭, ‬13‭-‬14 AMP)

There was power from God in this mantle. 

But then I came to verse 20 of Ezekiel 44...

"They (God's priests) shall not shave their heads or let their locks grow long; they shall surely trim the hair of their heads."

…which reminded me of 1Corinthians 11.

God gave Ezekiel instruction for male 'priestly' hair — trimmed short, but not shaven or shorn.

Shaving is done with a razor and no hair is left.

Sheering is done to sheep and fuzz is left.

Leviticus 21:5 says that God's priests weren't to shave their heads. How a man kept his hair in the office of priest mattered to God. And this is a prophecy about the future. The third temple hasn't yet been built. It mattered then and it will matter in the days of the third temple, so it stands to reason that it matters now. 

Long hair was symbolic of being under a promise. Numbers 6:2, 5, and 18 describe a man or a woman consecrated to God under a Nazarite vow. They do not cut their hair at all for the length of their consecration. But, when their promised time of commitment is over, they shave off all their hair and give it to God with their peace offering. A consecrated head (one with long locks) was under a promise to God. 

A woman is made FOR man and under his headship. That's what Paul says in 1 Corinthians 11:9. And a woman's office was to be expressed outwardly in the same way as a Nazarite revealed his consecration and subservience to his or her period of promise.

In 1 Corinthians 11:6, Paul suggests that a woman who won't let her locks grow ought to be shorn or shaven. It shows something about the individual. But shaving or sheering was typically what was done to slaves or to women captured (Deut.21:12) and being transferred from being property as a slave to being a wife. The consecration of woman to man is like the place angels hold in regard to God. 

1 Corinthians 11:14 says that long hair is a shame (less honor/ lowered dignity) on a man. It's because it's the sign of being under consecration. And for a woman to be shorn or shaven is a shame for a woman as it is a symbol of lessened dignity.

Revelation 9:8 proves that hair can be "like men" or "like women", the same as with clothing. 

God says in Deuteronomy 22:5...

"A woman shall not wear a man’s garment, nor shall a man put on a woman’s cloak, for whoever does these things is an abomination to the LORD your God."

A woman's long hair is her mantle. It is the symbol of her ministry.

"...if a woman has long hair, it is her glory. For her hair is given to her for a covering."

(1 Corinthians 11:15)

That word  'covering' here is 'peribolaion' — "something thrown around one, that is, a mantle".

In 1 Kings 19:19, Elijah threw his mantle over Elisha to signify the transfer of his ministry. A woman's long hair signifies her consecration to the ministry God has given to her as a woman. 

"The Lord God said, 'It is not good for the man to be alone. I will make a companion for him who corresponds to him.' 

...no companion who corresponded to him was found. So the Lord God caused the man to fall into a deep sleep, and while he was asleep, he took part of the man’s side and closed up the place with flesh. Then the Lord God made a woman from the part he had taken out of the man, and he brought her to the man. Then the man said, 'This one at last is bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh; this one will be called woman, for she was taken out of man.' 

That is why a man leaves his father and mother and unites with his wife..."

(Genesis 2:18‭, ‬20‭-‬24 NET)

A woman's long hair is her mantle... her glory or 'doxa', as her very apparent reputation for who she IS consecrated to be.