CHAPTER 1
“Ancient Shaving was for Cleanliness
Alongside
those who placed an intense value and importance on the beard, the Egyptians,
Greeks and Romans were quite the opposite.
The Egyptians associated cleanliness with being shaven. Reynolds, in his book on beards, records that
at times “the Egyptians shaved the whole body, from motives of cleanliness,
which in all great religions (save one) has had, from the beginning some
association with holiness.”” One source
listed that “the intense love for cleanliness on the part of the Egyptians
would not suffer them to wear a beard, save according to Herodotus, in times of
morning.” Shaving was a matter of religion to the Egyptian.” Pg. 15-16
Just on the surface it seems strange to me that an argument
would be made for shaving from the Egyptians.
I can’t imagine another issue that the Author would appeal to Egyptian
thought as a basis for Christian practice.
The title of the book is Facial
Hair: A Christian Perspective, not Facial
Hair: A Pagan Perspective. I do not
care what the Egyptians, Greeks or Romans thought or practiced concerning
facial hair. Does Gore carry out this logic and say that Aaron was unclean (Psalms 133), or the many OT prophets who wore facial hair? Evidently the Jews did not view facial hair as being unclean.
“The Beard Of The Jews
Through
a close study of historical facts and customs, it is concluded that the Jews
still maintained their beards while in Egyptian bondage. Although the Egyptians generally compelled
their slaves to shave, somehow the Israelites apparently did not conform to
this during their slavery. “From the above facts, it is clear the Israelites
maintained their beard…during their abode with the Egyptians, who were a shaven
people. This is not unimportant as one
of the indicators which evidence that whatever they learned of good and evil in
that country, they preserved the appearance and habits of a separated people””
There are a number of interesting points to be made here: 1.
The Jews thought the beard important enough to maintain it in a shaven culture. They refused to shave even in the subordinate
position of slavery. 2. Point 1 seems to indicate that the beard to the Jew was
not a matter of mere preference. 3. It seems strange that the author would
argue that the Jews having facial hair in a shaven culture demonstrated that
they were a holy and separated people; yet later in the book are that we should
not have facial hair because we live in a culture that prefers the shaven.[1] This is truly an attempt for Gore to have his
beard and shave it too.
“Facial Hair In New Testament Times
The
expanding social force of Hellenism (Grecian culture) began to subtly lure the Jew
into its life of seeming ease and comfort.
When Alexander the Great was overlord of Palestine he showed great
friendship for the Jews. Alexander was a
student of Aristotle, and adopted many of his liberal social philosophies. In 332 B.C., when he established the city of
Alexandra in Egypt, he cordially invited the Jews of Judea to come and live
there. The Dynamic Hellenistic empire
had a magnetic attraction for many Jews who left their homeland of Jerusalem to
settle in Alexandria. It is ironic that
even though a thousand years had passed by since God delivered the Jews from
Egyptian bondage (which was bondage of forced slavery), many of their
descendants would turn back to this same country only to end up in social and cultural
bondage. Alexandrian culture seeped into the Jewish population until the term “Hellenist”
aptly described a Greek-speaking Jew.
Thus a Hellenistic Jew was a Greek-influenced, Greek-speaking, and
Greek-thinking Jew. They could be compared
to “worldly and carnal” Christians today.
They were Jews by birth, yet Greek by lifestyles and customs…Jews soon
believed, dressed, acted, spoke, and looked like Greeks…After the death of
Alexander, Jerusalem eventually came under the dominion of the Roman
empire. This resulted in turning
Jerusalem into a city-state dominated by the Romans. Such was the scene and environment that set
the stage for the birth of Jesus Christ, Messiah and Savior of the world. There is no doubt that Hellenism continued to
influence the lives of the Jews even after Jesus was born in the New
Testament times. It is evident that the
ugly spirit behind Hellenism is still alive today. Only this time it comes with a different mark
and the name of worldliness...
Shaving Becomes Characteristic Of Christians
The
Roman Empire controlled Judea and all of Palestine in the time of Christ. The Romans preferred the clean shaven look
and short cropped hair. There is
substantial evidence that many of the Jews adopted this Roman custom. One source mentions that “The cosmopolitan
Jew probably was clean-shaven in the Roman manner.” Since the first Christians were of Jewish
stock, it follows that the early Christians were also clean shaven.” Pg.
20-22
Gore makes the curious point that Hellenism, the modern day
spirit of compromise, caused the Jews to give up their Jewish culture and become
Hellenized (liberal or worldly). It was
the continued influences of Hellenism in the Jewish culture during the Roman
control of Jerusalem and beyond that caused them to acquiesce to the Roman
culture of being clean shaven. Gore
quotes a source saying the “cosmopolitan Jew was clean-shaven in the Roman
manner.” The cosmopolitan Jew was the
Hellenized Jew. Then he draws the conclusion
that because the first Christians were Jews, then the first Christians must
have been shaven. Since the first
century Christians was shaven, being shaven is a mark of being Christian.
This is a convolution of logical contradictions. Notice the progression: 1. Jews compromised and
became Hellenized. 2. The Hellenized (cosmopolitan) Jews began to shave like
the Romans. 3. They remained Hellenized (worldly, compromise) until the church
was founded. 4. Because the Hellenized (worldly, compromiser) Jews shaved and
were converted to Christianity, shaving becomes Christian.
How does one go from Jews shaved because they were worldly
and compromising to shaving is a mark of being a Christian because the
compromisers who converted did? You cannot
call the root comprise and then turn around and call its fruit holiness.
Many of the Jews who converted to Christianity were not cosmopolitan Jews, many of them were
devout, orthodox Jews.
POINTS OF INTEREST
·
The author admits that the Jews trimmed their
beards (Pg. 14, Para. 2).
·
The author admits that the Jews and idolatrous heathen
had facial hair concurrently and that a distinction in style, not shaven versus
unshaven, was all that was necessary to maintain a mark of separation (Pg. 19,
Para. 3). Interesting confession in
light of the purpose of this book, which is to argue that Christian should shave.
