In this segment, we explore the dangers of pride in our dress and adornments, beards, tassels, phylacteries, cosmetics and hair length for men and women.

Pride and Arrogance

In our last segment we did some close examinations on the reasons why our appearance does matter, and what Yahweh requires of us as disciples of Yahushua. If you missed the first segment, a lot of what I share today you may not understand properly, or you may miss out on why our outward appearance DOES MATTER.

The reason why our outward appearance does matter is that the way we dress is communication. Our clothing talks!

Our clothing talks because the way we look is the first impression we give. Before anyone knows who we are, we speak about who we are through our clothing. It becomes a part of our identity, an illustration of who we are and what we are about.

I want to say first of all that I’m not trying to create a bunch of rules and regulations for men to take and force on their wives and teenage daughters or for wives to pressure their husbands to conform to. My stated goal, from the outset of this lesson, is to get as close to scripture as we possible can regarding Yahweh’s will for modesty AND Dress.

We each need to take this matter to Yahweh and let His Spirit lead and convict us as to what His will is. Take it to prayer, let Yahweh’s Spirit speak to you regarding these matters. When it comes to what we are communicating with our physical appearance…this can be very much open to interpretation. To one person a certain clothing style or aspect of appearance communicates one thing…and to another person a certain clothing style or appearance communicates something else.

So I think we need to let Yahweh’s Spirit guide each of us, and give each other some leeway in some of the details. I will share my heart and the things that I’m seeing in scripture, but if you see something different than I do, it’s your decision.

One thing I try to remember is that our outward appearance reflects on the entire body of Messiah… not just ourselves. For this reason, I would rather play it safe and be cautious in how I am representing our Savior and His people to the world we live in.

Because we are communicating with our appearance…whether we think we are or not, we are communicating. I don’t want the pride of life, or the lust of the eyes or any of the things that are not of His Spirit to be communicated. I want Yahushua the Messiah, and His life of purity and set-apartness / holiness to be communicated.

I hope you feel the same way.

So in our efforts to get as close to scripture as we can, we took a very close look at 1 Tim. 2:8-10.

We looked at it’s context. We looked deeply into the lexicons to try and extract the meaning of what is being said here.
When we did that, we came up with the following attributes regarding Yahweh’s will for the way a person dresses.

• What is proper (Feminine, Humble)
• Modest, reflective of good behavior
• A sense of bashfulness (not with wanton eyes)
• Humility rather than flaunting self (look at me!)
• Well ordered, not disheveled or unkempt
• Respectful shyness, reserve, reticence
• Self-control / Temperance
• Sober mindedness
• Curbing the (carnal) impulses and desires
• Reverential toward Elohim
• With faith, without wrath

We know that the fruits of the Spirit are seen in this list. So when the Spirit of Yahweh is living in us, it will manifest in our attitudes, our personality, and (along with those things) our dress.

I say this of both men and women…because there can be pride in dress, not only in women, but in men also.

Let’s take a look a moment at the earlier pictures I had shared. Would you say that these men are clothed with humility?

I see a lot of pride here, honestly. Certain kinds of sunglasses have a way of doing that. Now sunglasses can have a purpose, but seriously… there are a certain kind of sunglasses that have a way of making the person look angry. Like they would just as quickly punch you as look at you.

Tough-guy appearances give a man a sense of power and control. No one is going to mess with him, and if you do… be ready for a fight.

Is this what disciples of Yahushua are all about?

Do these men look harmless and pure as doves? Is that the image they are portraying? How about us?

Beards

Pride can also be present in the length of one’s beard. Large, long and overgrown beards can be an attempt on the part of the person to gain respect, to cause themselves to be exalted and appear as a sage, or wise man, or some kind of holy man.

I’m not saying everyone who has a long, large and overgrown beard has this hidden motive in their heart, but it certainly CAN be.

I’m not saying long beards are bad, for at one time I had a beard that was long enough to reach my belly button. But then I got to thinking… is this really necessary? It wasn’t necessary. And if I am trying to reach someone with my faith, I wonder if they might be thinking in the back of their mind “I am not going to listen to this guy, because I don’t want to become like him, with a 2 foot long beard.”

But some of us like that image… the image of a long-bearded Rabbi or sage or wise-man kind of image. I wouldn’t say that was my motive. I really wasn’t sure how long I needed to grow it at the time, but I came to realize it wasn’t necessary…and maybe I was even being a stumbling block to one who was blind to the truth of Torah.

So I shortened it, but I also wanted to be sure my beard was in line with scripture…

The word translated “disfigure” is:

07843 שָׁחַת shachath {shaw-khath’}
Meaning: 1) to destroy, corrupt, go to ruin, decay 1a) (Niphal) to be marred, be spoiled, be corrupted, be corrupt, be injured, be ruined, be rotted 1b) (Piel) 1b1) to spoil, ruin 1b2) to pervert, corrupt, deal corruptly (morally) 1c) (Hiphil) 1c1) to spoil, ruin, destroy 1c2) to pervert, corrupt (morally) 1c3) destroyer (participle) 1d) (Hophal) spoiled, ruined (participle)
Origin: a primitive root; TWOT – 2370; v
Usage: AV – destroy 96, corrupt 22, mar 7, destroyer 3, corrupters 2, waster 2, spoilers 2, battered 1, corruptly 1, misc 11; 147

It’s in the Hiphil form, so “Spoil, ruin, destroy” are in view here.
What about the “edge?” of the beard?

06285 פֵּאָה pe’ah {pay-aw’}
Meaning: 1) corner, edge, side, quarter, extremity 1a) corner 1b) side
Origin: from 06311; TWOT – 1725a; n f
Usage: AV – side 64, corner 16, quarter 4, end 1, part 1; 86

Now, this a noun and not a verb so it’s not going to have a verb form. But I notice that the word has more to do with sides than corners. The LXX translated it “appearance” rather than “side” or “corner.”

However, there are other places where the translated “corner” would make more sense:

So to be safe, I’m thinking it’s best to let the beard grow out some. The Jews believe that the corner is between the ear lobe and the beginning of one’s jaw line. That’s why they don’t cut that portion at all and they’ll sometimes even curl it so it doesn’t hang down so far, calling them “peyotes,” which is plural of “Pe’ah.” Thus, they have curly locks that you often see in that area of their beard.

However, I have a hard time seeing a corner there. To me the clearest example of where a corner or edge might be is the entire jaw line. It’s a mostly 90 degree corner all around on most of us if we aren’t overweight. So as the beard grows out, it seems to me that this would be the logical location of a corner or edge. So I let the beard grow out some, and even cut it squarish cut at the bottom to ensure I do have a corner there, just to be safe.

And, actually I’m not sure that a corner is even the meaning here… because look at it again:

The word translated “sides” is the same Hebrew word “Pe’ah” and where are the corners on the top of one’s head? I don’t know of any, since the head itself is round. So it’s translated “sides” instead of “edges.” Now if Pe’ah meant edges, as in, the ends of your hair.. one could never get a hair cut at all, either on the head or the beard.

This is not commanded, for in the future temple, it is said that the priests will keep their hair trimmed:

So looking again at our verse,

Those who believe that you can never trim your beard would have to make the same conclusion about the hair on your head as well. So “sides” seem to be the best translation here. Maybe in both cases, with the hair AND the beard. In this case, Yahweh would be telling me not to shave off the sides of my head, which happens to be the only place I happen to have much hair at all. 🙂 But with that being the case, you could say that He doesn’t want us cutting off the side of our beard either, which would be our cheek area. To be safe, I go ahead and include the jaw line… and let the beard grow out some more before trimming it.

Now, if I decide to go clean shaven then I can be sure that I’m cutting it off. There is no way to obey this scripture and be a clean shaven man. There is also no way to obey this scripture and cut all the hair off the tops of our head… with the intent of appearing completely bald. So those who are going for the bald look, or the clean shaven look… I don’t see how it’s possible for them to be obeying this scripture.

Now some believe that by holding this view I am taking the scripture out of context. In other words, they believe that these things are all part of rituals for the dead that were done in paganism. In support of this view:

Some believe the context of this is doing these things for the dead. However, the only time it mentions doing something for the dead is “cuttings in your flesh.” The tatooing and shaving the sides and/or corners do not mention the purpose being for the dead.

Now, it is true that a wholesale removal of all hair was something done as a sign of mourning:

However, this is speaking of a complete removal of all hair from the head and the beard. The actual prohibition of hair/beard removal involves the removal of a certain section of the hair, and a parts of the beard. While it is true that going clean shaven or bald would be a transgression of the command, one would not be transgressing the actual command unless the sides of the head and beard were shaved.

Also, even if we believe that this is in connection with the dead, it is quite possible that this is the only context in which an Israelite man would have shaved off his beard. And that the very idea of shaving one’s beard was unheard of in any other context. We should not assume there are no other reasons besides doing something for the dead. If it was a pagan practice to shave, we don’t want to be following pagan practices anyway. It is much better to follow Yahushua.

Yahushua did grow out His beard. He is speaking in this prophecy of Isaiah chapter 50:

Now the Hebrew word (#3895 “Lekhee”) for jaw and cheeks is the same. It’s translated cheek 10 times and jaw or jawbone 10 times. Now in order for anyone to grab a handful of beard hair off his cheeks or jaw, he must have had a beard that was grown out more so than the kind of beard that’s most common today:

One would be hard pressed to grab a handful of beard hair off this man. So I prefer to let mine grow out… as I would see this as being closer to the example of the Messiah.

I’m reminded of a story my grandfather told me years ago. He is a believer like us and grows out his beard. He worked for the water department of a nearby city. There was one house that he would enter to read the meter and the woman living in the house would always make a negative comment about his beard, saying “Why don’t you just cut that thing off?” He would just ignore her and go about his job.

One time he entered her home and he saw a “painting of Jesus” hanging on the wall. He asked her, “Who is this?” She replied, “Well, that’s my Jesus!” After a brief pause, he said, “Well, he has a beard.”

She never did bother him about his beard after that.

It just goes to show that some of the Christian traditions don’t even line up with the Savior they adore. For in some circles it’s one of the signs of your Christianity to go around clean-shaven. Yet the Savior they adore had a beard…and not just a beard but a long enough beard for someone to grab a hold of and pull his hair out. I don’t think they were using tweezers.

I’ve had good paying jobs that were ready to hire me until they told me of the company policy to have a clean shaven face. I declined their request to save and they declined to hire me but that’s nothing compared to the persecution Yahushua endured. Maybe it was the clean shaven Romans that saw the opportunity to hurt Yahushua with His beard, and disrespect Him and the beard by pulling it out. But Yahushua took it all for us…blessed be His name.

Now for those of you who can’t seem to grow much of a beard, don’t fret. If Yahweh didn’t give you much facial hair, that’s just the way it is. But with what He does give you, don’t cut it off and do your best to obey this scripture, following our Savior’s example.

Almost all, if not all men have a least a small amount of facial hair. It doesn’t make you any less of a person than one who can grow a full beard in 2 weeks. I can’t grow any hair on the top of my head either, so I guess Yahweh made up for it? 🙂 Actually those who can grow a full beard are actually, according to science, more likely to have balding when they get older.

For those of you who have tried growing a beard but had a problem with itch, use a dandruff shampoo and I’ve found that the itch does go away. (Last I checked though, Head and Shoulders, contains pig-derived ingredients so choose another brand). Others suggest using moisturizing conditioners, or baby shampoos, and avoid shampoos containing glycerin. Keeping the facial hair combed, or in my case brushed, can also help.

But we are men, and with what facial hair Yahweh gave us, we should let it grow. And speaking of this, think with me here for a moment: In the same way that Yahushua appealed to the book of Genesis for a guiding principle regarding marriage, it seems to me that we should contemplate things in a similar manner in regards to the beard. Going clean shaven is unnatural.

When Yahweh made man, one of the distinguishing characteristics is that he had facial hair and the woman did not. It’s one thing that He set in place to distinguish between man and woman. So beards were the norm for all men… until someone came along and decided to take a razor to it. Probably the first guy to do this was mocked and ridiculed and accused of trying to be like a woman. That alone bothers me… it’s almost if not quite certain that it’s like one rebelling against the way Yahweh made man. As if man wasn’t satisfied with how Yahweh made him, so he’s going to do something different. They are stripping away one of the distinguishing characteristics between men and women.

One man said, “I used to shave, but every morning Yahweh would grow it right back.” Maybe He is trying to tell us something?

Something doesn’t seem right about that to me. Blurring the gender lines is one of the things that we see going on in our generation. Men are not masculine and women are not feminine. Rather, we see the feminization of men and masculinization of women being promoted. As believers in Yahushua, we should be on the opposite end of that spectrum.

Again, if you don’t have a bushy beard like I do, don’t feel bad. Whatever little facial hair Yahweh gave, I say,… leave it on your face. It’s one of the things that Yahweh gave you to make you look different from women.

I really think we need to be content with how Yahweh made us. Don’t worry about whether it will hinder you from finding a spouse. When we honor Yahweh first, that’s the best environment for receiving a blessing.

Now, I’m not trying to add anything to Yahweh’s word. But this may very well be the reason why He said not to shave the sides of our heads and beards.

Now, getting back to the dangers of pride in one’s appearance, another area where I see this danger creeping in is religious garments. Things like walking around with a Jewish talit, which is not really a garment mentioned in scripture, could be an attempt to give this self-righteous appearance.

Or other religious-type garments:

So I’m against religious pride in dress. Yahushua talked a little about this when He said:

So Yahushua commented on their attempt to exalt themselves with the way they were adorned. And this is the very thing I’m speaking of in this message on modesty and dress. Both men and women are susceptible to allowing pride to creep in when it comes to how we are dressed.

Tassels / Tzitzit and Phylacteries

Now some believe that this commandment is actually done away with now that the Messiah has come, and now that we are filled with Yahweh’s Holy Spirit. Their reasoning is as follows:

So the reasoning is that we don’t need tassels anymore. We have the Holy Spirit to bring Yahweh’s word to our remembrance.

But we have to be careful about using human reasoning to scratch out or abolish Yahweh’s commandments. Just because the Holy Spirit is able to bring Yahweh’s word to our remembrance doesn’t mean that we no longer need a reminder for anything.

He charged Timothy to remind others also:

And Kepha/Peter considers it negligence if he did not remind Yahweh’s people:

Who among us would rebuke the apostles for reminding others? In reality, the scriptures are full of precepts that have the purpose of bringing the things of Yahweh to our remembrance. Even Yahushua said:

How could we ever forget Yahushua if we have the Holy Spirit? Yet, we are expected to partake of Him as an act of remembrance. Would any among us say that we need not do what He said because we now have the Holy Spirit to remind us of Him? We are clearly to do this act to remember Yahushua the Messiah, who is the “word made flesh”. If He is the “word made flesh” and we are expected to keep this precept to remember Yahushua (who IS the Word), why would we reject any other commandment given for the purpose of remembering Yahweh’s word?

Besides this, are we greater than Moshe, David, Ezra and all the other saints of the “Old Testament”? Yet we know they were commanded to wear tassels. The presence of Yahweh’s Spirit in your life should not cause you to ignore any of Yahweh’s word, including the commandment to wear the tassels. Rather, the Spirit leads us to walk in His statutes, and do them:

So the presence of Yahweh’s Spirit in our life does not negate the commandments to wear the tassels. Besides, if Yahweh says to wear them, why do we feel the need to go about finding reasons why we don’t need to do it?

It could be that Yahweh has other reasons as well. Yahweh didn’t give all the reasons why He didn’t want Eve to partake of the fruit, He just instructed Adam and Eve not to eat it. Prompted by the serpent, Eve reasoned within herself as to why Yahweh said she shouldn’t eat it and decided to go ahead and disobey Yahweh. We should beware of any thoughts coming into our mind which subtly suggests “Hath Elohim said?” Elohim clearly has said. We just need to obey Him.

It seems to me that even believers in Messiah need a reminder every once in a while. I challenge any believer in Messiah to claim that they have never forgotten something that they read in the scriptures. Who has the entire bible memorized?

So I hope this lays to rest any thought that we can erase a commandment in the scripture simply because we have the Holy Spirit writing Yahweh’s word in our hearts and minds.

Otherwise, why bother reading scripture at all? Why bother with scripture memorization?

So it’s good to have memorials and reminders, things that bring Yahweh’s word to the forefront of our minds. We are still humans and prone to forgetting. Prone to letting our eyes and hearts turn us away from the commandments of Yahweh.

Imagine if you were to fall away and stop serving Yahweh. Those tassels that you put on your clothes every day, you would have to overcome the hurdle of habit and physically take those tassels off your garments. If you have any conscience at all, that would be hard to do. Wouldn’t wearing the tassels be a way of life that would draw you back to Him again?

Suppose you were being tempted to look at porn or commit adultery. Having those tassels sitting there to remind you of who you are in Messiah and Yahushua imploring us, “If you love me, keep my commandments” And the Torah saying “Love Yahweh with all your heart, soul, and might.” “Love your wife and love your husband as yourself”

If you have any conscience at all, it would be all that much harder to turn away from Yahweh’s commandments.

The same Greek word is used to translate “border” and “hem” in the above scriptures. It is word #2899 in the Strong’s concordance:

The full Thayer Greek Dictionary has:

[Thayer] κράσπεδον
κράσπεδον, κρασπέδου, τό, in classical Greek the extremity or prominent part. of a thing, edge, skirt, margin; the fringe of a garment; in the N. T. for Hebrew צִיצִית, i. e. a little appendage hanging down from the edge of the mantle or cloak, made of twisted wool; a tassel, tuft: Matt. 9:20; 14:36; 23:5; Mark 6:56; Luke 8:44. The Jews had such appendages attached to their mantles to remind them of the law, according to Num. 15:37f. Cf. Winer’s RWB under the word Saum; (B. D. under the phrase, Hem of Garment; Edersheim, Jesus the Messiah, 1:624; especially Ginsburg in Alex.’s Kitto under the word Fringes).*

The Friberg Greek Lexicon has:

[Fri] κράσπεδον, ου, τό (1) as the outer limit of something; of a garment hem, border, edge; (2) in Jewish usage the tassel or fringe on the four corners of the outer garment, worn as a reminder to observe the commandments (cf. Numbers 15.38-41; Deuteronomy 22.12)

The DuTillet, which is a 450 year old Hebrew manuscript of the book of Matthew contains “Tzitzi” (tassel) in this passage as well as other verses we will examine. The woman with the flow of blood was healed by touching the “tassel” of his garment.

So not only did Yahushua wear the tassels, but Yahweh used them to bring healing! This indicates that wearing tassels may have some type of spiritual significance in addition to reminding us to keep His commandments. We can always trust that Yahweh knows what He is doing and we need not question the wisdom of anything He commands.

Here is another scripture which also shows Yahushua wore the tassels:

“And as many as touched [it] were made perfectly well.”

And again:

So we can again see that Yahweh used the tassels that Yahushua wore in a powerful way. People were begging to touch the tassel of His garment so that they also could receive healing. We can be sure that Yahushua had the fullness of Yahweh’s Spirit. Yahushua is the example of what a Spirit-filled person should do with this commandment to wear the tassels: Keep it!

We must walk as Yahushua walked and when we walk as He walked, it shows that we are in Him. If Yahushua wore the tassels and we walk as He walked, then surely Yahweh can use our tassels in a mighty way also.

Imagine if all of Yahweh’s people would keep the commandment to wear the tassels. We would be able to recognize one another instantly. The community around us would know that we are brethren and we all serve Yahweh. I can speak from my own experience that unbelieving Jews will ask why we are wearing them because many of them also wear tassels without a blue cord inside their pants and on talits. It opens the door to share with them the truth that Yahushua did not abolish the Torah and that He would never accept the way in which mainstream Christianity portrays Him.

Other people also will ask why I wear the tassels and it becomes an opportunity to share the testimony of Yahushua, the fact that He wore them, and that it is to remind us of the commandments of Yahweh. Most people in a Christian background are amazed that it is even in Scripture!

But this is how Yahweh intended His people to dress. And so since this study is about Modesty and Dress, I would be remiss if I didn’t include it here. The tassels are for both men and women, not just the men.

Now, if you are interested in learning more about this, I have a written study on this topic here and a video study topic here.

Phylacteries were these strips of parchment, sometimes kept in boxes, that would be attached to their left arm and forehead.

Now, Yahushua was commenting on how they made their phylacteries so large, so as to be seen by men. He didn’t comment on whether or not it was a commandment to wear them. There’s probably nothing wrong with doing it, but I don’t know that it’s a commandment.

You might make the case that they should be tied to your hand or arm, but to have them “as frontlets” to me as a spiritual meaning. He didn’t say to make frontlets, but let them be “as frontlets” and “as a sign.” They are to bound to your hands in the sense that all you do with your hand, are governed by the scriptures, and all that you think is governed by the scriptures that are in your mind. Supporting this view is Exodus 13:

It seems like a spiritual meaning is in view here, but I do know of a man who made a watch that had the commandments on them. I thought that was a good idea, but not commanded.

Other Forms of Pride in Adornments, Cosmetics / Makeup

Now, speaking of watches, a dear brother this past summer gave me a very nice watch. It had the moon phase on it, and I really appreciated it. But it had this beautiful rose gold appearance, and I had this sense that the Spirit was speaking to me whenever I wore this watch. This concept in 1 Timothy about the wearing of gold and expensive looking garments.

Whenever I wore the watch I felt like I was communicating to the world that I value this world’s riches and liked wearing expensive things. I loved the watch, but my conscience kept speaking to me… and then when I started to do this study, I became convinced that I shouldn’t wear it, unless I’m here at home by myself or something.

I just don’t want there to be anything in my heart that promotes the pride of life or the spirit of the world. Satan actually fell because of this very thing:

Now, this is a double prophecy I think… because the King of Tyre wasn’t a covering Cherub, and unless there are things going on in the heavenly realms in that area, I don’t know that satan was a trader of goods. But the point is this… the heart being lifted up because of one’s outward appearance.

I want to be far from that. Now, I’m my 50’s so my youthful days are past, but there are other ways that pride can creep in… and I think it’s best that we keep ourselves protected from that.

So, whether we are men or women, young or old, we need to be on guard against pride. We did not create ourselves, and we have no reason to gloat in our appearance, or try to exalt ourselves in our appearance.

We want to glorify Yahweh

Therefore, we need to all be humble and not try to exalt ourselves in any way.

So what about the wearing of cosmetics? Cosmetics are mentioned in the scriptures

I think scripture is accurate here in that it’s an attempt to make yourself fair.

In every context that eye paint / cosmetics appear in scripture, it’s always negative. The only women I can find in scripture who are wearing cosmetics are harlots, and Jezebel, who sought to seduce Jehu. Seduction seems to be the aim in each case… and the Messiah spoke of such with the Jezebel in Revelation:

Now, this does not mean that every person who wears makeup today is trying to seduce men. But let’s just say that in scripture, cosmetics don’t have the best reputation.

I would think it’s pretty much on par with other things such as jewelry and fancy hair and wearing gold and putting on fine apparel. I don’t know how it would really be much different, as these are all coming from the same kind of thinking. If there is something different, then I invite anyone to let me know.

There are 2 other things about cosmetics that concerns me, since I hope to be a person after Yahweh’s own heart.

Suppose that my friend Daniel made me a painting. And he spent a lot of time and energy and effort into making me this painting, and he just couldn’t wait to show it to me. So finally the day came that he presented it to me, and I said “Oh that’s really nice!” But then he watched me take a paint brush and fix this over here, and add a different colors over there, and essentially… change what he had done. How would Daniel feel at that point? A little bit of rejection I would say, maybe even offended… and he probably would think what I did to it made it look worse. Otherwise he would have made it look that way.

So as a person seeking to be after Yahweh’s own heart, I wonder if that’s what women are doing to Yahweh. He made them just how He wanted them to look, but then they come along and added some different colors over here and over there. Now I don’t pretend to know everything about the heart of Yahweh, but it makes sense to me that He wouldn’t be too happy about it and maybe even offended.

It’s sort of like the beard. He gives us men facial hair, then we come along and decide to give ourselves a different look altogether. It almost seems rebellious. At a minimum it doesn’t seem to be respecting Yahweh’s ownership of our bodies. We know that something very similar to that (someone changing our painting) would be offensive to us, so it makes sense to me that He would be also. In Yahweh’s eyes, it would actually be ugly… it’s just that we’ve been conditioned by our culture to see it as pretty.

And the second thing that concerns me is the deception that can be involved in cosmetics. For instance,
Does anyone recognize this person?

How about this person?

Would you believe that it’s the same person?

I question whether there may be something that resembles deception about wearing makeup and cosmetics, as in… trying to look like something you aren’t. I’ve heard women say things like, “Well, I’m going to go put on my face” when going to put makeup on.

It’s a bit like wearing a mask. That’s not the color of your lips, it’s not the color of your eyelids, or your cheeks, or your eyelashes. Maybe I’m off on this point, but it would be like me wearing a wig or hair piece.

Now someone might say I’m going too extreme here. But just as our clothing communicate a message, so can cosmetics. Cosmetic can communicate: “I’m not content with how my Creator made me. I must put on a mask and cause myself to appear differently than how He made me, and make everyone think I look different than the way I was actually created by Yahweh to look.”

Now, someone could say things to me like “What about braces? Would it be a sin for a person to get braces?” I actually paid for my son to get braces because the dentist told me that with the way his teeth were constructed he would likely lose all of his teeth once he reached a certain age.”

I don’t want to be a Pharisee, or an extremist. I just want to make sure we are honoring Yahweh in every aspect of our lives, including our physical appearance. I have serious questions as to whether wearing cosmetics is really an honor to Him. We know a painter would be offended. If we don’t like the natural face, maybe we have been seduced by the spirit of the world.

Eve had no makeup, yet was perfectly beautiful. Can we not be content with what Yahweh has given us? Even in the areas that we don’t think we look normal, can we be content?

I lost hair at a younger than usual age. I have had people chuckle over it and make little jokes here and there. I’m willing to poke a little fun at myself and say my hair all fell down and it’s hanging off my jawline. Maybe some people in this world don’t like my half bald head, but it really doesn’t bother me that much, I’ll comb and use what little hair I have and move on. Yeah, it’s probably considered to be a genetic defect, but Yahweh allowed it in my life and so He must have approved of the way I look.

What’s it really going to matter in eternity anyway? Our time in this life is so short…and our life on this planet compared to eternity is like a grain of sand compared to the size of the universe. So what does it matter what people in this life think, really? Obviously Yahweh put His stamp of approval on it.

My appearance is my mark of ownership. He made me this way, and I’m willing to be content with it, and will seek to glorify Him with both my body and spirit…which are His. I don’t belong to myself anyway. And I would hope that we all share in that kind of contentment and desire.

Long hair for men, short hair for women?

Speaking of hair… is it a sin for a man to have long hair and a woman to have short hair?

I’m aware of two scriptures on hair length. The one we shared earlier:

Now this scripture is speaking of a future time, in the 1,000 year reign, when Yahweh says He will take from the people priests and Levites, and re-establish temple worship. To my knowledge there is nothing in the Torah that requires a priest to keep their hair trimmed, but this will be Yahweh’s expectation in the age to come. I’ve wondered why Yahweh would require this of them.

One possible explanation is that the earthly priesthood is supposed to be a reflection of the Melchizedek priesthood. Now Yahushua the Messiah, from what we read in other parts of Ezekiel is going to be dwelling in that very temple that the priests are functioning in. And He will be both priest and King. Having the short hair, therefore, would be a more accurate representation of the Melchizedek priest… Yahushua.

Now, if that is the case, since I am a part of the Melchizedek priesthood, a royal priesthood, I would want to be a reflection of Yahushua as well. Thus, I would want to keep my hair well trimmed. Maybe this is stretching it out a bit, but I’m trying to get as close to scripture as I can.

Now it is true that the Nazirites are required to actually let their hair grow out:

Samson, Samuel and possibly John the Baptist were all Nazirites. Yahushua was not a Nazirite because He drank from the fruit of the vine. However one might argue that He is a Nazirite today based on what He said in this scripture:

Thus, would Yahushua have long hair now? Does hair grow in heaven? I don’t know. What would happen if someone had 2,000 years of hair growth? Would there be dead ends that broke off? Was this really even a Nazirite vow? Part of a Nazirite vow is that you can’t go near a dead body. Yahushua Himself had a dead body and was in a tomb.

It’s not clear to me. Paul mentioned this:

Now, if Yahushua took a Nazirite vow, which required Him to let His hair grow… I don’t see why Paul would have said this. Is Yahushua dishonoring Himself for 2,000 years? So I’m not sure that we can say Yahushua was taking a Nazirite vow. Do grapes grow in heaven and does Yahushua have the ability to drink wine there?

One thing to consider is that Yahushua, as a final act of him being tempted, was given the fruit of the vine to drink:

Now they put it to his mouth to taste it, but He did not drink it:

So the purpose of the vow may have been to set up His final temptation…for up to that point He had never experienced the temptation of one who had to resist the fruit of the vine.

This was also thought to be a pain reliever, so in the midst of all of His pain He may have been even more tempted to drink it. But He refused, and then He soon said “It is finished!”

So that may have been part of the reason for the vow, that He might be tempted in all points just as we are.

Now Paul Himself, along with 4 other men had taken a Nazirite vow in the book of Acts. If someone wants to take a Nazirite vow today, it seems to me that it would need to be for life because there is no way to put an end to it without a priest, according to the manner of Numbers chapter 6. Maybe there is some way to spiritualize all of that, I don’t know… but I don’t plan on doing it.

Now, other than a Nazirite vow, I don’t know of any scripture that speaks to permitting men to grow their hair out.
So, getting back to the statement in 1 Corinthians:

Paul is encouraging us to take a lesson from nature itself. Men should have short hair and women should have long hair.

So it’s not a commandment, but an encouragement to look at the nature of things and consider that you are dishonoring yourself by going against what nature itself teaches. Women are permitted to have long hair, and it’s a glory to them when they let it grow out. It’s more fitting with how nature itself intended things to be.

And this may be another reason for the priests being required to keep their hair well trimmed in the book of Ezekiel. Priests are in a place of honor, for the glory of Elohim. Thus, they should not be dishonoring themselves or the office they hold. We are also a royal priesthood:

So it seems to me that we should not bring dishonor to the priesthood. But Paul said, if anyone wants to be contentious about it… we have no such custom. This may be because some would want to take a Nazirite vow, just as Paul himself did. So, just as Paul did, I can’t make a commandment out of hair length. But we do see that admonishment here in the scriptures regarding the nature of things.

I want to reiterate that I’m not trying to create a bunch of rules and regulations for men to take and force on their wives and teenage daughters or for wives to pressure their husbands to conform to. My stated goal, from the outset of this lesson, is to get as close to scripture as we possibly can regarding Yahweh’s will for modesty AND Dress.

We each need to take this matter to Yahweh and let His Spirit lead and convict us as to what His will is. Take it to prayer, let Yahweh’s Spirit speak to you regarding these matters. My own wife and daughters may or may not be exactly where I am on every little point I’ve made in this study. I don’t really know because I have given them a certain degree of freedom to explore the will of Yahweh on this… because when it comes to what we are communicating with our physical appearance…this can be very much open to interpretation. To one person a certain clothing style or aspect of appearance communicates one thing… and to another person a certain clothing style or appearance communicates something else.

So I think we need to let Yahweh’s Spirit guide each of us, and give each other some leeway in some of the details. I’ve shared my heart and the things that I’m seeing. And if you see something different than I do, it’s your decision. But I try to remember that our outward appearance reflects on the entire body of Messiah… not just ourselves. So I would rather play it safe, and be cautious in how I am representing our Savior, and His people to the world.

Because we are communicating with our appearance…whether we think we are or not.. we are communicating. I don’t want the pride of life, or the lust of the eyes or any of the things that are not of His Spirit to be communicated. I want Yahushua the Messiah, and His life of purity and set-apartness / holiness to be communicated.

I hope you feel the same way, and there is still much more to talk about in part 3…