Page 22 - No Apologies

and a short beard. This is actually a reversal from the truth. Paul was speaking just a short
time after Yahshua’s earthly ministry. Writing by the inspiration of the Holy Spirit Paul
declares that it is a dishonorable thing for a man to have long hair. The Scriptures also
reveal that Christ had a substantial beard, for at His arrest the Roman soldiers were pulling
it out by the handfuls.

Isaiah 50:6
I gave My back to those who strike Me, and My cheeks to those who pluck out the
beard...

One cannot easily pluck out a man’s beard unless it has some length to it. The trendy
five o’clock shadow beards of today are not typical of those worn by the Jews in the time of
Christ. I gave considerable thought to this matter, and eventually wrote an article titled The
Significance of the Beard. Following is an excerpt:

The Hebrew word for beard is zaqan (zaw-kawn'). We are told in Strong’s Dictionary
of Hebrew and Greek Words that zaqan comes from the related word zaqen (zaw-kane'),
which is a primitive root meaning to be old. The correlation to this second word for age is
so clear that Strong’s Dictionary defines the Hebrew word zaqan as “the beard (as
indicating age).”
To the Hebrew mind the beard was a symbol of maturity. This was not a cultural
viewpoint, rather it was an understanding of God’s design in placing a beard on mature
males. A boy cannot grow a beard. A boy is one who is not mature. When a young male
passes through the time in his life defined as puberty some distinct outward signs
accompany this advancement to maturity. The voice takes on a deeper timber, it becomes
more commanding. Another obvious sign is the growth of body hair and, for a male who is
modestly arrayed, the only part of this growth that is seen is that which is on the face.
Webster’s 1933 Dictionary defines puberty in this way: “the age of maturity;
manhood, adult; the time a plant comes into flower.” Is not the beard of a man a sign of
the flowering of his manhood? Even as the flower is the beauty and adornment of many
plants, so is the beard the beauty and adornment of a man as he crosses the line of puberty
and comes into the age of maturity.
God gave the beard to man for beauty and glory. Older men whose beards had turned
grey were to be accorded special honor because the grey beard was a sign of advanced
maturity. We find this understanding in the following verse.

Leviticus 19:32
Thou shalt rise up before the hoary head, and honour the face of the old man, and
fear thy God: I am the LORD.
(KJV)

The phrases “Thou shalt rise up before the hoary head” and “and honour the face of
the old man” are parallel expressions denoting the same truth. The hoary, or grey head,
directly corresponds to the phrase “the face of the old man.” The hoary head certainly could
include the grey hair found on top of the head, but it most specifically refers to the grey hair
of the face which is the beard...
To those who would say that the beard is just an external matter and it holds no real