This is an old argument<\/a>. There were men in the Bible who were said to have had long hair. Jehovah forbad Samson to cut his hair and David’s son, Absalom, was said to have cut his hair once annually when it became a burden to him. Absalom clearly wore his hair as he saw fit and cut it when it became too long to deal with, perhaps interfering with his battle helmet’s fit. Though Absalom is said to have been “hanged” by his hair having been caught in a tree, the Bible gives no indication that God was displeased with Absalom’s wearing long hair.<\/p>\n\tAnswer:<\/h2>\n
The argument is old, but old doesn’t mean it is inaccurate.<\/p>\n
Samson was under a Nazirite vow by the command of God, as was John the Baptist, by the way. The Nazirite vow had three requirements, one of which was that the hair was cut at the beginning and at the end of the vow. Since Samson was under the vow for life, of course, he wasn’t supposed to cut his hair — but the point is that he was an exception to the norm. The reason it was unusual is that people did normally cut their hair.<\/p>\n
The statement Paul made in I Corinthians 11 deals with the general. “Does not even nature itself teach you that if a man has long hair, it is a dishonor to him?<\/em>” (I Corinthians 11:14). A general truth is not defined by exceptions.<\/p>\nThen too, the Nazirite vow was a part of the Law of Moses. It is not a part of the Law of Christ. The exception no longer exists. Thus to claim God wanted Samson to have long hair doesn’t lead to the conclusion that all men or even some men are to have long hair.<\/p>\n
Absalom is an example of a rebellious son. He overthrew David’s kingdom and had himself enthroned. To hold him up as the poster boy for long hair is to prove the point made in the article. True, God did not say pro or con about Absalom’s hair length. The fact of it was simply noted. Similarly, Abraham lied on two occasions. At the time God doesn’t say pro or con about Abraham’s lies, but we don’t conclude that He accepted them. We know from other passages that lying is wrong. In the same way, just because nothing is said at the time concerning Absalom’s hair length, we cannot conclude that it was accepted. We would have to look elsewhere for God’s opinion on the matter.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Question: This is an old argument. There were men in the Bible who were said to have had long hair. Jehovah forbad Samson to cut his hair and David’s son, Absalom, was said to have cut his hair once annually when it became a burden to him. Absalom clearly wore his hair as he saw…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[20],"tags":[414],"class_list":["post-15183","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-answer","tag-hair"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":21027,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/how-could-paul-be-under-a-nazirite-vow-since-he-shaved-his-head\/","url_meta":{"origin":15183,"position":0},"title":"How could Paul be under a Nazirite vow since he shaved his head?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"March 21, 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Hi, You had mentioned in your answer to the question as to why Paul shaved his head in Cenchrea recorded in Acts 18:18, that it was because of the Nazarite Vow (Numbers 6:2-21)? The Nazarite Vow does require that \"no razor touch your head\" (Numbers 6:5). How do you\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":54866,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/if-paul-thought-long-hair-was-bad-why-did-he-take-a-nazirite-vow\/","url_meta":{"origin":15183,"position":1},"title":"If Paul thought long hair was bad, why did he take a Nazirite vow?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"December 17, 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Thanks for the website. I read it all the time. I have a question concerning men and long hair. I know that I Corinthians 11 talks about that. The first part of the chapter is written off by many as cultural, but I disagree with that view; however, in\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":7079,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/isnt-long-hair-on-men-a-sign-of-rebellion-only-since-the-1960s\/","url_meta":{"origin":15183,"position":2},"title":"Isn’t long hair on men a sign of rebellion only since the 1960s?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"August 18, 2006","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: In regards to \"Why do even non-Christians look down on men with long hair?\", your quote associating long hair with a rebellious attitude is only a post 60's statement, only. I don't know of another time when long hair was a sign of 'rebellion' outside of the era of\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":51808,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/why-did-paul-shave-his-head-at-cenchrea-and-not-at-jerusalem-as-was-the-custom\/","url_meta":{"origin":15183,"position":3},"title":"Why did Paul shave his head at Cenchrea and not at Jerusalem as was the custom?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"October 26, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Why did Paul shave his head at Cenchrea and not at Jerusalem as was the custom? Answer: \"Paul, having remained many days longer, took leave of the brethren and put out to sea for Syria, and with him were Priscilla and Aquila. In Cenchrea he had his hair cut,\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":7955,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/didnt-jesus-have-long-hair\/","url_meta":{"origin":15183,"position":4},"title":"Didn\u2019t Jesus Have Long Hair?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"August 21, 2006","format":false,"excerpt":"by Jeffrey W. Hamilton Express an idea often enough and people will assume it is true. The expression can be in the form of words or pictures. Consider the common image of Jesus. Photography did not exist at the time of Christ. There are no drawings or paintings of the\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-content\/uploads\/2006\/08\/Jesus-300x225.gif?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":22017,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/can-you-tell-me-what-the-vow-was-that-caused-paul-to-cut-his-hair\/","url_meta":{"origin":15183,"position":5},"title":"Can you tell me what the vow was that caused Paul to cut his hair?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"February 15, 2010","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Can you tell me what the vow was that caused Paul to cut his hair? Answer: \"So Paul still remained a good while. Then he took leave of the brethren and sailed for Syria, and Priscilla and Aquila were with him. He had his hair cut off at Cenchrea,\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15183","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=15183"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15183\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=15183"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=15183"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=15183"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}