Leviticus 21:1
said .... Say ......... say <0559> [Speak.]
defile <02930> [There.]
Leviticus 21:5
bald spot shaved <07144 07139> [not make baldness.]
This custom is also called rounding the corners of the head, (ch. 19:27,) and seems to have been performed in honour of some idol.
corner <06285> [the corner.]
The Hebrew {peath zakon}, may denote the whiskers; as the Syriac {phatho} signifies. These are by the Arabs, according to Niebuhr, still cut entirely off, or worn quite short; and hence they are called by Jeremiah, [qtswtsy p'h,] those with cropped whiskers. Perhaps some superstition, of which we are ignorant, was connected with this; but whether or not, it was the object of Moses to keep the Israelites distinct from other nations.
