BALDNESS (bald'n'es), (Heb. from on?, kaw ray'akh, bald, i. e., on the top or back of the head; ghib-bay'akh, bald on the forehead).
Baldness may be artificial or natural. Artificial baldness, caused by cutting or shaving off the hair of the head, a custom among all the ancient and Eastern nations, in token of mourning for the death of a near relative (Jer. xvi :6; Amos. viii: io ; Micah i :16). Moses forbade it to the Israelites (Dent. xiv :1), probably for the very reason of its being a heathen custom, for a leading object of his policy was to remove the Jews as far as possible from the ways and customs of the surrounding nations. Natural baldness, though Moses did not consider it as a symptom of leprosy, and declared the man afflicted with it to be clean and sound (Lev. xiii :4o, sq.), yet was always treated among the Israelites with contempt (ibid.), and a bald man was not unfrequently exposed to the ridicule of the mob (2 Kings ii:23; Is. 111:24; Comp. Suet.
Cos. 45; Domit. 18); perhaps from the suspicion of being under some leprous taint, as the Hebrew word kaurazakh originally implied an ulcer, or an ulcered person. The public prejudice thus entertained against a baldheaded man was per haps the main* reason why he was declared unfit for the priestly office (Lev. xxi:2o; Mishit. tit. Bechoroth, vii :2).
BALL (bal), (Heb. 11R, there, Is. xxii:18; ren dered "round about," xxix:3, and is employed as a ring or circle; and "burn' Ezek. xxiv:5. In the last reference it probably means "heap,' as in the margin). The ball was used anciently in many sports, and was similarly constructed to those now in use.
BALM (barn), tser-ee', or tsor-ee', to crack), a medicinal gum. (See BALSAM