HAILSTONE (h51'ston), (Heb. 114, eh' ben baw-rawd , a stone of hail (josh. x:t I). See above. HAIR (har), (properly Heb. say-awr% Gr.
OplE, threeks), is frequently mentioned in Scripture and in scarcely anything has the caprice of fashion been more strikingly displayed than in the various forms which the taste of different countries and ages has prescribed for disposing of this natural covering of the head.
(1) The Greeks. The Greeks let their hair grow to a great length, and their natural fondness for this attribute of beauty has been perpetuated not only by the frequently recurring references of Homer, but by the circumstance of the other poets and the artists of that ancient people representing even the gods theincelves with•long hair.
(2) The Egyptians. The early Egyptians, again, who were proverbial for their habits of cleanliness, removed the hair as an incumbrance, and the almost unavoidable occasion of sordid and offensive negligence. All classes amongst that people, not excepting the slaves imported from for eign countries, were required to submit to the tonsure (Gen. xli :14).
(3) The Hebrews. Different from the custom both of the Greeks and the Egyptians, that of the Hebrews was to wear their hair generally short and to check its growth by the application of scissors only. The priests at their inauguration shaved off all their hair, and when on actual duty at the temple, were in the habit, it is said, of cut ting it every fortnight. The only exceptions to this prevailing fashion are found in the case of the Nazarites, whose hair, from religious duty, was not to be cropped during the term of their vow ; of young persons, who, during their minority, al lowed their hair to hang down in luxuriant ring lets on their shoulders ; of such effeminate per sons as Absalom (2 Sam. xiv :26), and of Solo mon's horse-guards, whose vanity affected a puer ile extravagance and who strewed their heads every day with particles of gold-dust (Josephus, Antiq. viii :7). Although the Hebrews wore their hair short they were great admirers of strong and thickset locks. and so high a value did they set on the possession of a good head of hair that they deprecated nothing so much as baldness (2 Kings ii :23). To prevent or remedy this defect they seem, at an early period, to have availed them selves of the assistance of art, not only for beau tifying the hair but increasing its thickness; while the heads of the priests were anointed with an unguent of a peculiar kind, the ingredients of which, with their various proportions, were pre scribed by Divine authority, and the composition of which the people were prohibited, under severe penalties, from attempting to imitate (Exod. xxx : 32). This custom spread till anointing the hair of the head became a general mark of gentility and an essential part of the daily toilet, the usual cos metics employed consisting of the best oil -if olives mingled with spices, a decoction of parsley-seed in wine, and more rarely of spikenard (Ps. xxiii: 5, xlv :7; Eccles. ix :8; Mark xiv :3). The ore vailing color of hair among the Hebrews was dark ; 'locks bushy and black as a raven. being mentioned in the description of the bridegroom as the perfection of beauty in mature manhood (Cant. v :it). Hence the appearance of an old man
with a snow-white head in a company of younger Jews, all whose heads, like those of other F.astern people, were jet black—a most conspicuous lbject —is beautifully compared to an almond tree. which in the early part of the year is in full bloom while all the others are dark and leafless (Eccles. xi i :5).
(4) Dyeing the Hair. The Romans were in the habit of using artificial means to disguise the silver hue of age. From Rotne the shion spread into Greece and other provinc,.€, and it aroears that the members of the church or Corinth were, to a certain extent, captivated by the prevailing taste, some Christians being evidently in the eye of the Apostle, who had attracted attention by the cherished and womanly decoration of their hair (1 Cor. xi:14-16). ' To them the letter of Paul was intended to administer a timely reproof for allowing themselves to fall in with a style of manners which, by confounding the distinctions of the sexes, threatened a baneful influence on good morals ; and that not only the Christian converts in that city, but the primitive church generally, were led by this admonition to adopt simpler habits, is evident from the remarkable fact that a criminal, who came to trial under the assumed character of a Christian, was proved to the satisfaction of the judge to be an impostor, by the luxuriant and frizzled appearance of his hair (Tertullian, Fleury, Les Ma.urs des Chrdiens).
(5) Eastern Women. With regard to women, the possession of long and luxuriant hair is al lowed by Paul to be an essential attribute of the sex—a graceful and modest covering provided by nature, and yet the same Apostle elsewhere 0 Tim. it :9) concurs with Peter (i Pet. iii :3) In launching severe invectives against the women of his day for the pride and passionate fondness they displayed in the elaborate decorations of their head-dress. As the hair was preeminently the 'instrument of their pride' (Ezek. xvi :39, margin), all the resources of ingenuity and art were exhausted to set it off to advantage and load it with the most dazzling finery, and many, on the approach of death, caused their longest locks to be cut off and placed separately in an urn, to be deposited in their tomb as the most precious and valued relics.
Figurative. Various metaphorical a Ilusions are made to hair by the sacred writers, especially the prophets. (r) Cutting off the hair' is a figure used to denote the entire destruction of a people by the righteous retributions of Providence (Is. vii :20). (2) 'Gray hairs here and there on Eph raim' portended the decline and fall of the king dom of Israel (Hos. vii :9). (3) 'Hair like wonzen's' forms part of the description of the Apocalyptic locusts, and historically points to the prevailing head-dress of the Saracens, as well as the voluptuous effeminacy of the Antichristian clergy (Rev. ix :8). (4) And, finally, 'hair like fine wool' was a prominent feature in the ap pearance of the deified Redeemer, emblematic of the majesty and wisdom that belong to him (Rev. :i4). What was least valuable in man's person was represented by no hair (r Sam. xiv :45; 2 Sam. xiv :it ; Kings i :52 ; Matt. x :3o; Luke xii :7; xxi :18).