Long Hair or Short Hair in Ezekiel 44:20?

Abstract

This note attempts to rescue from oblivion a suggestion offered, then summarily dismissed, by G. R. Driver in his 1926 article Linguistic and Textual Difficulties. In that article, Driver suggested that apparent conflicts between Ezekiel 44:20 and certain Pentateuchal passages might be resolved if in_1. in Ezek. 44:20 were glossed as shave off, off (< *slh), rather than as send forth, let grow long (< *slh), as in the traditional interpretation. Although Driver used this analysis merely as a rhetorical foil (later on halfheartedly reaffirming the traditional view), close scrutiny of the evidence shows his now forgotten strip off gloss to represent a compelling reinterpretation of this seemingly straightforward form. Although my attempt at dredging up Driver's old, ignored gloss might seem, superficially, to constitute little more than an overburdened word study, my real, and somewhat broader, aim is to highlight the widely acknowledged, but in practice often underappreciated, fact that even seemingly straightforward forms like slh can hold big surprises if one fails to pay close attention to the anthropological and literary context of the passages in which they are used.