Did Jesus Have Long Hair?

Here's an article on the forensic work to discover the 'real face' of Jesus. The scientist in question works to build up a face from a typical first century Palestinian Jew. He does not refer to the Shroud of Turin and says the reason the Shroud is a fake is because it shows Jesus to have long hair and St Paul says, "For a man to have long hair is a shame." (I Cor.11:14)

So that settles it? If only the forensic scientist did a bit more homework he would be familiar with the Jewish Nazarite tradition in which a Jew would make a religious vow not avoid corpses, abstain from wine and to not cut his hair. Samson in the Old Testament was a Nazarite and John the Baptist was a Nazarite from birth. A Jew would take a Nazarite vow for at least thirty days, and could renew that vow as often as he wished. At the end of the vow time period he would be immersed in water and make certain sacrifices at the temple. Remember that Jesus is referred to not just as 'from Nazareth' but also as a 'Nazarene', and scholars have long argued whether the name is just a reference to his home town or whether it is also a reference to his status as a Nazarite brother.

So did Jesus have long hair--as is shown in the shroud? His cousin John was a Nazarite, and Jesus was following very much in the prophetic tradition, so it is very likely that he did have long hair, and that this was a sign of his role as a holy man and teacher. Jesus was blamed for being a 'wine bibber'. (Mt.11:19) so does that mean that he never too the Nazarite vow, or that he was being blamed for breaking it? It could go both ways.

One of the marks of Jesus' ministry is that he fulfilled the whole Jewish law from the inside out. He fulfilled the law, but he broke some of the rules. We see him gathering corn on the Sabbath with his disciples and annoying the Pharisees. He broke some of the dietary and cleansing rules and justified himself. Most of all, he broke the individual laws by bursting them with true freedom. Does the fact that Jesus ministered to dead people also show that he was not a Nazarite? (they were forbidden from being under the same roof with a corpse) or the fact that he raised them from the dead show that he was fulfilling the Nazarite vow from the inside out?

Enough minutiae. It's my opinion that Jesus, like his cousin John the Baptist, took the Nazarite vow, and kept it strictly for the appointed time, and that he maintained the Nazarite rule of life informally in identification with his cousin John, and the tradition of the prophets, and that therefore, yes, he had long hair.