This is nothing as noble as Teresa's and Scott's posts but something I found funny and interesting.
The NIV reads in Lev 21:16-20, "The Lord said to Moses, 17 "Say to Aaron: 'For the generations to come none of your descendants who has a defect may come near to offer the food of his God. 18 No man...20 who is hunchbacked or dwarfed...
According to my Hebrew Interlinear Bible, that translation is correct. However, the Chumash renders Lev 21:20 as, no man "who has abnormally long eyebrows..." The commentary adds that they are so long that they rest on his face. Wow! Those are long eyebrows.
Having reached the stage of maturity where my barber asks, "Do you want me to trim those eyebrows?" I begin to worry. Do I have a blemish? Am I defective? As for the priests, why didn't they just cut their eyebrows? I can't find such a prohibition and do not believe it falls under the "sides of your head" clause in Lev 19:27. Perhaps the Nazarite vow would give some concern; otherwise, WHAT'S THE BIG DEAL?
Anyway, I don't see a connection between long eyebrows and being a hunchback. I do, however, much prefer the hunchback rendition. At least it doesn't make me feel like I have a bodily defect.
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