Locks

LOCKS loks

((1) tsitsith,

(2) pera';

(3) machlaphah,

(4) qewutstsah):

See in general the article on HAIR.

(1) The first word, tsitsith, means really a tassel, such as is worn by the Jews on the four corners of the prayer-shawl or Tallith and on the 'arba` kanephoth (Deuteronomy 22:12), translated in the New Testament by kraspedon (Matthew 9:20; 14:36; 23:5; Mark 6:56; Luke 8:44). Once it is applied to a forelock of hair. The prophet Ezekiel, describing his sensations which accompanied his vision of Jerusalem, says:

"He put forth the form of a hand, and took me by a lock of my head; and the Spirit lifted me up between earth and heaven, and brought me in the visions of God to Jerus" (Ezekiel 8:3).

(2) The word pera` signifies the uncut and disheveled locks of the Nazirite (Numbers 6:5) or of the priests, the sons of Zadok (Ezekiel 44:20).

(3) The Book of Judges employs the word machlaphah when speaking of the "seven locks" of Samson (Judges 16:13,19), which really represent the plaited (etymologically, "interwoven") strands of hair still worn in our days by youthful Bedouin warriors.

(4) Qewutstsah (Song of Solomon 5:2,11) means the luxuriant hair of the Hebrew youth, who was careful of his exterior. It is called bushy (the Revised Version margin "curling") and black as a raven. the King James Version translations also the word tsammah with "locks" (Song of Solomon 4:1; 6:7; Isaiah 47:2), but the Revised Version (British and American) has corrected this into "veil," leaving the word "locks" in Song of Solomon 4:1 margin.

H. L. E. Luering

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Bibliography Information

Orr, James, M.A., D.D. General Editor. "Entry for 'LOCKS'".  "International Standard Bible Encyclopedia".  1915.