That is why Samson was instructed not to shave his hair locks because his head carried holiness in which God’s power resided.
That is why when Hannah made a vow that the child would stay in Yahuah’s temple, she said he would never have his hair shaven, and all this points to one fact: one cannot come close to God with a shaven head.
This sermon was broadcasted on the Sabbath of 17 March 2012 on Ukhozi FM.
Greetings to the listeners. Shabbat Shalom to the saints. The topic for this sermon that I will present is: “Holiness and human hair.”
1. Judges 13:3-5: “And the angel of the Lord appeared unto the woman, and said unto her, Behold now, thou art barren, and bearest not: but thou shalt conceive, and bear a son; and no razor shall come on his head: for the child shall be a Nazarite unto God from the womb: and he shall begin to deliver Israel out of the hand of the Philistines.” – King James Version.
2. Judges 16:17: “That he told her all his heart, and said unto her, There hath not come a razor upon mine head; for I have been a Nazarite unto God from my mother’s womb: if I be shaven, then my strength will go from me, and I shall become weak, and be like any other man.” – KJV
3.Duteronomi 14:1-2: “Ye are the children of the Lord your God: ye shall not cut yourselves, nor make any baldness between your eyes for the dead.
4.For thou art an holy people unto the Lord thy God, and the Lord hath chosen thee to be a peculiar people unto himself, above all the nations that are upon the earth.”
5. What I have just read here is a story about Samson, a narrative that is known to many people, but here I am touching on the significance of human hair concerning maintaining holiness or staying in close proximity to Yahuah.
6. What is holiness? Holiness is a state or condition of perfection or flawlessness in the sight of God. It is a state of purity for the sake of God, a state of sinlessness.
7.A holy person is the one whose character is acceptable in the heavenly realm, a blameless being in accordance with heavenly precepts, the one who leads a life that is acceptable to Yahuah.
8.That is why in Leviticus 20:26 Yahuah says: “And ye shall be holy unto me: for I the Lord am holy, and have severed you from other people, that ye should be mine.” – KJV
9. If one reads all God’s laws, it becomes apparent that keeping one’s hair enables them to remain holy.
10. In Numbers 6, Yahuah says: “All the days of the vow of his separation there shall no razor come upon his head: until the days be fulfilled, in the which he separateth himself unto the Lord, he shall be holy, and shall let the locks of the hair of his head grow.” – KJV
11. This passage puts it succinctly that a person who dedicates themselves unto Yahuah will have to keep their hair and allow it to grow. The book of Leviticus 21 touches on the holiness of priests or ministers.
12.In verse 5, Yahuah says: “They shall not make baldness upon their head, neither shall they shave off the corner of their beard…” God says even priests will be holy unto Yahuah their God.
13. Yahuah did not just command only the Nazarites and priests not to shave their hair, but any other person who leads a holy life is prohibited from shaving their hair.
14. The Book of Leviticus 19 articulates holiness codes. In Leviticus 19:27, we hear Yahuah saying: “Ye shall not round the corners of your heads, neither shalt thou mar the corners of thy beard.” – KJV
15.This means that any pious individual is not supposed to shave their hair.
16. In Judges 13, the angel says this about Samson: “For, lo, thou shalt conceive, and bear a son; and no razor shall come on his head: for the child shall be a Nazarite unto God from the womb: In Judges 13, the angel says this about Samson: “For, lo, thou shalt conceive, and bear a son; and no razor shall come on his head: for the child shall be a Nazarite unto God from the womb.” – KJV
17. We constantly find that not shaving one’s hair is associated with holiness. When we read the Book of Judges 16, from verse 17, we find that Samson divulged the secret of his strength to Delilah, that he owed it to his vow of not shaving his hair.
18.After Delilah had shaven off his hair locks, according to verse 20: “Then she called, ‘Samson, the Philistines are upon you!’ He awoke from his sleep and thought, “I’ll go out as before and shake myself free.” But he did not know that the Lord had left him.”
19.What was the cause of Yahuah’s departure from Samson? Yahuah abandoned Samson when Delilah shaved off his hair locks.
20.In 1 Samuel 1:11, we find Hannah making a vow to Yahuah. Hannah says: “…O Lord of hosts, if thou wilt indeed look on the affliction of thine handmaid, and remember me, and not forget thine handmaid, but wilt give unto thine handmaid a man child, then I will give him unto the Lord all the days of his life, and there shall no razor come upon his head…”
21.Even in this particular instance we find that the child who would be placed in Yahuah’s care would under no circumstances have his hair shaven off his head.
22.Any monotheistic faith system that focuses on Yahuah does not allow the pious to shave their hair; that is why the Jews, the Muslims and the Nazarites do not shave their hair.
23.Yeshua’s followers did not shaved their hair; Yeshua and the apostles did not shave their hair, and all his followers did not shave their hair as well as their beards because they knew that such an act would amount to the flouting of the laws of holiness.
24.I have been inspired by the divine being’s statement in what I say about God and human hair. The angel said: ‘Are there any aspects in which black people identify an error God has made in giving them their hair?’ God gave hair to humanity for purposes of sheer embellishment; human hair is very precious to God.
25.That is why we find that whenever Yahuah wants someone to lead a holy life, He instructs them not to shave their hair.
26.That is why God says a Nazarite must never shave their hair; this includes priests or ministers as well as anyone who wants to maintain their holiness.
27.That is why Samson was instructed not to shave his hair locks because his head carried holiness in which God’s power resided.
28.That is why when Hannah made a vow that the child would stay in Yahuah’s temple, she said he would never have his hair shaven, and all this points to one fact: one cannot come close to God with a shaven head.
29.The angel said: “Are black people accusing God for their hair because all black men shave their hair whereas women either cover their hair or buy other races’ hair with which they extend theirs so that they may look beautiful?”
30.The angel says: “I have visited many places, read even in the Bible and searched among the ancient Zulu cultural practices, but I do not figure out who said black women must always cover their hair with headdresses.”
31.This divine beings said: “Black people’s tendency to cover their hair is not a practice that emanates from God’s law, neither did it originate from human culture, but it is attributable to whites who actually found black people’s hair appalling.
32.Then it was paraded as a sign of piety, but this version of piety applies only to a black person, which is not applicable to other nations. Zulu women never covered their hair.” This divine being says: “If somebody takes another person’s hair, not to mention that of another race, and attach it to theirs, what on earth would such a person think they are doing?
33.Why do you not worship Caucasians, Indians and the Chinese because these nations are like your gods; you take parts of their bodies and attach them to your bodies so that you may be beautiful on the basis of resembling them?
34.If one takes a body part another nation and attaches it to their head, how does such a person think; what do they think God should say?
35.Hair is a body part of another person; it has DNA of the one from whom it has been detached. Now, if you take this body part and attach it to your body, what on earth do you think you are doing?
36.What do you want God, your Creator, to say?” Angel Hlaleleni asked me this question.
37.This divine being says: “There are many shocking things that black people do not pay attention to when they buy the hair of these nations. Some of such hair would have been taken from a murderer who killed a person or persons; then, you would take hair of such a murderer and attach it to your head in order to look beautiful.
38.In some cases it belongs to somebody who used to do prostitution while others are in prisons for various criminal offences. This prisoner shaves this hair and sells it to black people so that they may beautify themselves with it.
39.Other nations shave their hair and put it on altars before their gods, after which they sell it to black people.
40.But more than anything else, most of this hair belongs to the dead. In cases of some individuals, when they gave up their last breath, they would then be sold Africa where black people would wear them. Black people beautify themselves with body parts of dead people of other nations.”
41.The angel says: “When a human being has died to become a spirit, they follow their body part and will not be confused because they are now in the spiritual form; this spirit that traces its hair will become evil when it reaches you.
42.When this spirit dwells within you because you have attached its hair to yours, it will cause you to take up its earthly life just as someone who is possessed by a spirit, taking on its earthly habits.
43.If a former murderer’s spirit comes to dwell within you, you also feel like murdering someone; if they used to steal, you, too, will feel like stealing, and you will do so and get incarcerated.
44.If a dead person’s spirit dwells within you, it forces you to do things that it used to do in its physical form, and the sins of that dead person will be borne by you.”
45.In a distant past, there was a man who had been insane for twenty years; his insanity manifested itself in his tendency to make wooden rifles with which he would randomly shoot at nothing as he ran around. He could run for ten and even more kilometres.
46.He always wore a long military coat which he never dared take off day and night. The family tried all healers, Western-type medical practitioners and faith healers, aiming at having him cured, but all was in vain.
47.They then took this man to Shembe, Lord Galilee Shembe. Lord Galilee Shembe looked at him for a while and then ordered the people to remove that coat from his body and burn it.
48.It was reported that the mad man would not dare take off that coat. Lord Shembe said they should take it off by force; they did just that. Just after it had been taken off and burnt, that insane man was made whole with immediate effect and his mental faculty was restored.
49.Shembe then said: “This man was not really sick, but he bought a second-hand military coat whose original owner used to be a soldier who was shot dead while wearing it; the spirit of that soldier dwelt on the coat. That is why the mad man tended to make rifles and end up shooting at nothing, being possessed by the dead soldier’s spirit which he had bought.”
50.Now, if a dead person’s spirit is capable of dwelling upon their clothing item and then cause the one wearing it become insane, if you buy dead person’s hair, do you know what it will end up doing to your life?
51.It is obvious that black people are accusing God for this hair He gave to them. They ask why He did not give them Caucasian, Indian, Chinese or Japanese hair!
52.They ask what God says they should do with such hair; that is why they remove all of it. That is why those who do not shave them simply attach it to Caucasian and Indian hair.
53.They silently explain to God that they do not accept the thing He gave to them, that they do not want it, they hate it because they want to resemble whites or Indians. Their heads should rather be as smooth just like their bodies instead of having this thing growing on their bodies!
54.Nothing is as disturbing to God, or any other person, as having someone cast away a gift that has been handed out by God just because they feel it is ugly and does not suit them.
55. That is how the saga of black people’s hair is to God as black people tell Him clearly that they do not accept the hair He has given to them.
56.In the Book of Proverbs 1:7, Solomon says: “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge: but fools despise wisdom and instruction.” – KJV
57.Yeshua, in John 14:15, says: “If ye love me, keep my commandments.” Shembe, in the Shabbat Liturgical Prayer, says we should fear Yahuah by keeping His Law.
58.As a pious person, always seek divine wisdom and get accustomed to fear Yahuah by observing His commandments.
59.Do not allow your actions to contravene Yahuah’s commandments. If Yahuah says He does not like something, do not do it. Always teach yourself to do things that God favours. Do not allow your heart to favour worldly tendencies that will end up taking you towards your damnation.
60.Do not please people by doing things that contravene God’s Law. Do not teach yourself to worship a human being in your thoughts and meditations, but always worship Yahuah because He is the One who is your final Judge. Do not allow earthly styles to remove God away from you.
61.Sin looks good, and it is tasty, but at the end, sin troubles its owner and lead them to eternal damnation.
62.It is Yahuah’s law that the pious must never shave their hair, incise their flesh, write tattoos on their bodies, just as it is written in Leviticus 19:28.
63.Therefore, people should know that habits such as painting one’s lips and nails, attaching artificial eyelashes and shaving eyebrows; all these things are an abomination to Yahuah. They drive God away from among the people and demons find themselves a place within us.
64.We should not be surprised when our children say they are being attacked by various kinds of spirits at schools; that is caused by the fact that many of them do not lead a pious life.
65.But they practise things that enables Satan to find a place within them. If one does things that offend God, Yahuah leaves their side and then all kinds of demonic entities get attached to them.
66.One cannot expect God to worry Himself about them when they are attacked by demonic spirits when they actually do not even care about Him.
67.It is up to you to decide if you want to do things that will please Satan, just as Adam and Eve did, and take the serpent’s advice which will take you towards darkness or you follow Yahuah in order to receive the light and thus attain eternal life.
May the Lord bless what you have heard.
This sermon is available on YouTube channel: Rev Mpanza NCG.