Ezekiel 44:20

20 They shall not shave their heads or let their locks grow long; they shall only trim the hair of their heads.

Ezekiel 44:20 Meaning and Commentary

Ezekiel 44:20

Neither shall they shave their heads
As the priests and worshippers of Isis and Serapis did, as Jerom on the text observes; and as the Romish priests now do, from whom the Lord's faithful ministers must be distinguished: nor suffer their locks to grow long;
as the Nazarites, that a distinction might be preserved between those who were and were not such; or rather, after the manner of women, their locks hanging down, and flowing about their shoulders, as a token of levity, wantonness, effeminacy, pride, and vanity; see ( 1 Corinthians 11:14 1 Corinthians 11:15 ) : they shall only poll their heads;
observe a medium between both; neither shave their heads close, nor let their hair grow long, but keep it in an even moderate length; for which reason godly men of the last age among us were called "round heads".

Ezekiel 44:20 In-Context

18 They shall have linen turbans on their heads, and linen undergarments on their loins; they shall not bind themselves with anything that causes sweat.

19 When they go out into the outer court to the people, they shall remove the vestments in which they have been ministering, and lay them in the holy chambers; and they shall put on other garments, so that they may not communicate holiness to the people with their vestments.

20 They shall not shave their heads or let their locks grow long; they shall only trim the hair of their heads.

21 No priest shall drink wine when he enters the inner court.

22 They shall not marry a widow, or a divorced woman, but only a virgin of the stock of the house of Israel, or a widow who is the widow of a priest.