Most traditional paintings and art pieces of Jesus have him sporting long hair and a beard. It is even become accepted as almost doctrine. But did Christ have a beard? Some scholars are trying to say He did not and that He even had short hair. They cite that long hair was considered effeminate and forbidden by the Law of Moses. However, we know Samson who took the Nazarite Vow would not cut his long hair, in which was the strength God gave him. We know our Lord is called Jesus of Nazareth (The Nazarene), because that was His hometown and people were often to be identified by where they were from. However, we do not have evidence that Jesus took the Nazarite Vow which entails:
“And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, “Speak to the people of Israel and say to them, When either a man or a woman makes a special vow, the vow of a Nazirite, to separate himself to the Lord, he shall separate himself from wine and strong drink. He shall drink no vinegar made from wine or strong drink and shall not drink any juice of grapes or eat grapes, fresh or dried. All the days of his separation he shall eat nothing that is produced by the grapevine, not even the seeds or the skins.
“All the days of his vow of separation, no razor shall touch his head. Until the time is completed for which he separates himself to the Lord, he shall be holy. He shall let the locks of hair of his head grow long.
“All the days that he separates himself to the Lord he shall not go near a dead body. Not even for his father or for his mother, for brother or sister, if they die, shall he make himself unclean, because his separation to God is on his head. All the days of his separation he is holy to the Lord.
“And if any man dies very suddenly beside him and he defiles his consecrated head, then he shall shave his head on the day of his cleansing; on the seventh day he shall shave it. On the eighth day he shall bring two turtledoves or two pigeons to the priest to the entrance of the tent of meeting, and the priest shall offer one for a sin offering and the other for a burnt offering, and make atonement for him, because he sinned by reason of the dead body. And he shall consecrate his head that same day and separate himself to the Lord for the days of his separation and bring a male lamb a year old for a guilt offering. But the previous period shall be void, because his separation was defiled.
“And this is the law for the Nazirite, when the time of his separation has been completed: he shall be brought to the entrance of the tent of meeting, and he shall bring his gift to the Lord, one male lamb a year old without blemish for a burnt offering, and one ewe lamb a year old without blemish as a sin offering, and one ram without blemish as a peace offering, and a basket of unleavened bread, loaves of fine flour mixed with oil, and unleavened wafers smeared with oil, and their grain offering and their drink offerings. And the priest shall bring them before the Lord and offer his sin offering and his burnt offering, and he shall offer the ram as a sacrifice of peace offering to the Lord, with the basket of unleavened bread. The priest shall offer also its grain offering and its drink offering. And the Nazirite shall shave his consecrated head at the entrance of the tent of meeting and shall take the hair from his consecrated head and put it on the fire that is under the sacrifice of the peace offering. And the priest shall take the shoulder of the ram, when it is boiled, and one unleavened loaf out of the basket and one unleavened wafer, and shall put them on the hands of the Nazirite, after he has shaved the hair of his consecration.” (Numbers 6:1-19).
This vow seems like something Jesus would do as sign He is consecrates to the Lord, being The Lord, however, there is the line in the Nazarite Vow that a person who is a Nazerite may not be near a dead body or be defiled. Jesus not only was near dead bodies, He raised them from the dead, “Jesus, once more deeply moved, came to the tomb. It was a cave with a stone laid across the entrance.“Take away the stone,” he said.
“But, Lord,” said Martha, the sister of the dead man, “by this time there is a bad odor, for he has been there four days.”
Then Jesus said, “Did I not tell you that if you believe, you will see the glory of God?” So they took away the stone. Then Jesus looked up and said, “Father, I thank you that you have heard me. I knew that you always hear me, but I said this for the benefit of the people standing here, that they may believe that you sent me.” When he had said this, Jesus called in a loud voice, “Lazarus, come out!”The dead man came out, his hands and feet wrapped with strips of linen,and a cloth around his face. Jesus said to them, “Take off the grave clothes and let him go,” (John 11:38-44), and “He took the dead girl by the hand and said to her, “Talitha koum!” (which means “Little girl, I say to you, get up!”). Immediately the girl stood up and began to walk around (she was twelve years old). At this they were completely astonished” (Mark 5:41-42). Therefore it is unlikely that Christ took the Nazerite Vow because He spent time among dead bodies and raised them to life. Especially because Christ taught not to make vows, “Again, you have heard that it was said to the ancients, ‘Do not break your oath, but fulfill your vows to the Lord.’ But I tell you not to swear a vow at all: either by heaven, for it is God’s throne; or by the earth, for it is His footstool; or by Jerusalem, for it is the city of the great King. Nor should you swear a vow by your head, for you cannot make a single hair white or black. Simply let your ‘Yes’ be ‘Yes,’ and your ‘No,’ ‘No.’ Anything more comes from the evil one.” (Matthew 5:33-37). So Jesus most assuredly did not take the Nazerite Vow when He teaches not to take a vow. Another point is that one who takes the Nazerite Vow cannot drink wine and vinegar, Jesus’ first miracle was to turn water into wine (John 2:1-11), He instituted The Communion (Lord’s Supper, Eucharist) with wine (Luke 22:19-20).
Some argue Jesus had long hair to protect the nape of the neck from the sun since He was Taciton: Architect, Stone Cutter, and Carpenter. While this is plausible, there is no Scriptural evidence.
We are never told in The Gospels what Jesus’ hairstyle was, if he had a beard, or what color eyes He had. And I think there is a reason for this. The point is Jesus, knowing Him and believing in Him, not whither he had a beard or not.
If you believe Jesus had a beard or not, that is fine, long as you believe in Jesus. If you picture Christ with the long hair and beard in prayer, or clean shaven and short haired; it is fine either way. Whatever image of Christ draws you closer to Him is what matters.
I personally side with tradition that Jesus had long hair and a beard. I think there definitely a case to be made that He did have a beard and long hair according to letters from Pontius Pilate to Cesar and The Senate, Tacticus, Gamilel, and etc (See my in depth posts: https://sirjeffreypendragonblog.blogspot.com/2016/07/what-jesus-really-looked-like.html?m=1
https://sirjeffreypendragonblog.blogspot.com/2019/07/the-potrait-of-jesus-what-christ-looked.html?m=1). But if a brother or sister pictures Christ clean shaven and with short hair like some of Roman and Byzantine art pieces (see pic below), do not rebuke them. Whither Jesus had long hair or a beard is not a salvic matter, He’s still Jesus Savior of the World and God Incarnate not matter what His hair cut and beard trim looked and looks like. Amen.
Addendum:
Most early paintings and frescos of Jesus had short hair and no beard, but this is believed to be cultural approbation, like how in Asia Jesus has almond shaped eyes and dress that looks Chinese or Japanese.
I have written what Christ looked like according to Extra-Biblical sources and eyewitness accounts by Pontius Pilate, Tacticus, Gamilel, The Emerald Cesar, and etc. Those claim Jesus had long hair and a beard, which is why that depiction likely became tradition.
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