Myth Busters - The Jesus Hippie Look

Artists throughout history have painted Jesus with long hair. An artist’s rendering today is likely to make Jesus look very much like a 60’s hippie! This image seems to have permeated our culture. However, is this really how Jesus looked? The earliest paintings of Jesus in the Roman Catacombs have Him with short hair and no beard. The first image of Christ with a beard and long hair is dated in the 4th century. Scholars say that all previous depictions have Jesus without a beard or long hair. In fact, there are many reasons to believe that Jesus did not, in fact, have long hair.

First of all, short hair was the standard of the day. At the time Jesus lived, it was the accepted and general custom to have short hair. You can find many busts and statues of famous Greeks and Romans of Christ's time. In every case, the men are portrayed with short hair similar to what we find today. It was the emperor who set the mode of dress and appearance and every single statue of an emperor has short hair.

Not only the Greeks and Romans wore short hair, but the Jews also believed that long hair was wrong, especially for priests. In the Talmud it is stated that priests must cut their hair every 30 days. (Sanhedrin 22b) This tradition came from the Bible’s command to priests in Temple duty not to let their hair grow long. (Ezekiel 44:20) In addition to this, a frieze on the Arch of Titus in Rome, erected after Jerusalem was captured in AD 70, shows Jewish men with short hair.

We see that Jesus was no different because on several occasions He was able to blend into the crowd to escape those who wanted to kill Him. (Luke 4:30) That means that He looked like other Jewish men of the time. In addition, Judas had to come up and kiss Jesus (Luke 22:47) in order to show the guards who He was. Does that not mean that He looked very similar to His disciples?

I believe the origin of this myth is in a confusion of two words: Nazarite and Nazarene. Jesus was not a Nazarite (a person making a specific vow to God according to Numbers 6:2-6), rather he was thought to be a Nazarene (a person from Nazareth). The similarity between these words has caused many to be confused. A Nazarite could not drink wine, Jesus did (Matthew 11:19), could not touch a dead body, Jesus did (Matthew 9:25), and could not cut his hair. Jesus was clearly not a Nazarite, so he would not have followed the command (to Nazarites only) not to cut his hair. In addition, a Nazarite was usually only under the vow for a specific amount of time and was to shave his head after the vow was over. (Numbers 6:18)

Going a step farther, some modern artists have painted Jesus being blond with blue eyes! The evidence against long hair together with just a little common sense should be enough to prove this is a lie… It is very sad to think of how many people have rejected Jesus as the “White Man’s God”. Would they have listened if they knew his skin color was more like their own?

It is highly improbably that Jesus wore his hair long. There is no way it can be absolutely proven one way or the other, but the facts lead us in one clear direction: Jesus wore his hair short. The long-haired, hippie look is a myth! Let’s leave the long-haired, hippie look to the Greateful Dead.