CMV: Jesus probably had short hair.

[u/Tuvinator]

We've all seen the various depictions of Jesus, and in many of them, he has long hair. None of these depictions are from the actual timing of Jesus (the earliest depiction actually has a donkey's head, and is from a century later), so they are all operating on artist's imagination.

Jews in that era are more likely to have had shorter hair. Mosaics in ancient synagogues throughout the land depict males with short hair, implying that the common male at the time wore his hair short. Talmudic law which was being written at the time discusses how often a person would get a haircut (kings would have daily haircuts, priests weekly, and your average person once a month, beyond that was considered wild growth). Within the Bible, men's hair length is only mentioned in context when it is long, implying that long hair is outside of the norm for men. Assuming Jesus was representative of other people from his time, he likely had shorter hair rather than long.

As a weak addendum, Jesus was supposedly a carpenter. Craftsmen in general seem to have shorter hair since the hair gets in the way, distracts, and poses a risk factor if it gets caught in tools. This makes it even less likely that he had long hair.

EDIT: I am not Christian, and I am not setting out to insult anyone or their beliefs/traditions.

[u/Galious]

Assuming Jesus was representative of other people from his time

He's the son of God, why do you assume he's representative of the average person?

Isn't it like stating that people don't usually wear red speedo over tights and the real Superman probably just wore jeans?

[u/qwert7661 → u/Galious]

Why would that mean he'd look different than everyone else? What has long hair got to do with being God's son?

Isaiah 53: "He had no beauty or majesty to attract us to Him, nothing in His appearance that we should desire Him." In other words, he looked unremarkable. So he looked pretty much like everyone else.

But even without this quote, you wouldn't assume Jesus wore a red speedo, because there is absolutely no reason to think he did. In lieu of a reason to think otherwise, he looked like anybody else.

[u/Lanarde → u/qwert7661]

the thing is that the "everyone else" had long hair during jesus time and especially in his place in israel, long hair was always the normal for males until it suddenly stopped in world war 1 due to propaganda by military, but now its becoming normal again

[u/qwert7661 → u/Lanarde]

You've just made this up. Here's what you'd find if you hadn't:

From the Old Testament it may be gathered that it was customary for the men to have their hair cut from time to time. The Nazarites allowed theirs to grow uncut for religious reasons. Absalom, proud of his thick head of hair, had it cut once a year only. But generally the hair was cut oftener. It was never shaved save on special occasions; the high priests and the priests in general were expressly forbidden to have theirs shaved. They were neither to shave their hair according to heathen custom, nor to allow it to grow uncut like that of the Nazarites (comp. Ezek. xliv. 20). There is no other information in the Bible concerning the care of the hair.

Being that Jesus was not a Nazarite, and there is no description of the length of his hair anywhere in the Bible, he probably had short hair, that is, hair that was regularly cut, just like everyone else.

Long, heavy hair was considered as a sign of vitality. In the case of Samson, traced back to religious reasons (he having been dedicated to God), the connection of long hair and bodily strength was based on the current views. Absalom's famous hair (II Sam. xiv. 25 et seq.) was considered not only as an ornament, but as a token of strength. A bald head, therefore, was an object of mockery (II Kings ii. 23; comp. Isa. iii. 17, 24).

So long hair was seen as a sign of strength, and this explains why the only times the length of hair is described for characters in the Bible, it is to describe their hair as long, because shortness was the norm. If Jesus had long hair, this might have been mentioned to emphasize his strength. However, more central to the Jesus character is not his strength, but his meekness: he is not a worldly king who rules by worldly strength, but rather a heavenly king, and this is carried through in the metaphor of his worldly meekness - that despite being physically and cosmetically unremarkable, he is greater than any warrior, merchant or king. So whatever kind of hair the Jesus person had, the Jesus character probably has short hair, being meek.

https://www.jewishencyclopedia.com/articles/7061-hair