Barber (Hastings' Dictionary)
Shaving the head is a very common custom in Eastern countries. In India, many of the religious sects are distinguished by the manner in which the head is shaved. Some leave a tuft of hair on the cro^vn of the head, others a tuft above each ear. In Syria, old men frequently have the whole head shaved and allow the beard to grow. Young men shave the cheeks and the chin, and cut the hair of the head short. The upper lip is never shaved except in S. India, where it is done as a sign of mourning.
Absence of the moustache is looked upon, in Syria, as a sign of the want of virility. The barber plies his trade in any convenient place — by the roadside, or in the courtyard of a khan. The ground serves as a seat both for the operator and the person operated on ; a tin or copper basin holds the water required ; and the hands of the patient, passed over the head or the chin, tell him whether the work has been done satisfactorily or not.
The barber also eradicates superfluous hairs from the nose, ears, and other parts of the body ; removes accumula- tions of wax from the ears ; and performs the operations of tooth-extraction and blood-letting. W. Carslaw. BARCHUS (B BoxoiJt, A Bapxow, AV Charchus, 1 Es S^') = Barkos, Ezr '2^, Neh 7". The AV form is taken from the Aldine ed. [XapKoii).
This topic also has an entry in the International Standard Bible Encyclopedia. Both articles offer independent scholarly perspectives.
International Standard Bible Encyclopedia on Barber
Barber bar'-ber: ⇒See a list of verses on BARBER in the Bible. (1) The English word "barber" is from Latin barba, "beard" = a man who shaves the beard. Dressing and trimming the hair came to be added to his work. "Barber" is found only once English Versions of the Bible, in Eze 5:1, "Take thee a sharp sword; as a barber's razor shalt thou take it unto thee, and shalt cause it to pass upon thy head and upon thy beard" (compare Chaghigha' 4b, Shab, section 6). (2) In Ge 41:14 we probably have a case of conformity to Egyptian, rather than Palestinian custom, where Joseph "shaved himself, and changed his raiment, and came in unto Pharaoh." It is known that Egyptians of the higher classes shaved the beard regularly and completely (as the Hittites, Elamites and early Babylonians seem to have done), except that fashion allowed, as an exception to the rule, a small tuft, or "goatee," under the chin. ⇒See the definition of barber in the KJV Dictionary (3) We learn from various Scriptural allusions, as well as from other sources (compare W. Max Muller, Asien und Europa, 296 ff), that the busin…
References
- Orr, J. (ed.) (1915) The International Standard Bible Encyclopedia. Chicago: Howard-Severance Company. [Public Domain]
- Easton, M.G. (1893) Easton's Bible Dictionary. 3rd edn. Thomas Nelson. [Public Domain]
- Nave, O.J. (1897) Nave's Topical Bible. Topical Bible Publishing Co.. [Public Domain]
- Hastings, J. (ed.) (1909) A Dictionary of the Bible. Edinburgh: T&T Clark. [Public Domain]
- Smith, W. (ed.) (1884) Smith's Bible Dictionary. London: John Murray. [Public Domain]
- Fausset, A.R. (1878) Fausset's Bible Dictionary. [Public Domain]A Critical and Expository Bible Cyclopaedia