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lscariot had to be paid a fairly large
surn of moncy (thirty pieces of sil–
ver) to identify Jesus with a kiss on
the cheek - a familiar. fri cndly type
of a ges ture to unmistakably point
hirn out in thc midst of a cro,vd.
otice it in the longest of the gos–
pel accounts written by Matthcw -
a tax collector by l!·ade. "Wh ile he
[Jcsus] was !>till speaking. Judas [ls–
cariot] came. one of th e twcl ve. and
with him a great crowd with swords
and clubs.. . . Now the betrayer
(Jud as] had given them
a
sign.
saying.
The one
1
sha/1 kiss is 1he
man;
seize him" (Matt.
26:47-48.
RSV ).
lf Jesus had looked any dilTcrent
in any particula rly outstandin g way
th an any oth..:r of the eleven dis–
ciples with him. why dicl Judas need
to go to thc trouble of identifying
him with a kiss on thc check (the
The
PLAIN TRUTH August 1976
cu~tomary
grceting of the day. com–
parable to toclay's handshakc)?
No. Jesus did
nol
have a con stant
halo above hi!> hcad that would in–
stantly tell any passerby who he
was. Jesus did
no1
havc. as a huma n
being, a hining face like Mo5cs re–
turning from the mount.
Believe i
1
o r no t. Jesus was not
handsome! All hcads did not turn
wh cn he walked by. Does tha t shock
anybody?
Almo s t all religi o u s co m–
mentators agree tha t the 53rd chap–
tcr of lsa iah constitutcs a prophecy
o f kcy facts and cvcnts surrounding
the tlrst coming of Christ.
oticc
wh a t that prophet predicted about
Jcsus. "... He hath no form
nor
com e/iness;
and wh en we shall sce
him.
lhere is no
heaun·
1/wt ll'e
should desire him "
(verse 2. KJY).
The Revised Standard Yersion ren-
DIOJESUS HAVE LONG HAIR?
Roman emperors set the style for the
entire empi re before, during , and atter
the time of Christ. Neither General
Pompey (upper lett) nor Emperor Trajan
( lett) wore long hair, nor did Julius
Caesar (center) nor Caesar Aug ustus
(upper right). King Herod Agrippa 1 of
Judaea (lower right) , a Jew by relig ion ,
also did not have long hair.
ClockwJse begmnmg upper lelt Universily Prm/s. Plam Truth.
PIP, Umversity Pnnts. Htstoncal
Plctures
Serv1ce
de r · the same verse : ·' He had no
form or comelincss
that we should
look at him.
.. . "
Jcsus had no spccifi c outstanding
cha racteristics that made him espe–
ci a ll y ph ys ically a ttrac ti ve. Hi s
charisma was in hi s message. per–
sonality. and exampl e, not in hi s
physical appearance per se.
Jesus Did Not Have Long Hair
Many wi ll be surprised to know that
Jcsus had a fairly sho rt haircu t. The
traditional Jesus with long ha ir was
a
lu1er
Greek innovation inspircd by
thc fa ct that Zeus a nd other Greek
goJ s
were fashioned wit h long hai r
by thcir human crcators. Originally
du ring the days of Jesus. cven the
busts of Roman rulers and Ieade rs
showcd shorter hair like some of the
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