Did Jesus, As A Nazarene, Cut His Hair?

[fides quarens intellectum]

i tried to search Q&A, but it kept freezing, so i'm sorry if this one's been answered.

i received a question from a friend, have no idea how to answer her - any help would be appreciated:

So I have a question- Jesus was a Nazerene right? So was Sampson- now did Sampson not cut his hair because he was dedicated to the temple, or are they 2 different types of Nazarenes?

[Thy Geekdom Come]

I once haphazardly used this argument in debate, only to realize later that it was not realistic.

As I understand it, Sampson was a Nazirite, not a Nazarene. Jesus was not, as far as we know explicitly, a Nazirite, but we can see that there was a tradition of this in Israel, i.e. that there was a certain type of respect for those with long hair. Many pagan nations cut their hair, but there is Biblical precedence for long-hair as a sign of office. It is therefore not unreasonable to believe that Jesus had long hair, and since that is the image that has traditionally come down to us in iconography and other such artistic depictions from those who knew that culture better than we do, I think it is reasonable to believe that Jesus had long hair.

The word "nazar" in Hebrew is the word for "branch" or "shoot" and it is this word which is used in Messianic prophecy: "But a shoot shall sprout from the stump of Jesse, and from his roots a bud shall blossom" (Isaiah 11:1). That word "nazar" is the root of the name of the town of Nazareth. In fact, when Matthew 2:23 says that the prophet said Jesus would be from Nazareth, it's important to note that nowhere in Scripture is that explicitly said. Matthew was interpreting the passage from Isaiah for us, as if to say (in the words of one of my college professors), "oh, so you're all looking for the branch (nazar), huh? The messiah? Well...this guy's from Branch-land (Nazareth)..."

However, the NAB commentary says that the other word, "nazir," means "consecrated." There seems to be no direct connection between the terms.

God bless,

Raphael