Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of 2 Samuel 10:4

Wherefore Hanun took David’s servants, and shaved off the one half of their beards, and cut off their garments in the middle, [even] to their buttocks, and sent them away.

4. shaved off the one half of their beards ] Compare the story in Herodotus of the thief who made some guards drunk, and for an insult shaved their right cheeks (II. 121). No grosser insult could have been devised. The beard was and still is to an Oriental the badge of the dignity of manhood. It was only shaved as a sign of the deepest mourning. See Isa 15:2; Jer 41:5. “Cutting off a person’s beard is regarded by the Arabs as an indignity equal to flogging and branding among ourselves. Many would rather die than have their beard shaved off.” D’Arvieux’ Customs of the Bedouin Arabs. A similar occurrence is said to have taken place in modern times. “In 1764 Kerim Khan, a pretender to the Persian throne, sent ambassadors to Mir Mahenna, the prince of Bendervigk, on the Persian Gulf, to demand tribute from him; but he in return cut off the ambassadors’ beards. Kerim Khan was so enraged at this that he went the next year with a large army to make war upon this prince, and took the city, and almost the whole of his territory, to avenge the insult.” Niebuhr’s Description of Arabia.

cut off their garments ] The ambassadors, who wore long dignified garments, were sent away in the shameful plight of captives. See Isa 20:4.

Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

In 1Ch 19:4, more concisely shaved. Cutting off a persons beard is regarded by the Arabs as an indignity equal to flogging and branding among ourselves. The loss of their long garments, so essential to Oriental dignity, was no less insulting than that of their beards.

Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible

Verse 4. Shaved off the one half of their beards] The beard is held in high respect in the East: the possessor considers it his greatest ornament; often swears by it; and, in matters of great importance, pledges it. Nothing can be more secure than a pledge of this kind; its owner will redeem it at the hazard of his life. The beard was never cut off but in mourning, or as a sign of slavery. Cutting off half of the beard and the clothes rendered the men ridiculous, and made them look like slaves: what was done to these men was an accumulation of insult.

Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible

Shaved off the one half of their beards; partly that he might compel them to bear a part in their mourning, and that in such a way as was usual with them, but forbidden to the Israelites, Lev 19:27; Deu 14:1; which probably was not unknown to them; and partly to fasten this as a reproach upon them, and to make them ridiculous and contemptible. Compare Isa 20:4; 47:2; 50:6.

Even to their buttocks: this was worse than the former, because the Israelites wore no breeches, and so their nakedness was hereby uncovered. Compare Isa 20:4.

Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole

4. Hanun took David’s servants, andshaved off the one half of their beardsFrom the long flowingdress of the Hebrews and other Orientals, the curtailment of theirgarments must have given them an aspect of gross indelicacy andludicrousness. Besides, a knowledge of the extraordinary respect andvalue which has always been attached, and the gross insult that isimplied in any indignity offered, to the beard in the East, willaccount for the shame which the deputies felt, and the determinedspirit of revenge which burst out in all Israel on learning theoutrage. Two instances are related in the modern history of Persia,of similar insults by kings of haughty and imperious temper,involving the nation in war; and we need not, therefore, be surprisedthat David vowed revenge for this wanton and public outrage.

Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible

Wherefore Hanun took David’s servants,…. His ambassadors:

and shaved off one half of their beards; that is, he ordered them to be shaved off; than which a greater indignity could not have been well done to them and to David, whom they represented, since the Israelites shaved not their beards, and were very careful of preserving them; for had it been the custom to shave, they might have shaved off the other half, and then they would not have appeared so ridiculous; and with other people it has been reckoned a very great punishment as well could be inflicted, and as great an affront as could well be offered, to mar a man’s beard, or shave it off in whole or in part p. The Lacedemonians, as Plutarch q relates, when any fled from battle, used, by way of reproach, to shave off part of their beards, and let the other part grow long; and with the Indians, as Bishop Patrick observes from an ancient writer, the king used to order the greatest offenders to be shaven, as the heaviest punishment he could inflict upon them; but what comes nearest to the case here is what the same learned commentator quotes from Tavernier, who in his Indian Travels tells us, that the sophi of Persia caused an ambassador of Aurengzeb to have his beard shaved off, telling him he was not worthy to wear a beard, and thereupon commanded it should be shaved off; which affront offered him in the person of his ambassador was most highly resented by Aurengzeb, as this was by David:

and cut off their garments in the middle, [even] to their buttocks; and as they wore long garments in those countries, without any breeches or drawers under them, those parts by these means were exposed to view which modesty requires should be concealed r; so that they must be put to the utmost shame and confusion:

and sent them away; in this ridiculous manner, scoffing and leering at them no doubt; that since they came with compliments of condolence, it was proper they should appear in the habit of mourners, with their beards shaved, and their garments rent; cutting of garments, and standing in them from morning tonight, was a punishment of soldiers with the Romans, when they offended s.

p Apollon. Vit. Philostrat. l. 7. c. 14. q In Agesitao. r “Dimidiasque nates Gallica palla tegit”. Martial. s Valer. Maxim. l. 2. c. 2.

Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible

(4) Shaved off the one half of their beards.According to Oriental ideas, the extremest insult which could have been inflicted. Cutting off a persons beard is regarded by the Arabs as an indignity quite equal to flogging and branding among ourselves. Many would rather die than have their beard shaved off (Arvieux, quoted by Keil). It is remarkable that in none of Davids wars does he appear as the aggressor.

Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)

4. Shaved off the one half of their beards “More ignominious than to remove it altogether, although that, among the ancient and modern eastern nations that cultivate the beard, was all offence not to be named without horror. It is very difficult to us to realize the intense appreciation of, and respect for, the beard, which is entertained among the Persians, Arabians, and other bearded nations. This is truly to them the seat of honour. They treat their own beards with respect, suffering no defilement to come near them, and handling them with deliberate care. They bury with solicitude any stray hairs that come from it; to lose it by accident were worse than the loss of the head itself, which would, in their esteem, become ridiculous and useless without this essential appendage. For any one else to touch a man’s beard irreverently, to speak of it lightly, to cast a reproach upon it, were an offence never to be forgotten or forgiven; but to cut or remove it by violence or stealth, were an affront, a disgrace, a horror, which scarcely the heart’s blood of the offender can expiate.” Kitto.

Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments