2 Samuel 10:4. Wherefore Hanun took David’s servants, and shaved off the one half of their beards.
According to Oriental sentiment a greater indignity could not have been put upon them. The beard is considered a symbol of manhood, and, in some places, of freedom-slaves being compelled to shave their beards in token of servitude. By shaving half their beard Hanun not only treated David’s ambassadors with contempt, but made them objects of ridicule. The beard is usually kept with care and neatness; and thus when David feigned madness in the presence of Achish, king of Gath, he “let his spittle fall down upon his beard,” which convinced the beholders that he must be bereft of his senses (1 Sam. 21:13). So disgraceful is it considered to have the beard cut off, that some of the Orientals would prefer death to such a punishment. Niebuhr, in his Description of Arabia, relates that in the year 1764, Kerim Kahn, one of the three rebels ‘who at that time desired to obtain dominion over Persia, sent ambassadors to Mir Mahenna, the prince of a little independent territory on the Persian Gulf, to demand a large tribute, and threatened to come to him with his army if he did not conduct himself as an obedient subject. Mahenna, however, treated the ambassadors with great contempt, which was especially marked in cutting off their beards. Upon hearing of this, Kerim Kahn was so indignant that he sent a large army which subdued the territory.