BEARD (berd), (Heb.1P-rt, zaw-kawn', the beard, as indicating age).
The ancient nations in general agreed with the modern inhabitants of the East in attaching a great value to the possession of a beard. The total absence of it, or a sparse and stinted sprinkling of hair upon the chin, is thought by the Orien tals to be as great a deformity to the features as the want of a nose would appear to us ; while, on the contrary, a long and bushy beard, flowing down in luxuriant profusion to the breast, is con sidered not only a most graceful ornament to the person, hut as contributing in no small degree to respectability and dignity of character.
(1) Badge of Honor. So much, indeed, is the possession of this venerable badge associated with notions of honor and importance that it is almost constantly introduced, in the way either of al lusion or appeal, into the language of familiar and daily life. When a man's veracity is doubted, 'Look at this beard,' he will say, 'the very sight of it may satisfy you as to the truth and probity of its owner.' When censuring a bad or dishon est action. 'Shame on your beard' is the ordi nary style of rebuke. When friends express their mutual good wishes, May God preserve your beard' is the strongest and most ardent form of benediction. When requesting a favor from any one, the most earnest terms of sup plication are to beg 'by his beard, or the life of his beard,' that lie will grant it ; and no higher idea of the value of a thing can be given than by saying, 'It is worth more than one's beard.' In short, this hairy appendage of the chin is most highly prized as the attribute of manly dig nity, and hence the energy of Ezekiel's language when, describing the severity of the Divine judg ments upon the Jews, he intimates that, although that people had been as dear to God and as fondly cherished by him as the beard was by them, the razor, 1. e., the agents of his angry providence, in righteous retribution for their long-continued sins, would destroy their existence as a nation (Ezek. v:1-5). With this knowledge of the extraordi nary respect and value which have in all ages been attached to the beard in the East, we are pre pared to expect that a corresponding care would be taken to preserve and improve its appearance.
and, accordingly, to dress and anoint it with oil and perfume was, with the better classes at least, an indispensable part of their daily toilet (Ps. From the history of Mephibosheth it seems probable that the grandees in ancient Palestine *trimmed their beards' with the same fastidious care and by the same elaborate process, while the allowing these to remain in a foul and disheveled state. or to cut them off, was one among the many features of sordid negligence in their per sonal appearance by which they gave outward indications of deep and overwhelming sorrow (2 Sam. xix:24; Ezra ix:3; Is. xv:z; Jer.x11:5; Comp. Ilerodot.11:36; Suet. Ca44w1a, chap. v).
No one was permitted to touch the beard ex cept in the way of respectful and affectionate salutation, which was done by gently taking hold of its extremity with the right hand and kissing it. But this was allowed only to most intimate friends, such as wives or children. The act itself being an expression of kind and cordial familiar ity, its performance by Joab shows in a flagrant light the base and unprincipled conduct of that -uthless veteran, when he took Amasa by the beard t%ith his right hand to kiss him (rather it), and then, having assumed this attitude under the mask of the most friendly feelings, smote his unsuspecting victim under the fifth rib (2 Sam. xx :o ).
(2) Deprivation of, a Mark of Servility. To be deprived of a beard was, and still is, in some places of the East. the badge of servility—a mark of infamy, that degraded a person front the ranks of men to those of slaves and women (Nicbuhr, elrobia, ch. vii Volney, it, p. 118). while to shave it off voluntarily, even for a time. as the former writer mentions he knew was done by some in mere wantonness or a drunken fit. frequently sub jects the offender to so great odium as to exclude him front society Nay, so great is the disgrace entailed lw the appearance of a smooth and naked chin that D'Arvieux describes the case of an individual who, having sustained a dzngerous wound in his jaw, preferred hazarding his life rather than allow the surgeon to remove his heard.