Beards

*THE BEARD IN SCRIPTURE: To Mar, To Dress, and To Cover* *1. The Command - Do Not Mar* > "Ye shall not round the corners of your heads, neither shalt thou mar the corners of thy beard." - *Leviticus 19:27 KJV* > "They shall not make baldness upon their head, neither shall they shave off the corner of their beard, nor make any cuttings in their flesh." - *Leviticus 21:5 KJV* That word *"mar"* is everything. Hebrew is *תַשְׁחִיתוּ - tashchitu*, from root *שָׁחַת shachath*. Shachath does not mean to trim. It means *to destroy, to ruin, to corrupt, to spoil, to make waste.* It is the same word used when: - The earth was _corrupted_ before the flood - Gen 6:11 - God says do not _destroy_ the fruit trees - Deut 20:19 So God is not saying do not cut your beard. He is saying do not *destroy* it - shave it bald to nothing. *2. All Witnesses Agree* *LXX Septuagint - Greek:* Uses _phtheiro_ - to corrupt, spoil, destroy. Very literal for shachath. And _xyrao_ - to shave with a razor. *Targum Onkelos - Aramaic:* Keeps the Hebrew exactly: _la teshachit_ - you shall not destroy. *Peshitta - Syriac:* Uses _chabal_ - to destroy, ruin, spoil. Same root sense. All three preserve the sense of ruin, not trim. *3. How Talmud Understands It - Makkot 20a-20b* The rabbis asked - what is "mar"? - *Five corners* - Two at sideburns, two at jawline, one at chin point. These are the _pe'ot_ - edges. To shave them off completely is to mar. - *Razor vs scissors* - The prohibition is with a *razor (ta'ar)* to the skin. Scissors that leave stubble are not "destroying." This is why Orthodox Jews will use an electric trimmer (considered scissor-like) but not a straight razor. - *Why?* Maimonides and Rashi say Egyptian priests and Amorites shaved beards clean for their gods and for the dead. Israel was not to imitate idolatrous mourning. In short: *Mar = shaving smooth to skin with a razor. Trimming and grooming is not mar.* *4. Mephibosheth - When He Did NOT Trim* > "And Mephibosheth the son of Saul came down to meet the king, and had neither dressed his feet, nor trimmed his beard, nor washed his clothes, from the day the king departed until the day he came again in peace." - *2 Samuel 19:24 KJV* This is a different Hebrew word entirely. Hebrew: *לֹא־עָשָׂה שְׂפָמוֹ - lo asah sefamo* *Asah* = to do, fashion, dress, groom, prepare. *Sefam* = not beard in general - it is specifically the *mustache / upper lip hair*. From _safam_ - lip. So he did not _asah_ - he did not dress, comb, oil, trim his mustache. He let it grow wild. Anyone who has had an untrimmed mustache knows why this matters - it grows into your mouth. It gets nasty. Food, spit, everything gets caught. It is unclean and uncomfortable. For Mephibosheth, son of Jonathan, to do this while David fled from Absalom was a sign of extreme mourning. He refused to groom at all to show grief for the king. Targum Jonathan says: _lo sargil sefameh_ - he did not comb/groom his mustache. Peshitta: _lo ṣabbat_ - he did not prepare/adorn it. LXX: _ou epoiēse to mystaka_ - he did not dress his mustache - using _mystax_ - mustache. This is *asah - grooming*, not *shachath - destroying*. Two different things. *5. David's Men - The Shame of a Shaved Beard* > "Wherefore Hanun took David's servants, and shaved off the one half of their beards... and the king said, Tarry at Jericho until your beards be grown, and then return." - *2 Sam 10:4-5 / 1 Chron 19:4-5* Half a beard shaved off is humiliation. A beard in Israel is manhood, dignity, age, authority. David did not say "come back anyway." He said stay outside the city in Jericho until it grows back. Because to be without a beard was shame. *6. Beard Cut Off = Judgment and Mourning* Everywhere Scripture shows a shaved beard as judgment: - *Isaiah 7:20* - The Lord shall shave with a hired razor the beard - judgment on Judah - *Isaiah 15:2 / Jer 48:37* - Moab, every beard cut off, howling in mourning - *Jer 41:5* - Men with beards shaven, clothes rent, coming in mourning - *Ezek 5:1* - Ezekiel shaves head and beard with a barber's razor as a sign against Jerusalem - *Ezra 9:3* - Ezra plucks hair from his head and beard in horror at sin - *Psalm 133:2* - Opposite - blessing: oil running down Aaron's beard A full beard is glory. A shaved beard is shame, mourning, judgment. *7. The Leper - Cover The Mustache* > "And the leper... shall put a covering upon his upper lip, and shall cry, Unclean, unclean." - *Lev 13:45* Hebrew: *וְעַל־שָׂפָם יַעְטֶה - ve-al safam yateh* *Yateh* - to wrap, envelop, muffle. This is *atifat ha-avel* - the mourner's wrap. Not a hand - a cloth. The leper took his rent garment and wrapped it over his mustache, mouth and nose, like a mask, up to the eyes. Why? *For warning* - his breath, spittle, was contained. And with cloth over mouth, he had to SHOUT "Unclean! Unclean!" through the wrap so people could hear and stay away. An ancient mask. *For shame* - Covering the mustache was mourning uniform. Rent clothes, bare head, covered lip - he was as one dead, cut off from congregation. Ezek 24:17, Micah 3:7 show covering the lip was the mourner's sign. And crucially - *he does NOT shave at this point.* He stays hairy, rent, wrapped. He only shaves when clean: > "He shall shave all his hair off his head and his beard and his eyebrows, even all his hair he shall shave off" - *Lev 14:9* Total shaving was rebirth. A new man. Even priests who normally cannot shave beard (Lev 21:5) had to shave if leprous - purification overrode priestly law. So pattern is perfect: - *Do not destroy* beard as heathen - Lev 19:27 - *Groom* it normally - 2 Sam 19:24 - and mourning is NOT grooming - *Shame* is when it is taken from you - 2 Sam 10 - *Leper* covers mustache in shame, but only shaves clean when reborn