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BEARD
Hair growing on the lower part of a man’s face, worn as a sign of maturity among all ancient Semitic peoples, including the Israelites. Among the Israelites, care of the beard took on religious significance (Lv 19:27). Levitical law prohibited priests from shaving their heads or clipping their beards (21:5-6). David’s ambassadors to an Ammonite king were humiliated by having one side of their beards shaved off by the Ammonites. That indignity and others led to war (2 Sm 10:1-8). Removal of an Israelite’s beard, however, was considered appropriate under certain circumstances. Suspicion of leprosy on the head or face required shaving around the suspected spot to permit better diagnosis (Lv 13:29-37). A shaven head, along with wailing and the wearing of sackcloth, was a way of proclaiming impending or prevailing doom (Is 15:1-3). Ezra dramatized Israel’s spiritual disaster by pulling hair out of his head and beard (Ezr 9:3).